MPEG2 rendering – colour levels ?

[John Rofrano]

[Steve Roberts] “Do I need to do a levels (computer to studio) conversion to change my black and white levels or does the Main Concept codec do this compression for me ?”

MainConcept will clip at 16-235 so you won’t get illegal levels but the proper way to do this is to adjust your levels to not be illegal in the first place. I would use Levels with the Computer RGB to Studio RGB preset because it will “scale” them to be within the legal limits instead of clipping (which is may leave undesirable effects).

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Steve Roberts]

Thanks John,

I did do a couple of tests to see if the MPEG had any info above 235 and below 16, which it didn’t. But I also noticed that the colour was the same as the AVI I put through the codec. Which has now shown me with the help of your answer that I was just chopping off the bottom and top end.

ANOTHER QUESTION: The same material will be going to Bluray but in MP4 format. Do I need to do the same levels compression ?

Cheers,

Steve R.

Amongst Projects
——— Sound, Visual and Electronic Content
projects.amongstmyselves.com

[John Rofrano]

[Steve Roberts] “ANOTHER QUESTION: The same material will be going to Bluray but in MP4 format. Do I need to do the same levels compression ?”

Blu-ray is no different. If you are going to watch it on a TV, you should keep your colors between 16-235. You would only use 0-100 for the Internet or PC display.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Steve Roberts]

Thanks John !

Steve R.

Amongst Projects
——— Sound, Visual and Electronic Content
projects.amongstmyselves.com