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h.264 videos have gamma shift with various browsers and players

my issue is that my footage after being uploaded to youtube is not consistent from browser to browser.

for example in safari the footage looks washed out/desaturated as compared to firefox and chrome. similarly, the footage looks washed out in quicktime X but looks fine in VLC. VLC and youtube via chrome/firefox all match my timeline in FCP7. it's quicktime X and youtube via safari that make the footage look washed out.

it seems that it must be related to the h.264 gamma bug that i've been reading about but i can't find any fixes that work.

i've tried using the x264 plugin that claims to fix the problem with gamma tagging but that doesn't change anything for me.

at the end of the day i really don't care about the variation between the media players, but since my final destination is youtube, i would like to be consistent on this platform.


my workflow:

5DmkII

transcode to apple prores 422

edit in FCP7

send to compressor with youtube h.264 preset


again, the resultant file varies in appearance between quicktime x and VLC (with VLC matching my timeline in FCP7)

and chrome/firefox vs safari (chrome/safari matches my fcp7 timeline)


how do you guys export for web? anyone encounter this issue?

Mac Pro (Early 2008)

Posted on Aug 22, 2012 3:11 PM

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8 replies

Aug 23, 2012 3:21 PM in response to hyphen

thanks for the input. i understand the differences between various hardware setups/monitors/profiles causing variability in how images look, but the issue lies in that i am viewing the same video on the same compouter with the same monitor just with different software and it's being displayed differently. i have a hardware calibrated monitor (i am also a photographer) so i undestand color management with ICC profiles from a photographic perspective. unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a direct equivalency for video that i am aware of.


here is an example:

http://bold-creative.com/images/3.jpg


top left is youtube on chrome

top right is youtube on safari

bottom left is VLC

bottom right is quicktime X


see how desaturated safari and quicktime are vs chrome and VLC? chrome and VLC match FCP.


i thought it was maybe just how safari handled the video, but other youtube videos were identical when viewed next to each other on chrome and safari. this leads me to believe that it must be my file that is somewhow the culprit.

Aug 24, 2012 4:12 AM in response to hyphen

i have a hardware calibrated monitor (i am also a photographer) so i undestand color management with ICC profiles from a photographic perspective. unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a direct equivalency for video that i am aware of.


There are video standards. The problem is most computer monitors don't support them. The only reliable way to know what your video looks like is to view your work on a calibrated HDTV monitor (something like a Flanders Scientific) being fed a qualified signal from a 3rd party card (AJA Kona, Blackmajic Decklink, Matrox MXO and the like). Anything else is just a guess.


As to the question of the inconsistancy between different browsers, there are a variety of settings imbeded in a browser that controls how it deals with the video: how it translates the colorspace and how it interacts with the actual video engines like Flash and Quicktime that have their own interpretations. Most of this is black box - that is - you have no control over it.


Do your best before you send it out and be happy.


x

Jan 28, 2013 6:01 AM in response to doleboy

Likely that Safari was not using Flash Player to playback the YouTube video, resulting in the difference.


The problem with gamma/colour fidelity is almost always with the player.


YouTube/Vimeo are very accurate so long as your version of Flash is fully up to date (and your browser isn't reverting to HTML5).


QuickTime Player still decodes video with a slightly lifted gamma, unless the video is tagged with a colour profile that QuickTime understands, so if in doubt view with VLC Player on a Mac - which matches YouTube, which matches our broadcast monitors suprisingly closely.

h.264 videos have gamma shift with various browsers and players

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