User Manual

Capture Preparations Check List
221
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Adjusting Video Levels for Tapes Without Color Bars
Color bars are the best way to set the video levels consistently. However, if you have a tape or
series of tapes with no color bars, you might need to adjust levels by using the internal Waveform
and Vectorscope monitors.
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Calibrate your Client monitor before making these adjustments.
The following table describes the criteria for adjusting video levels by eye, without color bars.
Capture Preparations Check List
Color Adjustment Criteria
Blacks Should not seem flat and lacking detail. Find a series of frames in the footage that
include black areas. Shadows work better than black objects. Blacks should fall
around 7.5 IRE for NTSC, 0 IRE for NTSC-EIAJ, or 0.3 V for PAL in the Waveform
monitor.
Whites Should not be washed out or lacking detail. Find a series of frames in the footage
that include white areas. Bright, well-lit regions work better than white objects.
Whites should peak at around 100 IRE for NTSC-EIAJ or 1.0 V for PAL in the
Waveform monitor.
Skin colors Should be realistic. Find a series of frames in the footage that include skin colors.
Skin colors should fall generally between the target boxes for the red and yellow
vectors in the Vectorscope monitor.
Pure yellows Should be a rich gold and not reddish or greenish in tone. Find a pure yellow, and
adjust both hue and saturation as necessary.
Chroma Should not exceed 110 or fall below –120 in the Vectorscope monitor.
 Check your hardware configurations, particularly connections between your deck and the
Avid system. See “Preparing the Hardware for Capture” on page 163.
 If you are working on a complex project with multiple streams of video and high-resolution
images, make sure your drives are striped properly. See “Getting Information About Striped
Drives” on page 164.