Aaron Star
Forum Replies Created
-
How much RAM is in your system?
How much preview RAM set under the Vegas preferences?
-
The C100 has a native ISO of 850, which means you could double that before seeing noise compared to other cameras.
-
What are you system specs, like cpu, gpu, ram. Do you have gpu enabled in your render profile, under preferences.
You could try some tests where you render a one minute clip to xdcam, or hdcam-sr-lite. Then try you render and compare times.
-
If you compare a digital video file to video tape they are pretty similar in design. I believe this is because each successive recording format is just trying to improve on the predecessor.
Film stored images across most of the film area. Audio was linear track optically exposed that looked much like the waveforms you see today.
VHS and Beta were very similar in size and how they worked. The differences were the amount of info they stored and way they wrote the information. Basically the tape format was a linear audio track written at the bottom of the tape, with the video written diagonally across the remaining space. The degree of rake and tape speed meant more or less information could be stored on the tape. More information meant better picture resolution, color, and improved sound.
Todays digital video file operate in a very similar fashion to its predecessors. You can break the file down to the base components like this:
Audio Codec – Since CD days we still use pretty much the same audio format for storage called PCM or Pulse Code Modulation. Advancements in audio have produced small gains in terms of storing audio with more resolution. CD audio was 44KHz@16-bit, DVD came out with a standard of 48KHz@16-bit, audiophiles/music pushed the recording up to 96khz@24-bit for todays standards. Much like the tape format above, the KHz is the tape speed or resolution, and the bit depth is the amount of info you can store for the one sample. So every second the audio recorder is sampling 96 thousand times a sec, and for that one instance noting 24 bits of level information.
Level information can be easily described like the using a pencil on paper, and trying to represent a curve while writing only stairs. The smaller you make your stairs look, the better your curve seems to represent the original.
Compression is layered on top of all this. Compression like MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, …the list continues, is all just reducing the amount of audio information that needs to be stored so we can fit more on digital recording devices. Formats like AC-3 is just MP3 audio with more than 2 tracks ability. Dolby developed this and became a standard in the entertainment because it saves space on the the DVD so that there is more space for video data. There were other standards like Windows Media that also had this ability and better sound quality, but royalty payments were likely under bid by Dolby, or Dolby had better industry connections than a software(Nerds) Company like MS.
Video Codec – Video works very much like recording multi track audio. The picture is broken down in base components like Red, Green, Blue, then recorded using various “encoding” methods like RGB or YUV.
VHS wrote mostly B&W information with a little color information. This trend continues because engineers know that what is most important to viewer, and recording standards can only store so much info. This balance is what divides Pro Gear from Consumer Gear. Pros want to store as much info as possible, consumers just want to see their kid at a birthday and not pay to much to do it.
A CODEC is just a mathematical representation of recording picture. Similar to digital audio recording and compression, frame rate like 30p vs 60p is the frequency of notation. Bit rate is the amount of information stored for each frame. Increase frame size and bitrate needs to grow. Again like audio recording, engineers use Bit Depth to their advantage by recording picture at 8-bits to save storage, and in some cases just to simply work on low cost/powered devices like an IPhone.
Video codecs can be interchanged inside the container, depending on what the user or business model requires. This can be low bitrate consumer to keep storage and costs down, or professional levels that record as much info as possible.
Pro Codecs are like ProRes, DNxHD, DNxHR, Sony HDCAM/SStP, HDCAM422, HDCAM-EX, Cineform, and high profiles of h.264.
Todays 10-16bit video formats are just storing more information in a custom/prototype engineered method of recording and playing that info back. Greater bit depth of your recorded image the more refined sunset gradients appear, and the richer your eye perceives the color. Of course you need specialized display hardware to playback these formats, as much as you need Pro cameras to shoot these formats. RED, ARRI, Blackmagic are examples of cameras that shoot in these formats. The digital projection at your local cinema is an example of a display device that operates at these levels. Your home UHD TV is more than likely operating at 8-bit levels since this is the cheapest way to produce hardware. You have to be very discerning with equipment interfaces and display types to navigate the shell games hardware manufacturers put up with marketing.
Today Consumer formats are like AVCHD(Blueray Standard)/h.264, h.265/HEVC/VP9. The line between consumer and Pro starts to blur greatly here. 4K standard calls for high bitrates and 10-bit video color. Manufacturers are continuing to produce cheap hardware utilizing 8-bit color because they already have working manufacturing lines for the older HD gear. They simply push the resolution up 4K using a very similar standards. They also maintain business model by separating Pro gear out at the higher standard.
SDCards, like tape, have a maximum sustainable write speeds. So consumer video standards are aligned with what the cheap hardware can do. Even YouTube works like this. Google has to support so many streams per second that it is hard to even comprehend. Choosing a standard bitrate allows infrastructure costs to be manageable. It might not be the best, but it allows everybody to be served.
Profiles are another aspect of Codecs that is hard to understand, but comes again from building on the past. Codec profiles stem from hardware requirements that rigidly determine what can played back or recorded. Early edit systems required adherence to this standard. Today’s computers allow the user to select a standard, and most modern devices will playback that information. Even Digital Cinema systems will play back a consumer HD signal, but why would you choose to display like that if you can have a lot more quality for your presentation. AVC/h.264 in lower profiles only supports HD and 8-bit video. High Profiles of AVC/h.264 supports 4K at high bitrates and 10-bit color. Basically just “turning up” the operating level h.264.
h.265/HEVC is vary similar to h.264 in that is it simply a better compressor with the ability to store even greater color information. Better compression is the main thing with h.265/HEVC since YouTube players and ISPs like Comcast would love to carry less bandwidth to maximize profits on installed infrastructure. DVD manufacturers love 265/HEVC because the bandwidth fits inside existing SD card, and DVD standards. Simply changing out the video codec chip on a DVD player and you basically have a 4k Blu-ray. Video streaming has put a huge dent in DVD sales, and so most hardware manufacturers do not see future in making a 4K DVD player. 4K DVD is still be talked about because ISPs fail to deliver enough bandwidth to the home, and remote users to stream even h265 4k videos.
Container – Container is simply a data stream format designed to hold both the audio and video streams in one file. There is header information written that tells the player what is coming down the pipe and what format it will be in. Some playback systems, like Cinema DCP, actually use 2 separate files for Audio and video.
AVI, MOV, MP4, MXF are examples of “CODEC” containers. Containers like proceeding specifications (VHS, CD, DVD) maindate what can be “encoded” inside the format.
AVI & MOV can hold almost any audio or video codec to a point.
.MP4 was designed to be a display format and generally does not allow uncompressed audio. The standard determines this, there are exceptions by manufacturers extending the “standard.”
.MXF is a newer format designed to allow a professional feature set. Features like very high bit rate codecs, along side multiple channels of audio. Those two things combined are what brings good picture with 20 channels of sound to the theatre. Manufacturers like Apple, AVID, and Sony make their own combinations of video codec, audio codec inside the .MXF standard. Then give them a marketing name and sell that to filmmakers as the “best system that meets their needs.” Basically though the competing formats have engineering levels of difference in quality. ProRes, HDCAM, DNxHD, DNxHR, XDCAM, Cineform pretty much use existing technologies and then sell the end user that their method is the best solution.
Who determines how fast the industry progresses? Legal side of things generally determine costs. The “Consumer” comes next by going for the cheap bang for the buck vs. selecting a true evolution and gain in performance or quality.
-
Can you post a sample of your flicker problem to YouTube or Vimeo?
One idea I had, is to export to EXR, TIF, or PNG. Then use one of the software that corrects exposure issues with time lapse shots. Time Lapse shots often have iris issues that create slight variance in exposure from one frame to the next. This just sounds similar to lighting flicker. However it does depend on the amount of flicker, in the frame.
-
What lights are you looking at specifically?
Diffuser I have seen used with the latest LED panels to attempt to unify the LEDS multiple shadow issue. But a diffuser might also be refer to a 4×4 frame of opal,250, or 216 in front another light.
Softbox could be an overhead fixure, or stand mounted fixture designed to control the output large soft source. It could also refer to a Chimera with diffusion mounted to another lamp, or a rig like Mole Richardson’s “Softlight”.
It really depends on what you are looking at, marketing terms used, and camera guy, or gaffer is using for terminology.
-
Some shooting tips with the C100:
C100 has a native ISO of 850, that means shoot all footage at 850. Stop down or use Polarizer and ND combos to control exposure for exteriors.
Shoot at a 4-5.6 to optimize the sharpness of the lens. Possibly even an 8 for a cheap stock lens. This really depends on the quality of the lens, as some lens that may have a 1.8 setting can start to look pretty soft wide open. Use a longer lens at a higher stop if you are not getting the depth of field look you are going for.
Quality of light matters. The fluorescents in the gym are not created equal to a “Kino Flo” tube. Consider changing the lights you are shooting under. Use unified, single point light sources for sharper details. Turn off or unscrew fluorescent tube in overheads that are not the same color temp. Stay away from shooting interior shots under warehouse mercury vapor lights. Steer clear of ebay cheap LED panels, and rent high quality light sources if you need to. Choose locations that are naturally lit already like outside, use a window for side lighting subject. Shooting against the shade side of things, this allows for sun lit backlighting, but background is shaded so it does not overexpose. Shoot the C100 like film, so use an incident meter to set exposure and judge backlight overexposure. Manage backlight exposures and keep inside of +3 stops.
For your main interview shot, turning off the overheads immediately over the subject and using 1-2 Kinos on a stands would give you a better look. Leave the background lights on for depth. Light for the old Light, Dark, Light.
Getting something like a Blackmagic Hyperdeck shuttle or Video assist and recording to ProRes or DNxHD 422 would allow for better colors and color correction. Then edit, and render in 32-bit Video Levels to an XAVC-I HD profile. Let YouTube throw away the information it does not need. There is no effective upload size limit on YouTube anymore.
Learn to shoot a color chart before each setup. This will allow for eye dropper color correction of light sources inside Vegas.
Color Correct out the greenish cast from Fluorescent lights in existing footage.
Sony Sharpen lightly can help (<=.250)
Color Saturation levels can help a little, but most of the time your light source is what is producing poor color levels.
Try using Transparent to Black color gradients to add some contrast to the lighting in those flat gyms. This will help direct the eye towards the key subject.
Play with Sony Soft Contrast FX that can add vignette, smooth out skin tones, and add contrast.
Conversely Hit Films Bleach Bypass can create something different to the softcon filter.
Consider dropping color for B&W, and using either of the 2 filters above. This will make the purple issue on your interview subject not so noticeable. B&W can solve a ton of issues with bad interior light sources. Sony B&W + Sony Color Corrector ,in that order, and you can add some color to the B&W tones.
-
For shorter subjects, I just use multiple tracks for each camera angle, and group the takes. Then using a blank top track for selection, hitting S for spilt, selecting the top down events you do not want to see and muting them. I find this works more fail safe than then popping in an out of the multicam view. Plus it keeps all your options open as far as applying FX. The blank top track for selection cuts all tracks below vs just the clip on the cursor.
I find the Multicam useful for long event type coverage type or TV program type editing. Also if you perform CC on your camera angles before, and then just use Multicam just for cutting.
Maybe changing the order of the way you do things might help too. Apply FX after the cutting is done. Then expand the tracks out of Multicam, which gives you basically the muted track view described above.
-
You could try exporting your clip as a .PNG sequence. This will give you individual frames. Then import the image sequence, during the import of the sequence you will get a popup where you can set the frame rate you want the media to play back at. At this point you could choose 60FPS, which will effectively speed up the footage if rendered to 60fps.
Most of use are trying to figure out why you want to do what you are trying to do.
-
I would disable the GPU in the render as settings, Vegas preferences, and restart Vegas. Then do another test render to see if you still get the error.
Please post the media info Graham asked for, and possibly specs on your host system configuration. GPU. RAM. CPU. Motherboard.