H.264 mp4 Export Washed Out

I can't seem to export an H.264 video without it being washed out. Lower contrast, lower saturation, very noticeable. As if there's a hidden conversion to rec709 or some such that I can't turn off.
PC
Premiere Pro CC
Exporting from Premiere Pro through Media Encoder to H.264 in an MP4 container.
Video appears the same in VLC, QuickTime, and on Vimeo.
I've looked and looked and all the solutions I've seen relate to H.264 within a MOV container. Nothing I've seen works.
Other codecs play back as expected. Definitely not a driver issue.
This is infuriating. Thoughts?

Tried exporting a 10-bit DNxHD and taking it through DaVinci Resolve, exporting an H.264 (mov) using Data Levels, and it exports and plays correctly. As a test, I ran this file through Media Encoder reconverting to H.264 (mp4) and the result plays correctly (at data levels).
This seems to confirm that Premiere Pro / Media Encoder by default (and without an option to change it) export H.264 with video levels. In a day when web video trumps television, it seems at the very least there would be an option to export using data and not video levels, especially when Vimeo and YouTube both request H.264 files. Am I missing something obvious, or this completely retarded?

Similar Messages

H.264 gamma shift/washed out colours on export

I know this has been discussed before but I've been researching this topic for the past two hours and still can't find a solution.
I have .mov source files from a Canon 7D. Exporting them from PP CS5.5 (Mac OS X - Lion, 10.7.4) in h.264 or by 'matching sequence settings' results in a gamma shift/desaturated colours. Playing the resulting h.264 file in QuickTime Player, VLC, Elmedia all result in the same colour shift so this is not an issue with QT simply interpreting the gamma incorrectly.
Uploading to Vimeo and Youtube results in the same gamma shift. The monitor I'm using is not calibrated but when puling up a VLC window of the exported file next to the Program Monitor (on the same monitor) shows that there is a definite difference. Below is a screenshot.
Is there any way to produce an exported file for Vimeo use that reproduces the gamma as I see it in the Program Monitor?
Any help would be massively appreciated.
Thanks.

Did you use Quicktime's H.264 export option? Or just standard h.264 using the .mp4 container? If you used the Quicktime h.264 the option itself is flawed. Here are some links regarding the issue.
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/cmg_blogs/story/brightness_issues_with_h264_quickti me_movies/
http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2008/06/fix-quicktime-gamma-shift/
http://imnotbruce.blogspot.com/2011/07/fixing-quicktimes-gamma-export-problem.html
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1358418?start=0&tstart=0
http://byteful.com/blog/2010/07/how-to-fix-the-h264-gamma-brightness-bug-in-quicktime/
https://discussions.apple.com/message/8551140?messageID=8551140#8551140?messageID=8551140
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2292530?start=0&tstart=0
If you read around the net a lot of people have had this issue with h264. A couple of the articles I posted are supposed to "fix" the problem although I haven't ever tried any of them myself. I've never experinced a gamma shift when using the standard h.264 format option in Premiere, however if you have already used that option and you're still having issues then I have no clue what is going on. However when I import ProRes files into Premiere they don't appear washed out, but when I play them in Quicktime or VLC they do appear washed out. I've always just assumed Premiere was somehow correcting it, because when I export my video to mpeg-2 for playback on our server it looks like it looked in Premiere.
From what I have read though the reason the Quicktime format does this when using the h.264 codec looks and looks washed out is because of a incorrect gamma tag. But Premiere isn't affected/fooled by this like most media players are. According from how they made it sound on provideo and the one other site I read it on anyways.

PP 5.5 - DNxHD Matched Sequence Settings exports washed out video

Just want to make sure I'm not missing something. We shot on Scarlet, and after color we got back 1920x1080 DNxHD files.
Im concerned because after conforming, I'm using Match Sequence Settings to export from Premiere and my export video is washed out and different than the original.
Here's the original DNxHD video that I got from our colorist. (all i did was change the filename)
https://www.yousendit.com/download/TEhXNU1KTlF6RS9xYk1UQw
This is the file Premiere spit out after using Match Sequence Settings (a little shorter because original clip had handles)
https://www.yousendit.com/download/TEhXNU1KTlE0b0R2WnRVag
Sequence Settings below. It's also worth it to note that even though I'm choosing 1080p 23.976 DNxHD 175 10-bit and clicking okay, whenever I click configure again under "Video Previews", the dropdown list has defaulted back to 1080i 59.94 DNxHD 220 10-bit. weird. 709 vs. RGB is not making a difference for me.
My Export settings, just for good measure. "Use Maximum Render Quality" isn't making a difference for me
Side by Side comparison. You can really see the difference in the hair above her left eye. Original has a bit more contrast.
I can get good looking exports using other codecs and settings, PhotoJPEG works pretty well, but I know in a lot of cases DNxHD is kind of a standard for finishing work, and up until now I've done mostly broadcast and I've never worked with this Avid codec before. This is our first project with this camera so I want to make sure I'm doing the post-color work correctly. Our colorist already kinda boned us by not haing a red rocket and basically forcing me to take this codec. I'm just wondering if there is some color management step or setting that I'm missing. I really need this export to match the original.
Thanks for all your help, hopefull i can learn something here

Have you tried comparing the footage from inside of Premiere? Put each of the before and afters over top of each other in Premiere itself and see if they look different. Honestly I downloaded your test file and played them from inside premiere right side by side and didn't notice the problem that I see occuring in your pictures. However I did notice a bit of aspect change or something. But nothing related to color.Anyways just try placing them in premiere and comparing them both from inside Premiere.
If just simply placing the files inside Premiere doesn't fix the issue to begin with. Then attempt to change your preview file format in premiere to something besides Quicktime.
But honestly in the pics you posted I can see a clear difference however when I pull both of your files from rapidshare into Premiere Pro on my windows machine using the standard mpeg preview codec I see no color differences.
Like Jim said though Quicktime can't be trusted for color accuracy it has several known gamma issues.

Quicktime h.264 still all washed out...

I know there are countless threads about gamma / unsaturated color issues when exporting to using h.264... in fact I think I have read all of them, which are all at least a year + old... this is still a problem: (Obviously top is good)
So does anyone have a REAL answer for this bug. Someone did post a supposed workaround, dealing with color profile... but this does not work.
BTW... it plays fine embedded in Firefox.
24" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.9) Core 2 duo - 2.33 - 2gb ram

I too have been plagued by this H264 problem for the past 2 years it seems.
I have a suspicion that if we polled the users experiencing this effect that
it would result they all use custom or modified Display Profiles in the Display System Preferences.
My temporary (and somewhat silly workaround) has been to change my display profile to the
standard "Cinema HD Display" instead of my user-created "Cinema HD Display Calibrated" profile.
It does alter the gamma of my display to a unpleasing value, but after changing it, the H264 export
works beautifully. No gamma shift at all.
I have read all the suggestions on trying the quicktime "filter then colorsync" export and always got unsatisfactory results. My silly workaround always produces the best results. I just have to change the dang setting back after I export so my eye dont burn out of my skull.

IMovie .mp4 export crapping out at about 20 gigs

We're producing 12 corporate videos from DV video files ranging in size from 6 gig to 30 gig.
When the smaller files are exported to .mp4 from iMovie 08, things go fine. But, when the larger files are exported, they fail at around 20 gig. Is there a file size limitation in iMovie, or is this more likely to be an issue of available RAM. Our 500 gig drive has 250 gigs of free space on it.
The job is being done on a MacBook.
Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the note.
I have a query to my shooter to check on the RAM thing. I suspect he is short on RAM.
Yes, the 30 gig is DV. The .mp4 files run about 2 gig for 6 gigs of DV. We intend to compress each 2 hour DV onto a single DVD.
I would do it on my own 2 gig MacBook, but my iMovie 08 won't recognize his project files for some reason. I would do it on my G5 dual, but it's loaded with iMovie 04, which doesn't load his completed timelines - it just loads the clips randomly in the clip pane. Why my 04 recognizes the files and 08 doesn't, I have no idea. It's a huge pain in the neck.
I'd buy iLife right now by download for my G5, but it only seems to be available for ground shipping (duh!).
I'm very frustrated with this.

PP CS5.5 FLV To MP4 Export Issues / Problems

I just upgraded from Production Premium CS5 to CS5.5. I do a fair amount of converting/exporting of imported FLV files (downloaded from internet news sites) to H.264/AAC w/ MP4 wrappers using Premiere Pro (PP) and Adobe Media Encoder (AME). My equipment is a 1+ yr. old HP Win 7 Pro w/ an Intel i970 Quadcore, 12 Gb RAM and MSI nVidia GTX 470 GPU. I have never experienced any queue or export issues w/ CS5 (at least that I noticed), but I am experiencing noticeably degraded queue export and direct export problems with these files in CS5.5.
Description: (1) The queue export times for the exact same imported FLV clip(s) using the exact same sequence settings and H.264/MP4 export settings are noticeably slower in CS5.5 (sometimes 2x, depending on the export settings, e.g. using maximum render quality) than in CS5; (2) My MSI Afterburner GPU monitoring software indicates 5-10% GPU usage during queue/export in CS5, while indicating 0% GPU usage (flatline) in CS5.5; and (3) When I attempt to direct export these files using CS5.5 I get the following error message: "The source and output audio channels are not compatible or a conversion does not exist."
I suspect that it may have something to do with "conforming" anomalies when the FLV file is imported into PP, but I would put that squarely in the category of rank speculation on my part.
Has anyone experienced the same or similar problems or have any insight into what may be the problem(s)? Of course, thanks for any help/insight you can provide.
Jim

What do you mean by a better routine?
A better compression routine than H.264.
Is the quality better than H.264?
Yes.
Does this use an MOV wrapper?
Yes.
Also, would it import correctly into PPro?
Yes.
we would import files into PPro exported out of FCP and would get a red pixelated glitch during preview and export. Does this codec solve this problem as well if it is an MOV wrapper?
I don't know anything about FCP.
Sorry for all the questions, just want to get things right before diving into a new codec.
It's harmless, and free.
Download it and run some tests.

Is the MP4 export in Premiere CS6 better than in CS3 ?

I am thinking of upgrading from CS3 to CS6 Premiere Pro.
The CS3 exporting MP4 is not that good, and I actually find Sony Vegas does a better job. Is the Premiere Pro export in CS6 better than in CS3?
Also, are there any issues importing CS3 projects into CS6 ?

I upgraded from CS3 to CS6.
The H.264 (MP4) exports are so much better it is amazing. There used to be tutorials on how to get good YouTube videos. Now we just export to a YouTube (or Vimeo) preset in HD and it shows up darn near perfect.
I can import CS3 projects into CS6 without a problem.

PP CS4 Problem with exported H.264 .mp4 video. Can't AME do proper encoding?

Trying to export a Video of ~60mins using the H.264 Codec .mp4 which converts in AME successfully, allthough when playing back the f
ile, it has problems after ~40mins. When i try to jump to a later point in the timeline to playback i.e. 48th minute or 50:10 or wha
tever, the image freezes, audio continues and it takes 10-20 secs untill the video image continues.
I tried different playback programms like VLC,Windows media etc. and different compressions 2-5Mbps as CBR and VBR1 / 2, nothing cha
nged.
Source is Sony DV and i have some still images as .png. Since the first 30mins work alright, i thought i try out if something with t
he source material in the timeline is causing the problem , so i cut after the 30st minute and copied the first 30mins behind that
to get a 60mins video, but exaclty the same playback issue after ~40th minute.
Is this an most likely a problem caused by AME using H.264 .mp4 Codec?
Other videos i did months before in the same way using the same source material worked fine. Adobe Premiere and AME is up to date!
Thank you

hmn sounds like it makes sense. I have seen that "i-Frame in GOP" somewhere in PP i think.
Allthough i recall that i had videos i exported which played fine till the end with no delay at a later seek distance.
I noticed that quicktime player has the same issue but is much quicker than VLC.
Is there a work arround or alternative? Can it be improved?
I need H.264 & .mp4 for webpodcast on vimeo.com
The only thing which looks strange to me ist that the lenght of the delay showing the images (i guess finding it) takes almost the same time
as on other later point like at the very end. Id assume that if its normal behavior the delay should become bigger and bigger with a later point in time ?
Appreciate your time to answer jim,Thanks
Markus

Washed-out H.264

I have HDV 1080i60 footage from HDR-FX1.
When I export it using the HDV 1080i60 codec, the colors looks as good as original, but the size is always 1920x1080, even when I put in a smaller size (the weird thing is that the file info then shows the smaller size in finder, even thorough it’s still the 1920x1080).
Apple Intermediate Codec leaves the colors alone, but people with PC’s can’t play the file.
H.264 is the best; I can select any size, and the files are small with good quality, but the colors are washed out.
Is there anything else I can use that will not wash it out and be playable by everybody and unloadable to YouTube and MySpace?
Thank you,
MaW

macalltheway wrote:
Is there anything else I can use that will not wash it out and be playable by everybody and unloadable to YouTube and MySpace?
You should be fine sticking with h.264 so long as you specify the color space.
What that means is, after you've adjusted all your other setting, go to the Filters pane in Compressor's Inspector window and hit the Color tab (the one on the right). The default setting is Default for Encoder, but you should have better luck with +Preserve Source.+ If that doesn't suit your needs, you might want to experiment with the HD (709) color space.

Quicktime export, colors washed out

I think this question has been asked before but I just couldn't find a good explanation in the archives. Wondering if anyone knows why, when I export my movie out of FCP to h.264 and then playback in quicktime, the colors become much more muted and washed out. This has been happening for awhile now, and its been driving me nuts and now I have a project that is absolutely going to hurt because of it.
I want the bright vibrant colors that I see in my canvas in FCP -- what gives? Any help would be great. Thanks.

Yeah, sorry, this was actually a graphic created in Motion 3 then sent to FCP to sync with some audio and other sound effects. The entire workflow is HDV 1080p24, compressed to various sizes of h.264 and meant for web only. Because it is meant for the web, I have bypassed a calibrated monitor and am just doing all the work on my Apple Cinema displays.
Like I said, I can take the exported h.264 version from FCP, open it in quicktime and hold it up right next to my FCP canvas and the luma and chroma values are noticeable muted, less vibrant, and just not as much fun to look at.
I have played around with the general settings in Quicktime, specifically the "Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility" option, but still no change. I have read other places about this being a gamma issue once the movie is played back in Quicktime, but I really don't know what that means.
All of my software is about as up to date as you can get.

Washed out blacks with H.264

When i export my sequence with H.264 from FCP all the blacks seem to be washed out,
anyone else on this forum find this happens to them?
is there anyway to correct it?

There's a brightness and contrast filter you can add to the h.264 file as you compress it. Might try that... in the options/filters button...
Jerry

Pic HERE: Losing color/washed out when exported

So I exported my movie using H.264 and the result is a washed out image.
The left image is the exported footage and the right is the footage viewed in FCP.
Is this a common problem or am I just doing something wrong here?
[img]http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/6871/1190482208.jpg[/img]

The only difference I could see was that the whites were (Slightly) brighter in the left.mov pic... Maybe a slight shift in "warmth" or saturation in the mids (I can see it in the mans face far right).
Hey, you are compressing and something has to give. Simply boost the controls in FCP that are important to you before compression based on the results you see. Keep in mind that every web viewer’s computer will display something different.
Props to you for being fussy!

Exporting Canon 5D footage - colours are washed out

Hi, I am a film student. It seems everyone but me cuts in Apple Final Cut Pro but I can't get my head around Apple as a whole and much prefer Premiere Pro. I working in CS5.5 Here is my current problem. I have the job of synching audio and video from a film shoot. The vision was shot on Canon 5D Mark II and the audio is .wav format, which was recorded on an external recorder. I need to replace the camera audio with the cleaner and more professional .wav files, and then I have to give the synched footage to another student who will edit on Final Cut Pro. The clips are 1920 x 1080 (1.0) 23.976 fps. The clips i have received are .mov. My project settings match perfectly the footage settings. I have now tried exporting in 15 different formats, and in every single case, the colour of the exported files is very washed out compared with the original .mov file. If I give this to the editor to work with, I'll be shot I'm sure, for being so recalcitrant. It needs to be lossless and full quality. So please someone - urgently - can you help me? I only have tomorrow to finish this and there are around 80 shots I need to synch and export in that time. Thanks, Nicky

1. If you're using Internet Explorer, set it to 'Compatibility View' so as to be able to upload images.
2. So as to judge on colour shift you need at least to compare like with like. It's not clear from your screenshot how and where you watch your original footage. Is it also Windows Media Player or another player on your computer?
Also H.264 is a highly compressed 8-bit delivery codec, with which you can experience quite visible quality loss over every next encoding (generation loss). Production codecs, like mentioned above UT Video or DNxHD, let you avoid dramatic generation loss, preserving visual quality.
3. When you encode to DNxHD 4:2:2 (that's what you were doing), set Color Levels to 'RGB Levels':
Set Color Levels to '709' when you encode to DNxHD 4:4:4
DO NOT interfere with the Depth settings when encoding to DNxHD and generally avoid using 'Maximum Render Quality'.
4. Since you wisely cropped the left part of the Export Setting dialog box, it's unclear whether you see video output on exporting or not.
5. With high probability Windows Media Player won't be able to play MOV files with DNxHD codec inside. You need to play them back in QuirkTime, which, in turn, applies crooked colour management. You need to disable it. If you're on a PC with NVIDIA card, open up NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Video -> Adjust video color settings and in the How do you make color adjustments? section choose 'With the NVIDIA settings'.

H.264 Codec making Videos "Washed Out".

Hi guys, I am compressing a normal .mov file using H.264 compression and it always makes the video appear much lighter and washed out. I've tried everything to fix this. Any ideas?

I got jagged edges when I did it in H.264 and .MOV. I just did the "same type" of editing in Pinnacle 12 Ultimate and was totally different. No jagged edges.
I will say, I can't seem to find a good software that does 1280x720 at 30fps that is for the normal user, i.e. not using Final Cut Pro, Adobe anything, or Sony Vegas.
Oh well. It's just for Facebook anyways.
Good luck.
I'm sorry I couldn't be much help. Maybe if you use the color correction options before you export the video file?

How come Colors are Washed Out, FCE QT Conversion H.264

I have searched this forum on this problem, but nothing I found directly addresses this.
I have transcoded 1080p h.264 video to AIC, editing in FCE4 works beautifully. If I export to QT movie only converting to h264 original size, a 3 minute video becomes 3 GB but the playback in QT matches the colors I see in FCE. If I use FCE to QT conversion to a smaller size, 640x360 h.264, the colors get washed out. I tried MPEG Streamclip to convert the 3GB version, and the colors are beautiful, but even at 100% quality, the video looks slightly pixelated.
Still on MAC OS X 10.5.8 with QT7. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Nelson

it's an old bug, and one I hoped had been fixed with the release of QT7.
there is supposedly a field in the mov file which indicates the Gamma of the mov. from memory, QT is either not writing the value, or it's ignoring the value when the mov is played back. the bug is also evident in Safari. it only affects movies exported as H.264 (which is laughable since Apple has been heavily promoting H.264 for quite some time)
I have an urgent project for friends overseas. this is not a welcome predicament.
search the net for "quicktime gamma fix" and you'll find a raft of web pages regarding the problem. for example, Luxology Quicktime Gamma Fix.
disappointedly,
Gregory

H.264 mp4 Export Washed Out

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