Re: DVCPRO HD feature color grading, suggestions for workflow?

[Michael Sandness] "Simply grade as is, DVCPro HD. Render to Uncompressed 10 bit or ProRes HQ. Since the footage is 8-bit, converting it prior to capture just makes it bigger, not better.

I used to think this was the case, until I ran a side-by-side test and the results are different. Capturing footage from a Panasonic DVCPRO-HD deck via HD-SDI to an uncompressed 10-bit or ProRes codec yields a cleaner, sharper picture than footage captured from that source via firewire. The difference is minor, but was noticeable on a 24" LCD and significant enough for me to lose sleep for a night re-capturing 80 tapes for a feature.

Andrew Huebscher
Los Angeles, CA