Washed out QuickTime Export
I know this has been covered before, but I have some information relating to the washed out export problem that has been repeatedly discussed previously.
As reported by many others, when exporting HD video (Export > QuickTime Movie) from an HDV original, I found that the darker colours and blacks become paler and kind of washed out, and do not look as good they did in the camera viewfinder, or the actual scene as filmed, or in the FCE canvas. A number of other people have reported the same problem. Like them I am using the proper easy setup and am fully rendering in highest quality before export.
To confirm the problem I imported a high quality JPEG into an HDV sequence. The image wasmy default test print from PDI, and I know exactly how it should appear on-screen and in print. Sure enough, in the FCE Canvas the colours and saturation were identical to the original, but when exported to a quicktime movie the blacks and strong colours are greyed or muted - unacceptably so.
I noted that the output movie had the HD nclc atom set (with the implied gamma of 2.0). I know that in snow leopard all gamma is now based on 2.2. I therefore wondered if the problem was gamma / nclc related - maybe the HD nclc atom was inappropriate for the exported file?
The amazing JES Deinterlacer utility gives the user control over input and output gamma and nclc settings. It is possible to instruct the app to ignore the gamma and nclc values embedded by FCE when it imports the QuickTime movie, and then to apply any gamma or nclc atom to the exported file.
This is what I found:
Leaving both import and export nclc's on HDV results in no change - the movie remains washed out.
If the import settings are changed to 'no' nclc and gamma of 2.2, and the output settings are to have 'no' nclc, the output movie's colours and tone are closer to the original - better saturated but still not perfect. This implies that the gamma in the HD nclc atom is not appropriate for the file to be rendered properly on-screen.
If I set nclc to 'none' and gamma to 2.2 on import as before, but attach the HD colour atom on export, the output movie's colours and tone become IDENTICAL to the original! The colours are now rich and fully saturated on my computer screen (maybe a little too saturated!). It doesn't what the output gamma is set to (I think the nclc atom overrides gamma settings when included; it is approximately 2.0).
Interestingly, if the import settings are changed to 'no' nclc and gamma of 2.4, and the output has 'no' nclc, the output movie's colours and tone are very good indeed (a little less saturated than the previous solution). It doesn't seem to matter much what the output gamma setting is (I've only tested 2.0 and 2.2) but I suspect that 2.2 should be used.
I suspect that there are TWO errors here; FCE is getting the Gamma wrong by about 0.4 - a massive amount!
Most likely the safest way, given that I don't really know how Apple will fix it in the longer term, would be to remove nclc both on input and output, set the incoming gamma to 2.3 to 2.4 (depending on how much contrast you needed on your output device), and fix output gamma at 2.2 (the most common monitor default).
Anyhow, at last I've found a solution to this problem! If others can confirm this, Apple should really fix it.
Cheers!
chris.
PS I'm actually using JES Deinterlacer to reduce the file size of my HD movies for playback on computers using QuickTime. To get rid of interlacing artefacts, and make each frame really sharp, I deinterlace in JES Deinterlacer using only one field. I set the colours as above and encode with the x264 codec at 960x540 using high quality VBR. The image quality is AMAZING. File size is the same as Apple's h264 codec, but each frame is far less blurry when freeze-framed (deinterlacing in QuickTime uses a blend of both frames, not just one frame). If I need a bit more 'punch' in the output video
I wonder if some other people could confirm this using their screens etc. Mine is calibrated.
If someone could write a simple utility to change gamma / remove nclc that works I'd be grateful. JES Extensifier has some issues.
As reported by many others, when exporting HD video (Export > QuickTime Movie) from an HDV original, I found that the darker colours and blacks become paler and kind of washed out, and do not look as good they did in the camera viewfinder, or the actual scene as filmed, or in the FCE canvas. A number of other people have reported the same problem. Like them I am using the proper easy setup and am fully rendering in highest quality before export.
To confirm the problem I imported a high quality JPEG into an HDV sequence. The image wasmy default test print from PDI, and I know exactly how it should appear on-screen and in print. Sure enough, in the FCE Canvas the colours and saturation were identical to the original, but when exported to a quicktime movie the blacks and strong colours are greyed or muted - unacceptably so.
I noted that the output movie had the HD nclc atom set (with the implied gamma of 2.0). I know that in snow leopard all gamma is now based on 2.2. I therefore wondered if the problem was gamma / nclc related - maybe the HD nclc atom was inappropriate for the exported file?
The amazing JES Deinterlacer utility gives the user control over input and output gamma and nclc settings. It is possible to instruct the app to ignore the gamma and nclc values embedded by FCE when it imports the QuickTime movie, and then to apply any gamma or nclc atom to the exported file.
This is what I found:
Leaving both import and export nclc's on HDV results in no change - the movie remains washed out.
If the import settings are changed to 'no' nclc and gamma of 2.2, and the output settings are to have 'no' nclc, the output movie's colours and tone are closer to the original - better saturated but still not perfect. This implies that the gamma in the HD nclc atom is not appropriate for the file to be rendered properly on-screen.
If I set nclc to 'none' and gamma to 2.2 on import as before, but attach the HD colour atom on export, the output movie's colours and tone become IDENTICAL to the original! The colours are now rich and fully saturated on my computer screen (maybe a little too saturated!). It doesn't what the output gamma is set to (I think the nclc atom overrides gamma settings when included; it is approximately 2.0).
Interestingly, if the import settings are changed to 'no' nclc and gamma of 2.4, and the output has 'no' nclc, the output movie's colours and tone are very good indeed (a little less saturated than the previous solution). It doesn't seem to matter much what the output gamma setting is (I've only tested 2.0 and 2.2) but I suspect that 2.2 should be used.
I suspect that there are TWO errors here; FCE is getting the Gamma wrong by about 0.4 - a massive amount!
Most likely the safest way, given that I don't really know how Apple will fix it in the longer term, would be to remove nclc both on input and output, set the incoming gamma to 2.3 to 2.4 (depending on how much contrast you needed on your output device), and fix output gamma at 2.2 (the most common monitor default).
Anyhow, at last I've found a solution to this problem! If others can confirm this, Apple should really fix it.
Cheers!
chris.
PS I'm actually using JES Deinterlacer to reduce the file size of my HD movies for playback on computers using QuickTime. To get rid of interlacing artefacts, and make each frame really sharp, I deinterlace in JES Deinterlacer using only one field. I set the colours as above and encode with the x264 codec at 960x540 using high quality VBR. The image quality is AMAZING. File size is the same as Apple's h264 codec, but each frame is far less blurry when freeze-framed (deinterlacing in QuickTime uses a blend of both frames, not just one frame). If I need a bit more 'punch' in the output video
I wonder if some other people could confirm this using their screens etc. Mine is calibrated.
If someone could write a simple utility to change gamma / remove nclc that works I'd be grateful. JES Extensifier has some issues.
MacBookProQuadIntel, Mac OS X (10.6.4)
