I'm looking at rushes from a variety of cameras shooting a Chroma Du Monde chart. Apologies in advance to BenB for the length.

Some can shoot 'superwhites' - peak white is at 109 IRE, not 100.

Some black levels are set for 7.5 IRE, some are set for 0 IRE.

There are two major channels for video: Data and Broadcast. Data can handle peak white at 109 IRE, which is 255,255,255 white on a computer monitor. Broadcast usually wants whites at Broadcast White - which is IRE 100 - that's 235,235,235. That or thereabouts.

So, I'm in FCPX 10.0.4. The footage is of a CDM chart that offers complete black and peak white. Should I be sitting the complete black at 0-IRE on the FCPX Waveform Monitor? Should I be pulling up the whites to 100% on the IRE scale?

Or should I be planting whites - the point at which I no longer expect detail - at 109?

That's just for export. What happens when I upload to Vimeo or YouTube? What happens if I lay off to tape?

It appears that Export from FCPX honours the peak white, but VImeo/Youtube clips them. If I export to 100% peak white, Vimeo/YouTube honours the 100% but Episode and Compressor does not.

SO... where are whites these days? 109 for Web? 100 for video? Can't believe it was easier in the unmanaged world of FCP7...

Be broadcast legal, it'll simply keep your image looking better on any playback platform. Highlights should be between 90-100. In cases where you can't get totally under 100 use a broadcast filter LAST. Shadows should just touch 0. In cases where that's not perfect, don't worry, they'll just be crushed, as long as its not much and looks like it should.

Line up the numbers on all scopes to start, then adjus to your eyes, then balance it off to be broadcast safe levels.

Even if you're just showing stuff off on a non-broadcast screen, it'll simple contribute to a cleaner, better quality image.

Just like Safe Zones, even on computers and projectors though not nessisary, it'll contribute to better looking products anyway.

Why would I care how long a post is? Check out some of my wild rants.