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DVCPRO50 codec vs Uncompressed 8/10 bit codec
Creative Cow Users-
Help us settle a friendly dispute with the company that installed our 2 new Quad G5 FCP5 systems. Kona LEH cards. Xserve Raid with 5 terabytes of storage over fiber.
We are a smaller Midwest advertising agency with four editors doing After Effects and motion graphics on mainly :30 TV spots for broadcast. We shoot primarily DVCPRO-50 and some super 16mm film.
What the installation company reccomends:
Sequence setttings using the DVCPRO50-NTSC codec with frame size 720×480.What our editors and manager prefer for graphics/compositing quality:
Sequence settings using Uncompressed 10 bit 4:2:2 NTSC at 720×486 frame size.Any input to the pros and cons of each side of the debate? We can’t figure out why they are reccomending 720×480 instead of 486, but understand the data/size ratio for using the DVCPRO50 codec over Uncompressed…
Thanks!
RM -
3 Replies
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THis thread will be a can of worms but here is my two cents.
Even if you capture in the DVCPRO50 codec, you will preserve the picture quality better if you render the final spot to 10 bit uncompressed an do all of your GFX work in that color space.
Tha last thing you want to do is compress a compressed image which is what you would be doing if you render out DVCPRO50 sequences instead of the Uncompressed codec
The easy thing to do is to think of it in terms of photographs. Would you take a JPEG and Add more JPEG compression or would you convert it to tiff and keep it lossless.
As far as the frame size goes, the DVCPRO50 codec shoots 480vertical and there are six Xtra lines in 10 bit uncompressed. You do not have to have a 486 sequence size in uncompressed, you could create a custom set up that is uncompressed with 480 frame size to avoid any scaling issues or you could scale up the 480 and be sure it sits on the correct scan line so that you do not confuse the field order.
By wrking uncompressed you increase the data rate, while you will not gain more resolution, the important thing to consider is that you will not LOOSE resolution or color reproduction in the uncompressed color space.
David
Peace and Love 🙂
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+1 to everything you said. Also with the 10 bit you dount see as much jaggies on the edges of your GFX.
Its very frustrating to make somnething in PS and see the edges tear up in a lower or compressed resolution -
Just watch yourself when adding anything like a drop shadow within FCP with 10 bit. You can get ugliness really fast.
8 bit works just fine for most cases.
Jeremy
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