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processing question
Hi,
I am doing the color for a project that was shot on HD, and is delivering SD. The editor has set it up so that there is an HD-SD conversion happening in the sequence, ie the sequence is 720×480, and the media is 1920×1080, so it is being scaled. This SD signal is being sent out of Final Cut to a Kona 3 card, and then fed to an HD monitor as an SD signal.
My question is this: is this the best way for the HD-SD conversion to happen, processor and color wise? Final cut is doing the conversion, rather than the Kona, and I am color correcting based on the SD display that has already passed thru this conversion.
I believe it was set up this way so that the color correct would be performed on the SD conversion, as this is the delivery format. -
5 Replies
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It is set up wrong. WAY wrong.
It is best to let the KONA do the converting. Hardware vs software…the Kona is just far better. And it doesn’t matter if you are delivering SD…color correct in HD, and then downconvert to SD via the Kona when you output. Since you shot in HD…work in HD. From start to finish. The mentality to take the HD footage and work with it in SD is flawed. Along those lines, why not SHOOT SD if you are going to deliver SD?
Do everything in HD…so that you have an HD master, should that need ever arise. Downconvert when you output.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
That\’s certainly not the optimal way to scale the project, and seems like it\’s going to entail mucho rendering during grading, but the alternative is going to tape via the Kona and recapturing, which is also time consuming. Not an easy call unless the scaling to SD has obvious issues.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
http://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Colorist – UP IN THE AIR (electronic press kit) – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Like Shane, I too would grade the HD then down-convert via the Kona, but some people do want their SD deliverable graded and that’s their decision, hence my first answer.
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I agree with you here, and it is a strange way to work. The thing is, the director is very concerned with color and look shifts when the project is converted to SD. Thus why he wants to do the color correct on the SD signal.
As far as processing, if I am working in an SD sequence like this, is the processing also happening in SD color space? In other words, does FCP do the effects processing or the resolution processing first.
This may be my real only arguing point for me to be able to do the CC in HD. -
Huh what? Do it all in HD. But set the Kona to output SD. That way you’re grading HD, but with SD compatibility. If you’re that worried about SD, you should also be viewing on an SD CRT. Colors can look fine on LCD even way out of range but on the tube reds and oranges will be very obvious when they’re wrong.
I often work with my matrox outputting center crop SD to a Sony 20″ SD PVM and at the same time sending HD to LCD.
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