Colour Grading Web Video

[Aaron Fowler]

Hey everyone! I know the basics of colour grading and now I'm doing my first project solely for the internet, and its brought up a few questions...

Firstly, is there anything that should be done differently when grading for web as opposed to grading for a television monitor? And I know that each computer monitor can reproduce colours slightly differently (like tvs) but is there anything about the computer monitors, connectors, or signal to be aware of that will generally affect the video quality in any way?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Perrone Ford]

Absolutey, but this is a fairly advanced concept that most people don't address.

You have more tonal range and more color space when going solely to the internet. The problem is, you need to understand what your host is going to do with that video. Some hosts will NOT readjust your colors and thus you can grade right to the razor's edge. Just bring the blacks off clipping, and the whites nearly out to 110 IRE. Much like going to film.

On the other hand, some hosts (like Vimeo) will do the Studio RGB to Computer RGB for you, so you use exactly the same NTSC color space and their converters do the work.

It is also important to know how your chosen codec will change your videos. For instance, grade a short section of video. Encode it to mpeg4/h264 and encode it to mpeg2. Bring both of those back into a timeline and look at the scopes. See what's happened to the colors and the contrast. This tells you some things about prepping for the internet vs prepping for broadcast or DVD.

This is one reason I stress doing end to end workflow tests so you KNOW what you're going to get and you don't get surprised. I got hit with this two weeks ago. Vimeo recently changed their encoders. I prepped my video and did a Studio to Computer RGB conversion then uploaded. Their new encoders do this automatically now, so my upload was ruined. Lesson learned.

Hope this was helpful.

[Aaron Fowler]

Thanks Perrone, it was very helpful.

I'll be hosting the video on my own website as a .flv embedded in a .swf so I should be in complete control of my video (unless there's something i don't know or am overlooking).

I did a search on 'Studio RGB to Computer RGB' and all I could find was Vegas tutorials, which is what you use Perrone by the look of your signature. Unfortunately I'm a mac user so is there anyway to do a studio to computer conversion in either FCS2 or CS4?

Also, I completely agree with an end to end workflow. I'll will be trying that codec test you mentioned.

Thanks again for the insight.

[Perrone Ford]

Sorry, I don't know how to do it on a Mac.

[Aaron Fowler]

Thanks anyway Perrone.

Anyone know how to do a Studio RGB to Computer RGB conversion on a mac either in FCS2 or CS4??