[Tristan Summers]

Blackmagic still saying they have no plans to support CP-200 despite requests from users and Tangent themselves, which is a shame but if it is not economical for them to do so I can understand it. I am just sad that my hardware is deciding what software I can use.
Tangent do say they are working on an open interface called TUBE that future software may use, but not sure if Resolve will be part of that

Any offers on A CP-200BK!

Tris

[Tristan Summers]

Hi
To do this properly, I would make the original comp 50 frames per second.
Put this in a 25fps timeline and render with fields.
That way you get all the information for all the fields.

If you just render a 25 frames per second comp with fields, I think it will still be stuttery. You have to check client will accept this.

Tris

[Tristan Summers]

Hi. Hope you get it right.
The BBC base their title safe percentages on SD ACTIVE PICTURE area which is 702 not 720 pixels wide.
I got stung by this in the past and did the maths to make a PSD, which I would share if I could find it.

Download the worldwide requirements document to check, as the HD safe zones keep being re-evaluated.
They do have supplied safety cages; the in-house people in London always worked to a 14:9 cage for example, and there is a PSD but I think it may be old.

I guess just be aware that if you go by the standard 80% guides in AE, or anything else,it may be wrong.

Tris

[Tristan Summers]

If you read the manual for the PVM, you will see a list of probes it is possible to use, though I have only ever found one of them for sale at around £800. I have seen one BKM 14L sell for around £400.

It may also be worth looking at Spectracal’s newer products and solutions, as the ISF found that many monitors, even calibrated with Sony’s rather expensive probe were way off REC 709 or other standards and cheaper, manual options may actually get you a more accurate image than the automated probe. Having said that, I haven’t managed to do this yet. I have Sencore generator and a couple of X-Rite probes but have never managed to get Calman to work so may be looking at other software options.

I also think it is worth looking at a calibrated Panasonic (or Pioneer if you can find one) plasma as an option. Again I am yet to properly calibrate my Pioneer. But I think it can get pretty close. For way less than the varying standarsd of professional monitors.

By the way, the BKM14L is listed in the PVM manuals as being the recommended probe for white balancing.

It tends to ship with the HD CRT monitors so a rental company may offer it for rental separately.

[Tristan Summers]

It seems useful, because the saved date would indicate the process had been done.
However I think there is now a move to using Media Encoder to render instead. Seeing as you would have to add comps to render queue, you could instead send to Media Encoder?

Now, if you could automatically switch settings not at present available in the render queue, like all the vector aliasing/interpretation etc. you might be on to something.

Or make it render in the background / link to farm rendering…

Tris

[Tristan Summers]

Hi

I was very upset when they took this out as well.
I used to have my After Effects set up on the virtual desktop, giving me more space on my actual desktop for the application. Now I have to have preview on as well which slows the application down.

The colour profile WAS valid as it was made calibrating the YUV output on the screen.

But I think there were very good reasons why they took it out, maybe to do with speed and accuracy so can’t complain really.

You can use the spyder 3 with Calman or Chromapure software software to calibrate your video monitor very well indeed, probably more accurately than most broadcast monitors to be honest.

I think the DIY license allows you to use the Spyder 3 and a Blu Ray Downloadable from here:

https://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496&highlight=avs+709

this really only calibrates the blu-ray output though, hmmmm

VLC will play these files but can’t make it use the decklink…. which is your problem anyway.

Am trying to find a way to get test generators to play out of the decklink though.

I may have to build a PSD with the right image files in. Am trying to make sure I make correct files.

Unless There is a low level raw .yuv play out to decklink option.
maybe Shake?

Word of warning though.
I don’t think the Spyder’s are particularly accurate, and not checked at factory.
You can send it to Spectracal to get a better profile for it, but may not be worth it.

Tris

Tris

[Tristan Summers]

UPDATE
ok I now have some raw .yuv files to test with

Is there any way to get Decklink to read / export a .yuv?

Faithfully?

[Tristan Summers]

I too miss it. I wish I had been made aware of it before upgrading and would like an explanation of the reasons behind it. However I am finding I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.
Mind you I could have a seperate software Spyder colour calibration for the extended desktop to check on…

[Tristan Summers]

SDI cards cost a lot for monitors, at least a third of the cost again so if it is not listed it probably doesn’t have one installed. A good professional monitor should have component (may be listed as RGB, YUV, YCbCr etc.)

Are you looking at Standard Def only? Is it for broadcast or film?

Maybe buy a decklink and hire a monitor? Then you at least know the monitor is in good condition and you can get a better quality monitor than otherwise…

I downres my decklink HD Extreme output to Standard Def SDI and grade on a Sony Production monitor calibrated with a Sony probe. My next step is to get a new Pioneer Monitor that I can pay a trained professional to calibrate to 709 as a second colour reference…

[Tristan Summers]

I have questions about the LACIE HD box. If it is SATA2, why is it so slow? 187 is gonna be a pig doing HD. Does it have a hardware RAID? If so can you not use 2 of them in more complicated parity based RAIDS?

For much less money you can build your own 8 drive SATA RAID. I am interested in peoples experiences of doing this. I have been advised to get as fast and cheap a drive as possible and always back up often no matter what drive set up you have.