Monitor issue: too light, too Dark at DVinfo.net

Kevin Carter · June 8th, 2007, 06:17 PM

My editor gives me back footage. It look great on home TV, but really dark and flat on my Sony Artisan computer monitor and cheap NEC as well.

But on Apple notebooks and Cinema displays look bright and good like TV's.

(someone suggested I go to Apple store and test that, as most high end creatives, he said, would be looking on Cinema displays or apple notebooks)

Still should it bug me that my clips look lousy on my computer monitors?
And....(why do some clips I see online look bright and contrasy, even on my monitors?) thanks

Glenn Chan · June 8th, 2007, 08:36 PM

It could be a number of things...

-Some monitors are really bright and/or make the image look brighter. Consumer CRTs tend to do this.

-Quicktime implements color management (which is sometimes inappropriate) and Macs sometimes have a gamma of ~1.8 instead of ~2.2.

-Your footage is underexposed. Take a look of your clip on some scopes and compare it to properly exposed footage... see if the distribution of levels is reasonable. Or you can just do that with other DV footage, ingested the same way.

Andzei Matsukevits · June 9th, 2007, 05:17 AM

I've been messing with the same problem for a while. Best solution is just to make two versions of video.

I do music videos which get broadcasted, if I edit and color correct it on my PC LCD monitor, the same image would look really bright on TV and I can't let it happen. So now, I just make two versions of video, one for internet(color corrected on pc monitor) and the second for TV(color corrected on TV with standard settings). If I watch TV version on pc monitor, its really dark.

So thats only solution that I found working...

MAC has higher gamma settings, thats why your video looked good there

Kevin Carter · June 9th, 2007, 11:22 AM

thanks Andzei:
Acutally I'm on a Mac, but with Sony and Nec monitors and it's real dark.

It's when I take footage to Mac Store and look on it on a Mac MOnitor that it then looks better.

But I get what you are saying, maybe I do need to get a version that really brightened up (and saturated more) for web.

Although some may argue that if I'm catering my site, as I am, to the high end market that may hire a potential director, I should not bother, as most of those folks will be on an Apple monitors.

June 8th, 2007, 06:17 PM	#1
Kevin Carter Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: los angeles, CA Posts: 235	Monitor issue: too light, too Dark My editor gives me back footage. It look great on home TV, but really dark and flat on my Sony Artisan computer monitor and cheap NEC as well. But on Apple notebooks and Cinema displays look bright and good like TV's. (someone suggested I go to Apple store and test that, as most high end creatives, he said, would be looking on Cinema displays or apple notebooks) Still should it bug me that my clips look lousy on my computer monitors? And....(why do some clips I see online look bright and contrasy, even on my monitors?) thanks

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June 8th, 2007, 08:36 PM	#2
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	It could be a number of things... -Some monitors are really bright and/or make the image look brighter. Consumer CRTs tend to do this. -Quicktime implements color management (which is sometimes inappropriate) and Macs sometimes have a gamma of ~1.8 instead of ~2.2. -Your footage is underexposed. Take a look of your clip on some scopes and compare it to properly exposed footage... see if the distribution of levels is reasonable. Or you can just do that with other DV footage, ingested the same way.

June 9th, 2007, 05:17 AM	#3
Andzei Matsukevits Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Tallinn, Estonia Posts: 300	I've been messing with the same problem for a while. Best solution is just to make two versions of video. I do music videos which get broadcasted, if I edit and color correct it on my PC LCD monitor, the same image would look really bright on TV and I can't let it happen. So now, I just make two versions of video, one for internet(color corrected on pc monitor) and the second for TV(color corrected on TV with standard settings). If I watch TV version on pc monitor, its really dark. So thats only solution that I found working... MAC has higher gamma settings, thats why your video looked good there

June 9th, 2007, 11:22 AM	#4
Kevin Carter Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: los angeles, CA Posts: 235	thanks Andzei: Acutally I'm on a Mac, but with Sony and Nec monitors and it's real dark. It's when I take footage to Mac Store and look on it on a Mac MOnitor that it then looks better. But I get what you are saying, maybe I do need to get a version that really brightened up (and saturated more) for web. Although some may argue that if I'm catering my site, as I am, to the high end market that may hire a potential director, I should not bother, as most of those folks will be on an Apple monitors.