After I described by IBC Red experience to friends and colleagues here, and after I posted a small note on it. One of the commonest questions I get are "But does it look like film?" meaning the Red camera's images.
People ask this of not just the Red camera, but also the Viper, Arri D-20, Dalsa, Si2k, CineAlta even HDV camcorders. I think we're getting close to the point where this will not really matter. I've seen images from all these cameras, not all off film. And I can say that they all have a 'certain look' about them. It is not consistently 'not film' nor consistently 'exactly like film'. But distinctive.
So also the Red camera. It has a 'certain look' about it.
To make this a bit clearer, lets draw a parallel from still photography. For still photography not too many people are using film cameras any more. Even in India. Some years ago, as digital still cameras got better and better, one often heard this question "But does it look like film?" Asked of non-film still cameras.
When was the last time you heard someone ask this of a digital still camera? For holiday pictures, weddings, events, sports, news, even fashion photography. Does a digital still camera's 'looking like film' or not come in the way of its use. For that matter, who remembers exactly what film looked like? For stills, I mean.
So also digital movie making. We will get to the point when people will stop asking "But does it look like film?", simply because not too many will remember. And you will select the Red or any other digital camera because...
it helps you tell your story
it is possible to shoot digital
is convenient to shoot digital
it saves some money to shoot digital against film
the post production is convenient and predictable especially grading
your film will be shown digitally in a digital theatre
your film will be sold as DVD maybe HD-DVD and/or purchased as a download
Some of these reasons are valid today some aren't. especially cost, not yet. Eventually they all will. And then we will make an occasion of watching a weaving and bobbing, centre-hot, scratched and dirty print in a 'period theatre' and probably ask "How did people see this stuff for eighty years?"
As an aside, after my post on the Red, one company in California kindly offered a Red on rent. Link here...
http://www.elysianpictures.com/red-rental.htm
I'm not sure if they will come over to India. But if you are shooting in the US this is a thing to try. Shoot on their Red, bring back the files, and I'll manage the post here in Mumbai.
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Sunday, 23 September 2007
The Red camera is real
Just back from IBC 2007 at Amsterdam. I saw the Red camera up close.
First, I saw a large screen presentation of 'Crossing the line' a film shot on the Red camera. Directed by Peter Jackson, its a war story. The film was shown in a large theatre - as large as Metro in Mumbai. Really huge screen.
But the 'Red film' was not on film 35 mm. It was a digital 4k screening off the new Sony 4k digital projector. Presumably playing 4k files from a Clipster. It looked great, really good. No grain, no scratches or spots of dust, clean sharp picture, great contrast and saturation. But did it look like film? More on that later in a separate post.
I also went up to the Red stall and saw their presentation on work flow. As well as a small presentation at Apple's stand and Assimilate Scratch.
Here are some work flows...
For now, the camera shoots 4k RAW files to a memory card. later it will shoot to a removable hard disk. So it will shoot to 8 Gb CompactFlash cards. It shoots as RAW images just like Digital SLRs do for still photography. An 8 Gb card is good for 4 mins. I need to re-check at what res its 4 mins.
After the shoot you connect the card via a card reader to FCP and you can 'transfer' not capture these files via a new 'Log and transfer' window. Here you see all your shots as clips. You choose shots even mark in and out, and transfer them to your hard disk. The raw files are transferred and there's a reference Quicktime that opens in FCP as a 2k Quicktime clip.
Then edit away at 2k or even downres to Pro-res, Apple's new nearly lossless codec. After you are done, you can make an EDL and send it to Assimilate Scratch. Scratch, is a grading system running on Windows. Scratch connects your EDL to the original 4k files. And you can then grade 4k.
Once done grading, you can export to dpx, 4k or 2k depending on your film recorder. Then record out to film.
All this is work flow that's here and now and demoed. No one has actually done all this for an entire feature length film, so one doesn't know how it will all hold up to the rigours of a real schedule.
And other manufacturers - DaVinci Resolve, Nucoda Film Master - told me they were in talks with Red to use the Red codec in their app so they too can work with Red RAW files. The months to come will show interesting work flows. Maybe even FCP-Color will show up a complete Red work flow.
Examples of Red images
http://gallery.mac.com/videoresources#100050
First, I saw a large screen presentation of 'Crossing the line' a film shot on the Red camera. Directed by Peter Jackson, its a war story. The film was shown in a large theatre - as large as Metro in Mumbai. Really huge screen.
But the 'Red film' was not on film 35 mm. It was a digital 4k screening off the new Sony 4k digital projector. Presumably playing 4k files from a Clipster. It looked great, really good. No grain, no scratches or spots of dust, clean sharp picture, great contrast and saturation. But did it look like film? More on that later in a separate post.
I also went up to the Red stall and saw their presentation on work flow. As well as a small presentation at Apple's stand and Assimilate Scratch.
Here are some work flows...
For now, the camera shoots 4k RAW files to a memory card. later it will shoot to a removable hard disk. So it will shoot to 8 Gb CompactFlash cards. It shoots as RAW images just like Digital SLRs do for still photography. An 8 Gb card is good for 4 mins. I need to re-check at what res its 4 mins.
After the shoot you connect the card via a card reader to FCP and you can 'transfer' not capture these files via a new 'Log and transfer' window. Here you see all your shots as clips. You choose shots even mark in and out, and transfer them to your hard disk. The raw files are transferred and there's a reference Quicktime that opens in FCP as a 2k Quicktime clip.
Then edit away at 2k or even downres to Pro-res, Apple's new nearly lossless codec. After you are done, you can make an EDL and send it to Assimilate Scratch. Scratch, is a grading system running on Windows. Scratch connects your EDL to the original 4k files. And you can then grade 4k.
Once done grading, you can export to dpx, 4k or 2k depending on your film recorder. Then record out to film.
All this is work flow that's here and now and demoed. No one has actually done all this for an entire feature length film, so one doesn't know how it will all hold up to the rigours of a real schedule.
And other manufacturers - DaVinci Resolve, Nucoda Film Master - told me they were in talks with Red to use the Red codec in their app so they too can work with Red RAW files. The months to come will show interesting work flows. Maybe even FCP-Color will show up a complete Red work flow.
Examples of Red images
http://gallery.mac.com/videoresources#100050
Thursday, 19 July 2007
Editing on the cheap
As part of supervising the film DI process at a post facility I often visit editing suites all over Mumbai, where film edits are done. And I can't help thinking that editing systems - especially those used for editing feature films - are getting more and more 'on the cheap'.
Time was when - only a few years ago - if you wanted to set up a film edit suite, you had to get an Avid Media Composer. Avid charged a lot of money for those systems, but for the money they really gave you the goodies. Money's worth.
Large 20 in. monitors - NEC or Mitsubishi, the best. Good quality speakers. Fast and reliable Avid SCSI drives, and the latest fastest Mac with loads of RAM and a huge internal disk. You had to get all of this from them.
Then came the Media Composer ABVB systems. And the 'cheaping out' began. You could chose your monitor so many people got the cheapest TVM or ACI 14in monitors. some noname computer speakers or even a cheap amp and speakers, and 'assembled' beige SCSI cases with ugly ribbon cables.
FCP came along and the cheaping get worse and today its gotten really really low. FCP meant for the first time you could buy the Mac of your choice, start with the least amount of RAM and after the first few slow-downs add a gig or two. Few people even pirated FCP.
They got the cheapest monitors, because Cinema displays were so expensive. And for disks, bargained with the Lamington Road types and got the one that was just a thousand Rupees cheaper.
So I go to these dingy little 'editing rooms' all over Andheri.
Bad stinking chairs. Low light. Airconditioners that are noisy or uncool. Plywood walls. Tables of the wrong height and cluttered with no place for keyboards. Keyboards with no key caps. Cheap Logitech (or worse) mouses... and so on.
Software thats mismatched. Old versions of MacOSX sometimes incompatible with FCP versions. BM or Kona drivers with not recommended Quicktime versions. I mean updates don't cost money, do they?
So basically the freedom to choose your system specs and peripherals has been abused to the limit. This is manifest as EDLs that don't work, edits that hang the machine just playing them back, corrupt projects - a nightmare for DI.
The cheapening has also meant hiring the cheapest inexperienced machine-room-guy turned editor.
Avid systems are no better. Because of the initial cost many are still using old WinNT versions with no working USB or Firewire ports so taking out edits for reference means compulsarily doing BetaSP layoffs. On old Beta VTRs that have troubling recording a tracking free picture for feature length movies. Sound may or may not record to both channels. Timecode may or may not be consistent. Even Adrenaline systems 2 or more years old are no better.
Editors who work on these old systems are young in age but old in thought. They don't trust Quicktime movies, have no clue on image and video file formats haven't bothered to read up about Firewire or USB drives. But they are 25-30 years old and use the latest mobile phones.
But things will come full circle. And some new directors and editors are now seeing the value in getting systems up to spec for trouble-free edit finishing. And hiring assistants who are themselves up to speed on new technologies and formats.
For anyone who feels the same way I'm willing to throw my hat in the ring and set up, and even rent out systems that are up there and can guarantee you editing in peace. If you can get a clean decent place, I can give you the system to match. Any takers?
Time was when - only a few years ago - if you wanted to set up a film edit suite, you had to get an Avid Media Composer. Avid charged a lot of money for those systems, but for the money they really gave you the goodies. Money's worth.
Large 20 in. monitors - NEC or Mitsubishi, the best. Good quality speakers. Fast and reliable Avid SCSI drives, and the latest fastest Mac with loads of RAM and a huge internal disk. You had to get all of this from them.
Then came the Media Composer ABVB systems. And the 'cheaping out' began. You could chose your monitor so many people got the cheapest TVM or ACI 14in monitors. some noname computer speakers or even a cheap amp and speakers, and 'assembled' beige SCSI cases with ugly ribbon cables.
FCP came along and the cheaping get worse and today its gotten really really low. FCP meant for the first time you could buy the Mac of your choice, start with the least amount of RAM and after the first few slow-downs add a gig or two. Few people even pirated FCP.
They got the cheapest monitors, because Cinema displays were so expensive. And for disks, bargained with the Lamington Road types and got the one that was just a thousand Rupees cheaper.
So I go to these dingy little 'editing rooms' all over Andheri.
Bad stinking chairs. Low light. Airconditioners that are noisy or uncool. Plywood walls. Tables of the wrong height and cluttered with no place for keyboards. Keyboards with no key caps. Cheap Logitech (or worse) mouses... and so on.
Software thats mismatched. Old versions of MacOSX sometimes incompatible with FCP versions. BM or Kona drivers with not recommended Quicktime versions. I mean updates don't cost money, do they?
So basically the freedom to choose your system specs and peripherals has been abused to the limit. This is manifest as EDLs that don't work, edits that hang the machine just playing them back, corrupt projects - a nightmare for DI.
The cheapening has also meant hiring the cheapest inexperienced machine-room-guy turned editor.
Avid systems are no better. Because of the initial cost many are still using old WinNT versions with no working USB or Firewire ports so taking out edits for reference means compulsarily doing BetaSP layoffs. On old Beta VTRs that have troubling recording a tracking free picture for feature length movies. Sound may or may not record to both channels. Timecode may or may not be consistent. Even Adrenaline systems 2 or more years old are no better.
Editors who work on these old systems are young in age but old in thought. They don't trust Quicktime movies, have no clue on image and video file formats haven't bothered to read up about Firewire or USB drives. But they are 25-30 years old and use the latest mobile phones.
But things will come full circle. And some new directors and editors are now seeing the value in getting systems up to spec for trouble-free edit finishing. And hiring assistants who are themselves up to speed on new technologies and formats.
For anyone who feels the same way I'm willing to throw my hat in the ring and set up, and even rent out systems that are up there and can guarantee you editing in peace. If you can get a clean decent place, I can give you the system to match. Any takers?
Friday, 6 July 2007
24p and 25p in one camcorder
I wrote earlier that some camcorders can do 24p or 25p depending on where they are sold. But there are some that can do both - as well as NTSC and PAL in SD mode.
JVC camcorders for one.
An entire range of camcorders can do 720 at 24p as well as 25p. They are the GY-HD100, HD101, HD110, HD111, HD200, HD201, HD251.
The GY-HD100, HD101, HD110, HD111 can do 720 at 24p an 25p
and SD-PAL at 25p, 50p, 50i and NTSC at 60p
(but not 720 at 50p and 60p)
And the HD200, HD201, HD251 can do 720 at 24p an 25p and
720 at 50p and 60p
(but not SD-PAL at 50p and NTSC at 60p).
Very complicated, but JVC has all this in a table called 'hdv-comparisons_1.pdf' at their site somewhere.
Mind that all these JVC camcorders do 720 and not 1080. And whether or not these modes capture fine into FCP - can't say till I hav e actually tried al on the PAL version.
The Canon XL-H1 is another that can do both. It needs to be 'service-centre modified' to do that. The PAL version that can do 1080 at 50i and 25F natively, can, with the optional upgrade do 60i, 30F and 24F.
And, of course the NTSC version can do 60i, 30F and 24F natively and with the optional upgrade do 50i and 24F.
So you can get the camcorder from anywhere and still do a variety of formats. But this camcorder does 1080, and not 720.
What is the 'F' behind 24, 25, and 30? At Canon's site there is a document that explains it thus...
'These Frame modes have the same look as progressive frame rates, but are not labeled
“progressive” because they are created with an interlaced chip. The end result is exactly the
same to the editing system (and to our eyes) as 30p and 24p, respectively.'
Apart from the JVC and Canon cameras, I don't know of any other camcorder that can do 24p and 25p. Of course, if you're stuck with some other camcorder that can so one or the other, you can look up my CinemaTools workaround in and earlier post.
JVC camcorders for one.
An entire range of camcorders can do 720 at 24p as well as 25p. They are the GY-HD100, HD101, HD110, HD111, HD200, HD201, HD251.
The GY-HD100, HD101, HD110, HD111 can do 720 at 24p an 25p
and SD-PAL at 25p, 50p, 50i and NTSC at 60p
(but not 720 at 50p and 60p)
And the HD200, HD201, HD251 can do 720 at 24p an 25p and
720 at 50p and 60p
(but not SD-PAL at 50p and NTSC at 60p).
Very complicated, but JVC has all this in a table called 'hdv-comparisons_1.pdf' at their site somewhere.
Mind that all these JVC camcorders do 720 and not 1080. And whether or not these modes capture fine into FCP - can't say till I hav e actually tried al on the PAL version.
The Canon XL-H1 is another that can do both. It needs to be 'service-centre modified' to do that. The PAL version that can do 1080 at 50i and 25F natively, can, with the optional upgrade do 60i, 30F and 24F.
And, of course the NTSC version can do 60i, 30F and 24F natively and with the optional upgrade do 50i and 24F.
So you can get the camcorder from anywhere and still do a variety of formats. But this camcorder does 1080, and not 720.
What is the 'F' behind 24, 25, and 30? At Canon's site there is a document that explains it thus...
'These Frame modes have the same look as progressive frame rates, but are not labeled
“progressive” because they are created with an interlaced chip. The end result is exactly the
same to the editing system (and to our eyes) as 30p and 24p, respectively.'
Apart from the JVC and Canon cameras, I don't know of any other camcorder that can do 24p and 25p. Of course, if you're stuck with some other camcorder that can so one or the other, you can look up my CinemaTools workaround in and earlier post.
Saturday, 16 June 2007
24p or 25p for film on HDV
Most people who plan on using HDV for eventual film output choose camcorders that can do 24p or 24 progressive. To get clean field-free frames.
Not all camcorders can do 'real' 24p shooting. Sony's Z1 has a Cineframe mode thats not really 24p, but 60i 'packaged' as 24p. Other Sony camcorders like the new V1 can do 24p. Canon's XL-H1, XH-A1 and XH-G1 all do 24p as does the prosumer HV-20.
That's what you'll find at their web sites. But there's one gotcha in this. Only the NTSC version, or the US/Japan version that shoots NTSC 60i can do 24p. The European, and South East Asian versions that are built for PAL 50i can do 25p not 24p.
So the gotcha is that is you get a camcorder to do occasional 24p work, you're stuck with one that can shoot only NTSC in SD. Or 60i in HD. If, on the other hand you need a camcorder that's good for PAL SD or HD, then you cannot shoot 24p. Only 25p.
Cameras from Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, or even India will be PAL 50i camcorders that will do only 25p. Those from the US, Japan and other NTSC countries will do 24p but NTSC in SD.
What's the solution? Get two of them?
Not really. One workaround is to shoot 25p for film projects. Capture and edit at 25p. But 'conform' the final edited 25p film to 24p using FCP. The length will increase, and sound will get slower and slightly lower in pitch, but at least you'll have 24p without any motion artifacts.
Not all camcorders can do 'real' 24p shooting. Sony's Z1 has a Cineframe mode thats not really 24p, but 60i 'packaged' as 24p. Other Sony camcorders like the new V1 can do 24p. Canon's XL-H1, XH-A1 and XH-G1 all do 24p as does the prosumer HV-20.
That's what you'll find at their web sites. But there's one gotcha in this. Only the NTSC version, or the US/Japan version that shoots NTSC 60i can do 24p. The European, and South East Asian versions that are built for PAL 50i can do 25p not 24p.
So the gotcha is that is you get a camcorder to do occasional 24p work, you're stuck with one that can shoot only NTSC in SD. Or 60i in HD. If, on the other hand you need a camcorder that's good for PAL SD or HD, then you cannot shoot 24p. Only 25p.
Cameras from Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, or even India will be PAL 50i camcorders that will do only 25p. Those from the US, Japan and other NTSC countries will do 24p but NTSC in SD.
What's the solution? Get two of them?
Not really. One workaround is to shoot 25p for film projects. Capture and edit at 25p. But 'conform' the final edited 25p film to 24p using FCP. The length will increase, and sound will get slower and slightly lower in pitch, but at least you'll have 24p without any motion artifacts.
Saturday, 19 May 2007
Apple Color is now available
Apple Color, that "Colour grading for the rest of us" software with the wrong spelling (Color) is now shipping. And we can probably have a copy here in India next week.
Meanwhile the manual is out for download here...
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Color_1.0_User_Manual.pdf
And some warnings on broadcast-safe and drop frame TC incompatibilities (finally an issue that does NOT affect PAL users) are also up at
http://www.apple.com/support/releasenotes/en/Color_1.0_rn/
From the manual it seems the DPX workflow is still there. Conform DPX sequences from EDL, convert DPX to Quicktime and back, export file-based EDL etc are described. How reliably they work (if at all) remains to be seen.
Working with Apple Color can also be a somewhat professional colour grading like experience if you add colourist panels like these from JL Cooper
http://www.jlcooper.com/pages/mcsspectrum.html
Or these from Tangent Devices...
http://www.tangentdevices.co.uk/products_cp_200.asp
Mind that these are rather costly. The Cooper is about $ 3000 and the Tangent about $ 5000. And if you add transport control panels and presets panels you're looking at $ 10,000 to $ 15000 just for panels. But if you ant to do this professionally you need panels. If only because 'real' colourists work with panels.
In the next two months or so, one will be able to make a realistic assessment on how well one can finish a full film DI on a Final Cut Studio system.
Meanwhile the manual is out for download here...
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Color_1.0_User_Manual.pdf
And some warnings on broadcast-safe and drop frame TC incompatibilities (finally an issue that does NOT affect PAL users) are also up at
http://www.apple.com/support/releasenotes/en/Color_1.0_rn/
From the manual it seems the DPX workflow is still there. Conform DPX sequences from EDL, convert DPX to Quicktime and back, export file-based EDL etc are described. How reliably they work (if at all) remains to be seen.
Working with Apple Color can also be a somewhat professional colour grading like experience if you add colourist panels like these from JL Cooper
http://www.jlcooper.com/pages/mcsspectrum.html
Or these from Tangent Devices...
http://www.tangentdevices.co.uk/products_cp_200.asp
Mind that these are rather costly. The Cooper is about $ 3000 and the Tangent about $ 5000. And if you add transport control panels and presets panels you're looking at $ 10,000 to $ 15000 just for panels. But if you ant to do this professionally you need panels. If only because 'real' colourists work with panels.
In the next two months or so, one will be able to make a realistic assessment on how well one can finish a full film DI on a Final Cut Studio system.
Monday, 14 May 2007
I'm shooting HD
I keep hearing this at weekly and even twice, thrice a week now. "I'm shooting my next film on HD". "How much difference would it make if I shot on HD?". "I've read that HD cannot be made to look like film" Or, "I've read that HD looks as good as film".
I'm not about to answer or refute any of these. What I'd like to put forth simply is that HD is not a single monolithic format like 35mm film is. So if you used the phrase "...shooting on HD..." in a sentence, you could be shooting on...
HDCam, HDCamSR, HDV, DVCProHD, Varicam, CineAlta, P2, XDCam, XDCamHD now.
Further in many of these you could be shooting as...
720p24, 720p25, 720p60, 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p30, 1080i50, 1080i59.94 etc etc.
So what's your flavour of HD?
A quick run-down on what the figures mean.
Normal or SD TV meaning what you shoot on DV, DigiBeta, play back on DVD, watch TV on, etc in India is...
Frame size 720x576 at 25 fps. So this will be called 576i50.
In HD the numbers are
720p24 meaning frame size 1280x720 pixels at 24 fps progressive (no fields)
720p25 meaning frame size 1280x720 pixels at 25 fps progressive (no fields)
1080i50 meaning frame size 1920x1080 pixels at 25 fps interlaced
1080p24 meaning frame size 1920x1080 pixels at 24 fps progressive (no fields)
1080p25 meaning frame size 1920x1080 pixels at 25 fps progressive (no fields)
These are the numbers we would normally encounter in India.
If what you shoot will be used for TV, then do 'i'. For film outputs or mixing with film do 'p'
Outside India there would be other formats like 720p30, 1080i60, etc.
What about shooting formats?
If you're in India, in Mumbai, here's the deal.
If the camera is large and Panasonic and takes prime lenses you most likely are using a Varicam. So you're shooting on small DVCProHD tapes at 720p something. Frame size is 1280x720 pixels and compression is 12:1. In each frame 8% data is kept, 92% thrown away.
If you shoot on a small hand-held Sony camcorder you're shooting HDV. Frame size is 1920x1080 and compression is MPEG-2 50:1 Yes that's 50:1. In each frame 2% data is kept, 98% thrown away. Camera would be HVR-Z1
If you shoot on a small hand-held Panasonic camcorder and on small flash cards not tape, you're shooting P2. Frame size is 1920x1080 or 1280x720 pixels and compression is 12:1. In each frame 8% data is kept, 92% thrown away. Camera would be HVX 200.
If the camera is large and Sony and takes prime lenses you most likely are using a CineAlta. So you're shooting on DigiBeta sized HDCam or HDCamSR tapes at 1080p something. Frame size is 1920x1080 pixels and compression is 5:1 or 3:1. In each frame 20% to 33% data is kept, 80% to 66% thrown away.
If the camera is large and Sony and shoots on disks you most likely are using a XDCamHD. So you're shooting on Blu-Ray disks 1080p something. Frame size is 1920x1080 pixels and compression is Mpeg-2 at about 20:1 to 30:1 depending on format. So, in each frame 5% data is kept, 95% thrown away.
As you can see there's no real uncompressed HD format. All use some or other kind of compression. But they are all very good compressors. Really can't see defects unless you see the image up close.
Cost. Just find out what tape costs. And then what it costs to hire the camera. Now do the math. Is film costlier by a huge margin? You'll be surprised by the figures.
And does it/can it look like film? Very subjective. Very. My take on this is "Why bother?" Just go ahead and shoot for some other reason. And check if the image you've shot goes with the story. If it does, then like I said "Why bother?"
I'm not about to answer or refute any of these. What I'd like to put forth simply is that HD is not a single monolithic format like 35mm film is. So if you used the phrase "...shooting on HD..." in a sentence, you could be shooting on...
HDCam, HDCamSR, HDV, DVCProHD, Varicam, CineAlta, P2, XDCam, XDCamHD now.
Further in many of these you could be shooting as...
720p24, 720p25, 720p60, 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p30, 1080i50, 1080i59.94 etc etc.
So what's your flavour of HD?
A quick run-down on what the figures mean.
Normal or SD TV meaning what you shoot on DV, DigiBeta, play back on DVD, watch TV on, etc in India is...
Frame size 720x576 at 25 fps. So this will be called 576i50.
In HD the numbers are
720p24 meaning frame size 1280x720 pixels at 24 fps progressive (no fields)
720p25 meaning frame size 1280x720 pixels at 25 fps progressive (no fields)
1080i50 meaning frame size 1920x1080 pixels at 25 fps interlaced
1080p24 meaning frame size 1920x1080 pixels at 24 fps progressive (no fields)
1080p25 meaning frame size 1920x1080 pixels at 25 fps progressive (no fields)
These are the numbers we would normally encounter in India.
If what you shoot will be used for TV, then do 'i'. For film outputs or mixing with film do 'p'
Outside India there would be other formats like 720p30, 1080i60, etc.
What about shooting formats?
If you're in India, in Mumbai, here's the deal.
If the camera is large and Panasonic and takes prime lenses you most likely are using a Varicam. So you're shooting on small DVCProHD tapes at 720p something. Frame size is 1280x720 pixels and compression is 12:1. In each frame 8% data is kept, 92% thrown away.
If you shoot on a small hand-held Sony camcorder you're shooting HDV. Frame size is 1920x1080 and compression is MPEG-2 50:1 Yes that's 50:1. In each frame 2% data is kept, 98% thrown away. Camera would be HVR-Z1
If you shoot on a small hand-held Panasonic camcorder and on small flash cards not tape, you're shooting P2. Frame size is 1920x1080 or 1280x720 pixels and compression is 12:1. In each frame 8% data is kept, 92% thrown away. Camera would be HVX 200.
If the camera is large and Sony and takes prime lenses you most likely are using a CineAlta. So you're shooting on DigiBeta sized HDCam or HDCamSR tapes at 1080p something. Frame size is 1920x1080 pixels and compression is 5:1 or 3:1. In each frame 20% to 33% data is kept, 80% to 66% thrown away.
If the camera is large and Sony and shoots on disks you most likely are using a XDCamHD. So you're shooting on Blu-Ray disks 1080p something. Frame size is 1920x1080 pixels and compression is Mpeg-2 at about 20:1 to 30:1 depending on format. So, in each frame 5% data is kept, 95% thrown away.
As you can see there's no real uncompressed HD format. All use some or other kind of compression. But they are all very good compressors. Really can't see defects unless you see the image up close.
Cost. Just find out what tape costs. And then what it costs to hire the camera. Now do the math. Is film costlier by a huge margin? You'll be surprised by the figures.
And does it/can it look like film? Very subjective. Very. My take on this is "Why bother?" Just go ahead and shoot for some other reason. And check if the image you've shot goes with the story. If it does, then like I said "Why bother?"
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Final Cut Pro 6
On Sunday a day before NAB 2007 began, Apple announced Final Cut Studio 2 consisting of Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Color, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, LiveType 2, and CinemaTools 4.
There aren't shipping immediately, so first-hand details are sketchy. But going by reports, viewing videos and reading up at Apple's Web site here are the highlights.
Final Cut Pro 6
Mix multiple formats and codecs in the same timeline. Yes you do it even now with FCP 5.1 but you need to render. In FCP 6 you can make a new sequence set as Open Format and anything in it will play in real-time. How this impacts clips with filters and transitions, needs to be seen.
ProRes 422. A new codec which gives you great quality at low data rates. Sort of like how DVCProHD or DNxHD on Avid. An new hardware from Aja called IO-HD will be needed to work with this codec efficiently. Blackmagic has also introduced hardware called Multibridge Eclipse that does this acceleration.
But if you have an older BlackMagic or Aja card, or no card, can you still work with ProRes422? Remains to be seen.
Color
In some countries it is spelt colour, but means the same thing.
Some time last year Apple took over a small company called Silicon Color. They used to make a film and video colour grading software called FinalTouch. It sold in 3 versions - FinalTouchSD for $1000, FinalTouchHD for $5000, and FinalTouch2k for $25,000.
With FinalTouch2k you could do colour grading for an entire feature film. Meaning you could do DI. And people bought FinalTouch2k for $ 25,000.
Now Apple is giving away FinalTouch free, meaning part of Final Cut Studio. But whether Color (as FinalTouch is now called) has retained all the fill-blown DI features of the original FinalTouch2k, remains to be seen.
What I'm really keen on finding out is whether Color can work with DPX files and conform them to an EDL. And then exported the graded DPX sequence as Quicktime for use in FCP and do do deliverables like pan and scan etc.
To really grade like a DI suite you need a grading panel. And with Color, the Tangent CP-200 is supported. Check with Tangent www.tangentdevices.co.uk
3D compositing
Motion 3 part of FCS 2 now supports 3D and 32-bit floating point for compositing.There is also bezier masks, tracking, match moving, and stabilization. If you're a compositor, you know how big that is.
I don't use Motion all that much, so maybe I'll do so when I get Motion 3.
Surround mixing
Soundtrack Pro 2 now has surround editing and mixing with an innovative graphical display. And there's autoconform so you can make changes to the original edit in FCP 6, STP will show the changes and even implement them.
Compressor 3
Its become faster for one thing. Has more codecs even supports ProRes. And AutoCluster. meaning you can actually use QMaster now.
CinemaTools 4
Details are sketchy, but the table view is more interactive and in the Open clip window you can now open the next or previous clip in the same window without having to close the earlier one. Clip Analysis shows up in the margin instead of having to open a window.
Costing
Upgrade from any version FCP is $ 700 or about Rs 35,000
Upgrade from any version FCS is $ 500 or about Rs 25,000
A whole new one costs $ 1300 or about Rs 65,000
All these will not be available before May.
Meaning if you spent on an upgrade earlier tis year or late '06, you now have to spend some more. I wonder what happens to people who bought FCS this month.
For the IO-HD or Multibridge Eclipse hardware (either needed for ProRes422 support) you need to shell out $ 3500 or about Rs. 2.2 to 2.5 lakhs. Both these ship in July.
What's not changed
Capture tool still doesn't seem to show a time-code display or audio level meters during capture. So if your VTR is far away you still have no feedback.
Media Manager still looks the same, but if there are improvements I need to wait and report.
Relink even if the clip is not identical to the original. Again don't know if that works like in an Avid.
So basically these are the new things in FCP 2. More as soon as I get my upgrade.
There aren't shipping immediately, so first-hand details are sketchy. But going by reports, viewing videos and reading up at Apple's Web site here are the highlights.
Final Cut Pro 6
Mix multiple formats and codecs in the same timeline. Yes you do it even now with FCP 5.1 but you need to render. In FCP 6 you can make a new sequence set as Open Format and anything in it will play in real-time. How this impacts clips with filters and transitions, needs to be seen.
ProRes 422. A new codec which gives you great quality at low data rates. Sort of like how DVCProHD or DNxHD on Avid. An new hardware from Aja called IO-HD will be needed to work with this codec efficiently. Blackmagic has also introduced hardware called Multibridge Eclipse that does this acceleration.
But if you have an older BlackMagic or Aja card, or no card, can you still work with ProRes422? Remains to be seen.
Color
In some countries it is spelt colour, but means the same thing.
Some time last year Apple took over a small company called Silicon Color. They used to make a film and video colour grading software called FinalTouch. It sold in 3 versions - FinalTouchSD for $1000, FinalTouchHD for $5000, and FinalTouch2k for $25,000.
With FinalTouch2k you could do colour grading for an entire feature film. Meaning you could do DI. And people bought FinalTouch2k for $ 25,000.
Now Apple is giving away FinalTouch free, meaning part of Final Cut Studio. But whether Color (as FinalTouch is now called) has retained all the fill-blown DI features of the original FinalTouch2k, remains to be seen.
What I'm really keen on finding out is whether Color can work with DPX files and conform them to an EDL. And then exported the graded DPX sequence as Quicktime for use in FCP and do do deliverables like pan and scan etc.
To really grade like a DI suite you need a grading panel. And with Color, the Tangent CP-200 is supported. Check with Tangent www.tangentdevices.co.uk
3D compositing
Motion 3 part of FCS 2 now supports 3D and 32-bit floating point for compositing.There is also bezier masks, tracking, match moving, and stabilization. If you're a compositor, you know how big that is.
I don't use Motion all that much, so maybe I'll do so when I get Motion 3.
Surround mixing
Soundtrack Pro 2 now has surround editing and mixing with an innovative graphical display. And there's autoconform so you can make changes to the original edit in FCP 6, STP will show the changes and even implement them.
Compressor 3
Its become faster for one thing. Has more codecs even supports ProRes. And AutoCluster. meaning you can actually use QMaster now.
CinemaTools 4
Details are sketchy, but the table view is more interactive and in the Open clip window you can now open the next or previous clip in the same window without having to close the earlier one. Clip Analysis shows up in the margin instead of having to open a window.
Costing
Upgrade from any version FCP is $ 700 or about Rs 35,000
Upgrade from any version FCS is $ 500 or about Rs 25,000
A whole new one costs $ 1300 or about Rs 65,000
All these will not be available before May.
Meaning if you spent on an upgrade earlier tis year or late '06, you now have to spend some more. I wonder what happens to people who bought FCS this month.
For the IO-HD or Multibridge Eclipse hardware (either needed for ProRes422 support) you need to shell out $ 3500 or about Rs. 2.2 to 2.5 lakhs. Both these ship in July.
What's not changed
Capture tool still doesn't seem to show a time-code display or audio level meters during capture. So if your VTR is far away you still have no feedback.
Media Manager still looks the same, but if there are improvements I need to wait and report.
Relink even if the clip is not identical to the original. Again don't know if that works like in an Avid.
So basically these are the new things in FCP 2. More as soon as I get my upgrade.
Sunday, 8 April 2007
What is the x in 8x, 24x, 56x in CD and DVD drives
CD-R, DVD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RW and such discs and drives that read and write them, mention speeds as 2x, 8x, 24x, etc. What is this x in normal data transfer terms of MB/sec? I did some research and this is what it means.
In CD drives and discs, 1x is 150 KB/sec (KiloBytes per sec). This the speed that floppy drives wrote and read at. So CD drive makers expressed their speeds as multiples of this to help people understand how fast it worked with respect to floppies.
So for CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW drives and discs...
1x = 150 KB/sec
4x = 600 KB/sec
16x = 2.4 MB/sec
24x = 3.6 MB/sec
32x = 4.8 MB/sec
48x = 7.2 MB/sec
Its different for DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+R DL
1x = 1.375 MB/sec
2x = 2.75 MB/sec
4x = 5.5 MB/sec
8x = 11 MB/sec
16x = 22 MB/sec
And the new Blu-ray disks have a different measure too.
1x = 4.5 MB/sec
2x = 9 MB/sec
4x = 18 MB/sec
As a comparison, 2x of Blu-ray is equal to 6.5x of DVD is equal to 60x of CD.
For digital video working, the speed and capacities of these drives can be expressed like this.
CD-R and RW discs can record about 4 mins. of DV quality video in about 2 mins at 48x
DVD-R and RW discs can record about 21 mins of DV quality video in about 4 mins at 16x
or about 4 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in about 4 mins
DVD-R DL discs can record about 40 mins of DV quality video in about 50 mins at 2x
or about 8 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in about 50 mins
BD-R and RE discs can record about 2 hrs of DV quality video in 46 mins at 2x
or 25 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in 46 mins
Dual layer BD-R and RE discs can record about 4 hrs of DV quality video in about 92 mins at 2x
or 50 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in about 92 mins
So Blu-ray discs have the potential of replacing DV tapes completely. They are already available as video recording media in XDCAM systems but that's not DV, its MPEG compressed.
And DVD-R DL discs are useless for any kind of video media backup because they are so slow. You can write 8 DVD-R discs in the same time that you can write just one DVD+R DL.
And when Blu-ray gets to 8x it will be fast enough to write uncompressed 10-bit SD video in faster than real time, as well as write compressed HD at many times faster than real time.
In CD drives and discs, 1x is 150 KB/sec (KiloBytes per sec). This the speed that floppy drives wrote and read at. So CD drive makers expressed their speeds as multiples of this to help people understand how fast it worked with respect to floppies.
So for CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW drives and discs...
1x = 150 KB/sec
4x = 600 KB/sec
16x = 2.4 MB/sec
24x = 3.6 MB/sec
32x = 4.8 MB/sec
48x = 7.2 MB/sec
Its different for DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+R DL
1x = 1.375 MB/sec
2x = 2.75 MB/sec
4x = 5.5 MB/sec
8x = 11 MB/sec
16x = 22 MB/sec
And the new Blu-ray disks have a different measure too.
1x = 4.5 MB/sec
2x = 9 MB/sec
4x = 18 MB/sec
As a comparison, 2x of Blu-ray is equal to 6.5x of DVD is equal to 60x of CD.
For digital video working, the speed and capacities of these drives can be expressed like this.
CD-R and RW discs can record about 4 mins. of DV quality video in about 2 mins at 48x
DVD-R and RW discs can record about 21 mins of DV quality video in about 4 mins at 16x
or about 4 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in about 4 mins
DVD-R DL discs can record about 40 mins of DV quality video in about 50 mins at 2x
or about 8 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in about 50 mins
BD-R and RE discs can record about 2 hrs of DV quality video in 46 mins at 2x
or 25 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in 46 mins
Dual layer BD-R and RE discs can record about 4 hrs of DV quality video in about 92 mins at 2x
or 50 mins of 8-bit uncompressed video in about 92 mins
So Blu-ray discs have the potential of replacing DV tapes completely. They are already available as video recording media in XDCAM systems but that's not DV, its MPEG compressed.
And DVD-R DL discs are useless for any kind of video media backup because they are so slow. You can write 8 DVD-R discs in the same time that you can write just one DVD+R DL.
And when Blu-ray gets to 8x it will be fast enough to write uncompressed 10-bit SD video in faster than real time, as well as write compressed HD at many times faster than real time.
Thursday, 5 April 2007
Apple at NAB 2007
What about FinalTouch and Proximity?
The 8-core MacPro announced and shipping. A larger XServeRAID. 4Gb FC cards available. But what about FinalTouch and Proximity both of which are Apple's products now and have been for a few months.
At NAB, there is some likelihood of ...
1. a new DPX based workflow maybe even DPX integration into FCP.
2. something new on the film or HD grading front from FinalTouch even a new Apple FinalTouch.
3. some sort of a shared media workflow borrowing from what's available within FCP/XSan with something from the Proximity acquisition.
4. an asset management software maybe even integration with FCP/Motion and - a long shot - a better Media manager for FCP.
That much i can guess. More as things hot up before NAB.
The 8-core MacPro announced and shipping. A larger XServeRAID. 4Gb FC cards available. But what about FinalTouch and Proximity both of which are Apple's products now and have been for a few months.
At NAB, there is some likelihood of ...
1. a new DPX based workflow maybe even DPX integration into FCP.
2. something new on the film or HD grading front from FinalTouch even a new Apple FinalTouch.
3. some sort of a shared media workflow borrowing from what's available within FCP/XSan with something from the Proximity acquisition.
4. an asset management software maybe even integration with FCP/Motion and - a long shot - a better Media manager for FCP.
That much i can guess. More as things hot up before NAB.
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