Blacks too murky after burn to disk

[Jeff Deveraux]

The editor called me up yesterday and had issues burning to disk.
Here is his workflow...
-Edit with 1/2 k proxies.
-Once edit is done, export 1080 from redcine (no he didn't use crimson)
-Bring 1080 back into FCP to tweak in and out points.
-Encode Mpeg2 (standard Def) with compressor
-author with DVDSP

The problem is that the gamma looks surprisingly more murky than the simulator in DVDSP. The blacks are grey and consequently noisy. They are viewing the DVD in DVD player on the same MAC

I know that this is not a RED issue. It sounds more like a DVDSP issue to me. Anyone have any insight?

[Kenn Christenson]

Have they checked the DVD on a regular TV?

I've had problems with DVDSP and Gamma - In those cases I've had to lower the encoding Gamma in Compressor.

[Jeff Deveraux]

Have they checked the DVD on a regular TV?

I've had problems with DVDSP and Gamma - In those cases I've had to lower the encoding Gamma in Compressor.

Yes they are viewing on a TV as well. Same thing.

[Kenn Christenson]

Try re-encoding in Compressor using a Gamma of 1.1 - see if that helps.

The video will look darker in DVDSP, but should look better, played back on a DVD player.

[Tico Llaurador]

In my output tests to Blu-ray and Apple TV, the same thing happens as described here. Everything's washed out. The gamma settings don't seem to stick once processed by Compressor (under "Preserve source gamma" or set to REC 709). Any additional ideas or suggestions are most welcome.

[Alex Carr]

First of all you should be using Redlog or Redspace as the LUT, its the closest to the original files that were recorded. They also give you more Latitude in Redcine when exporting. Use your Histogram, make the adjustments that correctly fill the Histogram.

Did you do Color Correction on a Calibrated DVI Monitor instead of an HD-SDI?

Have you checked your Waveform before Exporting from FCP?

[John Tissavary]

I've experienced mpeg encoders shifting gamma, even appearing to shift the blackpoint.

I'm not sure if it's an artifact or a feature as I'm not an expert there, but I've noticed that with footage I've graded in a calibrated environment and checked with scopes it came out too dark after encoding for DVD.

And yet... Quicktime's broken gamma handling smells like the problem here since you're complaining of washed out blacks. A 2.2 / 1.8 gamma re-interpretation could be the solution.

cheers,

jt

[Paul Hazlett]

once you tweak the in and out in FCP Export to a quicktime file do not use compressor in FCP. Bring the file into DVDSP and let compressor do its work there and see if that helps.

[Matthew Rogers]

once you tweak the in and out in FCP Export to a quicktime file do not use compressor in FCP. Bring the file into DVDSP and let compressor do its work there and see if that helps.

The problem with that is DVDSP's compressor has always done a HORRIBLE job with encoding footage for me. It's always very pixelated and very obvious in the 12 frame GOP (as the picture will "jump" a little every 1/2 second)

What Apple needs to do IS FIX THE FRIGGIN PROBLEM!

Matthew

[Uli Plank]

There are two better encoders for the Mac now:
BitVice, which has been araound for along time, but got really fast only recently. It does downscaling from HD to SD too, and it can deal with noise very well.
And recently Cinema Craft has been ported to OS X as well, and it's the best software encoder for MPEG-2 the planet knows, IMHO.
They are both leaving Compressor far behind.