[Charles Taylor]

Yes, that’s true. I was hoping that there’s a way to preserve super whites through my whole pipeline, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. What I’ve got is an edited sequence in FCP – I was hoping that I could pick out the VFX shots, export them with no handles (edit is locked), do VFX, bring them back into FCP, then do the color work in Color.

So, I was hoping to export the clips as UC 10bit to maintain everything intact through the whole pipeline (I prefer doing 10 bit even when I started with 8 bit, so that the CC goes a little smoother).

What I’m doing now is doing the CC (because Color can seemingly export UC 10bit footage with superwhites), sending back to FCP and going to VFX (because at this point, it doesn’t matter so much about superwhites as they’re going to be clipped off for broadcast).

If Apple doesn’t fix QT and FCP, I think I’m going to lose it.

[Charles Taylor]

No dice… Sorry.

[Charles Taylor]

ISO is not relevant when discussing digital sensors, in my experience. Google ettr for the prevailing philosophy for digital exposure. Use your meter to ensure your contrast is consistent.

[Charles Taylor]

I would assume that what compressor calls MP4 is MP4 part 2, and what it calls H.264 is MP4 part 10. So I do not think it is the same thing.

[Charles Taylor]

I would crop as a last step, perhaps in your online or colour correct.

First, though, I would ask the post house why my DPX’s have a) the perf in the frame and b) why they aren’t 2048 pixels wide.

[Charles Taylor]

I found MP4 to be better than h.264.

I used MP4 high bitrate, 640×360 (it was all 16×9 content).

Looks great, is small.

[Charles Taylor]

If you have access to an optical flow uprezzer (Shake does it, dunno about AE) uprezz the DVX to 720, edit in 720. Shoot progressive on the DVX.

That’s the maximum quality go-through.

If the h.254 is 720 high bit rate, then this will be fine.

If its YouTube quality, do anything you want…

[Charles Taylor]

AFAIK assuming a static frame size based on 100mb/s for the standard rate would be fairly accurate.
ie.
1080i60 ~ 100mbs
1080p24 ~ 80mbs
720p60 ~ 100mbs
720p24 ~ 40 mbs

etc.

[Charles Taylor]

I would wager you’re running up against any one of several things.

1. For some reason, the Render in RGB setting. I left this alone when I was working in 10 bit RGB.
2. The preference regarding gamma levels for RGB settings. There are a variety of options there, I suggest trying them and seeing what happens.
3. Some ColorSync nonsense (I know, it shouldn’t be relevant, but you never know). What gamma is you monitor set to? FCP expects gamma 1.8.

If I may ask, why are you using the 4:4:4 codec? Since FCP will convert your 10 bit to 8 bit anyway, I might try using a YUV(ish) codec. Or do an offline/online workflow using DPX. (Sorry, I’m sure you’ve considered this and rejected it for some reason, but just thought I’d bring it up).

If you want, you could try sending me a few frames of your original footage, and I’ll try your workflow myself (I don’t have dual link, but otherwise my setup is similar).

[Charles Taylor]

Sounds like you want Hilite. A heavy plastic shower curtain type stuff, probably there are different grades, but the stuff I had was much like 250.