High compression ratio on cameras?

[Jeremy Hughes]

If the RED RAY footage was impressive at 700:1, could it also be a viable option to have Scarlet or EPIC shooting at such a high compression ratio in in RAW? You could have something like 233:1 at 4K and still have it around 10mb/s, and would have better quality. The cameras could appeal to lower-end computer users who don't have a lot of money for archiving. Or is the compression too complex at that point?

 

[Jason Murphy]

Well:

1) This would probably require much more on-board processing than the camera currently has. Meaning it would likely be more expensive.

2) Your ability to work with the footage in post would most likely be drastically limited. Not to mention that you'd probably need a more powerful computer (or a RED Rocket card) for the decode. RedRay as far as I can tell is a delivery codec only. Great for playback. Not so much for origination.

I'm sure someone who actually knows more could expand on this. But these things immediately jump to mind as to why this is probably not a good idea. Also, if RED were able to see these kinds of compression ratios on camera without any significant problems, my guess is they'd implement them.

 

[Stuart English]

Data Rates

Data Rates

If the RED RAY footage was impressive at 700:1, could it also be a viable option to have Scarlet or EPIC shooting at such a high compression ratio in in RAW?

No. These are very different applications, and have different requirements.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Heavy compression is better saved for later in the delivery chain.

For origination, compression makes things more practical, but it never makes the image better than uncompressed, or easier to color-correct. For origination, it's a necessary evil that makes files easier to record, workflow more manageable, faster, etc. Look at how most professional still photographers would rather shoot in RAW mode than in JPEG mode.

Display devices can get away with more compression because they just have to make the finished image acceptable to the eye, they don't have to plan on being able to edit and color-correct that compressed image.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Heavy compression is better saved for later in the delivery chain.

Thread over.

 

[Graeme Nattress]

One of the key things with compression is matching the type of compression to the task at hand. We do this with REDCODE RAW for the camera, being specifically designed with the in-camera use and post production in mind.

Similarly REDCODE REDRAY is specifically designed for it's purpose. Now... What we learn as we go forward with codec development does make all our algorithms better, but it's wrong to think you can just take a delivery codec and make it work in camera.

Graeme