HCX900M/Filter questions

[Robert Moyer]

Shot my first test footage just as it comes out of the box. Rendered it in Vegas Pro 10 and burned it with Arch Pro 5.2. Over all I am pleased with it. Shot some footage in the family room with low light and it was a little grainy but I can live with that. The out doors footage was in dull winter sun and with the sun at my back. The rendered footage (BluRay format, BluRay disc, BluRay player) showed some wide verticle bands of light shading. It was only apparent from the top of the screen down (just on the light blue sky). This footage was of a light house in the distance with water in the forefront.

Question: Any idea what caused that?
Should I purchase a polarized filter?
Should I purchase just a UV filter?
Am I asking about the wrong type of filters?

Thanks for any guidance.

Bob

[Gerald Webb]

Hi Robert,
Have you checked to see if the banding is in the original footage when played from the cam to the TV?

[Robert Moyer]

No I haven't tried that. I will add that during any panning motion the banding is apparent also. Almost as if something was on the actual lense. I have subsequently shot more footage on a bright winter day in my back yard and rendered and burned it to BluRay. On this footage, there was no banding at all even on the sections of sky that I picked up. The trouble clips were all shot with water in the foreground and I thought that maybe it was some sort of glare that the camera picked up. I am going to order a UV filter and try that. Thanks for taking the time to help.

Bob

[Seth Bloombaum]

Banding on color gradations happens most often when the encoder drops information during compression, usually due to too much detail/change between frames.

That there is water in the foreground is telling, because moving water is highly detailed, changes a lot between frames, and will stress a codec's ability to render the scene accurately.

As Gerald suggested, in this case direct playback from the cam to a large display should tell the story. A UV or Pola filter is unlikely to help. OTOH, if the direct playback looks good, the compression that DVDA is doing may be causing this problem.

In either case, if this banding is unacceptable you need a higher bitrate or a simpler scene.

[Robert Moyer]

Seth,
You mentioned that footage over 'moving' water is telling. I should add that it was shot from a pier on a windy day with very active waves and whitecaps. I have since rerendeered in Vegas and increased the bitrate and most of the banding has been solved. Thank you for the response and advice. I appreciate all of the help.

Bob

[Robert Moyer]

As a follow-up, I must add that the HD TV is a Sony Bravia XBR9 x 52 inch. This whole issue has driven me nuts as the dark streaks show up on the FIOS connection (at first unnoticed) and also on the Blu-ray disc and Blu-ray player. The TV is exactly 3 years old. Upon further investigation, I have found that this is an issue with the Sony brand TV. Naturally, not everyone is experiencing this, but it is a known issue on the Sony e-support forums. Thank you for your advice and I just wanted everyone to know the outcome. I seriously doubt if Sony will do anything about this but I will send them the information.

Bob