Please help my clarify something - when I import QT from After Effects into MC I've always selected RGB or RGB (dithered) in order to bring any colour levels into legal limits.  The only time I've used 601 was when I wanted the colour levels to remain unaltered.  My understanding is that Avid's RGB import crunches everything down to 16-235 while 601 leaves the colour levels unaltered. Correct?

The settings I now see in the EMP plug in After Effects (Edit > Preferences > Avid External Monitor Settings) suggests the exact opposite - RGB is shown as being 0-255 while 601 is 16-235.  Anyone care to clarify this please? Using MCA 3.0 and After Effects CS3 (latest version of the EMP plug-in)

Hi,

All the 601/RGB option does is tell Avid what color space to use when creating media from an imported file.  So select whichever one matches the color space of the file you are importing.  For example, if you're creating RGB files in AE, then select RGB when you import into Avid, and nothing will change, as both of them are using the same color space. 

If you select 601 when importing an RGB file (or if you select RGB when importing a 601 file) then you will see a change, because you created a file using one color space, and then told Avid to use a different color space when creating media from the imported file.

good luck,
Carl

 Thanks Carl

 And you can see the precise difference between the two when you import color bars twice, using both options and then compare the two on a waveform monitor.

CorneScheepers:

My understanding is that Avid's RGB import crunches everything down to 16-235 while 601 leaves the colour levels unaltered. Correct?

....Nope, not correct. 601 is the broadcast NTSC color space of 0 - 235.

....RGB is the full available colorspace afforded by a Microsoft specification 24 bit image file.

i.e. JEPEG, MJEPEG, AVI, BITMAP. The color space is 0 - 255

You are both correct (almost):

601 is the broadcast NTSC color space where black is 16 and white is 235 for 8-bit images.

RGB uses the full available colorspace where black is 0 and white is 255.

The import dialog allows the user to specify the colorspace of the file to be imported. (Avid systems always use 16 for black and 235 for white for the OMF / MXF media file that is created as a result of the import operation).

So, when importing a file with RGB levels, the Avid system will crunch it down to 16-235.

When importing a file with 601 levels, the Avid system will leave the color levels unaltered.

- Rob