First time dealing with Greenshift/Gamma problem in Quicktime/Safari

[treehorn]

I've been editing video on a Mac and in Final Cut Pro since version 2 and this is the first time I've had a huge problem with a shift in color from what I see on the canvas to what is exported - and the first time I've noticed that that problem/shift only happens when the footage is viewed in an Apple program (Quicktime or Safari when uploaded to Vimeo). Opening the footage in VLC or viewing the upload on Firefox? Looks gorgeous. But on Safari or Quicktime? Colors are muted and have a greenish cast.

The footage is for website/computer usage so looking at it on my monitor should be a good indicator. And I've had others look at it and some have commented on the green cast.

So I'm not sure what to do - how best to give it to the client.

Workflow: footage is ProRes HQ, shot in 1080, shrunk to 720 to make 'artificial second cam close-up' (don't ask...). Edited in Final Cut Pro, but I've been going back and forth with it in Adobe Premiere Pro to try and tweak the picture color and contrast, as I've been liking the filters in Premiere better than FCP lately.

I've exported it as ProRes and used Adobe Media Encoder to compress (been using both the Vimeo 720 preset - and tried upping the bitrate, setting quality to max rendering - and the Broadcast 720 preset).

Only time I've gotten it to look good when opening on Quicktime is when I export it as Animation versus ProRes. But as that's 12GB versus 1GB file size (and since compressing it to h.264 makes it look identical to simply compressing the original ProRes to begin with...)

So my question is...what is the best way to export this footage, either in Premiere Pro or FCP, to get the right color cast in Quicktime based computers and non-Quicktime using computers.

I've attached a screenshot of the footage opened in Safari and Quicktime (left side) and Firefox and VLC (right side)

 

[ppc_michael]

The gamma shift is a known (and very irritating) issue with Quicktime's H.264 implementation involving color profiles. I have stopped using it in favor of x264's command line encoder, but there are several other encoders out there as well.

Here's a link with more information, including an x264 encoder for Quicktime 7:
http://ahrengot.com/tutorials/fixing-quicktime-h264-gamma-bug/

 

[treehorn]

sadly the linked site in that is closed down so that encoder is no longer available (or at least any new version and the most recent seems to be for Snow Leopard).

Don't know how I've gone this long without having problems - or at least anything this severe!

 

[ppc_michael]

Looks like you can get it from here too:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24173/x264encoder

Alternatively there are applications like Sorenson Squeeze which will allow you to compress with x264 as well as others.

If you're in to the command line, you can download the official encoder here:
http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html

 

[treehorn]

It downloads but not sure how well it is liking Mountain Lion (it doesn't show up looking or acting quite the way it does in the instructions...but we shall see).

Playing with the Squeeze trial (and if it works may update my old copy finally).

Find it odd that Adobe Media Encoder for mac doesn't seem to have a plug-in available (the one I find is for Windows only)

 

[ppc_michael]

Find it odd that Adobe Media Encoder for mac doesn't seem to have a plug-in available (the one I find is for Windows only)

I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, Adobe Media Encoder uses Main Concept's implementation of H.264, which could also work for you. x264 is just my preference.

 

[wonderspark]

I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, Adobe Media Encoder uses Main Concept's implementation of H.264, which could also work for you. x264 is just my preference.

Adobe Media Encoder does use Main Concept on the Mac version, anyway. I've been happy with it.

 

[treehorn]

It does and it's what I've been using to mostly great results. This is an odd shift only happening in apple based players....QuickTime and safari. Which is infuriating as its being created on apple software...

I'm sure subtle shifts have happened before but of course problem child shoot has to be the one it really blows up on...

----------

I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, Adobe Media Encoder uses Main Concept's implementation of H.264, which could also work for you. x264 is just my preference.

I got the plugin to work in FCP and handbrake. Results were...ok. Bit less shift but sharpness got wonky