Gamma Shift and broadcast video with a Mac (please help)

[oatbean]

Hi all! I would be forever grateful if someone could answer this specific question for me... I'm on a Mac (Apple Studio, M1 Max) and I'm making a TV comercial for broadcast. I'm using Adobe Premiere for the edit and output. I'm outputting a Apple ProRes 442HQ as the final deliverable.

If I understand correctly, because I'm on a Mac, I need to add a LUT that changes the Gamma to 2.4 so the Quicktime movie will display on other Macs the way it looked within Premier while I was editing it.  So, here's my real question... How should I export my ProRes 422HQ file for broadcast? Should I send it with the Gamma converted to 2.4 or should I send it to the stations as a Gamma 2.2? In other words.... Which way will make it look on people's televisions, the closest way it looked to me while I was editing it in Premiere?

Many many thanks!

Rob

[R Neil Haugen]

For broadcast, do NOT use the 'export LUT' ... you want the file just as Premiere will export it. All colorists I know say that standard broadcast is always assumed 2.4 unless you are told otherwise.

Neil

[oatbean]

Thank you for the super kind, and super fast, response! I'm forever grateful! Thanks again!

[Warren Heaton]

Unless you're using a specific hardware/software combination to fine-tune the calibration of your display by providing the white point and luminance values measured by the instrument and the expected values, you're probably going to want to set the System Preferences Display Color to Rec.2020 Gamma 2.4 or Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 and work from there, although, those two options are different in macOS 12 Monterey.  Those options shoule be there for macOS High Sierra, but I cannot remember off hand for Catalina or Big Sur - not in front of a work machine today.

If you're making fine adjustments for broadcast delivery, that ideally would be done on dedicated broadcast monitoring hardware - however, with so much broadcast work being done remotely now there's more flexibity than there used to be.  The most important thing I have to worry about is it looking good on an iPad playing via Frame.IO.

[Andy 1968]

Your best bet for broadcast work is to use 3rd party hardware from AJA or Blackmagic Design. The device in the video below can be purchased for $115.00. 

[R Neil Haugen]

If you do not have an output device like Andy mentioned, that you have used a colorimeter device and software to produce a profile LUT to park in that device ...

Then grade carefully by the scopes. Use probably 3:

1) Vectorscope to check neutrals (should be dead center) and saturation excursions to make sure no over-saturation issues arise;

2) Waveform to check white & black points plus general tonal dispersions. Keep darkest displayed black above 0, brightest values to 99or 100, occasionally 103 but rare. Nothing above that.

3) RGB Parade to confirm end points of Waveform.

At least you should pass QC machines. 

Neil

[Andy 1968]

Your computer and NLE must be setup 100% correct as seen in the video link below.