Wrong colour space when making blu-ray in Vegas

[Benjamin Smith]

Hello all

I've made a blu-ray of a Vegas 10.0e project so we can watch it on a TV via a blu-ray player at home. However we noticed that the colours come out much darker when we watch the blu-ray back than they were on the computer screen in Vegas when we were authoring.

It seems to me there's probably some kind of colour space issue at work - Vegas needs to adjust the colours when it makes the blu-ray so it seems the same when viewed on TV.

I think I saw a post or comment on this elsewhere that this might even be a very common issue. Does anyone know if there's an easy fix I'm missing? Is there a similar process when making a DVD?

thanks;

/ben

[Adam Stanislav]

Your computer screen uses computer RGB, your TV uses studio RGB (as Vegas calls it).

So, as the final step try adding a computer RGB to studio RGB conversion to everything. That should fix the problem.

[Rob Wood]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Smith

I've made a blu-ray of a Vegas 10.0e project... However we noticed that the colours come out much darker... It seems to me there's probably some kind of colour space issue at work... Is there a similar process when making a DVD?

/ben

Yep, it's the same process.

Like Adam said, add the RGB > YUV filter (000-255 to 016-235) before rendering your mpeg-2 or mpeg-4 files and all will be well.

[Benjamin Smith]

Guys

Thanks for your reponces. Can I just confirm 100% what I have to do here as you seem to slightly disagree:

- Place my video into a new Vegas session.
- From the Video FX bin, Color Corrector area drag the Computer RGB to Studio RGB effect onto my video
- Ignore the settings therein (it's already set up)
- It makes the video look washed out; but that's OK it will now render correctly on a DVD/blu-ray

There's a Color Corrector bin and a Color Corrector (Secondary) with the same tool in it. Do they both do the same thing?!

/ben

[Rob Wood]

1) Yeh you've got it... "Computer RGB to Studio RGB" adjustment means "000-255 to 016-235".


2) "There's a Color Corrector bin and a Color Corrector (Secondary) with the same tool in it. Do they both do the same thing?!" Yes/No.

Yes, because some dials are the same, they can function similarly and some features overlap.
But mostly No, because CC1 (primary) is for global adjustments (the entire frame), and CC2 (secondary) is for isolating elements within the frame for adjustment (skin, sky, grass, etc) using a combination of Hue, Saturation, and Luma.

[Zhong Cheung]

Question: what setting do you use if you create a Blu-Ray that is meant to play on both the TV and the computer?

I use a computer monitor to color correct, whereas my partner hooks his computer up to a TV and uses that to color correct. But ultimately, we want to create one file that looks good on both the computer and the TV.

[Rob Wood]

^
Same setting. Make the Bluray using the Computer RGB to Studio RGB filter.
Once you've burned the BD, it'll look correct on both as computer video players expect the same range Bluray players do when playing BD files.

[Phil Lee]

Hi

The answers given ignore the starting point so may not be correct:

Explanation: Studio levels are essentially TV levels, Computer RGB is just that, it's want a computer wants.

Assuming you are using H264/AVC and HDV video then these are Studio Level, the output to the same formats require the input to the encoder to be studio level, this means no level changes are required to get the correct output from those format types. What goes in is what comes out in terms of levels. I'd recommend a small test clip on the timeline and render it out with no filters, then play both back on the computer and check they look the same, i.e. one isn't darker than the other. If there are level differences, come back here and let us know the what the input format is, and what you are outputting.

So assuming the above works fine. Then your problem is likely being caused by the preview window or when viewing on a second monitor. By default these previews want computer levels, this means when you feed them studio levels it seems like contrast has been reduced and blacks are no longer deep black and white is just a very light grey. Now if you take these outputs and start adjusting them in Vegas to get them to look right on the computer monitor, they aren't going to be when rendered out, because the preview is wrong.

To fix this, if you are using a second monitor, the easiest option is to go to Options - Preferences - Preview Device Tab and check the 'Use Studio RGB (16 to 235)' option. Now your preview on the second monitor has the correct levels. Note that the smaller Preview window will still be incorrect.

If you don't have a second monitor and so use the preview window, there are no settings to change it. The only option to get this preview to have the correct levels is to apply a filter. If you click the preview monitor filter button and add a Sony Levels filter and select Studio RGB to Computer RGB, the preview window will now be correct *BUT* when you render out your final project you must remove this filter, otherwise your output will be wrong.

The above will allow you to adjust on the computer and get more or less the same levels on a TV as you will see when played on a computer.

Note that when you play HD video in say Windows Media Player, the HD video is of course Studio levels, i.e. its really for TV watching, but Windows Media Player assumes this from the format type and automatically converts the studio level to computer level, so it looks okay. Vegas doesn't by default on it's preview windows.

Hope that helps.

Regards

Phil