Black levels crushed using DNxHD codec w AE upgrade?

[Jenny Conway]

Mov (QT mov as export and QT mov as render).

Also tried replacing the original Avid movie w an exported OP1a as a test, but the crushing of black levels was still there. I’m stumped and, since I haven’t seen too many people posting about it, I’m just really curious as to what I’m missing.

[Chris Wright]

probably the 16-235 color levels not 0-255. you can burn that in with AE’s utility – color profile converter if avid won’t read the color management correctly.

[Jenny Conway]

Thanks, Chris. Hmm, I did try the Color profile converter but still had crushed levels- so I possibly had the settings wrong then?

(I tried the Project Color Space=None and also as =HD 709 and tried the Color Profile settings as both Input=Project Working Space and Input=HDTV (Rec 709) but still not luck.)

The only thing I didn’t try was the button for Linearize Input Profile- would that be something that would help? I’ll try a test- thanks for the suggestion.

Jenny

[Jenny Conway]

Ok, Linear Output bad choice- boosted the white levels. So far the 32-bit (float) w an Adjustment Layer (w a Levels correction) that I noted above is the best option.
Someone posted on a forum that “it’s best to work in the 0-255 range and use the legal range for delivery.” I still don’t understand why (especially if the workflow was a perfect match before) so I’m all ears if anyone knows more. Thanks!

[Jenny Conway]

PS sorry, never mentioned that the Avid files were exported Same As Source/709 each time.

[Chris Wright]

yes, there is actually a profile called (Rec. 709 16-235 ). That one is video compatible, the one simply Rec.709 ___ is actually 0-255. I think you need to change input and output as these two different ones so it will convert correctly. You will see an instant change on screen.

[Jenny Conway]

Thanks you! I’ll give that a try!

[Jenny Conway]

Thank you, Chris- that worked! I set the Input Range as HDTV (Rec 709) and the Output as HDTV (Rec 709 16-235). We did a test and this seems identical to the 32 bit/Level technique so both are good.

The takeaway I guess is that AE needs the Rec 709 full range 0-255 to work in but, if you don’t limit it to 16-235 on render/export, you’ll have level problems when it’s imported into the Avid again. Many thanks to you and Dave for your patience & advice!

[Piers Helm]

Hi
Im having the same problem here but Im not sure I follow the fix.

Im using the same project as a year ago on AE, currently upgraded to the latest version.

Clients wants the project delivered as AVID DNxHD RGB levels uncompressed 1080i 185 10bit .mov

using this preset from last year, the black levels are now very crushed.
Am correctly understanding some of the posts here that I need to add an adjustment layer changing the levels so that it looks too light in AE but exports correctly?

thanks

[Marcin Staszewski]

Same here, I have a similar problem and I’m not sure what you’re talking about setting input and output levels in AE. Could you please describe the fixing process step by step?
Also, Piers if you need a quick and dirty solution for this, send your export queue to Media Encoder, and there use your DNxHD mov setting. It seems to do the job just fine, which shows the bug is only affecting AE exports.