[C. Ryan stemple]

Hey John,

Just to let you know, Resolve Lite on a Mac is limited to 1 GPU, where the full Resolve for Mac is limited to 3 GPUs. Blackmagic’s comparison page for Resolve is actually super comprehensive!

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/davinciresolve/compare/

Now, whether or not Lite can use 1 GPU for the GUI and the other GPU for grading…that I’m not sure of. My heart leans towards, “Maybe.”

—
Carl Ryan Stemple
Color | Editorial | Photography
digitalbarbershop.com

[C. Ryan stemple]

I’m personally not familiar with this concept of “double legal” that you’re speaking of, but I do know a bit about laying off to tape. However, in my experience, I’ve always done online lay-offs via Avid, not FCP. Though I’m relatively certain that the basic concepts are sound either way.

(Converting a digital sequence from a computer NLE to an analogue signal into tape form is all about signal flow and color space – specifically, interpreting an RGB color space in YCbCr space. This is key in laying off to Digibeta via component lay-off, as your video signal will flow into the tape deck and onto the tape via three cables – Luminance (Y), Blue-minus-Luminance (Cb), and Red-minus-Luminance (Cr). For an HD lay off, all of these signals flow through the same cable. There is LOADS more to digital-to-tape lay offs, but that’s the basic gist.)

As I had mentioned before, it’s key to think in terms of IRE, especially when you’re dealing with tape. Where as broadcast-safe black for 10-bit video is 64, broadcast-safe IRE for analogue video is 7.5, which is also established by SMPTE and corresponds to it’s digital video equivalent.

I guess what I’m trying to say in a round-about fashion is…I really wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you’ve graded within the broadcast-safe limits, then your project should in theory be fine whether it goes out through digital broadcast or to tape media.

If it’s still concerning you, talk it over with your lab – they’re generally very helpful and competent!

—
Carl Ryan Stemple
Color | Editorial | Photography
digitalbarbershop.com

[C. Ryan stemple]

Hey Marco,

Your scopes look perfectly normal! The full range of a 10-bit video signal is in fact 0-1023, but for broadcast, SMPTE has set the legal standards at 64-940. I know you don’t come from a tv/tape/video background necessarily, but think of it in terms of IRE: On a 0-100 IRE scale, 64 is remapped to “0” IRE, and 940 is remapped to “100” in broadcast.

Does that make a whole lot of sense? Probably not on the surface, but trust me that it is a good thing (any overexposed signals that you do have will not be clipped off, and it helps going from RGB to YCbCr).

And most importantly, be reassured that your scopes look fine! Hope that helps!

—
Carl Ryan Stemple
Color | Editorial | Photography
digitalbarbershop.com

[C. Ryan stemple]

I whole heartedly agree with Robert on this one. Your best bet to get it to work in DaVinci, and also get the most accurate color, is to grade the entire clip at it’s original speed, and then add in the 1888% effect after the fact.

Another option is to “bake and replace” the said clip – render out the effect in FCP, export only the clip in question, and reimport that new clip, replacing the original in your timeline.

Of course though, before replacing any of your picture locked clips, I’d always make a duplicate sequence and manipulate that instead, just to be on the safe side.

—
Carl Ryan Stemple
Color | Editorial | Photography
digitalbarbershop.com

[C. Ryan stemple]

Well, I’ll be damned! Guess it would help to read the 8.1 config guide instead of the 8.0 guide. 😛

Thanks, Rodrigo! Good to know that nothing’s out of the ordinary.

—
Carl Ryan Stemple
Color | Editorial | Photography
digitalbarbershop.com