How to get a full tonal output range 0-255 for image 4K UHD HDR AV shows

Report · Jun 15, 2017

I am trying to produce 4K UHD 10 Bit HDR image AV shows using the latest update of premiere pro (V 2017.1.2 Build 11.1.2 (22)).

My inputs are a series of 16 Bit TIF images with Adobe RGB color space.

I export these images using the HEVC (H.265) codec with 4K UHD resolution. In addition I use the main10 (10 Bit) profile and activate the rec.2020 primary colors with HDR option and maximal render depth. In addition I select the HDR option within Lumetri-Scopes.

My original images all have a full tonal range 0-255 (16 Bit TIF).

However, the resulting MP4 video cuts off the dark tonal range 0-16 of these images but shows the full white tonal range up to 255.

I am not very familiar with premiere pro, so I wonder whether somebody has an advice on how I can manage that the resulting 10 Bit HDR video will show the full tonal range 0-255?

NB: I am displaying the resulting videos on a new Panasonic 10 Bit UHD HDR TV screen with the new mediaplayer.

Currently, if I save my 16 Bit TIF AdobeRGB images as 8 Bit JPG sRGB images, these JPG images show better details in the dark tonal range than the corresponding 10 Bit rec.2020 HDR displays in the video. Normally I would expect the 10 Bit rec.2020 HDR video to show better details than the corresponding 8 Bit JPG.

Report · Jun 16, 2017

There's little to no documentation on hdr, but from what i can recall, only h.264 and jpeg2000 can be imported as hdr i.e. p3, rec 2020. I don't think even those two support adobe rgb. Only as a psd image sequence.

if your video is imported as rec. 709,

Black level might change.

Report · Jun 16, 2017

Thanks for the quick response.

As far as I can see Premiere Pro is unable to support 10 Bit HDR videos with the H.264 codec. It simply does not provide the necessary profiles High10 or high 4:2:2.

Premiere Pro does however provide the main10 profile for the H.265 HEVC codec and this enables 10 Bit HDR videos.

This is working for me fine.

I can also use the rec.2020 color space, no problem.

I can also import 16 Bit TIF images with the AdobeRGB color profile, no problem for premiere pro.

Really my only problem is the reduced tonal range 0-16 for dark tones.

My TIF images use the full tonal range 0-255.

I have 2 test images, one for tonal range 0-32 and one for tonal range 224-255, which I include in my videos.

The white tones 224-255 are displayed correctly in my videos, each tone seperatly recognizable.

The black tones 0-32 are displayed incorrectly. Tones 0-16 are pure black.

I am aware that blurays with rec.709 color space only use the tonal range 16-235 for historic (analoge) reasons.

This is also true for the new 10 Bit HDR blurays with color space rec.2020 accordingly (tonal range 64-940).

However, in a pure digital environment with full tonal range images it should be possible to use the full tonal range, also in videos.

Modern TVs will normally recognize the source and switch the displayed tonal range accordingly,

i.e. tonal range 16-235 for HD blurays or tonal range 0-255 for digital images.

Maybe premiere pro provides some settings for adjusting to the full tonal range, which I do not know.

I would be happy if sonebody could help here!