4K reframing

5 Essential Video Effects

OK. But it's not an override, it's an import setting. The working space is irrelevant, only the input transform and whether the software has an option to manually set the levels interpretation.

I think we basically agree but differ in our semantics. For me Premiere is a difficult software for some simple things like this, and I have a background in Avid, Flame, Smoke etc, and they are not easy to deal with either, but offer a lot of manual options for the experienced user.

@LPowell "Do Avid and FCPX ask you to manually identify each video file you import as either full range or studio swing?"

For Avid, Yes. There is an import setting for the levels interpretation. FCPX may get the levels wrong but no plugins or colour effects clip the levels. They can be adjusted easily.

@caveport Do Avid and FCPX ask you to manually identify each video file you import as either full range or studio swing? Of course not, they assume everything is studio swing unless instructed otherwise. Premiere attempts to automatically identify full range videos and scale them appropriately when you drag them into a sequence. Sometimes it gets confused, because video file formats are a mess of historical blunders. All such mistakes could be corrected if Adobe would just provide manual override options in Premiere.

When a full range video gets clipped, the culprit is not Premiere's core color workspace mechanisms. The problem is that specific legacy plug-in effects clip anything above 100 IRE. Adobe won't fix them because too many customers' archived projects depend on the dysfunctional way those plug-ins have always operated. What Adobe should have done long ago was deprecate all legacy plug-ins (i.e. disable their use in new projects) and replace them with a complete set of 32-bit plug-ins that work properly without internal clipping.

@Vesku Whether you call them "superwhites" depends on your frame of reference. Historically, H.264 was defined as an 8-bit studio swing format, and in that context the 100-109 IRE range contains superwhite image data. However, the H.264 standard has been amended numerous times and currently supports 10-bit full range formats (where max level is defined as 100 IRE) as well as the orginal 8-bit studio swing format.

The problem with Premiere and other legacy editors is they attempt to finesse these technical issues behind your back, in an effort to make things appear seamless. The alternative would be to require each of us to learn the distinctions and correctly identify each file on import, which would most likely create even more confusion and mistakes. Adobe should've cleaned up the clipping problem long ago and provided manual override options in Premiere, much as they do in After Effects. Until then, check your scopes often!

@Vesku @caveport Bear in mind that the 8 or 10-bit levels encoded in an H.264 file are not static RGB values. They are variably-quantized YUV levels scaled relatively within each macroblock. When loaded into a video editor, these YUV components are converted into 10-bit (or greater) RGB values that may be scaled either to full range (0-1023) or studio swing (64-960), without loss of image quality. An optional VUI metadata flag that indicates whether the video is full range may appear in the file, but the encoded data remains the same regardless.

In Premiere Pro, all clips are automatically scaled to studio swing when placed on a timeline (the source clip is left unaltered). Problems can arise when Premiere misidentifies a full range video clip as being a studio swing video with superwhite levels in the range 100-109 IRE. Depending on various historical blunders, these superwhites may be inadvertently clipped off to 100 IRE. Take care as Premiere will not warn you when this happens.

@caveport

Correct levels interpreting & legalising are completely different things.

Can you explain? Do you mean correct levels are image adjusting and legalising is video level range thing?

Is this an automatic way to "legalize" rendering output?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/legal-luma-chroma-levels-premiere-pro-cc-2015-simon-walker

@caveport

Adobe just need to add a setting in the "Interpret Footage" panel to force levels to be read appropriately when the source material can't be identified by Premiere correctly.

Agreed, but Adobe refuses to admit it's even a problem, much less provide a user-oriented solution.

While ago I thought I understand rang flags in Premiere: Mov Pres -full range. Mp4 16-235. After the last post I will not try anymore - too big hassle for me.

As a ex FCP7 user Im still on mac but on Premiere since few years. This tests rally suppressed me! I did try FC X when realised. Unfortunately I was too old for its "smart" workflow. (Imovie pro way) Pity... they (PP and FC) do not meet on the midl workflow/performance (flags) ;(

ITS ABOUT PREMIERE VS FCX PERFORMANCE

It is not about Mac vs Pc for me! You can skip first half of video

@LPowell

Thanks. The only issue is when one needs to add newly imported clips into an existing sequence. Premiere does not map the levels and so even with colour correction or Proc Amp tools the clip will not display the same as a clip that is mapped correctly. Yes there are workarounds, mine is to avoid Premiere unless I must use it for round trip grading work with DaVinci Resolve.

It really annoys me that all the editing software packages available have faults and issues that cause post-production headaches. It's not like computer editing is new anymore. These kind of level mapping issues should never have happened.

@spacewig

I remember more than one case where Adobe managers told that they do not care until it sells.