Horrible Colour Bleed During Broadcast at DVinfo.net

Damien Ryan · March 3rd, 2008, 08:22 AM

Hi Guys, was wondering if I could get some advice on a major issue which will have me going to bed quite depressed.

I have been working on a short tv series for the last several months, and the first episode went to air on a community channel near me recently.

Now, I had colour corrected the thing quite carefully. I had exported the finished project to miniDV and DVD, and then tested both on 3 different television. I used RCA cables to run the miniDV signal from my camera to the television. The colour was fine, no bleeding, white balanced correctly. Terrific.

Anyway, I just saw it go to air a short while ago, and almost the whole thing had horrible red tinge to it. Even a short segment that I had added a green tint to had lost said tint and looked like what would happen when you add lots of red to something that was green.

Anyway, here is the footage as it displays on my computer, which is very close to how it displays on DVD

http://lovebunker.com.au/images/stories/normal.jpg

And here is roughly what it looked like when airing (roughly)

http://lovebunker.com.au/images/stories/red.jpg

What on earth have I done wrong? I tested the thing to death, and everything else on the station looked fine, which makes me look like an even bigger twit. What happened to my video? And more to the point, with 5 more episodes going out recorded in EXACTLY the same way, how do I fix it?

Edited on : Premiere Pro 2.0
Camera : DVX 102B (100b PAL)
Broadcast Export : Direct to tape
DVD Export : 4mb VBR 2 Pass (Encore preset)

Kenneth Johnson · March 3rd, 2008, 09:07 AM

did you try the "broadcast safe" in color correcting. Not sure if this will effect the red/green but worth a look

ken

Damien Ryan · March 4th, 2008, 06:03 AM

Sorry Ken, that doesn't seem to be making any real difference to the vectorscopes, unless I drop it's safe levels through the floor and compromise the quality of my recorded image.

Additionally, even if this WERE a solution I have no way test it. As I stated earlier I have already tested this stupid show on numerous televisions of varying quality and a range of delivery formats. The only way I can test to see if any trick in editing will actually work is if I can test it again...by broadcasting it again.

I called the station today and as far as they were concerned it was recorded fine, ingested fine, and broadcast fine, yet there it was, on my telly, looking appalling.

I really need someone that has had a similar problem before, or can explain broadcasting tech and why it is probably destroying my footage. Is it the color of the recorded image? Is it the broadcasters fault?

I have 6 days to fix this before I get embarrassed with a poor quality product being plastered all over the city with my name on it all over again.

Ken Plotin · March 4th, 2008, 11:30 AM

Damien,
Unfortunately, there are several "black holes" that picture quality can fall into on the way from production to air.
-What format tape did you deliver on (mini-dv, Beta SP)?
-Did you prpare the tape properly for broadcast ingestion (Bars & Tone, correct audio level, etc.)?
-You mention that "everything else at the station looked fine". So the shows and commercials surrounding your piece looked normal?

The compression stage (encoding to MPEG for the broadcast server) can be a real killer if the compressionist isn't watching levels or the encoder isn't calibrated correctly. Happens all the time here in NTSC land, especially with local spots, even in major markets.

One solution might be to contact the station and have a look at the actual raw MPEG file they created from your material. The actual adjustment needed to correct this problem is an easy fix, if you can get them to re-encode your show. In the future, contact the compressionist and give him/her a heads up regarding your incoming show. That will at least tell them that you are very concerned about the look of your material and might just encourage them to take extra care with it.
Hope this helps.
Ken

Damien Ryan · March 4th, 2008, 09:55 PM

It was exported to MiniDV tape. They wont accept anything less, and I cant afford a digibeta dub.

However Ken, that was helpful, so thanks. I spoke to a engineer from a firm that does work for the broadcaster and he thinks it's a range of issues, including over saturated images on my behalf, crappy encoding on the stations behalf, low quality analogue signal murdering colour information, and problems with my television reception for that particular channel.

Having spoken to a few other people about the broadcast, they seem to think it looked fine, but the engineer said that there was a good chance my reception had what he called a reflection, which would cause odd ghosting effects and the ugly red smear I described. Now I think about it, there was a strange ghost image appearing during an animation.

An educational experience no doubt.

I will head into the station this evening and retrieve tapes for the upcoming episode. Thankfully, the show is being re aired at 2 am on Saturday night, so I have a chance to test a repair in a dead timeslot before it goes out on primetime again.

Cheers,

Damien.

March 3rd, 2008, 08:22 AM	#1
Damien Ryan New Boot Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 5	Horrible Colour Bleed During Broadcast Hi Guys, was wondering if I could get some advice on a major issue which will have me going to bed quite depressed. I have been working on a short tv series for the last several months, and the first episode went to air on a community channel near me recently. Now, I had colour corrected the thing quite carefully. I had exported the finished project to miniDV and DVD, and then tested both on 3 different television. I used RCA cables to run the miniDV signal from my camera to the television. The colour was fine, no bleeding, white balanced correctly. Terrific. Anyway, I just saw it go to air a short while ago, and almost the whole thing had horrible red tinge to it. Even a short segment that I had added a green tint to had lost said tint and looked like what would happen when you add lots of red to something that was green. Anyway, here is the footage as it displays on my computer, which is very close to how it displays on DVD http://lovebunker.com.au/images/stories/normal.jpg And here is roughly what it looked like when airing (roughly) http://lovebunker.com.au/images/stories/red.jpg What on earth have I done wrong? I tested the thing to death, and everything else on the station looked fine, which makes me look like an even bigger twit. What happened to my video? And more to the point, with 5 more episodes going out recorded in EXACTLY the same way, how do I fix it? Edited on : Premiere Pro 2.0 Camera : DVX 102B (100b PAL) Broadcast Export : Direct to tape DVD Export : 4mb VBR 2 Pass (Encore preset)

March 3rd, 2008, 09:07 AM	#2
Kenneth Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2007 Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida Posts: 70	did you try the "broadcast safe" in color correcting. Not sure if this will effect the red/green but worth a look ken

March 4th, 2008, 06:03 AM	#3
Damien Ryan New Boot Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 5	Sorry Ken, that doesn't seem to be making any real difference to the vectorscopes, unless I drop it's safe levels through the floor and compromise the quality of my recorded image. Additionally, even if this WERE a solution I have no way test it. As I stated earlier I have already tested this stupid show on numerous televisions of varying quality and a range of delivery formats. The only way I can test to see if any trick in editing will actually work is if I can test it again...by broadcasting it again. I called the station today and as far as they were concerned it was recorded fine, ingested fine, and broadcast fine, yet there it was, on my telly, looking appalling. I really need someone that has had a similar problem before, or can explain broadcasting tech and why it is probably destroying my footage. Is it the color of the recorded image? Is it the broadcasters fault? I have 6 days to fix this before I get embarrassed with a poor quality product being plastered all over the city with my name on it all over again.

March 4th, 2008, 11:30 AM	#4
Ken Plotin Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 254	Damien, Unfortunately, there are several "black holes" that picture quality can fall into on the way from production to air. -What format tape did you deliver on (mini-dv, Beta SP)? -Did you prpare the tape properly for broadcast ingestion (Bars & Tone, correct audio level, etc.)? -You mention that "everything else at the station looked fine". So the shows and commercials surrounding your piece looked normal? The compression stage (encoding to MPEG for the broadcast server) can be a real killer if the compressionist isn't watching levels or the encoder isn't calibrated correctly. Happens all the time here in NTSC land, especially with local spots, even in major markets. One solution might be to contact the station and have a look at the actual raw MPEG file they created from your material. The actual adjustment needed to correct this problem is an easy fix, if you can get them to re-encode your show. In the future, contact the compressionist and give him/her a heads up regarding your incoming show. That will at least tell them that you are very concerned about the look of your material and might just encourage them to take extra care with it. Hope this helps. Ken

March 4th, 2008, 09:55 PM	#5
Damien Ryan New Boot Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 5	It was exported to MiniDV tape. They wont accept anything less, and I cant afford a digibeta dub. However Ken, that was helpful, so thanks. I spoke to a engineer from a firm that does work for the broadcaster and he thinks it's a range of issues, including over saturated images on my behalf, crappy encoding on the stations behalf, low quality analogue signal murdering colour information, and problems with my television reception for that particular channel. Having spoken to a few other people about the broadcast, they seem to think it looked fine, but the engineer said that there was a good chance my reception had what he called a reflection, which would cause odd ghosting effects and the ugly red smear I described. Now I think about it, there was a strange ghost image appearing during an animation. An educational experience no doubt. I will head into the station this evening and retrieve tapes for the upcoming episode. Thankfully, the show is being re aired at 2 am on Saturday night, so I have a chance to test a repair in a dead timeslot before it goes out on primetime again. Cheers, Damien.