[Alex Maranda]

ok there are a number of issues there obscuring the question at hand. First off you asked about the xvYCC color space, which, while requiring Full Swing values, is different from REC.709/YUV in other ways (it can translate to negative RGB values).

So, what you should test if you have the means, are the following scenarios:
a) RGB(444) input on HDMI: will it be encoded to YUV video (studio swing levels) or full swing (0-255) making it illegal video? I expect the former and hope for the latter.
b) YUV (full swing) input: will it be encoded as is, and if not, will the superblack and superwhite be clipped or will the full range be scaled to legal video range 15-235. Ideally this should be a configuration option.

[Alex Maranda]

Ref. Full Swing (0-255) vs. Studio Swing (16-235) on the Shuttle 2: You don’t know this for a fact do you? I’d like to know what you learn from your shoot tomorrow.

BE AWARE that your NLE can remap levels depending on settings, so this may be an import artifact. In AVID you shouldn’t import at all, just place the files within AVID MediaFiles/MXF/ and delete the database files. If you do import, import with Rec.709 levels, not RGB. Importing as RGB will in fact “conform” levels to Studio Swing.

[Alex Maranda]

He can’t afford an iMac plus a TB enclosure to attach a Blackmagic card, he already mentioned that; he, as myself, lives in a developing country where products “Designed in California Manufactured in China” are priced as luxury goods, which they are, based on local sales volume.

Based on just basic affordability, I ran FCP for the last four years on the “under-spec, old system” (Hackintoshed). Any stability issues I ran into were solely due to the decrepit FCP codebase.

In the end he’ll buy the system he can afford. No need to get excited if you’re not a fanboi. I provided him with a datapoint, that even old and relatively generic PC hardware is adequate for Avid.

[Alex Maranda]

I also made the move from FCP to MC6, using the same 5 year old PC hardware (the system is also a Hackintosh, that’s how I run FCP).

Spec-wise it’s a Q6600 CPU on a fairly low end Asus board. 8GB of DDR2 RAM. Windows 7 SP1. Nvidia GTX285. I also have Intensity and Decklink Extreme 3D+. Both work fine, save for a (possibly driver) issue where it freezes on Play when switching in/from Source/Record to Color Correction mode. The workaround is to initiate capture out of the Blackmagic card everytime you switch. Keep the capture tool at the ready.

I just cut a multicam clip (4 angles) at 720p/DNxHD90X out of a single (very fast) WD drive. It worked a treat. 1080p struggles a bit but it’s workable. Not bad for a 5 year old system.

Don’t let the apple fanbois brainwash you, they will go “lalala can’t hear you” in the face of all reason and evidence. You can exchange files with the Mac in any number of ways (Paragon NTFS drivers in OS X or HPFS Macdrive in Windows).