As a follow-up to this tech note, below are comparisons of codecs and the effects of lighting optimization techniques (described below). Additional examples of colors and how they can affect the perceived brightness of Catalyst projected images are here.

1. For reference, the uncompressed digital master. Is this as good as it gets? Notice yellows and reds are not as bright or deep as they can be. For this file, the requirement is that the colors be as vivid as possible so that the projected light for this file has maximum artistic effect. In addition, the DL.1 Digital Light is capable of displaying the brightest colors - ensure your media files don't limit the colors that can be projected.

2. The digital master compressed with DV-NTSC codec 50% quality on the LEFT half and Photo-JPEG codec 60% quality on the RIGHT half. Notice DV-NTSC cannot display the colors evident in the digital master and the compressed image has darker tones and more artifacts. Photo-JPEG preserves colors of original file better, shows fewer artifacts. This is not as good as it gets.

3. This image shows the modified digital master subjected to lighting optimization efforts which include black and white points + gamma level adjustments + compression with the DV-PAL 50% quality codec on the LEFT and the same master with lighting optimized changes compressed with Photo-JPEG 60% quality on the RIGHT. Notice the Photo-JPEG colors are more vivid than the DV-PAL colors. This is as good as it gets at Photo-JPEG 60% quality. A Photo-JPEG quality setting higher than 60% is unnecesary for this file as the result is a negligible increase in perceivable quality at the cost of an unnecessarily high data rate.

4. Similar to image 3 above, this image shows the modified digital master subjected to lighting optimization efforts which include black and white points + gamma level adjustments + compression with the DV-NTSC 50% quality codec on the LEFT and the same master with lighting optimized changes compressed with Photo-JPEG 60% quality on the RIGHT. Notice the Photo-JPEG colors are more vivid than the DV-NTSC colors. This is as good as it gets at Photo-JPEG 60% quality. A Photo-JPEG quality setting higher than 60% is unnecesary for this file as the result is a negligible increase in perceivable quality at the cost of an unnecessarily high data rate.

5. This image is the most dramatic comparison. On the LEFT is the DV-NTSC 50% quality compressed version of the digital master that does NOT have lighting optimized changes to black and white points + gamma levels. On the RIGHT is Photo-JPEG 60% quality compressed version of the digital master containing lighting optimized changes to black and white points + gamma levels. For lighting applications, the image on the RIGHT is superior for use with Catalyst® and DL.1 -- they can show the colors!

Remember, when you are designing images or animation for projection with Catalyst® Media Server on DL.1 (as opposed to video), feel free to use any colors your system can generate. More specifically, you do NOT need to use any "NTSC/PAL legal" plug-ins or settings in your creative workflow. 100% brightness and saturation in the reds? Feel free. Catalyst® and DL.1 can show it.