Color Shift (Desaturated)

[harrysundown]

I recently moved over to trying DCP-o-matic because I found that when I tried Kadaku/easyDCP from DaVinci Resolve that my DCP had noticeably desaturated color when projected in the theater. When I got home I found that when opening the DCP in DCP-o-matic player, the color looked desaturated in the same way. Likewise, if I render a ProRes 422 MOV from Render and open it in DCP-o-matic (to create a DCP), the color looks desaturated in the same way.

Original (as it looks in Davinci/Quicktime):

Screen Shot 2022-11-12 at 11.55.44 AM.png

DCP (as it looks in DCP-o-matic)

Screen Shot 2022-11-12 at 11.55.33 AM.png

I am using Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 as the color space in Resolve.

I am totally stumped here. The fact that I'm seeing the same precise color issue whether I import the ProRes file into DCP-o-matic or create the DCP in Resolve with Kadaku or easyDCP makes me hopeful it's some sort of configuration I can fix. Any ideas?

Thank you!

[Carsten]

Not sure if I understand your workflow, but, you may have a look at these two recent threads:


https://dcpomatic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1989

https://dcpomatic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1928

Aside from that - you always need to check your DCP in a cinema on a projector that you know has seen at least occasional calibration.

Monitors/software players do not offer the necessary level of confidence. Not if you're picky.

[harrysundown]

I don't think I have a gamma shift issue like the second thread, but the first thread seems similar. I tried everything recommended in there, but it didn't change anything for me.

Is it normal to have the color look different in DCP-o-matic from the beginning? I pulled in a ProRes 422 master rendered from Resolve and it immediately displayed the color differently. Same result when creating the DCP and then loading it into the player.

[Carsten]

All these different apps do not follow the same. color management features of the operating system (if at all). So, yes, it is normal to see small differences. You need to calibrate your software, monitor, and always use the same workflow to achieve some consistency. In general, the differences are small enough for 'ordinary' people to not notice them as 'wrong'. But if you know your footage and are picky, then, yes there is always 'some' difference.

Keep in mind, that cinema uses a gamma of 2.6 on a screen with a standard luminance of 14fl or 48cd/sqm. Whereas your monitor will have something between 100 and 300cd/sqm. Our color perception varies greatly between these luminance values already.

[giu30]

I recently moved over to trying DCP-o-matic because I found that when I tried Kadaku/easyDCP from DaVinci Resolve that my DCP had noticeably desaturated color when projected in the theater. When I got home I found that when opening the DCP in DCP-o-matic player, the color looked desaturated in the same way. Likewise, if I render a ProRes 422 MOV from Render and open it in DCP-o-matic (to create a DCP), the color looks desaturated in the same way.

Original (as it looks in Davinci/Quicktime):
Screen Shot 2022-11-12 at 11.55.44 AM.png


DCP (as it looks in DCP-o-matic)
Screen Shot 2022-11-12 at 11.55.33 AM.png


I am using Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 as the color space in Resolve.

I am totally stumped here. The fact that I'm seeing the same precise color issue whether I import the ProRes file into DCP-o-matic or create the DCP in Resolve with Kadaku or easyDCP makes me hopeful it's some sort of configuration I can fix. Any ideas?

Thank you!

Hi guys,
same issue here. Probably as someone else already say we can’t test the dcp on the pc monitor because the color perception in a theater are different.

I did this test: put on Davinci Resolve timeline the Prores 4444 master and .mxf dcp made by dcp-o-matic. The result on my rec709 calibrated display is perfect the same!

I guess the computers player like vlc, quicktime, dcp-o-matic-player and OS (especially MAC OS) doesn’t work properly to convert XYZ to sRGB.