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Do you view your post work on a TV before finalizing the PP?


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I would laugh at the photogs on the forums that always asked why doesn't my printed photo look like my computer screen image? The people on the forums would tell them they needed to calibrate their monitor. But no one ever told them that seldom does a transmitted light image match the reflected light image...calibration or not. If you want to make prints you have an inkjet printer at your side and keep refining prints as you make changes. In short, you let the printer tell you what to do and not the screen.

Well,  I'm in the same boat as the camera fondlers that I used to poke fun at, but my problem is with post processing video clips. I'm making a video of an old book I did called Bikers' Mardi Gras. I'm on the 17th version of post processing. Just terrible.  When I PP the video clips to look good on the computer, they look bad on TV. They are too contrasty, too saturated and some have exposure issues. When I view the clips on the computer, the clips that look good on the TV look flat and poor on the computer. My monitor is calibrated fine for still photography. The TV must be boosting the image. I've tried it on a couple of TV's and had similar results, although one TV was a little worse than the other. 

My PP setup is a mess.  I got to watch a Blu-ray of the video on the TV, jot down PP notes, then run into a different room where the computer is to make (guess) at the adjustments on it. Then when done with 150 clips I burn a new Blu-ray and take a look see as to how it looks.

I guess the karma god is getting back at me for making fun of the camera fondlers all those years with their printing problems. I will need to have at least 2 sets of files for the project. One for Blu-ray DVD and the other for internet use. And maybe a 3rd set for regular DVD? I've only tested Blu-ray so far.

Do you view your post work on a TV before finalizing? If so, what type of setup do you have for real time PP work combining TV with computer?

Thanks

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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For low budget stuff and demos I often calibrate the computer monitors to 6500K 2.4gamma 120cd/m2 and work with that through the grade. Then will do auto conversion or manually when exporting. Usually works perfectly just like that.

Probably your monitor has wrong gamma settings for video work or your tv is doing double rec709 conversion because of wrong signal processing settings.

Try that 6500/2.4/120 calibration for starters and start to resolve the problem from there

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I don't. My monitor is an 11 year old 20" Viewsonic VA2012wb lcd non reflective monitor with auto white balance. I have seen my youtube videos on my Vizio back lit lcd TV through Roku and they look the same to me. I wouldn't worry too much about it because you have no idea what monitor or TV the viewer is using. The only calibration check I have done on my monitor is to photograph a small American flag and compare it to the flag I am holding in my hand. To me the reds, whites and blues look the same so I guess the auto white balance is working fine on the monitor and I've never calibrated it. It really doesn't matter if what I see as peach is more orange on the monitor. As long as the reds, whites and blues are good who would know that a more orange colored blouse was actually more peach colored in real life?

Edited by Bob Speziale
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I have a DCI-P3 calibrated grading monitor, Rec 709 calibrated DLP projector with home theater and I use my laptop/iphone to rewatch things as well. 

I think it's super important to rewatch things on "standard" uncalibrated monitors. I generally don't do it until I'm at a final export tho, not before. 

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Yes it is important to test the result on uncalibrated devices as well. But one can't really grade the image without having the main monitor calibrated to the working standard...you will grade to one standard and then you can do versioning for different viewing environments and devices. But you cant really grade a project without having ONE of the monitors properly calibrated so that you will know how the image SHOULD look so that you can adjust the colors and especially the gamma and brightness levels right. Otherwise it will look like crap on every device no matter if they are calibrated or not. 

Often the project graded on a properly calibrated setup will look surprisingly similar on most uncalibrated devices as well. Much easier and faster to just get it right from the beginning rather than trying to avarage the grade using 10 different uncalibrated devices to guess how the project SHOULD MAYBE look on a calibrated device on a good day.

One properly calibrated monitor would probably have saved about 15 versions worth of OP's work so calibrating would be much easier by my opinion :) 

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If you’re going through all the work of color correction, please use a properly calibrated display.

dont trust the image played in PP or QuickTime player.

if you view on a properly calibrated TV, it should look very close. If it does not, something is wrong with your workflow.

i do find for streaming on Vimeo, that REC 709, gamma 2.2 works best.

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I used to do QC for Channel 4 and Film Four. A properly calibrated monitor is paramount. I would also keep an eye on the video scopes mainly waveform and diamond - they will show you issues that may not displayed on 

Often overlooked is audio monitoring, you need reference speakers a Phase Meter, loudness and audio PPM's. Headphone's won't cut it. 

Of course this represents the ideal and the calibration of the screens that people will view it on will be all over the place. The factory settings on most screens are usually quite wacky.

If I'm finishing video and I working at home without access to nice calibrated screens. I try to aim for an average. I'll check the video is legal via the video scopes. I'll check it on a few screens - eg. A couple of TV's, computers, tablets, DLP (at work) etc.. and aim for an average. For domestic viewing on such a range of devices - the best you can hope for is a ball park. I've got away with not using proper calibrated monitors - but I did QC full time for 4 years, so I can eyeball it. I've got a few things past broadcast QC that I finished on a laptop. However, it was pretty nerve-wracking as I could't be 100% confident I'd not missed something that would be picked up in QC.  

The full on calibrated gear gets expensive, especially if you get all the metres, audio monitors, sound treatment, 5600K lighting etc... As Aapo states it absolutely saves time and stress, thats what your paying post production companies for, speed and confidence in the result. Its possible to do the same work at home on a laptop - but it will absolutely take longer and require more trial and error. 

 

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