FCP video out is darker then After Effects video out. Problem?

[Jeff Mullen]

Hey!

I had the exact same problem last week at work. No matter what files I rendered to or what codec, the gamma curve woudl be shifted just slightly higher on the AE renders. So, to fix that I encoded it into a MPG .m2v file and imported it into final cut. That somehow cut the brightness from the AE render. NOTE: You cannot render the .m2v from Final Cut, it must be an external converter such as BitVice or something.

Hope it helps!

Cheers!

-jeff mullen

[Chris Armstrong]

Ok I think I’m finding out more info.

I believe it has to do with the 7.5 IRE (setup) issues.

I’m running everything out through a firewire (sony dsr-11) DV deck, and from what I gather it doesn’t add the 7.5 IRE that the US broadcast spec uses. I’m guessing that FCP doesn’t add this in either, hence the darker image.

When I import it into After Effects, AE for whatever reason is adding this on its own. (I can’t find a setting to control this anywhere). So more then likely the AE version is the true colors of the image. (At least via US broadcast equipment).

If anyone has any thoughts/or similar experiences let me know.

[Bob Hudson]

There is a gamma shift when you go to or from Apple’s DV codec and RGB. Apple did this so that DV format video, when viewed on a Mac computer monitor, would look more like it does on a TV or PC which have a different gamma than Mac monitors. If you use another DV codec, such as AVID, you don’t have this problem.

[Spider Carmelo]

Hi, had the same problem. It sucked.

Try these 2 things.

1. Go to your quicktime preferences and check the box for FCP compatibility.

2. When you export for AFX, do it as an FCP quicktime. Maybe even as 444. AFX will take it.

Let us know if that works. Good luck!