-
Legalize in FCP
Has anyone had success at legalizing (correct broadcast levels) in Final Cut rather than doing it tape to tape in the on-line house? I have heard both that it can be done and also that the filters in FC are not good enough.
Thanks -
23 Replies
-
Yes, I have. But not with the Broadcast Safe filter:
https://lfhd.blogspot.com/2006/10/bs-filter.html
One trick is to export the entire sequence using Quicktime Conversion, but choose the same settings as your sequence. This way the levels get crushed into the legal areas. The drawback is that there is a slight gamma shift in the colors and exposure.
The best way is to color correct each clip individually with the 3-way…or to get a Kona card that will legalize it as it outputs, or legalize it when you dub.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
[Rob Gardner] “Has anyone had success at legalizing (correct broadcast levels) in Final Cut rather than doing it tape to tape in the on-line house? I have heard both that it can be done and also that the filters in FC are not good enough.”
We’re going to deliver our 50th HD Broadcast master this month. about 38 or so fully color corrected in FCP, the others in Final Touch HD.
We use a combination of FCP’s filters and have never had a show rejected. We use the Broadcast Safe filter to clip off any leftover artifacts with no problems. We really liked Final Touch HD, but the product is just not working or even supported right now so it’s been removed from production.
But we have no issues using the filters in FCP and haven’t had any issues with the networks.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
-
Rob,
Clearly, with your track record, you know that there’s a lot more that happens when you put your hard work in the hands of a full-time colorist than simply making the program broadcast safe. By no means does FCP have all the tools available to colorist with DiVinci or even Final Touch, but as Walter and Shane have mentioned, right out of the box FCP certainly has the necessary tools required to produce a broadcast quality master.
When push comes to shove however, the decision to do color correction in-house with FCP really comes down to budget and/or time constraints. A really good professional colorist working on a DiVinci will undoubtedly produce the very best product possible, saving a great deal of time in the process, because they have the knowledge, the tools, and most importantly, realtime capabilities that FCP simply doesn’t have. However, these luxuries do cost a little extra… I always do tape to tape color correction on DiVinci when I can, but the rest of the time I do it myself in FCP. Is there a difference??? You bet…
DRW
-
[David Roth Weiss] “A really good professional colorist working on a DiVinci will undoubtedly produce the very best product possible, saving a great deal of time in the process, because they have the knowledge, the tools, and most importantly, realtime capabilities that FCP simply doesn’t have.”
Amen to that. We have an artist here in Atlanta, Ron Anderson at CineFilm, who is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and a true artist at color correction in every sense of the word. I’m lucky to be able to chat with him once in a while and peek over his shoulder to glean some knowledge off what he does.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
-
I’ve delivered many shows to major cable and satelite providers (some picky as heck) and use the broadcast safe filter set to “normal” as my final step and have never had a show rejected for levels.
-
-
[Shane Ross] “I wonder what is happening with me then?”
Not really sure. We use the Broadcast Safe with no issues here. Obviously you need to really CC in the 3 Way CC filter first to bring your levels close, but then the Broadcast Safe is our failsafe to make sure everything is clipped off the top.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
-
[walter biscardi] “Obviously you need to really CC in the 3 Way CC filter first to bring your levels close, but then the Broadcast Safe is our failsafe to make sure everything is clipped off the top”
I do that. Then when I render the levels go right back up. Same issue at Bunim/Murray here in LA. Mark Raudonis complained of the same thing to me. So we don’t use it. I have other tricks I rely on.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Strange, it works here (holds after a render). I wonder if there’s some sort of gremlin that’s making it not stick for some.
-
Shane,
But I’m having an strange issue with FC. I CC with the 3 bands filter controling the levels with the Luma and Chroma range frame by frame and when every one have the green circle I render. Then I review the clip and many of the rames got the yellow circle again. Why?
salud,
Rafael
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up