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Major color shift on export in Premiere, not a Quicktime problem

New Here ,
Dec 19, 2018 Dec 19, 2018

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Hi all,

I know others have long been experiencing this same problem, but all of the other forums on this topic that I've been able to find haven't resolved or acutely described the problem, and the discussion always devolves into lengthy discussions with solutions that ultimately don't fix the issue, so I hope this doesn't come off as a redundant post.

The problem: Like many other posters, when I export from Premiere--even when I export lossless ProRes 422 HQ--I have major color shifting / desaturation / other color issues in my end product, and this is consistent across Mac/PCs, whether I have the latest version of Premiere or of my OS, etc.

Yes, I know I can open my lossless file in VLC instead of Quicktime and my color will be accurate/preserved, but that's because VLC matches your source color on the back end. YouTube, Vimeo, & Facebook--where I'll actually be publishing my videos--don't do that, and the color is radically shifted/desaturated etc. when I upload there, which is what really matters here. By my lights, all of this means that something in the export itself is to blame.

Does anyone know what this issue is and how to fix it? And I want to be clear here--I'm viewing the color in both the export and the Premiere project window from the same monitor, so I don't understand how it can be a monitor calibration issue.

I'm by no means a color or technical expert--I just recently began motion graphics and editing--but this just seems like a consistent issue with Premiere / Media Encoder not exporting with remote fidelity to what you see in your editing window. This has been an incredibly frustrating problem for well over a year. I'm hopeful it's just a togglable setting that I have on/off, but I'm worried that's not the case. If this is an issue that Adobe knows about and can admit to, even THAT would be helpful. At least then I can stop trying to find the magic setting in Premiere or Media Encoder that fixes my issue and start working around what I know to be an immovable issue.

I hope someone from Adobe can chime in, since I know tons of other post-producers who are much more tech-savvy than I am who complain about the exact same problem, and they use wild work-arounds that only approximate a real solution to get by. Any thoughts on what to do would be really appreciated.

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LEGEND ,
Dec 19, 2018 Dec 19, 2018

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"Variants of this question have been covered to death on this and every other color grading forum. The answer is always the same.  The only way to get a [proper] image you can trust is to run SDI [or HDMI] out to an accurately calibrated reference monitor.  Grading by viewing the image in the GUI just doesn't work."  - Jamie LeJeune

B&H Photo Video

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New Here ,
Dec 19, 2018 Dec 19, 2018

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I guess I just don't understand how this can be a monitor calibration issue. It isn't even about grading--raw, completely untouched footage will come out visibly more washed out on a lossless export.

I'm telling you I can export video of a lossless prores with nothing but a solid color made in Premiere or AE as footage, and the resulting export color won't even come in the ballpark of the original hex code. I realize I could be misunderstanding something here but something definitely seems wrong.

color test2.png

(notice the brush scribbles within each rectangle)

The rectangles here were my Premiere mattes and are supposed to match the hex codes listed. The brush strokes within those rectangles are made with the exact same hex codes, laid on top using PS CC. As you can see, the exported color visibly off.

(NOTE: yes, these brush strokes were made on top of a screenshot from the export, which I then scribbled on top of with the correct color with a brush in PS. I realize screenshots won't capture exact color and so of course there will be contrast. So I did a test--I loaded up my hex codes on coolors.co, exported a PNG, screencapped that exported PNG, and then colored on top that palette with the correct color. Same exact process as before, only the color differentials weren't even distinguishable to the naked eye the way they are here.)

Why is the same monitor displaying the same hex code so differently when I export from Premiere? I don't want to overcommit to being indignant here--I realize I'm not all that savvy about this stuff, but the idea that this is a monitor calibration issue still doesn't make any sense to me.

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LEGEND ,
Dec 19, 2018 Dec 19, 2018

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Yea, this is hard to wrap your head around. What you're expecting is that all apps/OS/hardware applies the same ... standard ... to showing video.

This does NOT happen ... period.

There aren't standards being equally applied across the apps & systems is the problem ... and there's no way to MAKE them outside of running a tight system where you set and control EVERYTHING to run by the same standards ... and then, it will only look that way on your system.

And this situation is dealt with by every colorist out there ... period.

PrPro runs internally according to the by-far most common pro standard, Rec.709, which is by requirement using the sRGB color space for the monitor and both the original camera transform function of the original Rec.709 standard and the updated monitor transform function added some years back in Bt.1886 ... all set within an assumed monitor gamma setting of 2.4.

That's what it attempts to show within the monitors of PrPro on your monitor.

This IS dependent on your monitor being set for video sRGB/gamma 2.4 with a puck/software calibration applied to the signal sent through the OS. For the new Macs with the P3 wide-gamut monitors, the added option of "enable display color management" is there to help PrPro try to outguess the OS and the monitor as far as showing the proper image within that monitor. Works fairly well on some systems, not so much on others.

All exported material from PrPro will be created within the codec's specs ... which for the vast majority of codecs is video sRGB/gamma 2.4 and with the transforms applied. Any device and screen set to properly display video Rec.709 signals will handle it appropriately as long as the viewing apps also recognize the proper standards for video or the OS/video-card settings apply them to all apps.

But on any system that is not set with a monitor displaying video sRGB/gamma 2.4 and calibrated to that, what is shown ... can be all over the place.

There is no way ANY app can outguess and over-ride all hardware/OS/apps ... period.

Colorists work on setups that involve expensive broadcast monitors as "confidence" program monitors that are then 'fed' from external boxes that have LUTs in them built specifically to calibrate that monitor to an amazingly tight standard to the Rec.709 standards ... and for those who work other 'spaces', say Rec.2020 or DolbyVision HDR, those also. The calibration of those monitors is done by gear costing more than your entire system and then some ... and most of them then hire someone with "real pro" gear to come in once/twice a year to set a new base calibration.

Broadcast companies have QC "boxes" that all material is run through ... any saturation or brights excursions, too many super-blacks, it's rejected ... a very bad thing for a colorist's reputation.

But even then ... as soon as material is broadcast "into the wild" ... there is no control on how it will be seen on any TV or computer screen out there, as there is normally no calibration, the screens are all set to "enhance the viewing experience" or lift shadows in dark sections ... and at times the screen is in bright lighting and other times a darkened room, which both drastically change how things look on that screen.

So ... what do you do?

Set up your system as close as possible to run by broadcast standards ... check your material on a full b-cast setup, either with a colorist you find/know or a local TV station, if you can talk them into running a short clip of yours through their QC machine and bringing it up on one of their systems.

Then you know your material is as close to "pro" as you can make it.

Then ... when you send it out into the wild, let it go ... and move on with life and work.

Which is all the highest colorists can do, how can you do more? You have no control of the systems and apps people will use to view your stuff. As long as you produce pro-standard material, on any screen that it is viewed on, it will look like other pro-produced material on that screen.

And ... it will never, ever, even in any parallel universe, look exactly like it does on your screen. Which is in reality a physical impossibility.

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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No, you don't understand, so you must not have the same issue that I and the original poster have. It's not a grading issue from medium to medium or from screen to screen, it's a substantial difference between what is seen during editing in Premiere and what is exported. My videos seem to increase contrast except during transitions and PiP, which causes any type of graphic or transition to suddenly make the video looked washed out in comparison. It doesn't matter what monitor or streaming service it's uploaded to; the issue solely lies within encoding.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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Uncheck this.

CompositeInLinearColor.jpg

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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Unbelievable!! I've been dumbfounded for weeks, and no searches ever produced anything like this! Thank you!!!!!

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LEGEND ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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You're welcome. Glad it helped. 😀

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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Hm, I guess I spoke too soon. I just tried what you suggested and it didn't seem to fix my issues. I'm still getting strange contrast issues during transitions and graphics. 😕

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LEGEND ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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What does it look like in Premiere, if you export the file with the re-import into Premiere option checked?

 

If it looks the same in Premiere, but different outside Premiere, then it's not what Premiere is doing on export ... it's that there is a hiccup in your color management that needs sorting.

 

If it comes back into Premiere looking different than it was prior to export, then that is truly a problem within Premiere. It's an easy and quick test process.

 

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 31, 2021 Jan 31, 2021

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It seems turning off Hardware Encoding as well as the Linear Color that you mentioned did the trick.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 31, 2021 Jan 31, 2021

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Hardware encoding in the Export dialog options ... or the preferences?

 

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 31, 2021 Jan 31, 2021

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Export dialogue. Not even sure where it is in Preferences.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 31, 2021 Jan 31, 2021

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In the General tab I think ...what is your GPU and CPU, and what driver for the CPU?

 

Which format/codec were you exporting in? Trying to puzzle out where the problem lies here.

 

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 31, 2021 Jan 31, 2021

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Ryzen 5 3600x with the latest BIOS and chipset drivers, and a Radeon RX 5700 XT. As for settings I almost always use Match Source - High Bitrate exporting to mp4.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 31, 2021 Jan 31, 2021

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@RjL190365 tends to have the best information about hardware and encoding ... maybe he can be of assistance here.

 

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 01, 2021 Feb 01, 2021

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Not sure how much this will help but here's an example of what's going on in my exports. I've provided as much information as I can think of in the video description, but I'd be happy to answer any other questions about my settings that are needed.

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LEGEND ,
Feb 01, 2021 Feb 01, 2021

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That's a great example ... there about halfway in, when you've got the graphic covering the right half, then it goes away, and your brightness level drops.

 

@TrentHappel  ... thoughts comments suggestions?

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New Here ,
Oct 11, 2022 Oct 11, 2022

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Hey Another solution that seemed t ahve worked [this is pre-me] trying it is chagning the profile to igh10 and the export color space to 'Rec 2100 HLG' I'll [Post Me Trying It Will be Back]

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LEGEND ,
Oct 11, 2022 Oct 11, 2022

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That's if you're working with an HDR sequence, with the sequence CM setting set to HLG.

 

Neil

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New Here ,
Oct 11, 2022 Oct 11, 2022

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LATEST

Post Me Trying It Here. It Worked. W Day.

 

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Explorer ,
Jun 04, 2019 Jun 04, 2019

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I've read your outdated replies on every forum and you're still not getting the point- it's not about a calibrated monitor because you can teach a monkey how to do that easily... Unless you have Premiere and exported the video and compared it to quicktime/youtube/ig (washed out) vs vlc player (accurate like within the premiere software window)... You will see what everyones issue is

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LEGEND ,
Jun 04, 2019 Jun 04, 2019

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compared it to quicktime/youtube vs vlc player

Such comparisons simply aren't relevant.  How it looks on a calibrated monitor from a hardware player is the only reference you can trust.  Once you add in variables like software, graphics drivers and operating systems, you run the very high risk of those variables altering the image, which means you aren't seeing it as it is.  That is the problem you need to solve first.

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New Here ,
Dec 11, 2020 Dec 11, 2020

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Same issues here, Three separate monitors / all calibrated / Rec 709 Gamma 2.4 / careful review of all edit and export settings.  However the curious thing for me is that this is a new problem that didn't previously exist. It just suddenly showed up.  We do hundreds of shoot per year, never had this issue before.

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LEGEND ,
Dec 11, 2020 Dec 11, 2020

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Dave,

 

This is an old thread, and much has changed since it came up.

 

Please start a new thread and list the problem you're having in detail. We'll all be happy to chime in with ideas.

 

Neil

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