Rec. 709
Rec. 709, defined by the ITU, sets the rules for how HD video represents colour: which red, green, and blue primaries, what gamma curve, and what white point. Because most televisions, monitors, and web players assume Rec. 709, a finished video graded to this standard looks consistent across the devices people actually watch on.
Log and raw footage is not in Rec. 709 when it leaves the camera. The colourist transforms it into Rec. 709 during the grade, either through a conversion LUT or a colour-managed pipeline, so the wide latitude captured on set lands inside the range a normal screen can display. Wider standards like Rec. 2020 exist for HDR, but Rec. 709 remains the baseline for standard delivery.
Examples
- •A YouTube delivery is graded and exported in Rec. 709
- •A conversion LUT maps S-Log3 into Rec. 709 for viewing
- •A broadcast master is checked on scopes against Rec. 709 limits
In Sanbila
Sanbila streams your original camera files at full quality, so the colourist can transform from log into Rec. 709 on the real footage, keeping the full latitude available right up to the final export.
Frequently asked questions
How is Sanbila different from the proxy generator built into my NLE?+
Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro and Avid all generate proxies locally, but they keep the original full-resolution files on the same SSD — so the disk fills up twice. Sanbila stores the originals in the cloud (Cloudflare R2) and keeps only the lightweight proxies on your machine. At export, Smart Relink streams the originals back via a local WebDAV mount, so you finish at full quality without ever downloading the source files.
Does Sanbila work offline?+
Yes for editing — once a proxy is cached on your SSD, you can cut, trim, color and arrange your timeline without an internet connection. You only need network access for the initial import (uploading originals to the cloud) and for the final export (streaming originals back via WebDAV).
How much cloud storage does the free plan include?+
The free plan includes 5 GB of cloud storage and one project, with no credit card required. Paid plans start at $49 per month for 2 TB and 50 projects, going up to 25 TB on the Enterprise plan with overage billing for teams that need more.
What upload speed do I need to use Sanbila?+
Any broadband connection works for the initial upload — Sanbila chunks files into 50 MB parts and uploads in parallel, so a typical 100 Mbps fiber line uploads 1 hour of 4K H.264 footage in about 6 minutes. After upload, day-to-day editing happens on local proxies, so your connection speed only matters again at export time when originals are streamed.
Which video formats does Sanbila support?+
Sanbila handles 22+ formats out of the box: MP4, MOV, MXF, R3D (RED RAW), BRAW (Blackmagic RAW), ARRI proxies, ProRes, DNxHR, DNxHD, H.264, H.265, plus WAV and AAC for audio. Both 4K and 8K sources are supported up to 200 GB per single file (URL imports have no size limit).
Related terms
Sources
- ITU-R BT.709 recommendation · ITU
- Colour management in DaVinci Resolve · Blackmagic Design