Levels filter for DVD, web authoring

SonyEPM wrote on 1/29/2002, 3:44 PM
Some of you have noticed washed out color when converting DV to MPEG-2 or streaming formats. You might try adding the "Levels" filter to the entire project, settings:

input start: 0.063
input end: 0.922
output start: 0
output end: 1
gamma: 1

Turn this off when rendering to DV.

We'll be adding this as a preset in the upcoming 3.0a update, preset name "Studio RGB to Computer RGB".

Comments

Rahl wrote on 1/29/2002, 4:58 PM
When can we expect this update?
Jamz wrote on 1/29/2002, 11:03 PM
Will this preset amount to a much longer render time?
RichMacDonald wrote on 1/29/2002, 11:53 PM
Interesting. I see what you're doing, but the name of the preset leads me to ask: "Is this strictly for computer playback of MPEG-2 files and not for TV?" In other words, what will this do for the TV playback? And how will this interact with the broadcast color "clamp" setting?

I'm fishing for the rationale behind this filter setting. (And the lack of detailed writeups of these filters means I need to grab anything I can get :-) Notes from your studies/findings would be very helpful. TIA
SonyEPM wrote on 1/30/2002, 3:23 PM
Some answers:

Update RTM?

Soon.

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Increased render time?

Yes, any additional processing will increase the render time- how much longer depends on the rest of the project.
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the rationale behind this filter setting?

We have recently discovered that the Main Concept encoder is expecting computer RGB values rather the studio RGB values we have been feeding it. We are working closely with MC engineering to create a cleaner way of passing the correct values without "squishing".

In the meantime, we feel that the levels filter adjustment posted earlier in this thread is a good correction step if you are seeing washed-out colors when transcoding DV source material to MPEG-2. Applying the filter as described should make TV playback of DVDs look closer to the DV original. Computer playback of MC MPEG-2 files may vary slightly, depending on the MPEG-2 decoder used by the player application.

The levels filter adjustment is also a desireable pre-processing step when converting DV source material to any computer-playback format (like .wm,.rm,.qt...). This is not something you'll likely care about with lower bitrate encodes, but for ultra-critical delivery (say for a streaming .wm demo reel of your best footage over corporate LAN) you may want to try this filter.

Refresher:

add the "Levels" filter to the entire project, settings:

input start: 0.063
input end: 0.922
output start: 0
output end: 1
gamma: 1

Turn this off when rendering to DV.

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ps: You don't have to use this filter at all- if you are happy with the results you are getting now, stick with what works!