32bit "washed out"

TeeJay wrote on 4/20/2008, 3:45 AM

In V8 I did a few tests rendering some MPEG2 files out using both the 8bit and 32bit colour templates and found that the 32bit files were quite noticably more "washed out" and dull than the 8bit files, particularly the black which showed up as a really dark grey..... I would have thought the reverse to be true but the 8bit actually looked much better. To verify this i authored both in DVDA and played the disc on a variety of both CRT and Plasma screens and found the result the same. So, why? My impression of 32bit is that the colour depth should be, well, deeper.........
FWIW, my dual monitors are calibrated using Pantone Huey Pro.

Comments

farss wrote on 4/20/2008, 4:50 AM

http://glennchan.info/articles/vegas/v8color/v8color.htm

Explains it all.

Bob.

Laurence wrote on 4/20/2008, 7:04 AM

Wierd because in the preview display you see exactly the opposite: The 32bit preview looks much more vivid.

I suppose it is a good thing. I just cancelled a 32bit render of about a half hour's worth of video. I was about six hours into it and had about 14 hours to go. That's on a pretty hefty Intel Core2Duo with 4 gig of RAM. I started the 32 bit render because the color looked so much more intense in the Vegas preview that way.

It sounds like the look would have been exactly the opposite had I waited for the render. This was just one of three sections by the way, so I would have been rendering well into the coming week!

Laurence wrote on 4/20/2008, 7:15 AM

Great link Bob. Now I understand why my photo montages always look so good too.

Thanks.

TeeJay wrote on 4/20/2008, 7:31 AM

Thanks Bob! Useful information there. Glenn's article on colour space was also useful.

T

farss wrote on 4/20/2008, 7:33 AM

If you're seeing any dramatic differences then you're doing something wrong and wasting a lot of time and power. Linear gamma has it's place in compositing as would 32bit perhaps. Realistically coming from 8 bit sources and going out to 8bit there's very little to nothing to be gained. If it wasn't so one would have to wonder why we didn't have a 32bit pipeline option years ago.
To put it around another way. It's a good tool to have on hand for when you need it. If you don't have an issue that needs it and one that you can see being solved by it, probably best to avoid all the complications and serious render time.
I'd suggest you read some more of Glenn's excellent articles to fully understand the issues in Vegas.

Bob.