REC.2100 PQ Exporting Oversaturated / Failure

Question

Hiya,

I'm asking for help on here as I am absolutely baffled by my predicament.

I have edited a video filmed in HDR PQ on a Canon R6. You can see the edited video below in Premiere Pro and secondly, the exported files - I have tried every variation of export settings to my knowledge and always have the same incorrect result.

I have read all the entries on here and watched every youtube video I can find and I cannot resolve it by myself. Please kindly advise me.

These are my sequence settings

I don't want to amend the sequence settings to another colour space as when then re-editing, the depth is gone in the highlights and it was a very bright day.

I also checked every single clip to ensure the colour space also matched.

These are my current export settings - although I have tried a huge variation for the past 3 hours.

Even more weirdly, when I then create a new project and import one of the oversaturated exported videos, it looks once again the way it did when edited originally, in the rec.2100 PQ format. And again, everytime I export this media it oversaturates again.

Media Encoder also imports them as they are supposed to look in the Media browser, and yet cannot convert them to the rec.2100 PQ either.

I'm on Premiere Pro 22.5.0 (build 62) on a 2021 Macbook 14".

Where am I going wrong? This is the first time this has happened to me.

Anyone that can help me, I'll be so grateful.

R Neil Haugen · Answer

It looks like to me you are exporting an HLG file, which is HDR, but the QuickTime player or your monitor are not set to play that back as an HLG HDR file.

That image in the QuickTime player is the way an HLG file looks within Rec.709 playback.

HLG and PQ HDR files have both a vastly wider tonal range ... several stops of light more ... and a vastly deeper/wider color volume. And the playback device needs to recognize and properly treat those files.

You are using the scopes I hope when setting your tonal and color settings in Lumetri ... they are VASTLY more reliable than your eyes your your monitor even!

The only change I would make in your export settings would be the one for HDR Graphics White, which in both the Project settings and in exports should use the 203 nits option.

"Graphics white" is the brightest tone with detail, think a white sheet of paper in sunlight that still barely shows texture. Above the 'graphics white' you will have color and tonal variations, but not much actual detail.

So HDR allows us to basically double the values that have tonal/detail texture, and to show specular highlights above those. That is the tonal difference between Rec.709/SDR video and HDR.

For color, Rec.709/SDR works within the sRGB primaries, and you can find those in charts online. HLG and PQ HDR forms typically work closer to the P3 color primaries, which may not seem on the 'flat' color charts of the triangle-thing with R, G, and B points to be that much bigger.

But if you see the 3D charts of the differences, the variety of additional color hues is immense. Which is why most HDR teachers talk in terms of color volume.

And the viewing system, the OS and GPU, and the device whether monitor or TV, need to be able to work with HDR and properly display the larger dynamic range and color volume.

At this time, there realistically aren't that many screens that properly show HDR media. I teach pro colorists, most of whom have yet to deliver a single paid job in HDR. Though it is coming to more screens and more jobs over time.

And working in HDR is a complicated and complex thing for the pros to do, btw. I tend to advise people that for now, SDR/Rec.709 is far easier to work in, has more uses, and has done pretty well over the years showing us the life around us.

Neil

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