Getting an app’s viewer, QuickTime playback, and the SDI output to all look the same can be a fool’s errand. I’m previously written about the challenge of consistent gamma and saturation across multiple monitoring points. Not only does the image look great on Apple screens, but it looks consistent across all apps on any Apple device that uses the ColorSync technology. In addition, the output through AJA or Blackmagic i/o hardware to a video display will also match. The same image in an FCP viewer will appear somewhat brighter than in the viewer of other NLEs however, it will match the playback of an exported file in QuickTime Player. 709 color space is selected.Īpple has taken a different route with Final Cut Pro by utilizing ColorSync. Blackmagic enables different gamma options even when the Rec. 709: legal range (8-bit levels of 16-235) versus full range (8-bit levels of 0-255). Media Composer editors can set the viewer based on several standards and different video levels for Rec. Premiere Pro offers no alternate SDR timeline options, but After Effects does. This is the approach taken by Adobe, Avid, and Blackmagic, but with some variations. 709, 2.4 gamma, since that’s the television standard and is consistent with legacy workflows. The first is to assume that the viewer should match Rec. 709, 2.4 gamma feed going out through the i/o hardware to a video monitor.Ī developer of editing software has several options when designing their color management system. Some NLEs will also emulate this appearance within the source and record viewers in order to match the Rec. Computers do not use this however, NLEs use it as the working color space for the timeline. The television display standard for SDR video is Rec. HDR is yet another mine field best left for another day. I’ll stick to standard dynamic range (SDR) in this discussion. Third, these color space and gamma standards differ from the standards used by televisions and also projection systems. For instance, some use P3-D65 while others use sRGB. Second, not all computer screens work in the same color space. First, Macs and PCs use different gamma standards when displaying media files. If you expect the NLE viewer to be a perfect match with the output to a video display or an exported file playing in every media player, then good luck! The chances are slim.

In researching and writing several articles and posts about trusting displays and color management, I’ve come to realize the following.

As an editor who also does color correction, making sure that I’m sending the client a file that matches what I saw when it was created is very important.Ĭolor management and your editing software

Aesthetic judgements – especially by clients and off-site producers – are commonly made viewing MOV or MP4 files on some type of computer or device screen. Fast forward to the present when nearly all deliverables are sent as files.

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