So,
I have been having a BIG problem ever since I started shooting HDV with my Canon XHA1: the color has looked GREAT in FCP, but when I export, the color is very dull and washed out. I just recently found out something: if you go into QT Pro and check off "Enable FCS color compatibility" then the exported files look GREAT and just the same as when I view my footage in the FCP Canvas. My problem is that the file itself, the inherent color of the file, is STILL dull and muted. I then found this:

Is your Final Cut Pro sequence too dark or washed out? - Digital Rebellion Blog (http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/is_your_final_cut_pro_sequence_too_dark_or_washed_out.html)

And it seems to address my problem when it talks about an RGB clip being dropped into a YUV sequence, where FCP export at 1.8 gamma thinking it is compensating. YET, I read somewhere that HDV is in fact a YUV codec. So why is FCP exporting my HDV/YUV footage with the washed out gamma??? (Again, it does look good now that I have color compatibility checked off in in QT Pro, but that is not actually adjusting the file itself)

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am COMPLETELY lost!

Thanks,
-Steve Lewis

Yes, all these gamma-issues caused by Mac 1.8 vs Windows 2.2 standards are really annoying. I'm looking forward to the future beginning with snow-leopard, because it uses 2.2 as standard-gamma.

Agreed, but what do we do until then?

Suffer from being forced to use inhuman workarounds and to acquire arbitrary specialized knowledge.

Bump, please help!