Ain’t your grandpas TV Production studio any more, I suppose.

[Mark Suszko]

So I’m an old fart, we’ll stipulate to that. That said, I don’t like the idea of “just eyeballing it” on a particular monitor, no matter how good the monitor is, versus using known, stable standards and scopes.

You have no control over what other delivery screens will do to your grade and levels, but if you keep everything within standards using scopes, you stand a at least chance that your output is cross-compatible across as many ways of seeing it as possible. I don’t believe anything remains “just” for one particular platform any more, no matter the original intention; indeed, the hardware sellers and content distributors market a multi-device viewing style where you pick something up on your phone, or your wristwatch, then maybe finish watching it on a bigger screen, and vice-a-versa.

It reminds me of the casual way I slapped a long playlist of music into my car’s playback unit without getting all the levels at least close to the same… and it makes for an annoying user experience when you have to keep cranking the volume way up or down for each song, to keep it appropriate and not overdriven or at a whisper.

I’ll adjust my belt onion and sit down now, so someone else can take a turn.

[Bill Davis]

[Mark Suszko] “So I’m an old fart, we’ll stipulate to that. That said, I don’t like the idea of “just eyeballing it” on a particular monitor, no matter how good the monitor is, versus using known, stable standards and scopes. “

I don’t disagree with you at all because that’s exactly the same way I’ve been conditioned for decades of practice.

However, the FACT of the matter is that if most people are watching content on computers and pocket devices today – and IF those devices do a credible job of reflecting the colors that another computer has generated – the need for scopes and keeping “within the lines” on stuff like the broadcast NTSC 100ire limit might be less mission critical than it used to be.

These young producers are creating content nearly exclusively for a relatively newly viable non-broadcast market. The gold standard for them is clearly NOT AC Neilson ratings, but “likes” and subscribes — and so that’s where they concentrate. They know the new game. And it’s NOT the same as the old game.

That’s just how it is.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Mark Suszko]

Blown-out whites on a phone don’t look any better on a bigger screen.

[Oliver Peters]

Let’s not get carried away. The “facility” described represents a pretty huge investment in capital. Note that he also mentions shooting with Alexas. So hardly DIY. And frankly that’s been the norm for quite a few years. There really hasn’t been the need for too much engineering handholding, unless you invested in a full-blown Avid system (storage, Media Central, etc) or similar.

As far as displays – NO COMPUTER DISPLAY IS VALID FOR GRADING – if you expect reliable and consistent results. In fact, the newest screens on the iMac Pros are far less accurate than previous Apple-branded models. They are too bright, too contrasty, and too saturated. Pretty – yes. Accurate – hardly. And in general, no two computer displays – even of the same vintage – match each other with consistency.

However, if you want a cheap way to grade – especially for FCPX – buy a high-quality consumer display and connect it via HDMI. FCPX pumps out a/v to it. That will give you more reliable results than the computer display ever will. Of course, use scopes, such as the built-in FCPX scopes. I would also go further and recommend using video limiting and audio limiting, too. This will give you the best results across a wide range of media devices.

I will admit, though, that iPads and smart phones have become the defacto lowest common denominator on which to check your video, much like Auratone cube speakers have historically been used in audio and recording studios. So load your file to FrameIO or Vimeo and check it on one of these devices and you’ll probably see what most of your clients will watch. At least for review-and-approval. Sad but true.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Herb Sevush]

[Bill Davis] ” the need for scopes and keeping “within the lines” on stuff like the broadcast NTSC 100ire limit might be less mission critical than it used to be.”

A minor point here. The 100 ire limit is a legacy of early analog transmission where video over 100 ire often bled into the audio track creating a buzzing sound. There has been no reason to stick to that limit in HD other than bureaucratic laziness. Many broadcasters, other than PBS, allow highlights that go up to 104 or so.

As for using a computer monitor for grading, I’ll quote Richard Pryor – “who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes.”

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf

[Paul Neumann]

I remember redubbing carts that had audio buzz from bad video levels.

[Tony West]

Looks like to me his focus was more on showing their collaborative workflow and may have just been roughing that grade in order to get to what he was really showing you.

Scopes or not, the production value of the video was nice. Nothing looked too blown out and they even handled the exposure of the one African America they featured well. Something I often see productions struggle with.

They had a natural ND if they had just pulled those blinds down a little more in the station shot but that’s minor.

They have found success with a set up that features no less than “5” iMac Pros, more than I have seen in the facilities I have been in and almost half a million views on that video.

[Herb Sevush]

[Tony West] “Looks like to me his focus was more on showing their collaborative workflow and may have just been roughing that grade in order to get to what he was really showing you. “

When the project was sent over to Matt, he had his scopes up when looking at the material, so I agree that I don’t think they are really grading by eye on a computer screen when dealing with an actual edit..

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf

[Greg Janza]

[Oliver Peters] “Let’s not get carried away. The “facility” described represents a pretty huge investment in capital”

In the youtube comments, Max Yuryev:

“I know you guys can afford it and Jellyfish is one of the first and now a high end brand nice but dang 40 grand… I’m putting together an updated new Qnap NAS for FCX (also 10GBE but also includes thunderbolt 3) $1800 for the unit and then add 8x 14TB drives (not cheap but still way less). 84TB usable space with raid 6 and same speed for shared editing since its limited to 10GBe. Just slightly more difficult to setup but works the same way and a total of under $5800 vs $40,000. What I’m more surprised about is you guys weren’t using a Server/NAS sooner. We just have two of us and switched over a year ago, so crazy to be swapping drives back and fourth. Congrats on the unit though and especially on the team!! Keep putting out that crispy content.”

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[Mark Raudonis]

I give credit to Luma Forge for pioneering this elegant solution for shared storage for the FCP crowd… but, come on, AVID has been doing this since the 90’s!