Please help me set up my studio! I really don't understand this.

musman wrote on 8/2/2003, 2:34 AM
I've read every article I can find about the 7.5 IRE set up on U.S. NTSC material and I still don't understand how I should set up my editing studio w/ Vegas+DVD. What I do is make short film and hopefully a feature film soon and I know these black levels are important. Please, please help me answer these questions:

1- I have an ADS pyro pro capture card and want to preview my material (especially for color correction) to an NTSC monitor. I was thinking of getting a cheap (~$400) camera with pass through to serve this purpose. Will this camera work for accurate previews or should I get get something like the Canopus ADVC-100 to do this job and add the 7.5 IRE?
2- What is the purpose of all those options of 7.5 IRE in the Broadcast Colors option in the video fx in Vegas? Can I use this to substitute for the ADVC 100's ability to add the 7.5 IRE? I'd like to save the money I'd spend on the ADVC and buy lighting equipment instead, so is this an option?
3- Should I use one of the 7.5 IRE in the Broadcast Colors to material I'm going to make into a DVD?
4- To date I've been using my Sony pd150 camera as a transcoder of analog material to digital and also to take the firewire feed from Vegas and send it to my TV for previews. Have I been doing this wrong all along? What are the consequences of this?
5- How should I work things for material to be sent to film festivals in beta? VHS? DVD?

I apologize for so many questions, but I promise I've read everything I can and this is really getting the better of me. The long post in this forum a month and a half ago cleared up a little, but I still don't know what I should buy.
Please someone help me! Thanks ahead of time.
-Sam

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 8/2/2003, 8:59 AM
Sam,

Read the following link regarding 7.5IRE setup:

Adam Wilt on 7.5 IRE setup

Adam Wilt's entire website is a wealth of information, if you haven't already, you should spend some time there going over everything.

Adam Wilt's Web Site

Personally, I leave blacks at zero and if I really need the 7.5 IRE setup, I make the adjustment when I make the dub to analog videotape, usually BetaCam. Generally, DV video and DVD's use 0 IRE blacks.

Your PD150 is an excellent transcoder and you have been using it correctly.

Regarding film festivals, check and see what they want. Give it to them in the best looking format they will accept. Avoid VHS whenever possible.

John
musman wrote on 8/2/2003, 5:00 PM
Thanks for the help. I just reread Adam Wilt's article for probably the 10th time, but I'm still confused. I thought I should have been adding 7.5 setup when going from digital to analog. So, I'd need something to add 7.5 IRE to my monitor for previews and also for making VHS copies.
Are you saying that that is wrong and I don't need the 7.5 IRE set up going from digital to analog? If so, when do I need it?
Sorry, I'm really trying on this one, but it's very complecated.
BillyBoy wrote on 8/2/2003, 6:19 PM
The truth be known... the typical Joe six pack has his TV so poorly calibrated making minor IRE adjustments in your video are mostly an exercise in ego stroking. Again, the color bar adjustment is mostly for BROADCAST television. As I recently said in another thread and confirmed by another in the biz... and easily confrimed by yourself, next time Bush is doing a live news event or someone else that is on multiple TV channels live, click through the channels and see how "professionals" screw-up. Because if they were all so particular about IRE and adjusting to color bars, then the broadcast of the same person would be the same regardless what channel you watched or at best have very minor differences. We all know that sure ain't true. <wink>

JumboTech wrote on 8/2/2003, 8:56 PM
Sam, if you're not the typical Joe six pack, e-mail me: jumbotech@netscape.net

I'll be glad to help you as much as I can.

Regards...

Al
BillyBoy wrote on 8/2/2003, 9:10 PM
Just so nobody gets the wrong idea, Joe six pack is the AUDIENCE.

As far as the black IDE issue, what we're really talking about is black and so-called super black. As you might guess one is "blacker" than the other. My point is since the majority of end users typically crank up their brightness and contrast on their TV far beyond what it should be set at, the subtle differences get lost. Applying the broadcast filter in effect can chop off a small bit effecting the luminance and chrominance.

I'm too busy to do one on one. That's why I post to the forum. <wink>
farss wrote on 8/3/2003, 2:46 AM
I don't live in NTSC land (aint I lucky!), anyways, I think you have yourself in a lather over nought. If every thing has 7.5 IRE setup then all will go well. The only thing you have to watch is that your analoge monitor is setup for this. If its a pro bit of NTSC gear it should be switchable. If its just a cheap TV made in the US then its going to be setup for the 7.5 IRU setup anyways.

As BillBoy has said its not going to make that much difference anyway, proper adjustmnt of the average TV would make a much bigger difference.

If your sending material out for transmission it probably should be labelled 7.5 IRE setup but I suspect this would still only be an issue if it was going over to Asia.
Grazie wrote on 8/3/2003, 3:11 AM
Yeah - I took notice of what BB said about calibrating my very own "crumby" TV monitor I use for previewing my masterpieces. It turned an average to poor TV into something akin to a professional monitor - thanks again BB!

Grazie
BillyBoy wrote on 8/3/2003, 9:10 AM
You're welcome Grazie.

Sometimes it pays to be a out of shape CHEAPSAKE like me. This whole NTSC monitor verses expensive "professional" monitor thing began when my aging and clunky large screen 50 pound plus NTSC monitor gave up the ghost. Not being in very good physical shape, just lugging this beast down the stairs from my upstairs studio was a considerable task and I almost fell down the stairs doing it.

So... I was going out anyways that afternoon to get some blank CD's. While in one of my favorite electronic super stores I eyed this little 14 inch Sharp TV they had on sale for next to nothing, I forget exactly, about $90. So I bought it, fully intending it to just tide me over till I got another NTSC replacement.

Well, the rest is history as I've said in several other threads over the past months where I've gone into more details. So yea, I get a little more feisty that usual where somebody goes into their 'you're not a professional, unless you have a professional monitor' dance. As I've also said in those other threads I did extensive testing, side by side, my cheap little Sharp TV sitting right next to one of the expensive NTSC monitors and the differences at best are negligible. Not talking picture quality, obviously a expensive NTSC monitor should deliver a better quality picture. That's not what we are talking about, rather levels and hue. Those IF you take the time to calibrate correctly ARE negligible and that's what you're suppose to be using an external monitor for... to adjust levels and hue, not say, oh look at the crisp picture. For that I go look on my super expensive TV in the family room AFTER I burn another DVD. <wink>