[Norman Black]

[Levan Katsadze] “Thanks, well, if I want to use 32-bit pixel format and also want to watch the final rendered video on my computer, not on my TV, then what options should be best for this situation?”

If you watch your final rendered video on TV or computer or basically anywhere, it will be in an 8-bit video format. Your PC video card and monitor are probably incapable of 10+ bit display. Your camera(s) is probably 8-bit.

So what is the fascination with putting 32-bit floating mode in between your camera source and final output?

[Norman Black]

Well, if the PC is not transcoding, then really anything that plays back smoothly on that PC is fine. Let your eyes be the judge as to the quality of your resulting render.

That said, AVC/H.264 will encode smaller at a similar quality compared to mpeg-2 formats. It does not sound like it matters much how small the file is.

[Norman Black]

[Scott Holt] “What is it that would make XDCAM better?”

The ease at which it can be transcoded on the fly to some other format, and of course its a high quality spec.

You never specifically mentioned what you school PC was doing but I am guessing it is transcoding the video, in real time, for transmission to the school TV channel.

[Norman Black]

[Levan Katsadze] “8-bit pixel format uses 32-bit color depth (24bit RGB + 8bit Alpha = 32bit color depth)
…………………. so, it is 16,777,216 colors + Alpha
…………………. and the range is 16-235”

The range of 8-bit is always full range. It is up to you to maintain studio range, 16-235, if that is your target. This is one of the quirks of Vegas.

After a lot of learning pains, I work/edit in full range and apply a levels effects, Computer to Studio when I render.

[Levan Katsadze] “32-bit (video levels) pixel format uses more than 32bit color depth (and please tell my how many?)
………………… and the range is also 16-235

32-bit (full range) pixel format uses the same color depth as 32-bit (video levels) pixel format.
………………… and the range is 0-255”

The color depth of 32-bit floating is not precisely defined. Its precision is way more than enough to handle any bit depth of camera input anyone could ever dream up.

The “range” of 32-bit in Vegas is either video or full range.

[Levan Katsadze] “And, well, about “video levels vs full range”, well as I understand, “full range” has range advantage (0-255 vs 16-235) than “video levels”, so full range is better, right? because, as I know, “video levels” is old standard (Studio RGB) for TVs, and “full range” is new standard for computers (Computer RGB).”

I guess one can say full range is “better” (your words). The problem is that most video playback, including on computers, expects video levels. Therefore if you give it full range your video will not look correct on playback. Your darks and lights will be clipped and the video will have more contrast.

Cameras in the video world might capture beyond video levels and it is up to the editor to bring these within the legal range. Typically using the video scopes.

[Norman Black]

Well, then the XDCAM EX 35Mbps could be a good option for HD material. Maybe even the XDCAM EX SQ 1440×1080 25Mbps templates.

It is very high quality. It has lossless PCM audio. It will give very high performance on decode so your PC can easily transcode to TV output on the fly in real time, assuming it is doing this in real time.

It is a bit of overkill, bitrate wise, but it should be simpler than you messing around in the MPEG-2 templates.

[Norman Black]

[John Rofrano] “As Norman said, if you are using footage from a camera that shoots 10-bit color you can benefit from using 32-bit floating point math when calculating pixel values. Otherwise it’s a waste and can actually cause problems.”

Even with a high bit camera source, one would likely still use 8-bit mode to edit/cut the video and only use 32-bit mode to color grade and final render.

Lets not talk about the $$$ for a video display setup that will actually display high bit color.

[Norman Black]

8-bit color is 16 million colors. It is 8-bits per channel, RGB.

Video levels versus full range…Due to the history of analog video signals digital maps something compatible.

So in 8-bit, Studio RGB (aka video levels) is 16-235. Full range is 0-255.

32-bit floating point maps similarly. Video levels being a slightly smaller range than full.

Unless your camera captures 10-bit or more color, then the 32-bit levels are of no use. Nearly every camera out there is capturing 8-bit color. It is really mostly “pro” cameras that capture higher color bit depth.

8-bit does support Alpha channel rendering. Only a very few codecs support rendering the Alpha channel.

Usually the best bet for project settings is to have Vegas match your media settings. It defaults to asking this.

[Norman Black]

Render times are what they are.

I just read your post again, and what exactly do you mean by “Channel 12 school channel”?

The channel 12 reference makes me wonder is this actual TV? This transmission has nothing to do with what you render since it must be converted.

IF TV, is the PC you mention doing the conversion to TV broadcast. If historical analog channel 12, then this is standard definition and 1080 has no place in this. IF digital broadcast, then is it HDTV digital.

IF yes to digital, then 19.3Mbps TOTAL bitrate with mpeg-2 video and AC-3 audio, is an ideal fit. aka HDTV spec. But if the PC is doing a conversion, then lots of stuff works, as long as the conversion can be done in real time. Maybe just giving the conversion PC an XDCAM EX file. A little overkill but simple and the templates are just sitting there ready made.

If could go on with questions, so if you want specific answers, then we need specific information.

[Norman Black]

Render settings are somewhat related to your source. What is that? Is it 1080, 30p, 60p, 60i?

If your source is 1080 your machine specs should be able to handle 1080 easily. The Mainconcept AVC and Sony AVC, Internet 1080 templates are a good start.

You can adjust the audio bitrate, video frame rate and video bitrate as necessary depending on your source. I would suggest you raise the audio bitrate above the stock 128K.

A video bitrate 12-20Mbps average range should work for your source material. I know that is a wide range. Your eyes are the best just as to what is appropriate.

[Norman Black]

No, DNxHD has the QT issues as well. The Avid codecs install themselves into Quicktime.

With DNxhD you will be able to encode DNxHD files has well. Encoding ProRes on Windows can be done but it is a bit of a mess.

I have also read about gamma issues with ProRes, but this talk is mostly about going to/from Mac and PC NLE systems. Some of that talk is certainly FUD and some not. Unless you have a compelling need for ProRes I would avoid any possibility of that issue.

If the 50 media file issue is a problem, you can work around it. Transcode the DNxHD/ProRes files to Cineform AVI (also free) or XAVC Intra. Since this is another encode, there technically is loss, but nothing you can see.