Does SheerVideo support 16-bit channels?
No, SheerVideo does not yet support real-time lossless encoding or decoding of any 16-bit formats. However, BitJazz already has 16-bit codecs in development, and is planning to release them as soon as there is sufficient demand. Note that the 10-bit Sheer codecs make use of the additional precision in 16-bit pixel formats for lossless color conversion with Synchromy. For example, when decoding Sheer Y’CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] to 16-bit pixel formats ‘b64a’, ‘L64A’, or ‘b48r’ and encoding it back to Sheer Y’CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4], the Sheer Y’CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] codec utilizes 12 bits of precision for lossless conversion. With 16-bit channels, each component theoretically has 216 = 65536 possible distinct values, which is far beyond the number of just noticeable differences that the human visual system can distinguish under optimal viewing conditions, but is more convenient when capturing under widely varying lighting conditions, and for intermediate results during editing.
