I don't know how I could have gone 3 years without running into this, but I have never used the "Dark" compression mode found in the VTR menu. I was B camera today with another HDX that had it switched to Dark instead of Normal. Since this changes the way the compression works as it goes down onto the tape I did not have time to check it out the way I would like. Has anyone compared the results between Normal (default) and Dark? The manual does not say much... concerns me that it says distortion on other parts may increase.

Shooting again tomorrow if anyone has some experience with this....

Thank you,
George

<<Manual Text>>
For selecting the DVCPRO compression
mode.
This is enabled when the recording format
is set to 720P.
NORMAL:
Normal shooting shall be executed in this
mode.
DARK:
Distortion of compressed video images
that may occur at dark parts on the video
images can be suppressed in this mode.
Distortion of compressed video images on
other parts may increase

I Googled this a few different ways and all I found is that the last Varicam had something like this and it was for shooting in low light... sparse info to be found.

George

My impression is that it is safe to leave Dark Compression on all the time. Dark areas are where DVCPRO HD compression artifacts are most likely to be seen. I've not heard of anyone experiencing other artifacts in higher APL areas due to Dark Compression.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video (http://www.ssv.com)