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CJR-Cali
Participant
May 23, 2018
Answered

Color Profile Changes in Export

  • May 23, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 2944 views

Morning!

I'm having issues with the color profiles in my projects. Basically, the video in premiere looks great, but the export itself is much flatter/ desaturated. When uploaded onto Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, the video matches the flat export, not the Premiere project, which leads me to believe it's not a display/ screen issue.

Has anyone encountered this, is it a common problem? If so, what is a solution to get the colors in the export to match the project? As an additional note, I used Media Encoder to export.

Thanks!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer R Neil Haugen

    Because of the way PrPro internally handles color. PrPro is a color-managed sRGB/Rec709 app, and will if possible over-ride hardware.

    The other programs you mentioned are ​not ​color-aware, and do not attempt in any way to match color profiles and standards.

    So of course they 'show' the files differently.

    If you're using a browser for YouTube/Vimeo, the ​only​ browser that has any color-awareness is Firefox. Neither Chrome nor Safari give a puck about color heading in files. Or on the screens they show on.

    YouTube does a double-encoding process, and for some of us, it always does it, for many it rarely does. I don't know why. My YouTube uploads come across correctly in Firefox on my monitors.

    To force the second encoding, so your uploads look appropriate ... after uploading the file, go into your channel, select that file, select 'retouch', then save. It will re-encode and in the process recognize & apply the data/video levels and gamma of the file to the re-encode.

    Neil

    1 reply

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    May 23, 2018

    This is a very common discussion.

    PrPro is an app designed for use on pro equipment running according to the main world-wide standard of Rec709 ... which is sRGB and gamma around 2.2.It will work in that profile period ... so if your monitor is native to sRGB, callibrated to Rec709, and shows the color bars & tone chips both from PrPro and other calibration sites properly, you're good to go.

    Also, the most proper way to check video levels & such is via an exported image through an external box from say BlackMagic or AJA or Kona, with a calibrated LUT driving through the box to a pro broadcast-level calibrated display. No, I don't happen to have one of those either. But I did purchase a "confidence" or Program monitor because it was above 98% of sRGB, native to sRGB and D65 white point, and many other users of this in professional environments stated they were able to use this after calibration with decently close matching to their b-cast monitors.

    And ... I've sent exported clips off to a couple people I know who have serious broadcast colorist gear to see how it shows on their systems. It checks out fine, though they always tell me I don't have the level of gear & calibration to guarantee that. Well ... it's working, and I don't need total b-cast specs for what I mostly do.

    Now ... after anyone's graded their files ... you can't control what happens out in the wild. And there are no standards at all in browsers, video players, and nearly every monitor/phone/tv out there. For video players, the only two normally recommended around here are VLC and Potplayer.

    But if your monitor isn't sRGB/D65/Rec709 setup and calibrated, well ... you won't see what PrPro is trying to do because you're not on standard to begin with. There's that first. Many of the newer Macs are in the P3 profile, way off from sRGB/Rec709. And Apple being Apple, you can't really do anything with those monitors & your OS anyway.

    Next, the only browser that pays any attention to "proper" recognition of the color space of the video files being shown is Firefox. Safari & Chrome are notable for their total lack of color concern.

    Past that, YouTube is ... really, really odd. They may do a double-encode of uploaded media. First they t-code to one codec with a certain profile, then within an hour or two to a second codec with profile that will properly display Rec709 out of PrPro. The first t-code looks as you're complaining, because it's not treating the video with the proper display specs. The second is fine.

    Mine are about always uploaded to what I expect, as shown in Vimeo/YouTube via Firefox. Many ... aren't.

    A way around that is to use either DNxHD/R out of PrPro and upload that to YouTube/Vimeo.

    Or with an H.264 export as you've been doing, after it's uploaded to your channel on YouTube, select it, then select "retouch" ... but when you get to the retouch screen, just click 'save' and it will now re-encode to the proper video settings.

    But understand, that above it all, you can't fix gramma's green tv. Heard a colorist talking about this ... he'd graded a commercial, and some time later was visiting his gramma. Her tv was just way off green, and there comes his commercial ... way off green like everything else on her tv. But it didn't look "bad" ... why?

    Because as everything was way-off green, it was ... "normal" ... for her.

    Some people may view your vids on a monitor/screen with a gamma of 2.6 in a dark room ... others with that in a bright room, and all manner of settings in between. High, low contrast, saturation all over the place.

    The only thing you can control is that you grade in a setup as close to professional standards as you can get it. Then realize that your material will look like other 'pro' material on other screens, no matter how much different it looks from your screen. Because it's within "normal" on that screen for pro media.

    But it will never ... ever look in any other screen like it does on yours.

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
      P
      PMGFilm
      Participant
      May 30, 2018

      I've been having this problem for over a year now.  I'm looking at exported clip playback on the same screen as my Program monitor in PrPro, which I have in full screen on my iMac Retina display, with the interface on a Samsung widescreen.  Why would it look different in QT Player/Vimeo/Youtube on the same screen I used for color grades if this were about color calibration of my monitors?   If I re-import the exported video to PrPro, it looks fine in the program monitor.  I don't remember this ever being a problem before the last year or two, so I'm a bit confused.  I want my color to look like how I designed it when I upload work online.  But it doesn't on the same "uncalibrated" screen.  Something isn't right with this.  I just wish I knew what it was.

      R Neil Haugen
      R Neil HaugenCorrect answer
      Legend
      May 30, 2018

      Because of the way PrPro internally handles color. PrPro is a color-managed sRGB/Rec709 app, and will if possible over-ride hardware.

      The other programs you mentioned are ​not ​color-aware, and do not attempt in any way to match color profiles and standards.

      So of course they 'show' the files differently.

      If you're using a browser for YouTube/Vimeo, the ​only​ browser that has any color-awareness is Firefox. Neither Chrome nor Safari give a puck about color heading in files. Or on the screens they show on.

      YouTube does a double-encoding process, and for some of us, it always does it, for many it rarely does. I don't know why. My YouTube uploads come across correctly in Firefox on my monitors.

      To force the second encoding, so your uploads look appropriate ... after uploading the file, go into your channel, select that file, select 'retouch', then save. It will re-encode and in the process recognize & apply the data/video levels and gamma of the file to the re-encode.

      Neil

      Everyone's mileage always varies ...
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