Aspect HD 3.0

[Andrew J Hall]

Is it now released? I am going to order the Aspect / Premiere package but thought I would wait till it was out - will it (3.0) come on the CD. I am on a very slow modem and large downloads are something I avoid when I can.

Andrew

[David Newman]

Aspect HD 3.0 will be out in a couple of days, download only initially. The hard copy versions will available next week.

[Ken Hodson]

"increased dynamic range for “superwhite” and “superblack” processing"
What the heck is that? Some sort of levels adjust while capture?

How about some real time preview and capture w/zebras ala DVrack? Maybe in 3.5a?

[David Newman]

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Hodson : "increased dynamic range for “superwhite” and “superblack” processing"
What the heck is that? Some sort of levels adjust while capture?-->>>

Then you don't know what you have been missing. :) This is complicated but important to filmmakers. The camera stores the image in YUV. Y (Luma) has the legal range of 16-235, however many cameras (like the FX1/Z1) use values outside of this range. Applications like Premiere use cgRGB (computer graphics RGB) that has a range of 0 to 255. The correct conversion math from YUV to cgRGB, makes Y of 16 become 0 in RGB and Y of 235 become 255 in RGB. Any values above and below are clipped (and lost to the filmmaker.) Aspect HD 3.0 fixes this so that you can access the out-of-bounds levels in the editing environment (no capture tool change necessary.) This is a Prospect HD feature used on "Dust to Glory" we believe some HDV filmmakers would enjoy. This can help give you more natural highlights rather than harsh clipping, and increase the effective dynamic range of your camera.

[Ken Hodson]

Would this come into play with a HD10?

[David Newman]

Yes. I have noticed benefits with the HD10, bringing subtles to the highlights.

[Andrew J Hall]

Hi David your comments on dynamic range remind me of an issue I have never come to grips with which looks like it may be the same thing as you are explaining above. Hope you don't mind a question.

Working with ordinary mini-dv and a Canopus dv Raptor I used to find that if I optimised dynamic range for my clip so it looked great on my PC (sRGB) monitor - if the same optimised for DR clip was re-exported to tape and viewed on a TV the highlights would clip and whites would often take on a strong color tint such as green or red.

So I ended up doing two processing runs for many clips - one for PC / web delivery, and one (with less extreme contrast) for tape / TV delivery.

Is this what you are describing above - that for video / tv YUV display the midtone contrast is being stretched by dispensing with 0-16 and 236-255, which might make midtones look more distinct but gets paid for in the highlights and shadows?

If this is at all on track - what does this mean when the reassigned full color range (your superwhite and superblack) is reexported to tape in your HD scenario - does this not lead back to blown whites and shadows (I'm sure it doesn't but would be interested if you are able to explain).

Andrew

[David Newman]

Andrew, that doesn't sound related, and it seems like one or both of your displays is out of calibration.

It is hard to explain the benefits of this change without diagrams. The resulting exports are still bounded by the legal levels (so comsumer display will show correctly); this change allows to you choose what values fits within your legal output. It is increases the flexibility of color correction, but you do have to use color correction to experience the value. I hope to create a page on the website explaining this with pictures.

[Michael Stewart]

It says 3.0 does realtime slomo, do you accomplish this by speed/duration in premiere or is there another way. I am asssuming there is another way considering 2.5b could do it without rendering, but they both seem pretty choppy.

Thanks
Mike

[David Newman]

Slow motion is real-time but only with frame blend turned off, just as it is in Aspect HD 2.5b. The speed/duration field in the correct control.

[Michael Stewart]

Thanks David.


Mike

[Ron Nakano]

Hello,

I was wondering if "superblack" negates the need to use in-camera "black stretch"?

Thanks,
Ron Nakano

[David Newman]

I don't know, might be worth some experimentation. My guess is that is will extend the usefullness of "black stretch".