ITU-R BT.709

marcel-vossen wrote on 2/7/2013, 5:33 AM
Hi there,

How can I make sure I comply with the ITU-R BT.709 color space standard when rendering a video for broadcast? Is this automatically okay when I render in a certain format?

What output format would one most commonly use if a videoclip is meant for TV broadcast? The requirements are:

Codecs: Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) [preferred], Avid DNxHD or DVCPro HD
Scaling: Content may NOT be upscaled from SD
Frame size & rate: 1920x1080 (Progressive) [23.98, 29.97 or 25], or 1920x1080 (Interlaced) [29.97 or 25], or 1280x720 (Progressive Only) [23.98 or 29.97]
Color space: ITU-R BT.709
Audio: Stereo LPCM in either Big Endian or Little Endian, 16-bit or 24-bit, at 48kHz (Audio levels should remain constant at -6db as much as possible. Please prevent audio levels going below -12db.)

Does anyone know how to translate this to an output format in Vegas?

Marcel

Comments

farss wrote on 2/7/2013, 6:00 AM
The only difficulty with Vegas and conforming to those specs is getting your video levels legal e.g. not going below 0% IRE or above 100% IRE.
There's a zillion words been written about this right here, the Search function will provide more information.

Bob.
musicvid10 wrote on 2/7/2013, 12:43 PM
Pay close attention to Bob's advice.
Vegas takes care of the colorspace flags, you are in charge of correct levels.
marcel-vossen wrote on 2/8/2013, 4:33 AM
Are these levels only important for the correct look of the video, or will it be even rejected if this is not okay? Wouldn't this be just a matter of using the "Broadcast colors" plugin or am I thinking too easy? :)

Marcel
farss wrote on 2/8/2013, 5:10 AM
"Are these levels only important for the correct look of the video, or will it be even rejected if this is not okay?"

Getting your levels correct are important to ensure that:

1) The viewer sees what you intended them to see.
2) That whoever you submit your work to does not: 2.a) Reject it.
2.b) Accept it but run it through some form of "legaliser" which may or may not
make it look as you intended.

"Wouldn't this be just a matter of using the "Broadcast colors" plugin or am I thinking too easy? :)"

It might be that easy, really up to you, just keep in mind that "legal" doesn't necessarily mean "good looking".

Bob.


marcel-vossen wrote on 2/14/2013, 11:41 AM
Thanks Bob,

I understand what you mean, however I also realize that you can't influence the thousands of different ways that people watch your footage anyway, they might very well have set their TV or monitor presets to a look that would give me a stroke within a minute anyway, so I don't really worry about details like that...better concentrate on the content, the viewer sees what he/she wants to see anyway ;)

Marcel
musicvid10 wrote on 2/14/2013, 12:15 PM
Having scopes in Vegas Pro, you have an advantage in that you can deliver legal levels that will play nicely, given an eye for such things. The very best we as producers can do is provide those levels, and not worry about the end user environs over which we have no control whatsoever.

The various means by which one accomplishes legal levels that play nicely, using Vegas as the editor, have pretty much been discussed to death here. I suggest picking a method that works for you, and sticking with it. You give Vegas the correct luminance; it gives you the correct colorspace.