Question - In 32-bit mode, black levels don't appear correct on DVD

[Steven Thomas]

Originally Posted by Paul Kepen

If just using the Computer RGB to Studio RGB pluggin on the timeline FX worked, I'd say fine. However, it seems to dim the overblown highlights but still does not return the detail in those blown out highlights.

I'm seeing the same thing.

[Thomas Barthle Jr.]

Open a new project with 32 bit setting and 2.222. Open or nest your project you are having problems with in this project. Apply a "computer to studio" plugin to that video track. Apparently, the computer to studio preset does not work properly in 1.000 linear light processing, but you can open a 1.000 project inside a 2.222 project without affecting all your fx settings. This is long story short from Glenn Chan's site.

[Paul Kepen]

Originally Posted by Thomas Barthle Jr.

Open a new project with 32 bit setting and 2.222. Open or nest your project you are having problems with in this project. Apply a "computer to studio" plugin to that video track. Apparently, the computer to studio preset does not work properly in 1.000 linear light processing, but you can open a 1.000 project inside a 2.222 project without affecting all your fx settings. This is long story short from Glenn Chan's site.

Thanks Thomas. It still seems like a lot of hoops to have to jump through, increasing the time spent on a project and more chances to get something goofed up and haing to spend hours trying to sort it out. This needs to be fixed by Sony Software ASAP, or a lot of us loyal users will be defecting to brand "A".

[Thomas Barthle Jr.]

It would be nice if someone could write a script that will automatically render the timeline twice: once in studio RGB (for broadcast) and computer RGB (for computer distribution).

[Edward Troxel]

Originally Posted by Thomas Barthle Jr.

It would be nice if someone could write a script that will automatically render the timeline twice: once in studio RGB (for broadcast) and computer RGB (for computer distribution).

That would be fairly trivial to do. There's several free renderers out there and it wouldn't take much to tell it to render twice instead of once adding an effect to the project in-between the renders. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that the Veggie Toolkit could already do that.

[Paul Kepen]

For What it is worth, I was able to get a very good looking BluRay disc from this project by going back to my original 8bit edited version. I used the Computer to Studio RGB filter (in Sony Levels). I was not happy with the default settings but I found that by adjusting the low slider from the 63 setting down to around 30-35 and leaving the high slider at 922, it looked very good. (I am out of town right now, so sorry I'm not more specific with the slider names). I originally tried 32 bit because my 8 bit encodes were very dark with burnt out highlights. 32 bit mode did not fix the burnt out highlight issue, but shadows were too light with washed out mid range color. After spending way too much time horsing around with the computer-studio RGB filter, broadcast colors, etc, and the fact that 32 bit took 20 hours to encode vs 3 hours for my 30 minute project, I decided to go back and try 8bit. Until I get a faster computer, and have a lot of time to experiment with 32 bit, I think I'm going to just be happy that I've got 8 bit working. The footage I was using was outdoor bright mid day sun. Shots included Ocean surf on a rocky shoreline, and some darker shots in the woods. The camera was a Canon HV-20.

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Paul Kepen

For What it is worth, I was able to get a very good looking BluRay disc from this project by going back to my original 8bit edited version. I used the Computer to Studio RGB filter (in Sony Levels). I was not happy with the default settings but I found that by adjusting the low slider from the 63 setting down to around 30-35 and leaving the high slider at 922, it looked very good.

I hear you!!! Good feedback.

Originally Posted by Paul Kepen

The footage I was using was outdoor bright mid day sun. Shots included Ocean surf on a rocky shoreline, and some darker shots in the woods. The camera was a Canon HV-20.

Well, maybe herein lies the "initial" issue. Surf and Midday Sun, in my way of thinking, will produce a narrow dynamic to start adjusting. Everything is up there in the "clipping" regions already - high contrast and with "narrow" dark shadows and masses of reflections glinting away. But I could be very very wrong. So maybe you going back to the original and starting off again, would be getting you the best digital source anyway? Yeah?

Grazie

[Paul Kepen]

Hi Graham.
Yes the lighting was not ideal. We were on a quick trip and I didn't have the option of waiting for the sun to get lower in the sky. Watching the clips straight out of the camcorder to the HDTV, the quality was substantially better. I rendered these same clips with Adobe Premier Pro for a comparison; the results were excellent without any filtering. I've been using Vegas 6 for the last 2-3 years without problems, even with high contrast water and mid-day scene's.
I love Vegas, and have no desire to go back to PPro, but I don't like having to waste so much time tweaking. The suggestion of nesting a 32 bit linear file into a new 32 bit 2.20 gamma file would probably be the way to go. I needed to be done with this, and my almost 3 year old computer takes too long with 32 bit encoding. Yes I hate the gradient banding issue, but they are quite in-frequent overall (none in this 30 min project). So, until I get a new computer, this will do for me. I'm just happy that the studio RGB filter made it simple to fix. Take Care - PK