REC 709 display issue on macOS Sequoia with Final Cut Pro 11

You should not be setting computer monitors to REC 709. Set them to their native color profile. macOS color manages things really well. I've never had these issues. If you need to preview in true Rec 709, you need an actual broadcast monitor, not a computer monitor.

jérémie193 wrote:

As if my Mac no longer knew how to manage color spaces. I'm on a mac mini m1 8gb ram and mac os sequoia 15.2. Any idea of ​​the origin of the problem?

I can't find a link now, but other people have definitely found a problem with colorspaces using Preview.

But the bug might not be in Preview. The bug could be in some lower-level graphics framework. If so, then it might affect other apps as well.

That link is not discussing video, but how Preview handles JPG still images (maybe exported from video?) He didn't say exported from what. Maybe it was Premiere or something else.

However, if a JPG still image was captured or exported from a video frame, that JPG file may not reliably contain enough metadata to properly reconstruct the color to match the original video frame. E.g, video contains NCLC tags, code points, gamma tags, full range vs limited range tags, etc. ColorSync needs that to properly match that to your display like it does for video it was taken from.

If a color reference is needed from a video, it's often better to export a single-frame video.

There might be some color issue that began with Sequoia (I thought so yesterday until I examined it further). I still think it's possible, but I cannot pin down any problem so far. However, the OP on that link did not post full details on both JPG images, where they came from, nor a link to downloadable original files. Without that info, it is difficult to investigate.

The basic items needed to begin an investigation of a video color problem on MacOS are:

• Describe clearly the problem and history.
• MacOS version, year and model of Mac and config details -- including monitor type and method of connection (HDMI, Thunderbolt, Decklink, etc).
• Full metadata of the media, ideally from MediaInfo. Do File>Export, save it as a text file and post the full contents.
• Whether the FCP library is HDR or SDR.
• Project properties.
• What display profile is used, as shown in MacOS>System Settings>Displays.
• If possible, a 1-frame video export (not "Save Current Frame"), and HEVC is often OK. Just select a position on the timeline, do "I", J+K (hold down J and tap K once), then "O". That selects one frame. Export the usual way and post that on a web location where we can download it.

Note: Macs have two totally separate display profile systems. The old system (still widely used) is based on ICC profiles. The new system used on XDR Pro, Apple Studio and many newer MacBooks is the "preset" or "reference mode" system. You can still select an ICC profile via ColorSync Utility, Calibrite, etc, on the newer machines, and it will functionally use it, but there is *no* UI indication of this -- MacOS>System Settings>Displays stays on the last preset selected. There is no UI indication an ICC profile is in use. To restore the currently-indicated display preset, you have to select a different one and then re-select the original preset. Some MacOS utilities like Digital Color Meter have not been updated to be aware of the preset system, and they continue to only look for ICC profiles. See attached.

What was the footage shot on, and specs? Is it Rec 709?

What monitor are you using, with what color profile?

Know that not all apps handle color space, especially gamma, the same. FCP is not the same as macOS but you shouldn't be seeing a drastic difference.

We need to know the media characteristics you are using. Ideally, use a utility like MediaInfo to obtain and post those details here. Lacking that, at least play the original clip in Quicktime Player, do CMD+I, then "spin down" the arrow to get video details. Save that entire pane, and attach it to a post. It is difficult to solve a color or exposure problem without that info.

We also need to know what color profile is selected for your monitor. There are several variations of Rec.709. Take a screen capture of MacOS>Settings>Display so it shows what color profile and monitor type you have.

joema wrote:

• That link is not discussing video, but how Preview handles JPG still images

At a low-level, there is no such thing as video. There's only the GPU. It can display one image, or a sequence of images. It's all the same at that point.

However, the OP on that link did not post full details on both JPG images, where they came from, nor a link to downloadable original files. Without that info, it is difficult to investigate.

They are right there in the reply. Control-click or right-click and choose "Download image".

I'm working on an app myself for satellite imagery. Colorspaces aren't normally used for this imagery, but if the user supplies one, then I have to support it. There are many different APIs available for rendering content on the CPU. Some have better support for colospaces than others. It is obvious that Preview has been "optimized" with iOS code that has much less colourspace support than macOS. You can see this by downloading those two images from that thread. Open them both in Preview and you can see the obvious difference. Open them both in Pixelmator Pro (or any other app) and they're identical.

The trick here is to create two images or videos that have obvious differences when using different colorspaces. If those two videos look different, then this is the same problem.

REC 709 works as usual.

Can you select the Project and take a screenshot of the info:

Al

Please show the following information as a screenshot

・Media details

・Export settings

・Project settings