Michael Phillips
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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I had a little more success with the 2K DCI scope project, AMA link or transcode in Resolve that can create DNxHR as source resolution. All you need to change is “center crop” for the display and the rest falls into place.
That worked well with conform in Resolve in a similar 2K DCI scope timeline. But coming back to Media Composer should that be a need was not good at all…
I wish Avid would document what we should expect with different workflows. I’ll keep “testing”.
Michael
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Forget the 1920 virtual version. Just go ahead and make a 2K DCI Scope project and do the above steps. I was able to get a proper conform in Resolve in doing so but had to turn off input sizing and the timeline FrameFlex was correct. I rendered out a 2.39:1 DNxHR file that I color corrected and did the roundtrip AAF – there I had some problems that I am still working out. I suspect if you want to roundtrip, you need to transcode at source resolution, and not timeline.
Michael
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With 8.4, you can create custom project sizes, so I created a 1980×854 which is a 2.4:1 aspect ratio (at least what is allowed by Media Composer.
I then AMA linked to 4:3 non anamorphic sources that I transcoded from ARRI RAW to DNxHR LB. Here is how I set up my project using source settings on those files:
Then while editing, you can use FrameFlex in the timeline to reframe as needed:
This image will show you the relative storage requirements for each of the workflows:
This was for an 00:00:11:14 duration clip at 23.976.
The advantage with this workflow is that your viewers in the source/record monitors are 2.4:1 aspect ratio, so there is no letterboxing or pillarboxing and you have a much better shot at a conform working in a third party application that supports FrameFlex (Resolve).
Michael
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Also, what is your dailies workflow going to be? In Avid or with a third party product like Resolve, Colorfront, Cortex, etc.? That will affect how you approach creating the proper dailies to do what you want it to do.
Michael
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Then do some tests with the 2.40 aspect ratio that is available in 2K+ resolution project sizes. If you are in v8.x you should have access to them.
Michael
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This is somewhat part of a longer discussion that should have been decided before creating 1920×1080 DNxHD media which will always be 16:9 aspect ratio and anything that is not that aspect ratio will have letterbox or pillarbox.
FrameFlex’ primary benefit is allowing you to access resolution from sources that are larger than project resolution providing more “quality” for reframing. But seeing as you have already made 1920×1080 material there is no real value in FrameFlex.
Now, you can certainly still use FrameFlex by going to source settings and lying about its XY resolution and aspect ratio to create what you are looking for, but all my tests with conform so far have shown that source side manipulation in this manner DOES NOT CONFORM correctly. Unfortunately Avid did not properly design virtual resolution for just these types of operations.
What you need to do, is work in a 2.40 project type (2K+) and transcode your media to native source size in DNxHR LB (equivalent to DNxHD 36) and now you have correct and expected behavior although I have seen some wonkiness with anamorphic, but that is not your scenario. This will result in a 2.40 extract of the 4:3 higher resolution frame that you can reframe up and down as needed and this will conform correctly when using FrameFlex.
UHD DNxHR LB is 4x the storage of 16:9 DNxHD but you can render 1/4 frame proxies which makes it exactly the same as DNxHD as far as storage requirements go. BUT… Avid has not yet put the ability to transcode proxies by third parties in their licensed Avid Media Toolkit. But working at 2K 2.40 may be very close to DNxHD so it may not be that much if an issue storage wise. I need to do a quick test to see how it compares.
Michael
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Correct – just make sure that it has the audio output you need to connect to your audio monitoring configuration unless you are using embedded audio to your client monitor assuming it supports audio –
Michael
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USB2 is certainly questionable although I’ve shorter projects off my PowerBook with USB2 at DNxHD 36 and gotten away with it. Performance is an interesting notion and can be quite subtle such as even a millisecond delay can affect how you think and react to the creative thought process an be annoying throughout the day.
USB3/Thuderbolt minimum. You may consider RAID more out of protection of loss media than actual spindles for speed unless you are planning on multicamera, lots of layers and expectations of real time performance. Storage wise, DNxHD36 is quite efficient as you only need 15GB for every hour of material. So your average 2TB drive will hold ~130 hours:
https://www.avid.com/US/resources/avid-storage-calculatorIf you are not planning on using Resolve (for any reason needing a client monitor), then you can choose between Blackmagic, AJA, Matrox, etc. Just note that you can’t use separate I/O devices for video and audio and that audio will need to be supported via the card you purchase. So make sure it has the connections you need to get to your audio monitoring setup.
Michael
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Getting all the nuances and differences between color spaces can be quite as task. Here is a primer on Color FAQ by Charles Poynton for starters:
https://www.poynton.com/PDFs/ColorFAQ.pdf
Or get the second edition of his book – Digital Video and HD, Second Edition: Algorithms and Interfaces:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0123919266?keywords=charles%20poynton&qid=1444501803&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1Or this one:
Or visit his site or subscribe to some of his seminar/webinars:
That being said – Avid’s import/export setting affect levels more than anything else that might be visible to the eye to the average user. If video is 601/709 and you choose RGB, you are telling Avid to scale black and white levels as though they were 0-255 (8 bit terms). So if you had black at 16 and 235 and chose RGB, 16 would become closer to 30 and whites would be closer to 200. You can do a very simple test yourself and make 4 squares in Photoshop that are in RGB terms:
0, 0, 0
16, 16, 16
235, 235, 235
255, 255, 255And import with both settings and use the color dropper to see what the values are once imported. If you select 601/709, then your levels remain the same. Video is also YCbCr and you can read up on that as an overview here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCrAs mentioned elsewhere, color space conversion will happen with some rounding, but difficult to see to the normal eye – the biggest difference in Avid misleading import terminology will be the black and white levels of the image. In v7 and later, you can bring everything in “full range” and work with LUTs if desired.
As far as monitors go, reading up on monitors like the Dreamcolor will give you an idea of what those differences are and the use of different color gamuts.
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/garchow_jeremy/HP_DreamColor_CRT_Replacement.php
Michael
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Could you include a sceenshot that shows the column names? Also, are all the clips of the same frame rate?
Michael
