The source is XDCAM EX 1080-30p coming from FCP6.0.2. The output from Color is ProRes. Broadcast safe filter is off. Shots are outside, bright sunlight. Correction in the Primary room. My workflow is to first bring the luma within broadcast levels if needed and adjust to get good contrast. When working on the chroma, I almost always find the blues on the black end below 0 in the Parade scope. Bright sunlight has a lot of blue. Am I correct that broadcast safe must have the luma and chroma within 0 to 100? Perhaps I am misunderstanding the Parade scope? How do we perceive color levels below 0? Why does the scope report values below digital 0? The Color manual addresses chroma levels over 100 and can easily see the "clamping" of chroma over 100 when applying the broadcast safe filter on un-corrected chroma source but see no visual effect on the very,very dark areas with little or no detail.
Re: Understanding the Parade scope by Craig Sommerer on May 6, 2008 at 2:13:40 am
I'll most likely get taken to task for my views here but whatever.
The built-in scopes are weak at best. The parade would be far better with YRGB functionality rather than just RGB functionality. You measure your luma levels with the waveform and the Y component with the Luma option selected on the waveform. The parade measures RGB levels relative to each other. Where I find the parade most useful is indeed with regard to setting your black/white color balance as the vectorscope is rather, umm, weak at what it's supposed to do which to is measure chroma levels.
Set your luma levels looking at the luma waveform, switch to parade to set the balance of your colors relative to each other and disregard whether your blue black is below zero or not as it's irrelevant provided your luma levels are safely set. Or learn how to use a vectorscope efficiently and effectively.
This would be way easier and faster to accomplish if Apple could see fit to provide YRGB waveform functionality or if you could have a second independent waveform display that would measure luma as in the FCP scopes tool bench. Unfortunately Apple has provide neither in Color.
So, in the end, it's just better to have hardware scopes with these options unfortunately those jewels are out of the price range of the casual user. There's no excuse for anyone who's making money with FCP/Color to not have external scopes.
Re: Understanding the Parade scope by Rafael Amador on May 6, 2008 at 4:43:17 am
Hi Terry,
You make very interesting questions, but difficult to answer here.
Don't be afraid and learn some basics about analog video. If you read a bit about the NTSC and PAL system you will find the most of the answers. No way to understand digital video without a certain knowledge of the analog. You will never regret it.
Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17"Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17"
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.
Re: Understanding the Parade scope by walter biscardi on May 6, 2008 at 11:02:49 am
[Terry Griffey]"The source is XDCAM EX 1080-30p coming from FCP6.0.2. The output from Color is ProRes."
First off, is this working? XDCAM is not a supported format in Color at this time. While the footage may import correctly into Color, that does not guarantee it will render out correct, even if you are rendering to the ProRes codec.
[Terry Griffey]"Am I correct that broadcast safe must have the luma and chroma within 0 to 100? Perhaps I am misunderstanding the Parade scope?"
Yes, turning on Broadcast Safe is the easiest way to achieve this, you can adjust your floor and ceiling as desired.
[Terry Griffey]"How do we perceive color levels below 0? Why does the scope report values below digital 0?"
There is SuperBlack which can dip far below 0. For instance when we did our first testing with Good Eats about 4 years ago, I was receiving footage that was -7 black in the darkest areas. FCP supports the output of SuperBlack. The only way to clamp off the blacks at 0 is to turn on the Broadcast Safe Filter and set your floor at 0.
[Terry Griffey]"The Color manual addresses chroma levels over 100 and can easily see the "clamping" of chroma over 100 when applying the broadcast safe filter on un-corrected chroma source but see no visual effect on the very,very dark areas with little or no detail."
If you're just below 0 you won't see anything. Blacks don't generally dip much more than -5 at the worst. Chroma and highlights tend to be much more extreme off the scale. I've seen as high as 120+ for highlights and 110 to 115 for Chroma. When that's clamped, you see an immediate difference in the appearance.
If you need to deliver a broadcast safe project, then just turn on the Broadcast Safe feature, it's the easiest way to do this. I like that it clamps off material so then I can see it immediately and fix the colors.
Color's scopes are very very accurate as I've tested them against hardware HD scopes so you're seeing a very good representation of your image.
But again, have you actually tested and rendered out your clips and sent your timeline back to Color yet? XDCAM is not supported and may not work correctly.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.
Re: Understanding the Parade scope by Rafael Amador on May 6, 2008 at 1:54:52 pm
[walter biscardi]"Color's scopes are very very accurate as I've tested them against hardware HD scopes so you're seeing a very good representation of your image. " I'm really happy to read this Walter. If we could not trust the Color's VideoScope, we could not trust his "Broadcast Safe" or any other critic function.
Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17"Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17"
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.
Re: Understanding the Parade scope by walter biscardi on May 6, 2008 at 2:03:44 pm
[Rafael Amador]"I'm really happy to read this Walter. If we could not trust the Color's VideoScope, we could not trust his "Broadcast Safe" or any other critic function."
I've use FCP's Scopes for many many HD shows before I ever got the Color Scopes. It's not just the scopes themselves, it's the operator understanding that what you're seeing is not 100% accurate. In Color, it's about 99% accurate in my experience. With FCP, it's about 95% accurate in my experience. So if you understand that, you work accordingly.
The Broadcast Safe filtering in Color has been rock solid for me even in the old Final Touch HD days.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.
Re: Understanding the Parade scope by Terry Griffey on May 6, 2008 at 3:00:47 pm
Thanks all for your input. Walter, your input was especially helpful and yes, I have roundtripped FCP to/from Color using an XDCAM EX 1080-30p-35VBR timeline/clips. I have prepared two short 05;27 clips for you, the XDCAM input and the ProRes output for your perusal and testing if you would like them. I can FTP them or put them on my FTP site and you can fetch them if you wish. Thanks again.
