It’s very clear that video measurement tools are important to many Users of vMix. Hence the number of posts and views on the subject. Opinion will be diverse, depending upon the application for which vMix is being used. For the most part, it’s a LIVE video production tool used to broadcast to video distribution systems, screens (big & small) and streaming to the internet. Again the workflows shall be indicative of a Live production environment, where accepted traditional and current methodologies are employed. That is not to say digital cinema or filmmakers are excluded, but rather a welcome addition to the broader scope of vMix.
Audio and video measuring toolkits should include a diversity of tools to suit the application and the User’s needs, no matter the philosophy or reasoning that individual may have. A hammer may be good for nails, but is of little use for nuts and bolts. ‘False Colour’ has its application, and when used alongside a waveform and vectorscope, it is a remarkable toolkit to set exposure and colour match cameras, or any video source that requires luminance and colour manipulation.
Many Directors of Photography (video) use ‘False Colour’ for pre-production shoots, when time is available to adequately light the scene for the desired mood, as do colour graders and video editors in post-production. Personally, I have the Ikan MR-7 for field work and the MS-21 for post-production for this reason, so I am very familiar with the usage of false colour. But, in Live production, albeit sports, stage or venue, with its fast pace and numerous camera angles, waveform and vectorscopes are still favoured for speed and accuracy. On many occasions, an operator/s will be assigned solely to expose and colour balance four or more cameras. A sight to behold.
For those vMixers who engage in professional or television broadcast work, it is important to ensure that the video displays are correctly calibrated and aligned for luminance, chrominance levels and gamut, so that adjustments made using various video measurement tools and controls are accurately reflected on the screen. Very few prosumer LCD/LED screens are set-up correctly. Something else worth considering in the broader scope of video production.
While we all appreciate your enthusiasm for new technologies, it is important not to alienate those Users who have embraced the current or traditional workflows in live video production. By all means add ‘false colour’ to the repertoire of video measurement tools if you chose to implement this additional feature to vMix. If not, ‘false colour’ on its own may not be accepted as you may hope, given the responses thus far on this forum. It is a big undertaking for such a feature, and nobody would think less of you should you choose not to implement the video measurement toolkit in full. There are many other software/hardware options available externally, though Newtek’s US$995 solution, with all its additional features, is probably not cost effective for most vMixers.
Martin, your guidance and future plans for this video measurement toolkit would be most welcomed, so that those interested can move forward and plan their vMix system needs appropriately. With thanks in advance, Ross.
vMix LIVE 4K showing ‘False Colour’ using the Ikan MR-7 HD-SDI display