Workflow and color consistency to DVD

[Steve Roberts]

Ideally, you should buy a proper broadcast monitor with blue gun for calibration, and hook it up to AE, but ..

… have you tried finding SMPTE bars (a graphic) on the net, dragging them into AE, making a movie, making a DVD, then playing that on your “standard” TV?

Compare the bars on your monitor and those on the TV. Make another movie, this time applying levels and/or hue/sat to bring the bars in line with what you think they should be. Try different settings in the same movie, and mark them A, B, C, whatever onscreen. Make the DVD, watch it, and pick the best. Save it as a favourite and apply it to a wedding video, and make a DVD of it for one last test.

[Darby Edelen]

It sounds like you’re having a problem with your Luma and Chroma levels being out of the legal range for NTSC. I doubt you have the tools in iMovie to fix this.

There are options in AE for bringing the troublesome levels into line. The most straightforward method would be to put a Levels effect on an Adjustment Layer above your footage with the output white set to 235 and the output black set to 16.

This is a rough way of doing this. You’d be better off doing the legalization in something like Premiere or Final Cut Pro where you can monitor the IRE levels of the Luma and Chroma and make adjustments accordingly.

Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA

[Todd Collins]

I do think the problem originates in photoshop while doing my corrections. I correct the color of each photo one by one, and they all look good in photoshop on my monitor, and the color stays consistant though-out the workflow. So perhaps the thing to do will be to color-correct in photoshop while viewing the TV connected to the black magic card?

I also have FCP, but am just using iMovie for a very simple edit. I can use a NTSC filter to get the saturation back in-line, but I think my monitor just isn’t as bright as TVs, so I’m being ‘tricked’ into bringing the dark levels up to make them look decent on the monitor, then they are so bright on the TV that the grain from the scanner is very obvious.

So say I get a Sony TV and a black magic card…
is there a specific tube type or Sony model that works better than others?

Thanks again

[Erik Pontius]

Don’t forget that Photoshop also has a color profile for SMPTE-C as well as the “NTSC Colors” filter.

Erik

[Matt Gerard]

The color gamut of your PS doc is way larger than the NTSC color gamut. The poster than said to do the multiple trys with various color corrections probably has the right idea in your case. I’ve done that before, but remember that every TV you play it on will look different. Most people’s tvs in theier houses have the brightness and color controls cranked up.

Use the NTSC color filter in PS to see what the NTSC color space will do to your photos.

Or, just start doing everything in HD;-)

Mattski

[Rob Webster]

I’d think it would be easier to do the adjustment in your video editor rather than photoshop, because you can apply it once as a final step, verses applying it dozens of times in photoshop, once for each image.

Another thing to try is run the dust and scratches filter on your scanned images as part of your photoshop treatment. Maybe set up an action with a keyboard shortcut to really simplify doing it. That way, even if your calibration settings aren’t where they need to be, at least if those blacks look bright on the TV they won’t have nearly as much noise in them. Ideally, reign in what you’re outputting. But a quick fix might be the dust and scratches filter. One way to check the filter as you apply it is to make an adjustment later that cranks up the levels, simulating on your monitor what the TV tends to do. Fix the dust and scratches on your original layer, delete the levels adjustment layer, then carry on as usual. It’s not the best solution, but in the short run it may be an adequate solution.

[Todd Collins]

Cool. All good tips. Thanks guys.