Edit XDCAM, Export PRORES?

[Walter Biscardi]

I believe you can change your render settings in the XDCAM timeline to simply render in ProRes.

Also, if you send your show to Color, you can render out your graded show in ProRes from there.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Jason Prisk]

I do have my render setting to ProRes, but for some reason I still get nasty looking gradients–primarily on fades in and out of black.

Thanks for the input, Walter. Someday I want to see your place. I am in Stockbridge.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Jason Prisk] “I do have my render setting to ProRes, but for some reason I still get nasty looking gradients–primarily on fades in and out of black. “

That would be your XDCAM original format. It’s an 8bit format, heavily compressed. Changing to ProRes won’t change any banding issues in the original format. It merely doesn’t add anything to what’s already there and keeps your graphics clean.

If you don’t want banding, then shoot with a higher quality format.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital.

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[Walter Biscardi]

I’ll also add that the monitor you’re watching your footage play back on can also add more banding if it’s not a high quality broadcast monitor.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital.

Read my Blog!

[Jason Prisk]

Thanks again for the input. I agree that there are restrictions with XDCAM, and I do not have this problem with other formats such as HDCAM because I typically convert them to ProRes before editing. Projects shot on the EX1/EX3 typically have a more limited budget and I need to get right to editing as quickly as possible.

To the point…Note that the problem is occurring ONLY in gradients that I ADD in Final Cut (fades in and out of black, primarily).

When I render them on an XDCAM timeline (ProRes as my Sequence Render Setting), there is banding. But when I take everything to an actual 10bit ProRes Sequence the fades look great.

Not worth spending any more time on, really. My original question was simply whether anyone could foresee problems stemming from this workflow.