DISCUSS: Color Management improvements – H264, HEVC, XAVC-L and XAVC Slog

[Francis-Crossman]

This expands the list of color managed codecs.  H264/HEVC represents the majority of DSLR and mirrorless prosumer cameras on the market, and XAVC-L / XAVC Slog are heavily used in broadcast HDR workflows.

“Color managed” means that Premiere Pro read the color tags in the file metadata and accurately converts the file to the sequence color space. If the color spaces of the file and sequence are the same, the Premiere Pro passes the colors through to the sequence without conversion. Color management is necessary for HDR production.

Codecs that are not color managed will always be interpreted as Rec709, which worked just fine for a long time.  But with HDR becoming more and more mainstream, proper color management is necessary.

Full list of color managed codecs

Codec	Wrapper	Color Space	New?
Apple ProRes ·      422 HQ ·      4444 ·      4444 XQ	.MOV	Rec. 709 Rec. 2100 HLG Rec. 2100 PQ	Previously supported
Sony XAVC-I (all intra)	.MXF	Rec. 709 Rec. 2100 HLG	Previously supported
Sony XAVC-L (long GOP)	.MXF	Rec. 709 Rec. 2100 HLG	NEW
H.264 / HEVC (H.264)	.MP4, .MOV	Rec. 709 Rec. 2100 HLG Rec. 2100 PQ	NEW

Steps to check the color space of the clip:

Check the Properties

1. Right click on the clip in the project panel of timeline and choose “Properties”
2. Look for Color Space

Check interpret footage

1. Right click on the clip in the project panel and choose “Interpret footage”
2. Look for the Color Management section at the bottom

If Properties or interpret footage do not show a color space, the file is not color managed and will be treated at Rec709.

We want to know what you think.  Please join the conversation below.

[R Neil Haugen]

Thank you ... !