what would a 422 capture do for me?

i have been trying to figure out what benefit i would get from a 4.2.2 capture and what would be the best way to achieve it.

and even if i do achieve it would my clients see a difference?

any clearity would be helpful.

thanx

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

it depends on what youre shooing. if youre shooting mini DV i dont know that 4:2:2 would help you at all. as youre only as good as where you start.

what ive seen is that clients have a pretty narrow envelope of perception. X:Y:Z normally wouldnt phase my clients at all unless i pointed it out to them (and maybe not even then)

what you WILL see is much beter keying.

i have recently achieved 4:2:2 via the pannasonic hvx and DVCproHD codec. and im seeing a HUGE difference in image quality and resulting SD dvd exports.

On the other hand, RS-422 will give you much more sophisticated machine control if you have a machine that supports it. Way better than the simple machine control that comes with DV machines.

Koz

Let's not confuse RS-422 with 4:2:2 bit depth.

One controls tape decks... the other defines bit depth (color resolution) of the digital format.

mark

<<<Let's not confuse RS-422 with 4:2:2 bit depth. >>>

Where's your sense of whimsey?

Koz

i am shooting with a dvx100b i dont know if that is 4:1:1 or 4:2:2 i just would like to improve the footage comming into fcp via firewire. i had a friend who told me that 4:2:2 would improve the incomming footage and help a little with final out put ( dvd mpeg2 ).

if the improvement is less than 10% then i guess i could wait but the way he tells me its like a 30-40% increase in capture quality with a card that supports 4:2:2.

if rs422 refers to the quality of the deck/player then i am not talking about that.
i am speaking of the quality that i can get on capture, in fcp5.

i feel that if i can improve the capture then the final output would be clearer. its not bad now but there is a little muddiness to my final dvd when playing in a consumer deck.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

<<<a card that supports 4:2:2. >>>

4:2:2 is the professional uncompressed broadcast format. D1, DigiBeta, etc. If you have a lower quality tape machine or camcorder, the two color channels are already damaged and you won't be able to get them back no matter how you capture them.

Most of the FireWire capture systems are DV or some variant where the format is 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 or something like that. The last two numbers represent the quality of the colors. the first number is the luminance or black and white quality.

You can sacrifice quality in the color channels and usually not miss it unless you directly compare higher and lower quality tapes. Then you can see the difference, but it's not shocking.

Several moons and stars have to line up for you to get the increased quality that 4:2:2 offers.

If your tape format is 4:2:2 and your capture system is 4:2:2 and your timeline is uncompressed 4:2:2, then yes, you can produce some very high quality work. That's how we do it for the Commercial Division's promotional DVDs. We use DigiBeta tapes into an AJA-Io or a Kona-II, on to an uncompressed timeline and then conversion to MPEG2.

We used to go to DV quality in the middle and while nobody could quite figure out what was wrong, nobody was really happy, either. Our first uncompressed 4:2:2 product was a major hit.

I have no idea what quality your camcorder is. That's a research project.

My joke was that RS-422 is one way to control the motion of the tape and 4:2:2 is a definition of the quality of the video. They happen to be the same number and ripe for a pun.

You did laugh, right?

Koz

4:2:2 vs 4:1:1

4:2:2 is 10 bits which means not only 1024 shades of R,G and B as opposed to 256 but also that every second pixel is color sampled as opposed to every 4th.

That is why you cannot key DV which is 4:1:1 and get a reasonable result.

The difference between 4:2:2 and 4:1:1 becomes more apparent when you grade or otherwise alter the footage in post.

If you are just cutting it without any post or grading then you will see a bigger difference in the choice of lens than you will in the choice of format.

Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com

thanx man that clears me up quite a bit.

i guess all i can do is chroma and filter enhancements to what i get from my dvx. if i get a P2 card for my camera would that do anything as far as getting better bit dept. i am thinking recording to something other than dv would give me better quality.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

as far as i know there is no reason (and no WAY) to shoot to P2 with a DVX camera. youd need an HVX for that.

do i have a choice at all with the dvx?

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"