HDR video looks flat in sequence/export.

[tristangz]

I've seen this question somewhat answered in the forums, but all said that it was narrowed down to the fact that either, the hardware wasn't actually HDR compatible, or the flat look is what it normally looks like. From my source footage, for a project looking at different movies, I have a clip from a HDR movie, that of course looks flat in Premiere Pro CC 2019. However in VLC and the Movies and TV app on Windows, displays the clips with more vivid color. With my exported clips, I did use the Rec. 2020 Color primaries, and selected HDR. Additionally I flipped these settings around, as apparently for some people it brought back the color. However when looking in VLC, while both color primaries are Rec. 2020 for the source clip, and the export, but the color transfer function on the export is labeled as "ITU-R BT.709", and on the source video the color transfer function is "SMPTE ST2084". Is there anyway in Premiere, to be able to change the color transfer function to SMPTE ST2084? Additionally the source and export footage is encoded in H.265.

[R Neil Haugen]

Exports for HLG/PQ are possible but you need specific settings. There are 3 PQ and one HLG options. The following is from a chart I was given here at NAB yesterday.

Encoding HDR video with Premiere Pro or Media Encoder:

There are four codec options:

• HEVC .MP4 | 10bit | Bt.2020 | PQ

• H.264 .MP4 | 10bit | Bt.2020 | PQ

• JPEG 2000 .MXF | 12bit | Bt.2020 | PQ

• Sony XAVC-Intra .MXF | 10bit | Bt.2020 | HLG

Steps:

1. From Premiere Pro, choose File > Export > Media

2. The Exports Settings dialog will open

3. Choose the format from the Format dropdown.

4. Open the Video tab, find the Encoding Settings section and configure the following

settings for your format of choice.

Please Note: Proper WCG HDR content is required to successfully encode HDR exports. This document does not cover HDR program creation.

HEVC

Format: HEVC (H.265)

Profile: Main 10 Level: 5.1 Tier: High Rec. 2020 color primaries: ON HDR: ON

JPEG 2000

Format: JPEG 2000 MXF OP1a

Chroma and Depth: RGB 444 12-bit PQ Color Primaries: Rec. 2020

H.264 Format: H.264

Profile High10 Level: 5.1 Rec. 2020 Color Primaries: ON HDR: ON

Sony XAVC-Intra Format: MXF OP1a

Hybrid Log Gamma ON

This is provided by Francis Crossman, one of the color engineers.

And though the scopes can be set for HDR, the Program Monitor is locked to Rec.709. So you need an output by a Kona or AJA card via HDMI to an HDR capable monitor. AJA I/O 4K Plus for Macs, and Kona 4/5 for PCs. I think those are the cards.

Neil

[Jim_Simon]

Hey Neil, while you're there, find out about the Maximum Bit Depth checkbox and CUDA.

[chrisw44157881]

and adding lumetri luts to an HDR workflow. I'd be curious to hear what they say about that.

[R Neil Haugen]

I just posted a detailed answer on another thread. Max bit depth is ONLY useful to tell a CPU to process in GPU "manner" IF you don't have a discrete used GPU in the computer.

Neil