Understanding of 10bit in youtube age.

Hi @all!

I'm trying to understand some video semi professional stuff
The question i have here is:

What are the benefits of a 10bit recording, if nearly everybody sees the videos with the 8bit monitors?
So if i grade the colors in 10bit, they will be dead in 8bit anyway.
Or is there any difference by having 10bit recordings, grading them on 10bit monitor and then showing them on 8bit monitor?

thanks!
Alex

Some people are already watching HDR…

ok, you mean on the big 4k screen.
but did i understood it correctly, that there is no benefit to grade and to make 10bit for the most screens out there?
or is it any benefit?

I am a novice compared to many others here when it comes to video, but I would think that keeping a 10 bit video as long as possible during your workflow/processing would help improve the end result, even if the end result is 8 bit. I think it would be similar to audio, where you record at high bit depth (24 bit) and sampling frequencies (88k or 96k) even though the end result for a audio CD is 16 bit 44.1k (or even a mp3 or aac file). Somebody else can clarify if I am mistaken.

I do have a related question regarding the Decklink cards... what would be the benefit of getting the Decklink card for monitoring, versus getting something like the Intensity Pro card? They are about the same price, but the Intensity Pro allows video capture. If I'm not mistaken, they are "dumb" cards when it comes to output, right, meaning they only output what they are given from the computer. They don't process anything.

I do have a need for archiving some old family video VHS tapes at some point, and the Intensity Pro seems to meet that need while also providing full screen output to another monitor. I'd like to go that route unless there is some reason getting just the Decklink is a better idea.

If the question is: do you need a true 10 bit screen for grading? Not really, for YT.

Do you need 10 bit source footage for grading? Yes, whenever you can!

within in reason, the higher the bit depth and chroma sub sampling of the source, the more freedom you have in grading.

so the 10bit stuff can also be graded on the 8bit monitor as "well"?

so the 10bit stuff can also be graded on the 8bit monitor as "well"?

Yes you can grade 10bit footage on an 8 bit monitor. However, you won't be able to do as good a job, as you can't see all the detail (for lack of a better word) in the original footage.

so, thanks! now i will make my descisions for the setup

10bit vs. 8bit is still 100x less important than color accurate monitoring.

so decklink and extra monitor will come