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juka77x
juka77x
Participating Frequently
January 16, 2023
Question

Need help with HDR video editing on a Windows 10 computer with Iphone 12 Pro material

  • January 16, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 3977 views

Hey guys,

I got my very first Apple phone (an Iphone 12 Pro Max) and I’m trying to find a way to edit the HDR video material from my i-phone in Premiere Pro.

First of all, if I save my Iphone video files to my computer I have got two options: 

  1. Saving the HEVC file (HLG color space), which is HDR
  2. Saving the H264 (709 color space), which I get when I download the video file from I-cloud. This file shows the correct colors but has got no HDR.

Now I’m completely new to the “Apple world” (I don’t own anything from Apple, just that I-Phone now) and I have the problem that the video file (HEVC, HLG) shows extremely wrong and washed out colors in my premiere editing monitor. At first I thought it was just the fact that I don’t own a pc monitor screen that can show HDR but when I uploaded the film on youtube and watched that youtube video with my Iphone (that can show HDR), the colors were just as wrong as on my windows computer. I googled the problem on the apple websites and apple says that you have to download the youtube app and you can only upload the HDR videofile from your mobile to the youtube app. Allegedly only this way, HDR would work on youtube. Is that really true? Is there no way at all, to be able to edit HDR videos on a windows computer with Premiere Pro, then do my own color grading and then upload the file the classic way on Youtube or any other platforms? And will you never be able to see the full HDR if you don’t have a HDR computer screen? Because if that’s the case, I’d rather use the H264 (709) file for my editing so that I at least have the right colors (and I pass on HDR).

I imported both files in Premiere Pro and created screenshots to compare those files with the “original look” from my i-phone screenshot. There you can also see that the H264 file looks way better than the HEVC file even though it’s not HDR. The colors in the background are just wrong.

https://gyazo.com/55de60d22bf8493754d0231ccd67df06

I really hope that some of you guys know this problem and have found a solution.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    January 16, 2023

    Short story ... you gotta set your color management up correctly, and it's WAY MORE complex for HDR work.

     

    IF you want to work in HDR, all the clips need to be in the same color space ... iPhones would be HLG ... and the working timeline color space needs to be set to HLG ... and anything else used on that sequence needs to be HLG color space ... and the export preset needs to have HLG in the preset name ... and your monitor/OS need to be capable of HDR/HLG work, and set so ... and your Premiere Pro Prefs need to be set for the right things too.

     

    It's tempting, that's for sure, as the images can be stunning.

     

    That said ... you may want to skip working in HDR for a while yet. It's the Wild Wild West out there ...

     

    I work for/with/teach pro colorists. Some of whom were the earliest adopters of DolbyVision in pro color work, and Dolby hired to create the in-house Dolby training on doing DolbyVision HDR. So I've "been around" discussions of HDR workflows since it was possible.

     

    Yet most pro colorists have still not delivered a single paid job in HDR. I think that will tip over the next year finally, but ... if most pro colorists haven't produced a paid gig yet, you might wonder ... why?

     

    First, most screens out there either a) do not handle HDR forms at all or b) do so poorly, compared to their Rec.709 capabilities. That's concerning those who will view your final output.

     

    Second ... to make it, at this time, is a total PITA. Because the vast majority of screens that you might be working on jack the color and brightness around on you for one of two reasons, and you have little control.

     

    The first is "to enhance the viewing experience" ... and you may be able to disable those things ... if you know exactly where and how.

     

    The second is ABL ... auto brightness limiting ... built into the system to protect the screen from pixel burnout. And you have either no control of that whatever to maybe some amount of control, unless you are on a Grade 1 Reference Monitor, a specific category of pro colorist gear, and well ... the cheapest full-on Ref monitor I know of is still over $10,000 USD ...

     

    So to get around ABL, if you have the "technician's remote" for some TVs and monitors, you can get into special menus and reduce the funtion, but rarely eliminate it.

     

    A recent House of Dragons episode was another long dark ep. And ABL killed that ep for quite a few users. Wait ... it's dark, wha'ts ABL doing? Well as it turns out, a LOT.

     

    As most ABL systems only check for a sustained level of brightness for X time. And don't pay attention to what the level actually is. So ... a ten minute scene with top brightnesses at around 25 nits ... think 25 IRE on a Lumetri scopes realistically ... shouldn't involve the ABL as it's so dark you can't hardly see it anyway, right?

     

    Wrong.

     

    As one noted reviewer showed, on several different expensive HDR tv's, after a couple minutes the ABL kicked in and that 25 nit top brightness went down to 12 nits or so. Scale something down in the Lumetri scopes so the top 'white' brightness is 12 nits. Can you see anything ... anywhere?

     

    How does this affect you in prepping HDR media? Your monitor will almost certainly do the same thing. So if you pause to check something, it will slowly drop brightness & contrast & sat to protect the screen.

     

    And it is done intentionally slowly so you don't see it happening. And that makes it darn hard to really control what you're setting in as your "proper" brightnesses.

     

    And that's only one of several "gotcha!" things I know of ... but if you want to go into HLG, I and other here can help ...

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    juka77x
    juka77xAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    January 16, 2023

    Hey Neil.

    Thanks so much for your answer. I had no idea that this hdr workflow would be so complicated. Yet it's so incredibly interesting. I hope things will develop fast and that soon every monitor you can buy will have hdr. Then I'll be looking forward to work with it in the furture. But for now, I guess you're right that I should stick to 709. 🙂
    Greets, Julia

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    January 16, 2023

    I WANT to work with HDR. I've seen full-on pro level HDR on a couple top TVs and wow, it's ... awesome.

     

    But at the moment, I can't justify the cost for a full working HDR setup. And so I'm pushing the colorists I know for news as various monitors come out with 'HDR capability' to find one I can afford that will work decently.

     

    Currently, there's some monitors around $3500 or so that aren't ... too ... bad. Wouldn't work for full pro broadcast work, but for other, ok. And a couple TVs that can be fed from say an AJA or BlackMagic 'LUT' box output, and after calibration, don't do bad up to about 1,000 nits.

     

    But again, there's about $1500 for the TV, then several hundred for the LUT box ... and I'd need to purchase probably ColourSpace to do the profile/make the LUT. For a number of hundred dollars each.

     

    So I've simply "played" a bit with my BenQ PD2700U which can get only to about 350 nits anyway. But can "take" HDR/HLG signals. Not ... really the same, though, is it?

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 16, 2023

    If you do not have a hdr screen you wont be able to see the footage as hdr only on your phone.

     

    Premiere Pro V22 - Understanding Color Spaces, HDR, and what that might mean to you - YouTube

    FAQ: How to fix saturated/over-exposed HLG/HDR clips

    Making your iPhone 12 and 13 footage look normal 

    juka77x
    juka77xAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    January 16, 2023

    Like I wrote before, I can't see the hdr footage on my phone either, once I've edited it in Premiere Pro. Even though I export it in the same format as the original footage, the colors are all wrong, once I put it back on my i-phone.

    juka77x
    juka77xAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    January 16, 2023

    And same thing happens when I upload the HDR file on youtube. This has nothing to do with hdr screen or not, since I use my i-phone to watch the clip.

    juka77x
    juka77xAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    January 16, 2023

    Oops sorry. I posted this before I signed my name. So thanks for reading and have a great day. 🙂

    Julia

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