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cinegiak
Participant
February 18, 2018
Question

Video colours look different in Premier

  • February 18, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 12257 views

Hi there,

Colours look different in Premiere than they do in Cinema (Rec. 709), Quicktime, YouTube and Vimeo. In VLC they look similar to how they look in Premiere, but that is a pure misrepresentation. I tested my films in Rec. 709 cinema screens, through the course of many years, and they always match Quicktime, but never Premiere.

I googled a lot to find a definitive answer for this, and unfortunately I am forced to post my question here as Adobe doesn't allow me to chat or talk with a technician.

My question (if anybody is able to answer it) is: is there any way to set a different colour profile the video preview in Premiere? I simply can't find a way to do this, and I can't use an external calibrated display all the time, as I mostly work while travelling, if I don't have one of my collaborators to handle the grading for me.

Please let me know.

Thanks a lot.

All the best

G  

      This topic has been closed for replies.

      2 replies

      E
      excited_Genie16B8
      Legend
      February 18, 2018

      I can't use an external calibrated display all the time

      The only other option is to export the project and take that export to a calibrated display for review.

      But one way or another, you need to get the operating system, GPU driver and software players out of the signal chain to ensure accurate viewing.

      R Neil Haugen
      R Neil Haugen
      Legend
      February 18, 2018

      Premiere Pro ALWAYS uses stock Bt.(Rec) 709 for the Program monitor ... period.

      It ALWAYS exports in Bt.(Rec) 709 ... period. Unless you've selected Rec 2020, as I think the only other option.

      QuickTime is NOT a color-managed app, it does NOT pay attention to Rec 709 or any other standard, and further, it does it's own special sauce to 'enhance the viewing experience'.

      If you export from Premiere Pro on a system with an sRGB profile on a calibrated monitor, it will show perfectly fine on any other properly broadcast capable system.

      If you export from a computer without a calibrated monitor to QuickTime or browsers, well ... who knows what you'll get. As every browser will show it differently, most players will show it differently than other players.

      Among readily available players, the only two that are worth using as they ARE aware of and respect color management in system/OS and video files ... are VLC and Potplayer.

      Work a file within PrPro on say a monitor that's set to A-RGB, a wider space than sRGB ... and PrPro will try to show Rec709 in the program monitor, at least as best it can. Look at the export on that monitor in say the monitor's A-RGB space, and it will of course look different. It's not being shown in sRGB/Rec 709.

      YouTube typically does two encoding passes on uploaded files ... the first pass is not properly set to respect the Rec 709 nature of  PrPro's output. The second corrects that. But for some reason, in many locales, YouTube only runs the first encode. To get your file to encode properly, after uploading to your private channel, select the "Retouch" option, then just save the file without doing anything.

      YouTube will now re-encoded the file, and it will then show proper dynamic range & gamma.

      So ... the problem is not Premiere Pro, and you're what ... the fifth person this month to post that there's something wrong with the one app you use that is actually correctly color managed. I wish we had more options to set things for color managing in PrPro, but ... it is dead-on professional broadcast standard Rec 709.

      Neil

      Everyone's mileage always varies ...
        C
        cinegiakAuthor
        Participant
        February 18, 2018

        Hey Neil,

        Thanks for the reply, but still what I see on Premiere is way different than what I see on BFI screen (private screening rooms), while the same file played from Quicktime, on the same laptop, is way closer to the video projected on the screen. The same video played on VLC is way contrasted and darker than the file played in Quicktime. And again, the file uploaded on YouTube closely match the colour of Quicktime, and the private screening room.

        M
        Meg The Dog
        Inspiring
        February 18, 2018

        Using a Mac or PC?

        MtD

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