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8 bit uncompressed looks soft on Direct TV
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The network will only take BETA or DVCAM. BETA transfers at 19mps and DVCAM at 5mps. ANy suggestions?
Is that the color red you want to use?
Producer for HIGHER GROUND OUTDOORS. -
[Delano Bryant] “Does anyone know why 8 Bit should look soft on a direct TV signal?”
What you deliver to a network and what you see on the final broadcast are two completely different things. I have HDTV channels here on Charter Cable that look worse than Standard Def sometimes. Why is that? Who knows, but they compress the heck out of every channel these days.
Out of about 150 standard def channels on Charter, about 30 are really sharp, the rest are varying levels of sharp to really soft.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
[Delano Bryant] “THe other issue is…. THat some of the other shows on this same network. Have a little sharper or deeper color look then we do. Our Show goes through a color corrector and should have a deeper saturated look.”
That all depends on how they are compressing it on their end. If you deliver 12 episodes, my guess is all 12 will look slightly different than one another. The network compresses it once, then DirectTV compresses it again for delivery to the satellite.
The image suffers twice before you see it at home. You have no control over what the image will look like once it’s done with those two compression cycles. You have to just deliver the highest quality product you can. Between BetaSP and DVCAM, I would take BetaSP and push my saturation just a touch.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
[Delano Bryant] “The network will only take BETA or DVCAM. BETA transfers at 19mps and DVCAM at 5mps. ANy suggestions?”
You should try DVCAM. Even though it has a lower bitrate, it is sharper, and may suffer less than analog when getting hit on its way to the bird.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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[David Roth Weiss] ”
You should try DVCAM. Even though it has a lower bitrate, it is sharper, and may suffer less than analog when getting hit on its way to the bird.”I’m gonna agree with David here. DVCam will probably compress a lot better.
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Are you saying deliver 10bit uncompressed onto DVCAM?
Is that the color red you want to use?
Producer for HIGHER GROUND OUTDOORS. -
Walter I understand between channels being different. BUT between programming on the same channel? I’m seeing some shows on this network that look better then others.
Is that the color red you want to use?
Producer for HIGHER GROUND OUTDOORS. -
Well, the obvious answer is to ask the network why their ads look better than your show and what format do they take from their advertisers. And, what are they “possibly” doing different to ads and your show after they get the tapes/media. Asking here and having everyone second guess is not going to help.
Gary
Mac Pro 3Ghz Intel Dual Duo, 6GB RAM, 30″ ACD
MacBook Pro 17″
Sony XDCAM EX with a Sachtler Tripod System -
[Delano Bryant] ”
Walter I understand between channels being different. BUT between programming on the same channel? I’m seeing some shows on this network that look better then others.”Yep, happens all the time, especially on Cable networks. Discovery, ESPN, Food, HGTV, Cartoon, all of them. You’ll see some amazing programming and then others that looked it went through a single pass on Compressor at 200kbps.
If you deliver your show on BetaSP or DVCAM and I deliver my show on HDCAM, guess which show is going to look better on the network broadcast?
If you shoot your show on DVCAM cameras and I shoot mine on DVCPro HD cameras and downconvert that to SD, guess which show is going to look better on the network broadcast?
If you shoot your show at 24p in SD it’s going to be softer than if you shot in 29.97 in SD.
And so on and so forth.
There are so many factors that go into why one show looks better than others that there’s really no telling what the issue might be and how you might go about correcting for it. I would start with Quality Control and ask them if they notice your show looking softer than other programming they are receiving. If the answer is no, then the issue is coming from the broadcast.
How does your show look if you watch it on regular cable instead of DirecTV? The same episode airing at the exact same time can look completely different on Cable due to the re-compression again by the cable company before it gets to your house.
You’re going to get into a never-ending loop if you try to correct for one particular broadcast. If DirecTV looks better, now the Cable broadcast might be too saturated, and vice versa.
All you can do is make sure Quality Control says you fall within their specs and you’re happy with the way it leaves your facility.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
Your concerns over delivering 10bit uncompressed on SP Beta are needless. As soon as you leave the digital domain, the bit rate is a moot point. If you really want to see what is causing the problem then send them a DV Cam master and compare the two. Forget bit rates, just go with what looks best.
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