Hi There...

I am working on Media Composer, and shooting HD Video.

Problem I always have is I am producing short clips for Web (squeezed vis Soronsen v5 into wmv's)

I've always found Avid a bit naff in terms of exporting a decnt file to take elsewhere and play with on compression suites great for laying straight back to DV or HDV tapes, but not so versatile for simple file exports....

So until no I have always exported as Quick Time Movies (as i cant do QT reference with HD material) as I find they are giving the better overall video image quality than say WMV or AVI... BUT... they colours are always terrible.. so under saturated and washed out and whittes are always totally overblown... whcih I then have to recorrect in Soronsen using generic web filters etc....

I also had the same issue working with Xpress Pro.

There has to be a better work-flow for this... surely....?????????

I wanted to suggest using RGB option rather than 601/709 when exporting your QTs as this will remap your levels from 16/235 to 0/255, but when you say overblown whites it sounds like you might be doing that already?

 Yes.. I am using RGB on output options...

The video shooted using camera usually doesn't take the whole scale (0-255) in 8-bit representation of each color, but uses narrower range (16-235) in order to have some headroom to accomodate levels in analogue domain where the video level above the 1V reference is allowed.

If your output is aimed to "computer world" you have to do few settings:

Firstly you have to do proper color/tonal correction meaning the histogram should be spread between two marks in it but no in the whole range since Avid internally uses Studio RGB range (mentioned earlier). (It can be switched over using command in Avid's console but it's not necessary.)

Second, when you exporting your file you have to choose the RGB color space in Export window. This rule applies for MC 2.8.1. In older versions you had to choose it in Avid codecs dialogues and switch in Export window was uneffective. In older versions of Avid codecs the option 709/RGB was switched by mistake. Good advice is as always - make several tests. For export choose an Avid codec. If you choose other codec, say H264, the output will be in Studio RGB regardless of your settings.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the quicktime gamma shift! This is a quicktime flaw, still yet to be fixed after god know's how long, that affects all platforms and programs in varying degrees. On the mac it is much less prevalent. How the gamma shift occurs and with what severity changes with different point versions of Qucktime and MC and how they are combined. Under MC 2.7 and QT 7.1.3 for instance, I could export HDV media out as DNxHD 185 and get correct colour levels, though exporting to uncompressed HD would give me a gamma shift, the washed out look of which you speak. Under MC 2.8.3 and 7.3.1 though, exporting HDV as DNxHD gives me an upward gamma shift, and exporting as HDV gives me a downward gamma shift. neither correct! Brilliant.

I find that HD projects and media are much more often and badly affected than SD. A workaround for approval exports is switching your project to SD, which almost always yields correct colour levels, at the expense of quick and dirty down-conversion.

As regards the whole 601/709 vs RGB export debate, I have always found the 601/709 option to be correct, when there is no gamma shift coming from codec options. I remember back on MC 10.x exporting as RGB gving the whole washed out look, long before all the other gamma problems came along.

But yes, experiment experiment! Every system seems to be slightly different, even seemingly identical xw8400s. Reading I've done suggest system level direct x components may contriibute to the issue. H264 is by FAR the most impossible nut to crack on a PC In my experience which is a great shame as its the most efficient codec there is.

If nothing works with quicktime, and your sequence is not too long, the simplest thing to do is export as an image sequence. These will be large for full raster HD (6 meg a frame for 8 bit Tiffs) but if you select 601/709 the colour levels will be spot on.

 Many Thanks for the info...

I'll expereiment with DNxHD codecs upon export...

Shooting 1080i/50 footage

Media Composer 2.8.1

Quicktime v7.1

If that leads anyone to suggest a codec they think might be the solution... please feel free... not too much hair left now... :-)

Like i said earlier... use to have the same issue with XpressPro... but was much much less of an issue... as the saturation/gamme issues were far less extreme.. and easily readjusted in Soronsen...

Kindest

Roody