Getting ready for 4K editing...

megabit wrote on 3/8/2016, 5:33 AM

Will it be Vegas or not, I'm about to enter the world of 4K editing. Of course there will be a new fast PC, but I wanted to seek your advice about monitoring...

So far, for HD editing, I've been using a 50" 1080p plasma TV, hung on the wall and tilted down just above my editing desktop. Should I follow this and buy one of the newest HDR UHDTV, or simply a large, 40" 4K monitor?

Here are my pros&cons about a TV:
- its use can be doubled of course as a UHDTV :)
- some information claim that the Super UHD/Quantum Dot UHD from Samsung use 10-bit panels, but will it be possible to feed 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 video through HDMI? I doubt it - however, on the other hand, the UHD BD players are 10-bit per color, and supposedly connected via HDMI - so who knows?
- even though heavily processed, most TV sets do have a Direct (1:1) setting

My pro-monitor arguments:
- it's supposed to give a more 1:1 picture
- it can be a true 10 bit panel (important for grading in DaVinci, perhaps in Catalyst in the future)

Advise & thoughts, please

Piotr

PS. Oh, and I'm perfectly aware that high-end editing suit is all about calibrated monitors, SDI connectivity etc. But please spare me explaining this, as my budget is limited... And - with a high-end graphics card (like Qaudro or even GeForce), I can build a working 10-bit connection to a relatively cheap monitoring solution - just advise please whether this should be a PC monitor, or a higher-end UHDTV will be enough...

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Comments

Wolfgang S. wrote on 3/11/2016, 4:55 AM

"And who knows, one day Vegas may be replaced with Catalyst Edit, which plays back almost as fine as Resolve does - did you notice?"
Sure, when I test the Catalyst Suite what I do from time to time I see the both playback performance and use of cores, but also how different GPUs are utilized.

2 cases:
"For grading 4K 10 bit 2:2:2 Slog material from FS7, I guess it's not minor and it's essential - 8 bit would introduce color banding that isn't there, thus spoiling all the process by triggering false grading decisions."

versus

"No need for 32bit real-time playback in Vegas. Grading I will do in Resolve; final edits that needs full fps - in Vegas 8 bit. Rendering out in Vegas 32 bit - all should work fine."

At the end of the day I am not only ready to edit 10bit, but I have done now for more then a year. I work with 10 bit 422 v-log l footage from the Shogun/GH4 and I know quite well the difference of a 8bit preview and 10bit preview with Vegas, also for log files.

But please decide for yourself: Either you think that it is important to have a 10bit preview, then you have to use a 32bit floating point project in Vegas - because only that mode delivers an 10bit preview. Or you want a better preview peformance - then you can use 8bit project settings and will have a 8bit preview only.

For the FS7 footage it would not be necessary to grade that in Resolve. That could be done in Catalyst Preview/Edit but also in Vegas directly.

VideoFreq wrote on 3/11/2016, 12:32 PM

Piotr, this conversation is beyond my reasonable budget. But as I have read over and over, who or what is your output for? Just recently posted was this http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?messageid=940987. While it addresses wave form scopes it says any monitor, after calibrating, is still not that critical for viewing. A quality monitor is fine for color grading and previewing but, what/who is your final end viewer?

No matter what camera, editor, color grader, color space or gamut used, we end up seeing most produced media on a 4K movie screen or an 8 bit TV/Monitor. If you are editing & grading 10 bit 4K for viewing on a 10 bit 4K TV that's different, but for mass media work. I dunno.

I only work with 4K to get better edited 1080 results. I started moving into 4K, 10 bit 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 and it created more questions and issues than it was worth, to me anyway. I can produce a documentary in 1080-60p, in 8-bit 4:2:2 and 99.9% of the viewers will not know or care that it didn't start out at 4K,10-bit 4:4:4.

My biggest issue with using Vegas in 4K is that the buttons and words are so freaking tiny it creates eye strain, and then it isn't fun anymore. Does anyone know how to fix that? Right now, I edit in 2560x1440 and call it a day.

Wolfgang S. wrote on 3/11/2016, 1:26 PM

The best fix is to combine HD and UHD monitors. UHD for the preview and HD for the GUI.

megabit wrote on 3/12/2016, 11:51 AM

Volfgang and Videofreg;

I guess I have answered all your answers and doubts already, in my previous posts to this thread :)

Piotr