[James Duke]

Gentlemen,

With regard to the thread in June, I have recently published an article on Larry Jordan’s blog that may shed some light on HDR discussion.

https://larryjordan.com/articles/working-with-hdr-media-in-apple-final-cut-pro-x/?utm_source=Larry%27s+Newsletter+180910&utm_campaign=09%2F10%2F18+Newsletter&utm_medium=email

Please let me know what you think.

James

[James Duke]

Gentlemen,

It was interesting to read your posts. Oliver is right, ProRes Raw is just another video format unrelated to HDR, even though, of course, any RAW would carry wide dynamic range info. So does the Log.
Just a note on LUTs. It is true that most of Log LUTs out there are 709. However, Apple, I think intentionally, does not call those LUTs “709” in FCPX, just “Camera LUT.”
There are three possibilities here:
1. They are actually different LUTs for each of the project settings (formats) provided to Apple by the manufacturers. I highly doubt it.
2. Apple converts on the fly the 709 LUT into the project settings (possible). In fact, in my conversations with Apple support (they are not as knowledgeable as they were when there was a special Pro group support for a fee), I was told FCPX does the conversion to make the timeline correspond to the project settings.
3. They all (LUTs) are 709 LUTs and Apple just leaves them as they are (disturbing, if they do it). But if that would be so, I would not see, what is obviously wider color gamut than 709 when sharing ProRes out.
I hope, it is number 2.
I have knowledge of one of the camera manufacturers – Panasonic. There, most prosumer (GH5, DVX200) cameras’ manuals state that they adhere to 709. But, talking with their some of their employees, I was told that it is “straight out” of the sensor processing and is not “restricted.” I don’t know what it actually mean in term VLog-L out of the camera.

James
jduke@lifestorypictures.com

[James Duke]

I forgot to mention, the video brightness is up to 1K nits. LG TV can handle it as a peak. I compress into HDR10, H.265.

James.

[James Duke]

Oliver,

I am not 100% sure (who is about anything), but I just tested using test video and it seems that A/V output is passing color info Ok, but clips the brightness at 100 nits (same is for the viewer). So, it is entirely possible that the HDR range is passed only through “interface” device. I am waiting to hear from Blackmagic about it. Years ago it was very easy, one could just call Blackmagic tech support and get all the imfo one needs. Today they do not know much and one needs to send an e-mail to the “developer.” I hope I find out soon.

Thanks.

James.

[James Duke]

Oliver,
This is my understanding exactly. So, I bought the newest Thunderbolt to HTMI cable to connect iMac to LG TV as an external monitor in FCPX.
I do see HDR video on LG TV, however I do not know if FCPX clips the brightness or not. Next, I will try to use HDR test charts to see if it works. I just wish someone would know what exactly is the function of an interface box.

Thanks.

James.

[James Duke]

Oliver,

Thank you very much for you note. I would like to understand how does the software handle the interfaces. For example, I do have a HDR monitor I can afford – LG OLED 65B7A TV. What I would like to understand is what exactly “correct AJA or BMD i/o hardware” does to shape or provide handshake between iMac Thunderbolt and LG TV? I.e, what does it introduce beyond Thunderbolt-HTMI cable which is not already in the data provided by FCPX?

Thanks.

James.
https://www.lifestorypictures.com

[James Duke]

I was now able to upload several 5 min videos straight in H.265. See for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Vnip6WpFI “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Vnip6WpFI”. Either YouTube did something in the last couple of weeks, when I was not looking, or I just got thrown back by the brightness of the uploaded video. The observed (not measured) brightness of HDR video when seen through Google Chromecast Ultra and LG HDR TV in YouTube is approximately 75% of observed brightness of HDR video when seen through 4K Apple TV and LG HDR TV in Vimeo. So I had to change settings of the Chromecast-connected TV input to get “similar” effect.

[James Duke]

Davin,
I have not tried HLG. Did you compress video before uploading? I use LG HDR TV (has 1000 nits max) as my FCPX external monitor and as a TV test for uploaded video. Was your HDR PQ version proper on your iPhone X? Again, did you compress PQ version before uploading? If you compressed before uploading, what was the codec?

[James Duke]

Tried that too – it did not work. But, in general, it is impractical even for a short film – too big.

[James Duke]

I did. In support, they have no idea. Their engineers, I am sure, do, but I cannot get to them.
On the surface, it appears that FCPX w HDR is cut off from YouTube.