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Monitoring video for web output
Someone please expain this to me!
I’m editing Sony XDCAM EX 720p 30fps footage on a new Imac.
The output will be for the web and maybe a DVD.
If I want the color to look good, do I need an MXO or some other external monitoring solution? I understand computer monitors don’t display interlacing correctly, but my footage is not for broadcast and wasn’t even shot interlaced to begin with. I just want it to look good on other computer screens. Is there a way to calibrate my Imac monitor, or do I still have to shell out for proper external monitoring? And why?
Thanks,
Oren -
10 Replies
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No.
bogiesan
This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
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Use the built in OSX color calibration. You’ll have to decide at the end whether to set the gamma at 2.2 for PC or 1.8 for Mac (or set it in between as a compromise). I use 2.2 even though I’m on a Mac.
Or you can use 3rd party software or hardware (like Spyder) for calibration.
Ed -
If you get an actual broadcast monitor solution, your final QT exports will look exactly like how it shows up on your broadcast monitor. Have you seen any threads that ask “why do my h.264 exports look washed out?” Well that because they didn’t use a broadcast monitor.
I have my computer screens calibrated with a Spyder2 and my QT exports always looked different than what I wanted… Once I bought my broadcast monitor, BOOM! Everything I looked at/output was consistent and correct. Who would of thought that getting the proper equipment would allow me to do things correctly.
-Bryan
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Thanks for the replies folks.
So, it looks like some say OSX calibration is okay, while others insist I need to shell out for the pro gear for my output to look like what I’m editing. I figured this was the response I would get, but I was hoping for some more detail and explanation to help me decide which route I need to go.
Anyone?
Thanks all,
Oren -
Your OP: ” The output will be for the web and maybe a DVD. ”
The answer to your inquiry about high end cards to monitor video for DVD and Web output is simply negative. You do not need anything more than a cheap ratty display to approximate DVD and Web output.
If you must know EXACTLY what your output will look like on all DVD players and all Web browsers, you would need one of every CRT and LCD and plasma ever created. That’s clearly insane.
bogiesan
This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
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Who said anything about high-end cards?
The card I use right now is a Blackmagic Intensity Pro. I send component video out to my HD broadcast monitor. Both pieces together were about $1300. If the OP were on a strict budget, you could sacrifice some accuracy and go with a Dell 2408 instead of the broadcast monitor (still send component from the BM Intensity Pro). Or if they are just editing SD material, SD broadcast monitors can be bought from B&H for under $500 (or look for something used).
The whole point is not to know what it will look like on every screen, it’s to put the video on a baseline standard so that it will look consistent with other material (professionally produced video, Hollywood DVDs, etc) on the same screen.
-Bryan
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[Bryan Banks] “If you get an actual broadcast monitor solution, your final QT exports will look exactly like how it shows up on your broadcast monitor. Have you seen any threads that ask “why do my h.264 exports look washed out?” Well that because they didn’t use a broadcast monitor. “
That’s absolute hogwash. I use a Kona LHe and a perfectly calibrated Sony PVM-20L5 and I always have to gamma correct my h.264 encoded clips in Compressor or they will come out much too light. Other codecs, like Sorenson, don’t exhibit the same problem.. The problem lies with Apple’s h.264 encoding, not with monitoring.
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Every output that I’ve done with h.264 looks exactly like the image on my broadcast monitor. There is no shift in gamma here. If you can explain how my exports come out fine when Apple’s coding is somehow faulty, I’d like to hear it.
-Bryan
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I can’t explain the good luck you’ve had, but I can vouch for myself and hundreds of other video professionals who A) use proper monitoring, B) are experienced professionals and C) experience gamma issues when encoding h.264 using Apple’s Quicktime-based encoder.
I think it’s a bit presumptuous for you to assume that everyone who has been experiencing gamma issues with Apple’s Quicktime h.264 encoding is not properly monitoring their video output. I can’t explain your success, but I’m not convinced that there is any direct correlation between monitoring YUV-based output on a broadcast monitor and RGB monitoring on a computer monitor using completely different codecs.
There’s literally an avalanche of web documentation of the Quicktime h.264 gamma issue:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/20/856650
https://byteful.com/blog/2008/07/how-to-fix-washed-out-h264-video/
https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6151
https://ediusforum.grassvalley.com/forum/showthread.php?p=32286
https://forums.cocoaforge.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=17019&p=104258
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-508907.html
https://dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=70049
Consider yourself lucky that you’ve somehow escaped this annoying and persistent bug.
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I’m on a couple of those boards, so I’d be careful in including some of those in your collection of video pros that monitor properly and experience this issue.
I just find it difficult to believe that I have some magical build of QT that only seemed to manifest itself when I added the broadcast monitor to my setup.
-Bryan
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