4:4:4 10bit single CMOS HD project

[Kyle Granger]

Obin,
> we take the RGGB and make it one pixel
That sounds reasonable. The CPU should create the one pixel from the four Bayer pixels, and then you send 960x540 RGB to the GPU. It Should Just Work.

[Obin Olson]

it works well with pixel packing and resize the cpu % is at 50%

[Jonathon Landell]

Go Obin! Go Obin!

This is addicting. I'm not even a programmer, and I've gotten to where I'm checking this forum 4, 5 times a day. You guys are freaks of nature. I wish I could be a freak. :)

Enthusiastically wishing you the greatest success...

-Jonathon

[Obin Olson]

thx john! if I keep at it I have a feeling I will get it done.. the more I fight the more I am willing to keep at it till I get some RESULTS!


I really want RESULTS from our project after shooting the VariCam..such a dirty image when you want to color grade it!

[Obin Olson]

I hate message boards. really. such a TW


so on a better note I have the test results from our profiler and am awaiting a reply from my programmer...hope it will be a good one ;)

once again I had the chance to shoot a 30sec spot on the Panasonic VariCam...I sure am glad I have not been fooled into buying that thing...try and do ANYTHING to the images in post..sooooo much noise!! SOOOOO much compression..while some think the DVCPROHD codec is great I am not one of them at all unless you never touch your images in post(I never shoot without a lot of post color grading)..our camera will beat the crap outa the VariCam images!!

VariCam would be great for DOC work and ENG/EFP production that does not need to be fooled with in post

[Radek Svoboda]

Obin, 1080p has 2.25x more pixels than 720p, so new Panasonic mini camera will be 2.25x more compressed in 1080p.

Is your camera 1080p Obin? Will it use Altasens CMOS? If so. it could better than HDCAM.

[Jason Rodriguez]

Have to agree with you on that one Obin.

DVCProHD the way the Varicam does it IMHO is only a couple steps above HDV.

HDV is totally unuseable for me.

DVCProHD can be very nice, but if you push it too far, it does fall apart quickly. But the reason is not necessarily the codec itself, but the way that Panasonic records to the codec.

First off, at 1280x720, the codec is actually prefiltering to 960x720. So you're not dealing with square pixels at the native codec level.

Second, although the codec is running at 100Mb/s which is pretty nice, the images you get from the Varicam only have that data-rate when you're recording at 60fps. When you record at 24fps, you're still only using 100Mb/s, but the useable frames are only giving you a data-rate of 40Mb/s, which isn't that much better than 25Mb/s DV for a HD-size image!

That's what I actually like about the Cinealta. When recording at 24p, the camera actually changes the speed of the tape, so you're using all the data-rate the codec can support for any given frame-rate. While only 185Mb/s (including audio) for 1920x1080, at least at 24fps you still get 185Mb/s. Not something less like the Varicam gives you.

If the Varicam actually recorded at 100Mb/s for each frame-rate, you'd be singing a different tune about the compression. But unfortunetly it doesn't, so at frame-rates under 60fps, you're not getting the data-rate you think you're getting, you're getting much less. Or another way of putting it is that at 24fps, the image is 2.5 times more compressed than you think it should be.

[Leon Nox]

i 've just seen a project from varicam...it's really ice to see a sooooo big picture , but as you look at midtones and not lightened area you see noise noise and noise ...not even try to adjust gamma ;)

[Obin Olson]

Radek: we will use Altasense yes..


Jason: so true..how can they still get 60k for that thing?!
ugghh and the 960 images!?!?! what the heck is that all about! what a JOKE!

[Obin Olson]

I wonder what the new little panasonic will be like? if it was VariCam quality level for the 10k they are going to ask I would say that is about the right price..

so...looks like we have some weird things happening in our system..seems that we have some strange delays and timming issues...we are looking into it now...more when I get some info...

[Jason Rodriguez]

Well Obin, the Varicam is 5-6 year old technology.

HDCAM prefilters as well to 1440x1080 instead of the full 1920x1080 raster.

The only tape formats right now that do not pre-filter are HDCAM-SR (brand new), and Panasonic's D-5. Except for the Panavision Genesis, there are no camera's with built-in HDCAM-SR recorders.

I did see a prototype for a P2-based D-5 recording camera though at last year's NAB. Approximately the same form-factor as the Varicam. With FILM REC mode, that should be a very interesting camera, as long as it does 1920x1080/24p.

[Obin Olson]

Jason what do you shoot anyway? are you a feature DP? high-end commercials? pron?(gotta be as the "fleshtones" are not good enough with 4:2:2 HD)

LOL :)

[Jason Rodriguez]

Short films (up to half-hour) and commercial/special effects stuff right now. Would like to move up to features in the future, but right now my main line of work is in post production, directing, and visual effects supervision.

I'm more of a Director/Visual Effects Supervisor that DP's, rather than just a pure DP.

Try to shoot on the highest-end formats I can for special effects stuff, which is typically right now a Cinealta with high-end lenses (such as Digiprimes or the HD Primo, haven't used the new Fujinon HAe-series yet so can't comment on those) into a disk-based DDR system for uncompressed 4:2:2 or 10-bit 4:4:4 recording to DPX files. Love to shoot with a Viper, but haven't gotten the opportunity yet.

When on location, I just shoot HDCAM right now, or 16mm. Very little 35mm work around here.

And I definitely don't shoot porn ;)

[Wayne Morellini]

Jason,

I have to agree with you. After I was told the spec of the format I quickly realised that everything was not as good as it seemed (though I did read that it was supposed to be 10 bit recorded). 6.?:1 is only going to be equivalent to 13.?:1 Mpeg2 compression at the most (maybe a bit better for motion). If they went to Mpeg2 at 100Mb's instead, then we would be getting a clear winner.

But it turns out that the new JVC will do uncompressed out upto 60fps, and talk that the Pana might do the same. They are still 1/3 inch chips though. So a documenters delight they may stay.

[Obin Olson]

Awesome Jason...about like myself...I would say I am more the pure DP/Editor though as my brother does all the effects/animation/compositing/greenscreen/motion tracking etc on our work ;) sorry 'bout the porn..it was a joke trust me...