Going Color Crazy

[John Rofrano]

[James Dubendorf] “His post is largely in agreement with this one, though they approach from different directions: https://techblog.cineform.com/?p=2959“

That post makes you believe that you can’t color correct Studio RGB with Vegas Pro without adding the conversion filter and that’s not entirely true. All you have to do is use the Windows Secondary Display and enable the Adjust levels from studio RGB to computer RGB option. You should not be using the tiny preview window for color correcting. You should use either the Windows Secondary Display, AJA Video Device, Blackmagic Design DecLink, or OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394/DV setting under Preview Devices.

[James Dubendorf] “Apply broadcast color lenient -7.5. The histogram confirms the illegal edges are clipped, but I notice NO CHANGE in the image in the preview window. “

Then you are not viewing a scene that had details in the overblown highlights because, trust me, you would have seen a BIG difference if you had.

Select an outdoor scene with clouds that have details in the clouds where the clouds are over the 100 limit. then apply the Broadcast Color filter with Lenient -7.5 and the clouds will turn into a solid color that should look very unnatural because they will have lost all of the detail.

[James Dubendorf] “Again, according to the cineform blog post, if the video is to be accurately viewed in the vegas preview window on a computer monitor for the purposes of levels and color correction, it must be converted from studio to computer rgb. Glenn does not mention this option specifically, but does acknowledge the need for it. You must remember to turn this off before the render. “

…and the CORRECT way to do this is to use the Windows Secondary Display with the Adjust levels from studio RGB to computer RGB enabled. There is no need to apply any filter to the master output for color correcting in Studio RGB. That’s what the Windows Secondary Display preview with the adjustment is for.

Here is the proof:

Click on this image to make it full screen and then right-click on the full screen version and download it and drop it on the Vegas timeline. Then preview it on the secondary monitor with Adjust levels from studio RGB to computer RGB enabled and you will see that Vegas Pro is showing the correct Computer RGB outut with no other filter needed (in other words, 255 & 235 should both look the same (255) and 0 and 16 should both look the same (0)).

Let me know you see.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Tim Stannard]

I’ve not really had issues with colour before experimenting with a bit of grading, but I was having a few problems creating DVDs which is what led me here.

So let me check I’ve got this right. For creating DVDs and uploading to youTube/Vimeo.

I should check my grading by previewing on Windows Secondary Monitor (calibrated) with a Computer to Studio RGB levels Filter preset applied to the master (Video Output FX) and switch ON the Adjust levels from studio RGB to computer RGB option. Correct?

As I understand it, the Computer to Studio RGB option should ensure that my levels are between 16 & 235 when I render, but the conversion for the secondary monitor effectively reverses that to show what will happen after it has been mangled by YouTube.

When i render with these seetings I should therefore be rendering (a) within the “studio” range of 16-235 and (b) therefore at the correct levels for domestic DVD players.

If I’ve got this wrong, please stop reading at this point and please correct me 🙂

However, when I do the above the output looks decidedly more contrasty (and overall darker) than it did in the preview window (either in a media player or on my TV/DVD setup). What’s more, if I import the result into a new Vegas project and open up the Waveform monitor, it is clearly outside the 16-235.

What have I missed?

And if you’ll allow me a supplementary question, would anyone care to recommend me a 19″-20″ > 1920×1080 monitor which is pretty accurate (will calibrate with Spyder). My current one no longer goes bright enough for the Spyder software to consider perfect 🙁