NTSC Color to H.264?

[Benjamindaines]

I have an FCP project that I have fully color corrected on my NTSC video monitor and I need to export it to a H.264 MOV file, but I don't have the time (nor do I want to) to redo all the colors and filters for a quicktime export. So is there a way to export to a quicktime file and have it look like (or very close) to how it does on the video monitor?

--Thanks.

 

[Benjamindaines]

There's really no way to do this? Surly the gamma shift and other color differences between NTSC and H.264 must be known. If people know what the color differences are there's gotta be a way to run a filter and get the colors adjusted.

 

[LethalWolfe]

If it's calibrated to NTSC legal I'd encode it as that. There's no real standard to what web videos should look like so even if you adjusted what real difference are you making? Macs and PCs have different gamma standards. LCDs and CRTs display things differently. How many computer users actually calibrate their monitors anyway? The only thing I might do is watch it on a Mac and on a PC then adjust the gamma to a happy middle ground if I needed to. Unlike the computer based print and photography world the computer based video world has no image standards for display devices. If you want to see what video "really" looks like you have to watch it on a properly calibrated external monitor.


Lethal

 

[Benjamindaines]

It's come to my attention that the black point needs to be corrected to 7.5 IRE, the recommended way is to put an amp between the DV cam and the monitor. But I don't have to money to spend on that, so is there a way to do this within the FCP software? I think that might fix my problem.

 

[LethalWolfe]

It's come to my attention that the black point needs to be corrected to 7.5 IRE, the recommended way is to put an amp between the DV cam and the monitor. But I don't have to money to spend on that, so is there a way to do this within the FCP software? I think that might fix my problem.

If you used a monitor calibrated to your camera then you don't need to worry about the black level 0/7.5IRE problem. Of course, a device that outputs 7.5IRE will looked wrong if it's connected to that same monitor. So if have your DV cam and a DVD player hooked up to the same monitor you can either calibrate the monitor so the DVD player looks right or so the DV cam looks right but not so both look right (unless your monitor can save different calibration profiles).


Lethal

 

[Benjamindaines]

you can either calibrate the monitor so the DVD player looks right or so the DV cam looks right but not so both look right (unless your monitor can save different calibration profiles).

That's the problem, I need the monitor to look as it would on DVD when running through the DV cam.

 

[LethalWolfe]

That's the problem, I need the monitor to look as it would on DVD when running through the DV cam.

If you calibrated the monitor w/color bars from FCP using the DV cam as the digital-to-analog converter then you should be fine. But if you hook up the DVD player to the same monitor the DVD play back color will look off because the monitor is calibrated to the DV cam (which sends out IRE at 0) and not the DVD player (which sends out IRE at 7.5).


Lethal

 

[Benjamindaines]

If you calibrated the monitor w/color bars from FCP using the DV cam as the digital-to-analog converter then you should be fine. But if you hook up the DVD player to the same monitor the DVD play back color will look off because the monitor is calibrated to the DV cam (which sends out IRE at 0) and not the DVD player (which sends out IRE at 7.5).


Lethal

Ok, that's what I have done. But when I burn the project to DVD and then play it on a DVD player won't it be putting out at 7.5 and mess up the colors? Or will it respect the IRE 0?

 

[LethalWolfe]

Ok, that's what I have done. But when I burn the project to DVD and then play it on a DVD player won't it be putting out at 7.5 and mess up the colors? Or will it respect the IRE 0?

Isn't video fun?

When you calibrated the monitor using bars from FCP w/the signal traveling thru the DV camera you compensated for the 0/7.5 discrepancy. Instead of using a proc amp to raise the black level out of the camera to 7.5 you adjusted the monitor to display proper colors when it receives a black level at 0 IRE. So the monitor is now correcting for an "improper" analog signal (0 IRE) which is why if you hook up something that sends out a "proper" signal (7.5 IRE) it won't look right on that monitor.

When you burn the DVD it will be at 0 IRE because it's digital video, but the DVD player will bump up the black levels to 7.5 on playback because that's what a normal US NTSC TV is expecting. The DVD (hooked up to a normally calibrated TV) and the DV cam (hooked up to the calibrated monitor) should both appear to have the same black level because the 0 IRE has been compensated for in both signal chains. The DVD player compensates for the 0 IRE on the DVD and your calibrated monitor compensated for the 0 IRE coming out of the DV cam. Of course if you mix the signal chains up (DVD player on calibrated monitor and DV cam on normal TV) then everything will look like crap.


Lethal