Color Correction Export Causes Change?

[Phillip Van west]

Is your sequence fully rendered before output?

Phil Van West
Terra Nova Productions
Denver, CO
Video Production/Post-Production

Mac Pro 8-core 2.66GHz / 16GB RAM / OS 10.6.3 / FCP 7.0.2 / QT 7.6

[Michael Gissing]

I don’t understand what you mean by “after color correction with RGB Balance of CC 3 Way”. Are you using the FCP 3 Way CC plus the RGB Balance filter?

How are you comparing the FCP color balance to the H264? Is it on the computer screen, quicktime on the computer screen or on an external monitor via an I/O card? How are you making the H264? What’s the deal?

[Lee Bryan]

Oops I meant using RGB Balance OR CC 3-way.

The color looks different when exported through quicktime or any media player. I’m exporting as h.264.

I have a temporary fix by adding a filter through exporting and putting the brightness down by a bit… that’s my only solution now.’

Thanks for the replies though! Much appreciated.

[Michael Gissing]

Grading in FCP usually means using an external monitor and an I/O card (Kona, Matrox, Decklink). You can’t judge color balance in the FCP viewer. It just isn’t acurrate. Also you will get difference brightness in playback depending on whether the mewdia playing is displaying the correct gamma setting. Computers often work to 1.8 gamma whereas FCP is working to 2.2 which is broadcast spec.

[Neal Broffman]

There are so many variables you have not really accounted for that have been mentioned. Here is another…when you watch your QT movie are you watching it at High Quality? In QT go to View Movie Properties, select the visual settings tab, then select the video track and then check the High Quality box in the lower right hand corner. You can also use this little utility to batch change the setting:
https://www.synthetic-ap.com/products/hiq/index.html

Neal Broffman
One Production Place, Atlanta, GA
“Voices of Freedom”, Special Jury winner for Fall 2008 CINE Awards produced for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta as part of a major exhibition of vintage Civil Rights Movement photographs, “Road To Freedom”. Currently on display at The Bronx Museum (through August) after having been on exhibition at the Field Musuem in Chicago, The Skirball Cultural Center in LA and The Smithsonian in DC.

[Anna Chiaretta]

I have a similar problem. If I stay at 720p (recorded size) it is not noticeable, however when I downres for NTSC or smaller for web there is a major color shift, and due to some minor animating it destroys the illusion.

I hope this makes sense: The footage was shot so that in post I used motion keyframing to have the subject of a tracking shot slowly enter the frame (in the original camera footage subject begins slightly in frame). The background is blown out completely to be brighter than broadcast safe white so that I can blend it with a white color matte as the video keyframes into place. When exported in prores it is fine. When that file is compressed the edge of the video frame shows as an off white. It is maddening, I do compressions where I recompress all frames… still shows up wrong.

any ideas?