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Squeeze Color Issues….
Hi folks, I’m new to editing and compression so forgive me if this is a stupid question!
I’m running a Mac Pro Intel system w/two 23″ Apple Displays. Working with Final Cut Pro 7 and a newly purchased version of Squeeze 6.
So, I take my rendered Final Cut Pro file (.mov) and import it into Squeeze. I immediately notice a huge difference in the color & gamma of the file as viewed inside of the Squeeze preview window. It’s darker and redder than the original rendered .mov file that I imported. So I begin to alter the color & gamma using the filters inside of Squeeze…..until I get it where I think it looks good and then I hit the Squeeze button to begin to encode the clip to MP4 (MainConcept H.264). Once the clip has encoded, I open it inside Quicktime and it looks nothing like the preview that I saw inside of Squeeze. Now I’m banging my head against the wall trying to figure out what is happening here. I can’t find any type of color profile adjustments inside of Squeeze that can be adjusted to remedy this.
My displays are color calibrated once a month (I’m a professional photographer by trade so I do this religiously).
Any thoughts on what is happening here would be greatly appreciated. I have submitted a support ticket to Sorenson but don’t expect to hear from them until sometime next week.
Do you think this is a Squeeze issue? A Quicktime issue? A codec issue? A Mac issue? Or an issue of me not knowing what the hell I”m doing : )
Thanks a bunch!!!!
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Dean -
3 Replies
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[Dean Stapleton] “So, I take my rendered Final Cut Pro file (.mov)”
Using what CODEC?
[Dean Stapleton] “I immediately notice a huge difference in the color & gamma of the file as viewed inside of the Squeeze preview window.”
Never trust a preview.
[Dean Stapleton] “So I begin to alter the color & gamma using the filters inside of Squeeze”
Did you try leaving the colour and gamma alone?
[Dean Stapleton] “My displays are color calibrated once a month”
To what? Print and video use quite different calibration settings (much wide range for print).
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“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007 -
1. The codec that I used for Final Cut Pro output was ProRes 422 (LT). Is there a codec that works better in Squeeze than others?
2. I’m happy to not trust a preview but it seems to me that the preview is there for a reason. If it’s not to be trusted, why is it doing there? Squeeze has got nothing but raving reviews (as far as I can tell) and none of those reviews had anything critical to say about their preview system not being accurate. That will be a good point to bring up with the folks at Sorenson when I hear back from them. The videos on their site clearly show the guy making adjustments via filters while previewing the results in the Squeeze viewer.
3. Did I try leaving the gamma & color alone? Yes, I did. The first time I compressed the file, I didn’t touch the gamma & color. I only adjusted it after I noticed such a huge difference in what I was seeing in the Squeeze preview window and the original .mov file.
4. My displays are calibrated using the Sypder 3 system from Datacolor. Since computer monitors are subject to drifting over time, this helps keep my monitors color & gamma stable. I realize that this is not how professional editors calibrate their monitors for accurate color work, but this is fine for what I’m doing. I’m not sure how calibration could cause a .mov file to look one way inside of Qucktime and another way inside of Squeeze.
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1. ProRes is good. (Bear in mind that you’re going from a colour subsample of 4:2:2 to H.264 of 4:2:0)
2. Preview is a preview, nothing more than that. Think of it as draft copy, not a final proof.
3. It’s normal to notice a shift, but not a ‘huge’ one, can you supply screen grabs? (Remember 4:2:2 to 4:2:0 heavily compressed)
4. I’m extremely familiar with monitor calibration (I teach it). Calibration alone will not cause the shift, I was simply curious what you had calibrated you monitors to i.e. what RGB space, D65 or? Gamma 2.2 or 1.8? Etc.
__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007
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