• Blackmagic Design

  8 bit vs. 10 Bit

  Posted by Kai Whittaker on March 1, 2006 at 3:04 pm

  What is the quality difference between the 8-Bit Uncompressed 4:2:2 1080i codec (YUV) and the 10-Bit Uncompressed 4:2:2 1080i codec (YUV)? I’ve read that on HDCAM tape, everything is stored at 8 bit, but that it can come out via SDI at 10 bit. I also read that the 10-bit takes an additional 60 MB per second of disk space. Does it really make a difference in quality?

  John Sellars replied 20 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  John Sellars

  March 15, 2006 at 4:09 am

  As a colorist, I would suggest geting your footage into 4:2:2 10 bit as soon as possible. Most content can look great in 8 bit, but once one starts to push the contrast, or work with subtle gradations, banding rears it’s ugly head. The worst case is a fade to black against an object such as a wall or sky.

  Life would be great if everyone would record the output of their F900’s to an SRW-1 at full (image and color) resolution.

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