Dolby Vision export in Premiere Pro

[Lukasz R]

Hi,

Is there or will there be an option to export materials from Iphone 12/13 pro in Dolby Vision format? The only thing I can currently do is export to HDR (hlg). However, I care about a typical DV. Am I doing something wrong, or does PremierePro not have Dolby Vision export option yet? Thanks.

[ah.photo · Accepted solution]

Premiere Pro does not have Dolby Vision export, and considering Adobe dropped other Dolby licenses (like Dolby Audio) in 2018, I don't particularly expect Adobe to add Dolby Vision support anytime soon, but hey, you never know.

Per your post, keep in mind Dolby Vision isn't fully equatable to HLG. One is an HDR format (DV), the other is a gamma transfer function (HLG). For now in Premiere, you'd be limited to the HDR10 format.

While I admittedly don't work with HDR content myslf, Dolby Vision, to the best of my knowledge, uses PQ gamma (which Premiere does also support). So, while you wouldn't have the specific Dolby Vision format and metadata, you could make an export in the HDR10 format export that uses the Rec 2100 PQ color space.

HDR workflows have a bunch of considerations, this is a decent (albeit a bit dated) article on that for Premiere: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/hdr-workflows.html

[Lukasz R]

Yes I thought DV does not exist in Premiere Pro 😞
Currently, I know a lot about working in typical HDR, but I miss DolbyVision. Imports files from iPhone 13 pro automatically 2100 HLG and Apple ProRes 422 HQ codec. After editing, I export to HEVC, HLG of course with maximum rendering deepth. Nits at 203 (75%HLG, 58%PQ), but I don't see a difference when selecting HDR10 metadata. What does HDR10 metadata visually give you? Maybe I'm blind 🙂

[ah.photo]

HDR10 metadata, if enabled, lets you input metadata for:

• Mastering Display Color Volume to define the color gamut and luminance range of the display you used to master the content.
• MaxCLL
• MaxFALL

These can be found right under the HDR10 Metadata box. Checking the metadata box alone likely won't be enough, you'd want to specifically go in and set those values. In fact, if you don't set the values properly, you likely would have a worse image result.

This info is read by displays and apps that support HDR10 metadata which helps the display utilize tonemapping to better suit that display specifically. You might not notice anything especially if you're watching back on an app that doesn't read HDR10 metadata (or if the file format you're using doesn't support HDR10 by your playback device/app), but including HDR10 metadata may help videos look accurate on other devices that support it.

Here's a good article from Dolby that explains all that better than I will.

Also, if you truly need DV for some specific reason, Dolby lists apps that do support it for mastering or packaging. You could always send from Premiere to one of those if necessary.

[Lukasz R]

Thank you very much for your commitment to help!
Do you know if the latest Final Cut Pro has DV options?

[R Neil Haugen]

Premeire can work rather decently now (once you've figured it out!) in both HLG and PQ in Rec.2100. But no, it can't actually work in DolbyVision. And from what I've seen on the Web, FCPx is like Premiere ... it can work with and export PQ and HLG, but not actual DolbyVision.

Most apps can't. I'm a contributing author over at the MixingLight site, and their founders were the team that Dolby Labs hired to create the in-house DolbyVision training vids/tutorials. So I've been around a lot of D-V training and discussions.

Full D-V work involves creating a ton of data for the exported file's llinked metadata. Resolve can do it "internally" for a base-level D-V project, but a full streaming output typically takes the addition of the DolbyVision external box connected to your computer. That device then does the final prep to get all the data needed for a full export of D-V data packaged with the file itself.

And it ain't cheap ...

Neil

[Lukasz R]

So what's the point in the fact that apple gave DV in movies with the iPhone 12 / 13pro, since it cannot be exported after editing in the same format? Pity. So it will slow down with ordinary HDR, HDR10 and HLG. Thank you.

[ah.photo]

@Lukasz R 

As for why Apple opted to go specifically with Dolby Vision - well, that in alone could be a conversation in itself. It could be a branding incentive (not that I'm knocking DV as a format - I actually think it's a phenominal HDR standard and becoming the leading HDR format if I'm not mistaken). It could be a partnership Apple is trying to further develop with Dolby long term, it could be Apple thinking ahead as I mentioned - that DV will be the clear leading HDR format in the future. But you're right: Apple COULD have just as easily been HDR10 or HDR10+ recording, and it would have likely still been sufficient for 99.9% of iPhone users.

When you record DV videos with the iPhone though, you're still getting 12-bit HDR footage via HLG or PQ (I'm admittedly not an iPhone guy so I'm not sure if it encodes it as HLG or PQ, I'd assume the former though). I assume the iPhone also writes some DV-specific metadata for playing that clip back on other devices that support DV.

Metadata aside, that means at the bare minimum you have a video capture with 12-bpc color, wide color gamut, and wide luminance range. Given that phones can sometimes be that neat little tertiary device you need for a shot that you need to wedge in a really small space or just something you capture in a spur of the moment, that's not bad all things considered.

You can still use that footage in a Rec. 2100 HLG or Rec. 2100 PQ sequence in Premiere Pro, which can be exported as 10-bpc or 16-bpc Rec 2100 in a handful of supported formats.

If you're really invested in DV specifically though, then as Neil points out, it's something that requires extra consideration, to an HDR workflow which already has its own large series of considerations to contend with, and yes, in this case it would involve stepping out of the Adobe ecosystem, at least for anythinng pertaining to DV specifically.