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Apple Compressor Issue
Not sure this is the best place to address this, but with the latest Compressor update, I am having issues with the image of videos brought into Compressor. It doesn’t matter what codec, etc., the video looks, plays and compresses much too dark. QuickTime, FCPX, Motion, (and Avid) all play these files fine, but in Compressor, too dark. Also, it isn’t simply a matter of increasing the gamma to fix it, it could be related to color space?
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12 Replies
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Looks like a classic QuickTime gamma issue.
Try setting gamma to none if it is set to automatic.
David
______________________________
The shortest answer is doing.
Lord Herbert
https://www.davidbattistella.com -
Gamma setting where? This doesn’t seem to be the old Mac Gamma 1.8 vs. 2.2 issue. Again, it is only in Compressor, and it seems to be a new issue as of latest update. Trying to correct by increasing the gamma with a filter in compressor does not solve the problem. Thanks anyway.
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In the preset you are working in you can tell compressor to select gamma automatically or to none (within the qt setting s available in compressor.
Most of the presets are set to automatic. Depending on which codecs your are coming for a nd going to, the qt pret can wrongly pick an automatic gamma.
Dig around, it’s not a gamma adjustment as in brightness, it’s gamma as inside the video codec preset.
If you runs few small tests you can set a press that will avoid this problem. But it varies. Greatly depending on what codecs you are dealing with.
Since I do not know that, then I recommend you run a few text renders to get it correct.
David
______________________________
The shortest answer is doing.
Lord Herbert
https://www.davidbattistella.com -
Thanks a ton, I’ll take a look when I’m back to my workstation. It is strange that this popped up after the latest update. I’m using the same custom compressor settings that I built awhile ago. Again, it doesn’t matter what codec the video going in is: 422, DNxHD (same as source QT), H264, any and all videos look dark in the compressor viewer window and on export/compression. I’ll look at the gamma option in my presets. Thanks again for helping.
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Ok, back at my workstation. I don’t think it is a gamma issue in my encoder settings, since the video looks dark in the preview window before any settings are applied. Also, many of the presets don’t have the gamma option you speak of, (although some of them do). The mystery deepens. Videos that I compressed a week and a half ago (PR422 files to h264) were fine, but now those same source videos (PR422) are dark in Compressor (only). Again, ANY video that I load into Compressor is extremely dark. I’ve tested this on two different Macs. I can’t be the only one experiencing this…
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Eric, what monitor profile are you working in?
Did you customize it or its the default one?
Which operating sistem?
I’m asking because I noticed it depends a lot on the monitor profile. Also wondering if Lion solved the issue, I’m still S.Leopard here. -
OSX 10.7.3. Never had this issue in SL or Lion until this last week.
As for monitor profiles, I’m seeing this issue on two different Mac Pro setups, my home 2008 MacPro with a Mac 27″ LED display and at a studio setup, with a 2011 Mac Pro and a Samsung Monitor. I have tried switching up color profiles on both, and it has no impact on the issue.
AGAIN, this is a new issue. I haven’t had to compensate for the old Mac gamma issues in a long time. I use Compressor DAILY. Files that looked and compressed normally before the latest update now appear very dark and/or missing green channel. I’ve submitted the bug to Apple, was just praying it was something I could address myself. Thanks.
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Thanks for posting here Eric, Keep us posted. It’s a curious issue you are experiencing and this is a good place to flush it out.
Thanks,
David
______________________________
The shortest answer is doing.
Lord Herbert
https://www.davidbattistella.com -
Hi,
Within Quicktime make sure in the preferences ‘enable final cut studio color’ is ticked. It may off been deselected with an update?
Also just to make sure – are you changing color space / depth / codec?
Might be worth finding an old version of compressor / reverting back to an older backup. New OS’s always have glitches. It’s always worth waiting as long as you can until the inevitable upgrade.
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Thanks for the tips Dominic. As I already stated in the previous replies and the original post, I have tried multiple file types, codecs, color spaces and always the same result. The only variable that had changed was the Compressor update. My workaround for now is to use the ‘export using Compressor’ setting in FCPX or Motion. Thankfully I have no batch encoding to do right now, but until I figure out what has gone wrong with Compressor, my workflow is hamstrung.
I have more testing to do, thanks for the help everyone.
I’m going to try and be a more active member of the COW community, especially in the FCPX/Motion realm. It was too painful to be on here during the initial FCPX debacle, since I loved the software and was using it for paid, pro work on day one, despite it’s rough edges.
-Eric Parker Andersen
SEVENTHREE PRODUCTIONS
https://www.73pro.comE. Parker Andersen – Seventhree Productions
Shooter, Cutter, 2D/3D Graphics and FX
http://www.73pro.com
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