Codec question

eclipse · Post by **eclipse** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:08 pm

I am capturing Hi-8 video to DV-AVI with a Canopus ADVC-110. I'm told that the Canopus unit uses the Consumer DV codec, which is YCbCr (rather than RGB). If I open these DV AVI files in VideoStudio 9, do some minor trimming and transitions, then save the DV AVI file using "Share/Create Video File," selecting "same as project settings" and with SmartRender on, is the saved file still in the YCbCr (16-235) colorspace, or does VideoStudio expand it to RGB 0-255?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:21 am

Quickest way to find out is to render a small section (rather than the entire project.)

Out of interest, what will you be doing with the finalised video?
If you are creating a Video DVD then you need to render to MPEG2.
If your placing onto the internet you need to check with the relevant site
(YouTube / Google Video / VEOH etc.) to ascertain what their recommended format is.

eclipse · Post by **eclipse** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:50 pm

I can render a small section with VS, but that doesn't tell me whether VS has, in rendering, expanded the colorspace from 16-235 to 0-255.

Final goal is MPEG-2 DVD.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:44 am

eclipse wrote:......
Final goal is MPEG-2 DVD.

Why not simply render it to MPEG2 then?

eclipse · Post by **eclipse** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:03 am

Because I am going to do the MPEG-2 compression with Cinemacraft. That program has an option to select luminance level to 16-235 or 0-255. If VideoStudio does its work in RGB, and saves the edited files as RGB 0-255, I need to set Cinemacraft to clamp it down to 16-235 so that the DVD that is ultimately created is in the proper colorspace for a TV. On the other hand, if VS is not expanding the colorspace to 0-255, I need to know that so that I don't further clamp what already is clamped.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:51 am

As far as I can find, VS9 uses the Ulead MPEG.now encoder, which would use the 24bit RGB. In fact DV Type-1 and 2, along with several other DV and MPEG settings all use 24bit RGB.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:21 pm

eclipse wrote:Because I am going to do the MPEG-2 compression with Cinemacraft. That program has an option to select luminance level to 16-235 or 0-255. If VideoStudio does its work in RGB, and saves the edited files as RGB 0-255, I need to set Cinemacraft to clamp it down to 16-235 so that the DVD that is ultimately created is in the proper colorspace for a TV. On the other hand, if VS is not expanding the colorspace to 0-255, I need to know that so that I don't further clamp what already is clamped.

Sorry but in the 4 and half years I have been on this web board I have never heard of anyone mentioning an option to select luminance level to 16-235 or 0-255. I suspect that this particular setting is something unique to Cinecraft as I have never heard or seen it in any of the other Video Editing programs I have used either.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 6:03 pm

eclipse wrote:Because I am going to do the MPEG-2 compression with Cinemacraft. That program has an option to select luminance level to 16-235 or 0-255. If VideoStudio does its work in RGB, and saves the edited files as RGB 0-255, I need to set Cinemacraft to clamp it down to 16-235 so that the DVD that is ultimately created is in the proper colorspace for a TV. On the other hand, if VS is not expanding the colorspace to 0-255, I need to know that so that I don't further clamp what already is clamped.

If you go to the Color Library and click on the Color Picker>Ulead Color Picker you can set the RGB values from 0-255. Since that's the case I would think VS would save the edited files the same.