human user

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

SDI Standards: SD, HD, 3G, 6G, 12G What Are They?

Broadcast equipment, monitors for example, have HDMI, or SDI, or both inputs/outputs.

When they sport SDI (Serial Digital Interface) inputs, they are characterized by a specific standard, set by SMPTE, ex. "SDI 3G".

What does that mean? Well it's a combination of supported transmission bitrates and video formats.

To simplify:

8bit video signal

SD SDI supports legacy NTSC 480i and PAL 576i formats at a speed of 270Mbps max.

HD SDI supports 1080i and 720p at a speed of 1485Mbps max.

10bit video signal

3G SDI supports 1080 60p at 2970Mbps max.

6G SDI supports up to 2160p30 ("4K") at 6000Mbps max.

12G SDI supports 2160p60 at 12000Mbps max.

24G SDI supports 4320p30 ("8K") at 24000Mbps max.

Audio is always embedded, and color subsampling varies, most often is YCbCr 4:2:2 with standardized colorimetry (ex. Rec709.)

Now, practically, a 4K monitor will need a 6G+ SDI input to accept a 4K signal via SDI. Else a "lesser G" SDI input will only receive HD signals, and any 4K signal will have to be connected to the HDMI 2.0+ input.

Example:

This "BM 4KS" line of Lilliput monitors have 3G SDI, so no 4K signal via SDI, only compatible with HDMI input.

This "BM 12G" line, and this "Q 12G" line of Lilliput monitors have 12G SDI, so 4K signals can be routed to either SDI or HDMI inputs.

The main differentiation between SDI and HDMI in post being HDMI has a greater latency, which might or might not be a problem for your application.

More info about HDMI on Wikipedia.

More info about SDI on Wikipedia.

Monday, November 14, 2022

DaVinci Resolve 18.1 Continues To Have A Bug 🪲 In Video Monitor Look Up Table

When applying a LUT to the Video Monitor, it should only affect the output, in my case the SDI out from the UltraStudio Monitor 3G.

Unfortunately it also affects the Scopes in the Edit and Cut Pages even though No LUT Selected is selected in the preferences for the Scopes Look Up Table.

Bizarrely, and thankfully, the Scopes are not affected in the Color Page, at least that's where it's most important.

SMPTE Bars looking correct on the Scopes

When No LUT selected for Video Monitoring

SMPTE Bars displayed incorrectly on the Scopes in the Edit and Cut Pages. Why?

In the Color Page at least the Scopes look correct.

Note the LUT applied to Monitoring only, not to Scopes.

That's a BUG 🪲 that's been plaguing Resolve version after version for long time:

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=51358

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?t=69732&p=389301

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=159257&p=863595&hilit=Video+monitor+look+up+table#p863595

Why has this inconsistent behavior not been fixed by now BMD? 😡

Friday, October 28, 2022

Apple Pro Video Formats 2.2.4 Update

With the release of Final Cut Pro 10.6.5, Apple is updating Pro Video Formats to version 2.2.4:

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Why Is Google Bloating My Computer With 88GB Of Cache Files For Google Drive?

Google stop using our computers as storage for your own use. I have 88GB of Google cache (crap) loaded on my boot drive. I do not sync my files to Google Drive, I'm Streaming only.

Home/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS/bullshitnumber/content_cache

What content? What cache?

There is no reason for this cache to exist and grow so big. It's totally opaque. NO!

iZotope is Trashing Excellent Plug-ins, Just Cause They Can

iZotope is discontinuing a bunch of plug-ins from Exponential Audio, a company iZotope acquired semi recently. Among the casualties are the wonderful Rs and Phoenix reverbs. Instead they are pushing for the bloated Neoverb, Stratus and Symphony plug-ins. Without any upgrade path for existing customers. Shame.

Other discarded apps from iZotope are Iris, Break Tweaker and Trash. I haven't used these as much I have to say. I guess iZotope don't care about these anymore. Do you feel old yet?