• Avid Media Composer

  DVC Pro HD in AVID express – QT Ref. export is washed out!

  Posted by Andreas Stenschke on July 19, 2009 at 10:55 pm

  I used the Panasonic AVCHD Transcoder to transcode AVCHD to P2 (DVC Pro HD).

  So I was able to edit the DVC Pro HD directly in AVID express Pro HD. No I’ll try to export a QT Ref. file. This QT Ref. doesn’t look like my Video at all! Black is grey again and everything seems to be washed out. Playing back the QT in QT Player makes it look wasehd out. How can this be? It’s a Ref. file just linking to the original files… Sucks!

  I never had problems like that in a 25i Pal project!

  What’s wrong with that workflow???

  Scott Cumbo replied 16 years, 10 months ago 3 Members · 7 Replies
• 7 Replies

• 

  Paul Harrington

  July 20, 2009 at 12:45 am

  I haven’t used DVC Pro but I do use P2, and it works fine. To me it sounds like a colour spacing issue. Somewhere in your path you may be doubling up 701/601 rasing your black levels and washing out your video. Try exporting with rgb colour spacing…Paul H
• 

  Andreas Stenschke

  July 20, 2009 at 8:51 am

  Hi Paul,

  yes, it must be that RGB / YUV Problem… But it seems I can’t change it.

  So here are more informations:

  I used a Panasonic Cam and shot in HD (AVCHD)
  encoded AVCHD to P2 by using the Panasonic Tool (AVCHD Transcoder) – you can’t set up this one and it’s designed to transcode AVCHD to P2 so you can edit it in AVID.

  You just copy the P2 files to the AVID media folder and do not need to import it!!! – So no import settings there.

  All looks fine in AVID!

  When I export my timeline (edited video) as QT Reference (601/709 Setting) and open it in TMPGenc to transcode it to mpeg4 – all washed out! Open it in QT Player: All washed out.

  If I use the QT Ref. Setting RGB in AVID – result is even more washed out.

  So 601 appears washed out and RGB more washed out…

  Any idea???

  Maybe I can force TMPgenc to handle it as 601 or whatever….
• 

  Andreas Stenschke

  July 20, 2009 at 5:27 pm

  So more information: QT Ref file exported as 601/709 – black should be at value of 16 in that 16-235 range.
  Imported to TMPGenc black becomes grey and is at value 32. So TMPGenc shifts black from 16 up to 32… What the hell.

  I can’t find a setting telling TMPGenc to import video as 601/709 what it already is.
• 

  Scott Cumbo

  July 20, 2009 at 9:28 pm

  did you try doing a video mixdown before the QT ref?

  Scott Cumbo
  Editor
  Broadway Video, NYC
• 

  Paul Harrington

  July 20, 2009 at 11:33 pm

  Andreas,
  I’m haved used TMP before, but it strange if it looks ok in Avid.
  If you look at your vision on the Colour Correction vectorscope and it is the right colour spacing, the problem must be TMC or the P2 codec.
  A work around could be transcode/mixdown your sequence to DNxHD or an Avid codec export a QT ref and check again….Paul H
• 

  Andreas Stenschke

  July 21, 2009 at 12:29 pm

  Hi,

  yes I guess it’s the TMPGenc… In AVID the P2 blackest black seems to be at 16… so it’s YUV levels I guess…

  Is that wrong???

  Could you please tell me how to do a video-mixdown??? I never did it before. It always worked by just exporting the QT Ref. file without a video mixdown.

  Thanks so much for your ideas!
• 

  Scott Cumbo

  July 21, 2009 at 5:27 pm

  to do a video mixdown just select your in and out points, than go to
  Special, than select video mixdown. It will create a new media file of your sequence thats 1 video layer.
  dubplicate your original sequence and cut in the new video.

  just remember your original sequence stays the same, but the video mixdown is new media so you won’t be able to match back to the source media. So any revisions or anything like that you should go back to your original sequence

  hope it helps

  Scott Cumbo
  Editor
  Broadway Video, NYC

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