Very nice Dan, so it really IS 4:2:2 - I think we've established it already in other threads.

But the questions remains (in never was answered by CD): is it true 10 bit, or just 8 but wrapped in 10 bit for HD-SDI compatibility?

Well the Flash XDR contains an 8-bit codec, so they won't be able to tell from XDR footage ...

Why don't we just test this sometime. Does anyone have an EX1/3 that can do this? If anyone is in NYC, I have a Canon XL H1S and the AJA IO HD (which can record to 10-bit ProRess 422HQ), so I have the infrastructure to capture in the proper codec.

Depending on schedules, I may be free to do this at some point in the future.

Dear Piotr,

I personally do not know if the EX1/3 is 8 bits in a 10-bit HD-SDI stream. I have not run any tests.

All MPEG2 is 8-bits.

But, full raster MPEG2, at a high-bit rate Long-GOP can produce amazing images.

We have had industry experts project our images on a 25' screen with a high end Christie projector. It works well.

Dear Dan,

I have no doubts whatsoever that FlashXDR (and hopefully NanoFlash, which I have on order) are capable of producing stunning images out of the full raster EX output. What I'd like to know is whether the future upgrade to 10 bit uncompressed is worthwhile with this particular camera.

Dear Piotr,

That is a hard question. We will have to run some tests.

We believe that the EX1/EX3 produces 10-bit HD-SDI output.

We do not keep an EX1/EX3 permemently in our lab.

I believe that we have not actually tested this in our lab, I just checked with our engineers.

We do have the equipment to test this and we will.


Obviously we have a stake in the 8-bit versus 10-bit discussion as the Flash XDR can currently record at only 8-bits. The future Full Uncompressed support will support 8 bit or 10 bits.

Our experience has been and very experienced people with very expensive cameras that can record full uncompressed at 10-bit has been that it just does not make much of a difference.

Richard Welnowski has spend weeks running these tests with his Thompson Viper. He finds it very difficult to see a difference, even at 300% magnification of the images.

So Piotr, we will test this as soon as we can get a EX1/EX3 in our lab.

I hope this helps.

Dan,

Thank you so much for being willing to look into this ?. BTW, I would think a good test would be to open footage in a ten bit project, and select swatches using the eyedroper tool.

If the ten-bit R, G and B values never increment/decrement by one, two or three, then it's eight footage. If they do change in amounts other than +/-4, then it's ten bit footage. No?

Dear Peter,

Yes, that would be an interesting test.

Another would be to look at the values with the eye dropper.

If one is in a 10-bit timeline (or canvas), and finds an odd value, then the data is 10 bit.

By odd, I mean ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Right b/c if 8-bit values are just scaled to ten bits, they will equal their original 8-bit values multiplied by 2^2, i.e. 4. And any whole number multiplied by 4 is even.

But if, on the other hand, they are values with ten significant bits, then odd numbers will be present as well. Very cool.


Michael Galvan,

I wonder if you'd be willing to do either of these two tests (Dan's version or mine) with your XL-H1 HD-SDI footage? It would be a nice confirmation of the methodology. ;)


P.S. So in the case of the Canon HDV cameras, which do supply "only" 8-bit color out of their HD-SDI ports, I guess it's a misnomer to say the "eight bit data is padded with two zeros" to fit in a ten bit stream. What really happens is the eight bit values are scaled by a factor of four. Is that correct?

... Michael, a test at your convenience would be nice :).


P.P.S. Actually, I guess a waveform monitor set to a 10-bit scale would show empty horizontal bands if the data were eight-bit scaled to ten-bit. ... Okay, enough of thinking about this for one night, LOL.

P.P.P.S. But, an eight-bit to ten-bit converter could dither the values, in which case, these tests would not work.

I checked with our engineers.

We checked an EX1 last year and found that it is indeed 10-Bit HD-SDI.

I hope this helps.

If they are correct, which I have little reason to doubt, then that is great news, and puts the EX's on par with some very powerful cameras.

To all those who have said it's ten-bit, I tip my hat. You were right.

Thanks very much Dan.

Dear Peter,

We have used the Sony EX1 with the Flash XDR and the images are just stunning.

We produced a small "Flash XDR Promo" with the EX1 + Flash XDR and a Canon XL H1 + Flash XDR. All footage was record 100 Mbps Long-GOP. All product shows are with the Canon XL H1, all others are with the Sony EX1.

No color correction was done to the images.

We shot with tungsten lighting and set both cameras to 3800K.

The Flash XDR performed flawlessly for this multiple day shoot.


Our seasoned editor, who is also an educator in this field, was just amazed at the footage.

He had been working in HD for a while and was truely impressed.

Our "Flash XDR Promo" is on YouTube. We would have liked to put it on Vimeo, but we did not want to violate the rules as it is rightfully considered commercial material.

So far I've yet to see any footage of EX footage through SDI. I wish someone would do a shootout.

Dear Brian,

I attempted to upload some EX1 / Flash XDR footage yesterday.

My sample file was 2.44 GB. After hours of work, I found out that our high-speed hosting site limits the filesize to 2 GB.

I have spoken with our editor, who has the original footage handy, and he will upload some original clips as soon as he can. His equipment is at another location, so this can not be done until next week.

Our office is scheduled to upload some on Monday.

Dear Brian,

Your DVD with sample files was sent on Thursday.