Quicktime Player bug - overbrightens HEVC

[Dave00]

This is such a weird bug, and one I've only experienced since upgrading to an M1 Macbook pro. Whenever I try to play an HEVC encoded movie, the player decides to crank up the brightness and contrast to maximum level. I can see this happening in real time. When I open the file, it looks normal, but a half-second later it goes to extreme brightness/contrast. This happens primarily with videos I shot on my iPhone; when I download them from iCloud and open in Quicktime Player. H.264 files from my camera do not exhibit the same behavior. Also, if I have two files open, only the HEVC one exhibits the problem. You can see this in the included screenshot, where the left is the HEVC video and right is H.264.

Perhaps I need to switch to a different media player, but it seems like Apple's flagship player shouldn't be exhibiting this behavior, particularly with video shot on an iPhone.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bogdanw]

Perhaps I need to switch to a different media player

IINA v1.3.0 * Added HDR support for M1 Pro/Max Macbook 14/16
https://github.com/iina/iina/releases/
https://iina.io/

 

[Dave00]

IINA v1.3.0 * Added HDR support for M1 Pro/Max Macbook 14/16
https://github.com/iina/iina/releases/
https://iina.io/

Thanks for the reference - interestingly enough, the same problem seems to exist with this app. So it must be some underlying problem in MacOS. Of note, the video looks just fine when viewing on Safari on the icloud site, and looks fine in MKPlayer. I've also determined this happens even in preview within the Finder.

Am I the only one experiencing this? OS 12.5.1, M1 MacBook pro.

 

[galad]

Looks like something is going wrong when macOS enables the EDR display mode, maybe try to update to 12.6 and see if it fixes something, or check if you are using a third-party app that changes some display settings, or if the ColorSync profiles are corrupted.

 

[Dave00]

Not using anything that would change display settings, but how does one check if Colorsync profiles are corrupted? It seems like a problem specific to HEVC videos, is there a particular code that would be invoked with that but not H.264?

Here's a video of it happening in a preview.

 

[bogdanw]

If updating to Monterey 12.6 doesn’t solve the problem, try to test with different settings in IINA – Video/Audio – Hardware decoder, Force dedicated GPU and Load ICC Profile

 

[galad]

Because your H.264 files are not HDR, and won't engage the EDR display mode. You can check the ColorSync profiles in ColorSync utility.
But try to update to macOS 12.6 first.

 

[Dave00]

Update: I updated to 12.6, the problem persists. I opened up ColorSync utility, Profile First Aid says one bad profile (/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended/CoatedFOGRA27.icc) but it can't repair since it's locked. That doesn't sound to me like it would be the problem. In IINA, tried different settings; unchecking HDR makes it not as bright, but still overcontrasted.

 

[kgkgmac]

Update: I updated to 12.6, the problem persists. I opened up ColorSync utility, Profile First Aid says one bad profile (/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended/CoatedFOGRA27.icc) but it can't repair since it's locked. That doesn't sound to me like it would be the problem. In IINA, tried different settings; unchecking HDR makes it not as bright, but still overcontrasted.

I am having the exact same issue you are, and I also ran the ColorSync utility, with the same results, but also can't do anything because it's locked. We cannot be the only people with this issue. Did you ever figure this out?

 

[Dave00]

I am having the exact same issue you are, and I also ran the ColorSync utility, with the same results, but also can't do anything because it's locked. We cannot be the only people with this issue. Did you ever figure this out?

I have not. I should specify I'm on an M1 16" Macbook pro, if that makes a difference. The weirdest part is that it displays correctly at first in things like a preview pane, and then you can see the contrast being revved up.

 

[kgkgmac]

I have not. I should specify I'm on an M1 16" Macbook pro, if that makes a difference. The weirdest part is that it displays correctly at first in things like a preview pane, and then you can see the contrast being revved up.

Bummer. I would think if this was a common issue there’d be more on the internet about it. But I can’t solve it either. I’m also on an M1 but mine is a 14”. It’s only a month or so old. Oh and same thing happens to me—at first it displays correctly, and then it adjusts on its own, almost as if it’s sensing the room is pitch black or something.