Media Apple FCP X

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Tip #1472: FCP: Problems Chroma-Keying HDR Media

… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #1472: FCP: Problems Chroma-Keying HDR Media

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

This problem doesn’t have a workaround, yet.

The results of keying HDR HLG media in Final Cut Pro.

Topic $TipTopic

Brandon brought this issue to my attention.

There seems to be a problem chroma-keying HDR green screen footage that was shot on an iPhone 12 using HEVC 10-bit HLG.  I’m running Apple Final Cut Pro 10.5.2 on macOS Catalina.

NOTE: This problem also occurs in FCP 10.5.1.

The source clip is 4K, 10-bit, HEVC HDR HLG.

When imported into FCP, and the Keyer filter is applied, what results is illustrated in the screen shot.

  • The background is green.
  • His shirt is blue.
  • His face is Caucasian.

Sampling the green background, tweaking color selection and adjusting any other setting has no effect on the results. There seems to be no way for the system to separate green values from any other color.

I don’t have a workaround, yet. I’ve notified Apple and will let you know what I find out.

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Tip #1455: A Win for Creative Folks

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1455: A Win for Creative Folks

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Overnight ratings are not relevant in a world of “watch when you want” viewing.

Image courtesy of Lukas, via Pexels.com.

Topic $TipTopic

Not all of us work in broadcast, but many of us have seen projects canceled when an initial showing didn’t generate immediate success.

Variety reports that NBC “just announced that it would stop the practice of issuing daily fast affiliate ratings reports altogether.”

Overnight ratings are not relevant in a world of “watch when you want” viewing. Quoting from the article:

“We didn’t come to this decision lightly, but believe it’s important to accurately reflect how the television business is changing and, specifically, how these early ratings numbers are no longer representative of the performance of a particular show or series,” wrote NBC’s Stuart Levine, another Variety alum who wrote plenty of ratings stories during his time here, and therefore knows the significance of ending those daily morning emails. “Long gone are the days when a vast majority of viewers watched their favorite shows in the exact timeslot in which they were scheduled.”

So much of the primetime strategy that we used to cover in the 1990s and 2000s was about those numbers, from scheduling big events vs. a rival’s important premiere, and earning the bragging rights that can be trumpeted in promos, at upfront presentations and yes, in those daily press releases. It was the game.

So many great shows or series with real potential were snuffed out because of those initial ratings, and often replaced by shows that performed even worse.

The entire article is worth reading. This appears to be the significant step toward recognizing the new world of how, and when, TV is viewed.

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Tip #1456: Google is Dumbing Down TVs

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1456: Google is Dumbing Down TVs

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Google will offer Google TV users a chance to make TVs simpler.

The logo for Google TV.

Topic $TipTopic

OK, so maybe it’s a cheesy headline, but Google recently announced that it will allow users of an upcoming version of Google TV to select a “Basic TV” feature.

As reported by 9to5Google, “the idea behind this version of Google TV is to strip away essentially all of the features that make a smart TV… smart. It goes beyond the “apps-only” mode we saw on Chromecast with Google TV too.”

This new “Basic TV” option appears at setup for television sets running on Google TV, not set-top boxes. It allows users to disable:

  • Apps
  • Content Recommendations
  • Google Assistant
  • Live TV
  • External Inputs, like HDMI

In other words, Google is giving users the option to return to a simpler time.

Here’s the link to the original article.

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Tip #1435: What Is WebM

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1435: What Is WebM

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

WebM is supported by Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and, soon, Safari.

The WEbM logo

Topic $TipTopic

Developed and owned by Google, WebM is, according to the WebM website: “an open, royalty-free, media file format designed for the web. WebM defines the file container structure, video and audio formats. WebM files consist of video streams compressed with the VP8 or VP9 video codecs and audio streams compressed with the Vorbis or Opus audio codecs.”

Serving video on the web is different from traditional broadcast and offline mediums. Existing video formats were designed to serve the needs of these mediums and do it very well. WebM is focused on addressing the unique needs of serving video on the web.

  • Low computational footprint to enable playback on any device, including low-power netbooks, handhelds, tablets, etc.
  • Simple container format
  • Highest quality real-time video delivery
  • Click and encode. Minimal codec profiles and sub-options. When possible, let the encoder make the tough choices.

WebM has a sister project WebP for images. The development of the format is sponsored by Google, and the corresponding software is distributed under a BSD license. There is some dispute, however, if WebM is truly royalty-free.

According to Wikipedia, native WebM support by Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome was announced at the 2010 Google I/O conference. Internet Explorer 9 requires third-party WebM software. Safari for macOS, which relied on QuickTime to play web media until Safari 12. However, Safari in Big Sur 11.3 beta 2 has native support for WebM. While iOS does not natively play WebM, Android does.

VLC media player, MPlayer, K-Multimedia Player, JRiver Media Center and ffMPEG also support playing WebM files .

Here’s a Wikipedia link to learn more.

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Tip #1436: Safari to Support WebM on Macs

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1436: Safari to Support WebM on Macs

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

WebM is optimized for web streaming.

The WebM logo.

Topic $TipTopic

According to reports on MacRumors and other sites, beta versions of macOS Big Sur 11.3 support playing WebM videos in Safari.

MacRumors reports: “In Safari, there’s support for WebM video playback, allowing users to play WebM videos using Apple’s browser. WebM is a niche video format designed to be a royalty-free alternative to the H.264 codec used in the MP4 format. WebM allows video files to remain small without sacrificing quality and can be played with little processing power, making it ideal for webpages and browsers.”

Link: MacRumors.com.

WebM was first released in 2010. Apple Safari was the lone holdout among major browsers in supporting this format. There’s no announced date for when macOS 11.3 will be released, nor any indication if WebM will be supported by Apple’s media applications.

Learn more about WebM in Tip #1435.

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Tip #1437: What are Vorbis or Opus Codecs?

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1437: What are Vorbis or Opus Codecs?

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Both codecs support high-quality streaming audio.

The Vorbis (top) and Opus logos.

Topic $TipTopic

WebM is a container format that uses VP8 or VP9 codecs for video and Vorbis or Opus codecs for audio. So, what are these audio codecs?

VORBIS

Developed by Xiph.org, Ogg Vorbis is a fully open, non-proprietary, patent-and-royalty-free, general-purpose compressed audio format for mid to high quality (8kHz-48.0kHz, 16+ bit, polyphonic) audio and music at fixed and variable bitrates from 16 to 128 kbps/channel. This places Vorbis in the same competitive class as audio representations such as MPEG-4 (AAC), and similar to, but higher performance than MPEG-1/2 audio layer 3, MPEG-4 audio (TwinVQ), WMA and PAC.

The bitstream format for Vorbis I was frozen Monday, May 8th 2000. All bitstreams encoded since will remain compatible with all future releases of Vorbis.

Link: https://xiph.org/vorbis/faq/

OPUS

Developed by opus-codec.org, Opus is a totally open, royalty-free, highly versatile audio codec. Opus is unmatched for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet, but is also intended for storage and streaming applications. It is standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as RFC 6716 which incorporated technology from Skype’s SILK codec and Xiph.Org’s CELT codec.

Link: https://opus-codec.org

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Tip #1408: A Quick History of HEVC

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1408: A Quick History of HEVC

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

HEVC was designed to create smaller files, with quality equal to H.264.

The HEVC logo.

Topic $TipTopic

I got into a conversation with Birdie about the uses of HEVC, which lead me into doing some more research.

In an earlier article, I wrote that HEVC was invented to decrease the load on cell networks, which was what I was told at the time. However, in reading Wikipedia, the initial development work for HEVC was done by NHK (a Japanese broadcaster) and Mitsubishi Electric (a consumer electronics manufacturer).

The work was started in 2004 to find a way to improve H.264 to support larger frame sizes than 4K and the greater grayscale and color range of HDR. A further goal was to cut files sizes by 50% while maintaining image quality equal to H.264. The tradeoff, though, was a more complex encoding/decoding process.

After several years of research, formal work on a spec began in January, 2010, with a request for proposals. 27 different proposals were submitted.

The standard was formally published by the ITU-T on June 7, 2013. Since then, it has been modified/upgraded five times, the last being version 4 on Dec. 22, 2016.

More than 12,000 patents are involved in this codec, in fact the MPEG LA HEVC patent list is 164 pages long! Making the roll-out more difficult was that several patent holders couldn’t agree on a royalty stream, so manufacturers were required to license from two different patent holding groups, with significantly different pricing, and unit sales requirements.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s a Wikipedia article to learn more.

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Tip #1409: Does H.264 support HDR?

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1409: Does H.264 support HDR?

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

When in doubt, encode H.264 media using the High profile.

The AVC/H.264 logo.

Topic $TipTopic

I’ve said for years that H.264 is a limited codec – it doesn’t support frame sizes beyond 4K nor bit depths greater than 8-bit. But, recently I started wondering whether those statements are still true. So, I went to Wikipedia (linked below) to learn more.

H.264’s official name is AVC (for Advanced Video Codec). It is the most popular format for recording, compression and distribution in the world. (HEVC is #2.)

The H.264 standard can be viewed as a “family of standards” composed of a number of different profiles, although its “High profile” is by far the mostly commonly used format.

H.264 is the most commonly used format for Blu-ray Discs, where it is one of the three mandatory video compression formats.

According to Wikipedia, H.264 supports:

  • Frame sizes up to 8K, depending upon profile.
  • YUV 422 and 4:4:4 color sampling, depending upon profile
  • Stereoscopic 3D video
  • Depth maps
  • HLG HDR, provided the High-10 profile is used.

Color sampling and bit-depth support are determined by the profile used when encoding a file.

  • The High Profile, which is the most commonly used format, supports up to 4K images with 8-bit depth.
  • The High-10 profile supports 10-bit depth media, but not all software offers this option.
  • Only the High 4:4:4 Predictive Profile supports color sampling beyond 4:2:2 and bit-depths greater than 10-bit.

So, the answer to the question: “Does H.264 support HDR?” the answer is:

  • No, if you are using any of the H.264 profiles in Apple Compressor or Handbrake.
  • Yes, but only if you use the High10 profile in Adobe Media Encoder.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the Wikipedia article I used to learn more.

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Tip #1411: With H.264, the Profile Makes a Big Difference

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1411: With H.264, the Profile Makes a Big Difference

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

When in doubt, compress using the High profile.

The AVC/H.264 logo.

Topic $TipTopic

Key to compressing a file into the H.264 codec is the Profile. These profiles determine the quality and format of the compressed file.

Apple Compressor, Adobe Media Encoder, Handbrake and other compression programs provide different profile options, which make a surprising amount of difference when you encode your media.

This software provides up to four options when choosing a profile:

  • Baseline
  • Main
  • High
  • High-10

NOTE: The H.264 spec defines 25 different profiles!, most of which require special software to access.

  • Baseline. This profile is principally used for low-bandwidth video conferencing and mobile apps.
  • Main. This profile is used for standard-definition TV. It should NOT be used for HD.
  • High. This profile is particularly designed for HD video, as well as Blu-ray Disc. It should also be used for any media you plan to archive.
  • High-10. This does everything the High profile does, plus adds support for 10-bit 4:2:2 media, which is required for HLG HDR.

Neither Compressor nor Handbrake support High-10. Adobe Media Encoder supports all four of the profiles listed here.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the Wikipedia article I used to learn more.

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Tip #1393: LTO 9 – Coming Soon

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1393: LTO 9 – Coming Soon!

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

LTO 9: 18 TB storage per tape, coming in the first half of 2021.

The official LTO roadmap. LTO 9 is not yet shipping.

Topic $TipTopic

LTO 9, the latest tape-based archiving standard, should see shipping units arrive in the first half of 2021.

For this generation, the LTO Program has balanced the cost and benefit of new technology by offering an 18 TB tape cartridge to address the current market for storage space. This represents a 50% increase in capacity over LTO–8, but a 1400% increase over LTO–5 technology launched a decade ago.

LTO generation 9 specifications include previously introduced features, such as multi–layer security support via hardware–based encryption, WORM (Write–Once, Read–Many) functionality and support for Linear Tape File System (LTFS). The new LTO generation 9 specifications include full backward read and write compatibility with LTO generation 8 cartridges. These features help LTO tape maintain its unique position of a powerful, scalable, and adaptable open tape storage format that can provide more confidence for safe and secured offline storage, particularly in helping to prevent the impact of increasing cyberattacks.

For media creators with massive media files, hard disks and cloud storage can quickly become very expensive. LTO, by archiving to tape that can last up to 30 years, provides a lower-cost way to preserve assets for the long-term.

Learn more – LTO.org.

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