Avid/FCPro level differences.

[Matt Gottshalk]

From a client of mine who specializes in compression:


"We've been trying to figure something out, and are blocked on solving
it. it hit me that you may know the solution.

we have a customer with Avid Media Composer, and they're playing out
an Avid DVCPRO50 source over SDI to a waveform monitor. as a YPbPr
source, they're seeing black level of 0mV and white level of 700mV,
and color spectrum is correct.

if we take that source (QT reference file) and flatten it to .mov, and
play it out with Final Cut Pro (over SDI) to the same workform
monitor, the black levels are high (by 50mV) and color range is
broadened in spectrum and high by 20mV. (according the customer
reports)

we're trying to use the flattened file as a source for transcoding,
but there's some interaction between Avid and QT that we're not
understanding, because our transcoded version still has higher black
levels than the source.

i appreciate any time you have to think about this. our video editor
checked gamma levels and other filters, and couldn't solve what the
difference was. even the solution our Avid contact gave us didn't
work..."

Any ideas?

I thought it was the dreaded Gamma shift from PC to Mac but now I'm not sure

 

[NoahK]

I personally wouldn't be using QuickTime as the transfer medium- because obviously this particular Avid and FCP setup interpret differently. It's one time where I'd consider going tape to tape. Also check your YUV/RGB render settings in FCP, those can easily change gamma.

Noah

 

[xmephestox]

there is also a plugin from automatic duck that i think let's you take ur timeline from avid to fcp. i hear it works well and fixes a lot of the issues.