Hardware needed for color correction / grading

Imaginate

Imaginate

Well-known member
Hi I'm in post production phase of a feature length horror film shot with the HVX200. I'm editing with FCP 5.1

Its time to Color Grade this and I'm wondering what hardware I need to do this. Do I need something like the matrox MXO box to get accurate colors or can I use my LCD monitor without the MXO box. I have connected the output of the mac to an HD TV via DIV to HMDI cable but can I trust the color that I'm seeing there?

The final guy to do the color correction will probably use AE . Does the MXO box work with AE?

There is a chance that he might use AE on a PC. What hardware would be needed for a PC to have a proper color correction monitor since the MXO box seems specifically made for Apple?

I've heard that people will export the footage as uncompressed into AE before color correcting ... is that really necessary or is there another codec that doesnt take up quite the same amount of space that can do the same job?

Garnet
www.theycamefromtheattic.com
 
You need a Professional Monitor ($$$) and an I/O Card eg BlackMagic I/O Products

Why are you doing it if another colorist is going to do it again?

A Black Magic Card is compatible in both platforms and could be swapped over..
 
If you are using the output of your graphic card to video preview, no you cannot trust what you are seeing. The graphic card is not designed to perform proper playback of video in terms of colour display and playback speed (frame rate).
With the MXO in the mix you can trust what you are seeing. The MXO insures accurate colour display on your monitor and proper playback of the frame rate. It is designed to insure proper display/playback on a DVI monitor as well as a broadcast monitor via it's sdi/component/comps and y/c outputs. The MXO does work equally well in AE. The MXO is designed to work with any application on a Mac that interfaces with the Vout component of QuickTime.

As for working on a PC, not it is not supported. However you could use the Matrox RT.X2 or Axio on a PC with the Adobe Suite.



cheers,


Joe
 
Thanks for the info. The MXO sounds perfect solution for our apple workstation but it would be great if there was hardware that worked for PC too. Which particular product from BlackMagic does the same thing as the MXO but works on both platforms. That would be worth looking into.

I agree in theory that color correction shouldn't be done once in final cut, and then again in after effects. It we would be losing a generation with that method. The guy doesn't claim to be a colorist , he's more artist than technical but his work on AE is amazing and his final output always looks great.

I guess I'm trying to present a case to him from other professionals explaining why extra hardware like the MXO is needed. If his work looks good with an uncalibrated LCD screen, it should look even more amazing using a real monitor.
 
Imaginate said:
If his work looks good with an uncalibrated LCD screen, it should look even more amazing using a real monitor.
Click to expand...

It's not a question of "looking....amazing".....it's whether it is accurate or not. While it may look great on your LCD, other monitors will not interpret the footage and corrections the same way, so you work to a standard and callibration on a true production monitor if you can afford it.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top