[Stephen May]

David, XDCAM EX samples 4:2:0, which is shaving color information off in the acquisition. I’m not ranting, I have two EX1 cams and really appreciate their amazing versitility, etc. The sensors are 3 1/2″ CMOS chips with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, however, as I said, the information for red, and for blue is not at the same quality as green/luminance. I’m not an engineer, but in simple terms, your stage lighting scenario is a challenge in this sense, and a chroma sampling of 4:2:2 would produce better results.

But so far, I haven’t said anything helpful, so here’s some suggestions; if you haven’t already tried this, tapping the HD-SDI output and recording the footage onto a AJA KiPro, or Convergent Design NanoFlash, or some type of HD-SDI flash recorder is a good way to improve the image, or if you’re simply switching live, use the HD-SDI output to the switcher. If you’re already doing that, you might consider using a picture profile where you reduce the chroma and to a degree, the contrast – record a “flatter” image, less punch. This will help acquire more informaion in the image and you can bump up your projectors in show to regain the punch, or for post delivery, use some amount of color correction to regain the punch of color and contrast. Some people use LUT’s (look up tables) and later employ a curve – often called S-curve because the curve looks like an S where the blacks are crushed (a little) the mids are left alone, and the highs are bumped up again.

Obviously, converntional lighting has a different color temperature, and that would be optimal, but LED lighting is attractive to LD’s for a bunch of reasons, and I am not sure how much push you have in changing the type of lighting your LD is using. I do a show that uses LED lighting and we shoot it with three XDCAM EX cameras and I did what I suggested to you but I am also part of the crew and was able to add some white convertional light on across the truss and just a little un-gelled lighting across the truss gave me a huge boost! That also brings up a final aspect of your situation, you are likely opening your iris to get as much light as you can muster, and also you might even be moving to +3db gain but hopefully not more. Adding just a small amount of un-gelled conventional light will help you to go to 0db gain and possibly close your iris back down a small bit and the green CMOS will be able to capture enough information for the 4:2:0 sampling to work better. I really hope this helps you, good luck!

Stephen

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

Dave – thanks for the follow up – sounds like you did a great job. I think my challenge is that I have very few clients that request DVD delivery. Thanks again for your reply – I’ve been busy and hadn’t checked back until this morning. -Stephen

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

Walter- I think the 60Hz setting is for shooting displays – gets rid of the roll/flicker when pointing the camera at a CRT monitor. It is not the same as setting the shutter to 1/60 of a second. Notice when you employe the shutter (say at 1/60, but even if you shoose 1/50 which is ideal for PAL because it’s twice the frame rate) you will lose a little light; the LCD display will show that you lose a few stops of light. So although the shutter can increase sharpness, useful in sports or action shots that have fast moving objects, the “penalty” is light.

When you employe the 60Hz setting you will not lose light – at least not as much, so considering this kind of info, if you are shooting say a interview – talking head, turning off your shutter will get you some additional light without increasing gain. If you’re shooting XDCAM in daylight or outside bright sun, shutter can help stop down the light, give you a sharper look, and allow you to not have to close your iris as much as you would have had to without using the shutter. I think it’s two seperate things. Hope I’m not misleading you here. -Stephen

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

Dave – what was the outcome of your quest to figure out the best EX format for SD delivery?

I recently switched a live show for Zumiez using three EX1 cameras and two EX3 cameras. It turned out that the HD-SDI switcher did not like the PsF output of the XDCAM’s but loved the 1080i format. I was pretty nervous because post event, the client gets the ISO’s off of the SxS cards as well as the switched master from the AJA KiPro, and usually they’re mostly web delivery so they don’t get interlaced.

The images looked fantastic on screen and the show was the focus, so we were fine for show, but afterwards, my preference would be to convert the files to progressive. I’d appreciate hearing what you ended up doing. I also have searched and searched for some kind explanation about 1080i. I even hooked up a single EX1 directly to a large flat-panel display, and it seemed to look best in 1080i.

Sports networks often send a 1080i signal too, and again, why? There is so much misinformation or at least people who can not agree on anything from spatial resolution to even if it is really 60 frames per second or 30 odd, 30 even, and each person who tells their opinion is completely certain but often in direct conflict with the next certain opinion. Please let us know what you ended up doing, and how it looked.

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

Walter – I think you mean that you had your shutter at 1/60, right? That’s not bad, and should make it look sharp; usually I set my shutter at twice my frame rate – but also it sounds like you are shooting in PAL instead of NTSC, and again, nothing wrong with that. I think you should make sure your sequence settings match your clip: PAL 25fps – shutter doesn’t matter. Let us know how that looks after you confirm the sequence settings match the clip settings.

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

I’m in a show situation that is similar in terms of the workflow and the Ki Pro:

We are using the Ki Pro to capture HD via HDMI (long program) and then I turn a fast edit around by copying the captured clip (ProRes (LT) to my SAS RAID and then I edit the piece in FCP7. I keep the clip settings so the sequence becomes Pro Res (LT) and when the edit is finished I export the clip keeping the current settings, and then copy the clip back to the Ki Pro.

The audio from the captured clips is fine, and also plays perfectly in FCP7. The exported movie plays well on my Mac Pro, but in the Ki Pro, the audio is digital sounding noise that is spiking. I contacted VER (rental company we used to get the Ki Pro) and also AJA. Aja support confidentially said it is a matter of using Little Endian audio codec upon exporting and to use Quicktime Conversion. I made a test and this did not change anything, issue remained. VER mentioned checking the word length (24 bit). I knew the original capture was 24 bit audio, and I said “YES” when the prompt came to accept the clip’s properties for my sequence in FCP7. I checked my sequence settings in the project and although the sequence adapted the ProRes (LT) settings of the clip, the audio in the sequence remained 16 bit. I changed the bit rate to 24 bit and exported the clip again, and the resulting file finally played perfect audio in the ballroom off of the Ki Pro.

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

Bob thanks for jumping in here! -can you help me get that (it’s making sense but I don’t know if I get it completely):

So you shoot 1280x720p60 and you cut in a sequence that assumes that res. in other words you’re editing in the exact same res as your shot media 720p60, and how do you go from there to arrive at your downconvert to SD? do you export the sequence to compressor? Do you mind sharing this?

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

I am not the most informed guy at this forum (for sure) but as you’ve not had a reply yet – sometimes a reply often triggers some of the senior hosts to post answers that set you straight. I will tell you this: 1920x1080p24 is a very nice format to make the best use of the full CMOS sensor, and give you a filmic look (24 progressive frames per second). This gives you the greatest resolution which always presents the most quality when down converting to SD. As for the decision (opinion) of 24 versus 30, well, I think that most DVD’s are suited to play 24 frames back nicely because most DVD’s that you watch are feature films that were shot in 24 frames a second – and also, you will thereby have more space if your symphonic program runs long.

1920×1080 also gives you the best DOF but there is a lot of things that go into making a decision like this. Is this a single camera shoot? Meaning are you going to be wide most of the time? or is there a second and or third camera for cutaways and CU’s. If it’s a static doc then I stand by my first choice. If it’s a multi cam shoot, you might make use of the EX1 shutter and overcrank settings to capture crisp fast motions that are tight since the primary establishing camewra is getting the audio feed and running at 24fps. I think that’s all I should say and you can be sure you will get better answers from some of the forum leaders now. -stephen

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

[Stephen May]

That is cool – except I can not truly understand it really. And that gets me back to this:

In the end, what does it look like? We use our eyes to judge it, and the “white papers” can go on and on, but if it looks amazing, it’s amazing and if it looks not so good, it’s not so good. To the point that was made about the Canon D5 – who knows what part of the sensor is being used? But friends of mine at the Keystone Resort shot this on the D5:

https://www.vimeo.com/3534134

It looks great, and there’s not much noise in the blacks! And it’s true, the tech behind the EX1 is incredible, really – the compression scheme, the SxS cards, the flexibility, it’s overwhelming, but the Canon D5 shoots HD that is truly impressive, on a single sensor, that (I am told here) only uses a portion of the chip. I admit that I purposefully talk in terms of look and do not really get into the tech of it – and that’s because it’s complicated, and I’m not in it for the tech. I think a lot of us are in it to make great looking video. It’s fun, it’s art, and sometimes there’s even a really good point in it; content.

Someone sees noise in the EX1 blacks, and I see it in more than that, I can see it in general, but I’d say it’s a heck of a camera for the money, and I also appreciate it’s small size, the workflow, etc. compared to tape and weight of former cameras that only shot in SD. I’m grateful for the improvements. But because I love what looks good, I’m baffled by the look of the Canon D5. If they can do that in a still camera, why aren’t they making something like that in a full out HD camera with the XLR jacks etc.?

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer

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[Stephen May]

I think I just fired before asking questions. Open the exported sequence up in Quicktime Player, and under the ‘Window’ menu select ‘Show movie inspector’ (cmd I) and check the “Playing frame per second” (which is only available while the clip is playing). Then make sure your sequence is the same. In FCP while in the sequence, check the Sequence Settings: (cmd 0) and make sure they match the movie you’re making the French Titles for.

Stephen May
Keystone Media Productions
Freelance Videographer