Calibrated Software MXF Import v3 - Manual (Page 28)

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‘dnxhd’ options for Final Cut Pro 7.0.3
Control file used was the XDCAM-MOV file.
Test was performed on a Mac OSX 10.6.8 system with all of the latest updates
We did not perform any ‘Send to Compressor’ export tests, nor in-depth rendering/effects tests, nor did we
perform any in-depth editing speed tests, and no third-party hardware I/O boards were used in this test. All visual
comparison tests were performed on the computer monitor by sight.
Viewer Window
In the FCP Viewer Window,
1) When viewing files in the Viewer Window from the FCP Bin in the Viewer Window, DNxHD-RGB-
GAMMA-REFMXF & DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF are visually the same
– and are also visually the
same as the XDCAM-MOV file; however DNxHD-709-REFMXF is much brighter.
2) When viewing the files in the Viewer Window from a FCP Sequence with DNxHD set as the
Sequence codec, DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF are visually the
same
– and are also visually the same as the XDCAM-MOV file; however DNxHD-709-REFMXF
is much brighter.
3) When viewing the files in the Viewer Window from a FCP Sequence with ProRes set as the
Sequence codec, DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & XDCAM-MOV are visually the same;
however DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-709-REFMXF are visually the same and are much
brighter than DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & XDCAM-MOV.
This would lead us to the conclusion that in the first two tests above, DNxHD is being decoded to RGB data hence the
reason that DNxHD-709-REFMXF is much brighter since it is decoding to SMPTE RGB range while the other files are
decoding to Full Range RGB.
However in the third test it appears that DNxHD is being decoded to YUV data since DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-
709-REFMXF are visually the same; however DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & XDCAM-MOV are visually the same
and are darker than the DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-709-REFMXF. Thus it appears that the added Gamma
Extensions does make an impact when viewing YUV data in FCP7.
Editing on a ProRes Sequence
When viewing the unrendered files in the Canvas Window from a FCP Sequence with ProRes set as the Sequence
codec, DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-709-REFMXF are visually the same; however DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF
& XDCAM-MOV are visually the same and are darker than the DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-709-REFMXF. Thus it
appears that the added Gamma Extensions does make an impact when viewing YUV data in FCP7.
When rendering the DNxHD files to ProRes on the FCP Sequence:
(a) “Always Render in RGB” – DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & XDCAM-MOV are visually the same; however
both DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-709-REFMXF are much brighter with DNxHD-709-REFMXF being
brighter than DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF.
(b) “Render in 8-bit YUV” - DNxHD-RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & XDCAM-MOV are visually the same; however
DNxHD-RGB-REFMXF & DNxHD-709-REFMXF are visually the same and are much brighter than DNxHD-
RGB-GAMMA-REFMXF & XDCAM-MOV.
(c) “Render all YUV material in High-Precision YUV” – the results of this test were the same as Test (b) above.
All DNxHD .MOV files and all DNxHD MXF files we tested with do not play in realtime on a ProRes Sequence until they
are rendered (into ProRes) on the sequence.
This would lead us to the conclusion that realtime editing of native DNxHD
files is not possible on a ProRes Sequence.