h.264 export image brighter, less saturated than final edit

B

bosindy

Veteran
I have be having this problem for awhile now. When I export out of fcp using h.264, whether using compressor or quicktime conversion, the image is brighter as if the blacks, mids and whites have been raised. I can not get consistency between the final edit and the export. overcompensating in the final edit doesn't seem practical.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Are you judging the difference between the two just on your computer screen?
You should look at the final edit on a B-cast monitor straight out of FCP and make your judgment off of that.

Or... I thought I remember someone saying on here that viewing in quicktime will sometime shift the Gamma or something like that. I can't remember exactly. If that is true someone will probably suggest that as well. But it kinda sounds like it might be a calibration issue. That's my guess.
 
I am looking at both on my laptop screen. When I export using jpeg-photo, the images are the same, when I export using h.264, the images are altered.

I have had this issue after viewing on other monitors as well.
 
huh, well if the jpeg-photo looks the same that is shouldn't be a calibration issue. Huh I'm stumped.
 
If its a global luminance/chrominance shift of any kind, why not just go File > Export > Quicktime Movie. Bring that back into FCP. Put it onto a sequence that has the compressor set to H.264. Render it out (using high-precision YUV). Then if the shift is present, just throw on 1 filter, adjust it till you're happy, render the filter, then you can go File > Export > Quicktime Movie for that sequence (which is H.264) and be done.

Alternatively, if you're using Compressor, it has image correction filters built into it as well. So you could export out say just 30 sec bits and play with the Compressor settings to find the right filter settings to suit your needs. Then export out the whole thing with the same settings and voila.

Cheers.
 
Here is an example

1202411448.jpg
 
But you're comparing FCP to Quicktime Player there. That's not really apple's to apple's as is my understanding.

If you just go straight File > Export > Quicktime Movie and compare that in QT to the H.264 in QT is the issue still there? And how about sending all of this out to a broadcast monitor? Your laptop screen isn't really an accurate QC device. If you exported a QT movie directly and then an H.264 one, bring both back into FCP and look at both on a broadcast monitor, does it look off there still? Or even just bring both exported files back into FCP and bring up the scopes to see the differences there?

Cheers.
 
Have you gone into the QT preferences and enabled "FCS color compatibility"? Gamma is not handled uniformly across all apps in OS X (for whatever reason).


-A
 
adkimery said:
Have you gone into the QT preferences and enabled "FCS color compatibility"? Gamma is not handled uniformly across all apps in OS X (for whatever reason).


-A
Click to expand...

GIVE THAT MAN A CIGAR!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!

I was on the phone with apple support and we realized the source footage was brighter than what was being viewed in FCP. Different gamma curves.

My question now is, what is accurate? When I have the quicktime compatible with FCP or when I don't? I would hate to export it, have it look good as it does in FCP, then have it uploaded to the festival for viewing and have the bright version downloaded.
 
The most accurate thing you can do is view it on an external b'cast monitor and use a hardware monitor calibration device to calibrate your computer monitors. In my limited understanding of this issue here is what I know. The default Mac display is set to 1.8 gamma. Most PCs and TVs have a gamma closer to 2.2. So it seems like the answer is to set your Mac display to 2.2 right? Well, FCP assumes you are using 1.8 and adjust the footage so it looks like you are using 2.2. So if you switch to 2.2 what you see in your Canvas window will probably look off.

Fun, yes?:eek:


-A
 
If you want your colors to look good then use a broadcast monitor and do a real timing for the project. That is the only way you can be assured that what you're producing is accurately what you want it to be. Computer monitors are not QC devices (though maybe you could fudge it with an MXO and an LCD).

After that your colors are going to start looking different anyway. Once it leaves your workspace you can't control the playback environment. People will have miscalibrated TVs and/or Computer monitors. Or if they are calibrated, they may be calibrated for different purposes which don't accurately represent your timing decisions. So the best you can do is do it right with the proper gear and then just let it look however its going to look as there's nothing you can do about it.


Cheers.
 
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