I keep getting "Using an 8 bit codec with HDR content may affect video quality" warning in FCPX

If you’re not working with HDR media it’s simpler to leave the library in standard and you won’t be bothered by messages like this.

Hi Tom,

I have set Wide Gamut HDR for library, color space Rec 2020 PQ, rendering at Apple Pro Res 422 HQ, but I still get the error ""Using an 8 bit codec with HDR content may affect video quality"". Any advice on what I could be missing ?

Best,

Kelly

Well, HDR is basically a promise that has yet to come to fruition, because very few devices are capable of displaying it, and traditional codecs do not support it. I am guessing that going with the youtube destination will produce a 8-bit per channel H264 file, and that will not carry all the HDR information on your video.

On the other hand, I'm guessing that nobody watching your video on youtube would have an HDR display, anyway.

(and I don't know if youtube even supports HDR)

Well, it seems that youtube does support HDR, but you need to make sure that you upload in such a way that the HDR metadata gets there intact.

This article has some information about it. I did not go into the details since I don't have any HDR capable device to test.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7126552?hl=en

I have uploaded several HDR projects to YouTube and I can confirm that YouTube definitely supports HDR content. (I am able to playback these YouTube projects with HDR and WCG on my Sony VPL-VW695ES projector which supports HDR and WCG.) However, you must make certain that the library is set to Wide Gamut HDR and the color space is set to Rec. 2020 PQ which you appear to have done. Second, you must ensure that you are rendering out the project inn a 10-bit format such as h. 265 or Apple Pro Res. Note that h.264 supports a maximum of 8-bit and will not result in an HDR project on YouTube. I have sent Apple Pro Res projects a number of times to youTube and the HDR content is preserved. I hope this helps.

Tom

With the exception that my projects are set to 30 FPS and Prores 422 those are the same settings that I am using for exports of HDR projects to YouTube so I really have no idea why you are getting that message which I have never seen. I am sorry that I cannot be of more help.

TomWheel wrote:

With the exception that my projects are set to 30 FPS and Prores 422 those are the same settings that I am using for exports of HDR projects to YouTube so I really have no idea why you are getting that message which I have never seen. I am sorry that I cannot be of more help.

First, thank you for elucidating us on the HDR support.

I think the problem is that the OP was using the youtube destination, exporting directly from FCP.

If I understand correctly, just like Tom Wolsky wrote, this exports a H264 file and that does not support HDR.

I suppose you export to H265 or ProRes first, and then upload, right?

Thanks for catching that! I do indeed first export a master file from FCP X in Apple Prores and I then separately upload that to YouTube. I am sure this is why I do not see the message, and I should have realized that.

What is the media and project properties? Is the library set to wide gamut? When does this warning appear?

The YouTube preset is H.264. If you want to upload HDR (don’t know if YT supports it) you should export ProRes or use Compressor and create a 10-bit H265 file.

If you’re not working with HDR media it’s simpler to leave the library in standard and you won’t be bothered by messages like this.

Are you using the YouTube export setting? That's not HDR. It's 8-bit H.264.