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Color bars?
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I remember a story about the make-up for Spock when “Star Trek” was starting up. Make-up wanted to decide on the correct color green to make him look more “Vulcan”. They did a series of filmed tests. After getting back the first test, they saw a normal looking actor. Add more green. The second test came back and he still looked too normal. Add more green. The third test came back and he still looked too normal.
The color timer was correcting the film. Thinking, “no one wold want a green character. I must make it look normal. Boy, those make-up people need help”.
Best,
Park -
[Nick Toth] “so that, even though VHS tape is not “broadcast spec”, the overall final one-inch master was.”
VHS tape IS to technical specs if time base correctly correctly. I think the OP may be confusing FCC tech specs to actual content. There is no spec for content. The only spec is for time base stability and blanking, alone with things like sync level, closed-captions, XML protocol and digital standards like CODFM.
Julie Barnathan at ABC once was asked about the picture quality of commercials. He said they would air anything as long as it was paid for.
[Nick Toth] “To get back to the original discussion – adding bars and tone to the front of a program does not perform any magic if the program that follows is not to spec in the first place.”
No magic. It just tells how to reproduce the material. If the bars do match the program, the facility that generated the material needs to be educated.
I get material that sometimes has no bars or tone at all. I adjust the Quad VTR to an average setting used on previous tapes and then look at the program. I then have to make an educated judgement to capture the material with reasonable adjustments. However, it is important for migration of archive material that you don’t change the content. You are to make an exact copy (or as close as possible). If the tape has bars, you set the tape to bars and do not change the levels.
Best,
Park -
[Nick Toth] “My point is – when you play back your final master it should be to spec. It doesn’t matter what steps it has gone through up to that point.”
So you mean that as long as you put out a “broadcast safe” signal, it doesn’t matter what the signal has been going through.
I disagree very much.
I care about how every single pixel is treated along the whole process.
I care about color-space conversion/color mapping, Chroma resampling.
I care about upscaling/downscaling algorithms.
And I want options and on control on all those processes.BTW, FCPX has fixed nothing on the FCP color issues. Has skipped them by means of computing-power.
Going 32bFP/RGB just to adjust your YUV picture Luma, is insane.
rafael -
Final Cut Pro x is not a professional editing system and you can’t tell me otherwise. I edit for broadcast and I need bars and tone why the *&^% is it not in the new fcx. Another reason fcx is not a professional edit system….where is batch render? Why can I not send more than one timeline for export using compressor. No matter what anyone says this is not a professional editing system when they exclude MAJOR things a professional editor needs. I despise this program seriously NO BARS & TONE I need that for every project I do
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You seem to be ignorant of the fact that there are professionals delivering broadcast work with FCPX.
In file based workflows, where there is no analog processing or proc amps, data that describes levels can remain consistent. When I deliver file based spots for broadcast, the delivery services aren’t requesting bars or tone. Analyzing the file tells them the levels are legal. -
No I’m not ignorant of that fact I deliver tape and file based daily but to me it seems that if this where truly for professionals removing such an important asset like bars & tone doesn’t make sense. I use FCS 3 and FCX every other day and I find that all the things they have yet to implement in FCX like these small factors make x a prosumer program more than apple trying to make a professional edit program easier for us they made a consumer editor, iMovie, more advanced and called it final cut. I have to deal with these small changes all the time and there is always a way around it or no particular need for it but to me it seems absolutely counterintuitive to remove the basic necessities. Even though most of my programs are delivered file based I still get requests for color bars and its frustrating that I had to export bars and tone from final cut 7 and import into x. I have a apple masters in final cut studio and to go from that to x was a serious disappointment it has some powerful aspects but it’s out weighted by the basic processes they excluded. I do not feel like apple took 7 and made it easier they took imovie and made it more advanced rather than meld the two together.
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A reference is a good think. It was absolutely necessary in the analog days and helpful to check levels in the digital world. You never know where the material will show up in the future.
With ESPN, we always send bars through the transmission path to check levels. We also do a lip sync test as well as a frequency sweep for audio. Yes, it all should be perfect and usually is but we still check it every time. You need a reference to check it.
From what I have seen, a circle test would be helpful due to all the aspect ratio mistakes I see on a daily basis.
Best,
Park -
Ripple Rraining moved their free generators which has a bars generator.
Best,
Geoff -
[C. Park Seward] “From what I have seen, a circle test would be helpful due to all the aspect ratio mistakes I see on a daily basis.
“I’m amazed at the number of people who can’t see the difference within a few shots. I’ve had full promos turned into me for approval where the editor was unaware that he was working with anamorphic footage.
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I’ve never had anyone ask me for bars and tone — and yet I use them all the time. They’re my go-to “in-between” blips for gag and blooper reels. Of all the ridiculous applications…and yet I go to them all the time.
For anyone who DOES need bars and tone, you can get excellent generators for FCPX that includes bars. It’s available here and it’s free: https://www.rippletraining.com/categories/apple-pro-apps-tutorials/final-cut-pro-x-tutorials/fcp-classic-generators-volume-1.html
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