zeropc said:
always remember: blu-ray is capable to hold a higher color spectrum then dvd or ld was able to do. so using a ld or even a dvd for reference might result in a wrong color display altogether.
The BD uses 8 bit for each color, and rec.709 as color space; chroma ranges from 16 to 240, hence we have 225 possible values for each RGB; total colors that could be displayed are 225x225x225= 11.390.625; DVD uses rec.601 with different coefficients, but the total colors remains the same; LD uses bt.601, but as analog format has not a finished amount of color that could be displayed, so theoretically LD has infinite number of colors; all these colorspaces cover about 35% of the CIE gamut.
So, could you explain better your assertion?
i also not recommend to do color correction purely by eye, unless you
- have approved monitors for color correction, which are also properly calibrated
- have high knowledge of color correction using scopes
- know what the original intended look of the movie was
point 3 will be very had to fill, since none of has ever spoken to the directors to the extend a colorist would've or has access to the notes done during the color correction process.
Totally agree.
the final results may look good, but also may not represent what was originally intended. a good example were i have mixed feelings about the result is andrea's the thing color correction. while it looks pretty good, i don't think it's the right look. john carpenter usually goes to a more natural look of colors. especially the skin tones in andrea's the thing look way to desaturated. which i think is a result of using a laserdisc color. we wont know for sure, unless mr. carpenter would watch that version and tells us if it's right or totally wrong.
My attempt is just a compromise; and I agree that sometimes the skin tones are too desaturated; the fact that saturation is quite low could be due to different factors:
- a direct comparison with the HD-DVD/BD obviously fools our eyes to believe the spoRv/LD colors are dull
- I captured the LD with default settings (my fault!) - changing the brightness, contrast and color before capturing, could avoid (all or in part) the problem... but, as I have not the only PAL LD with color bars, I could not optimize the capture values...
- LD format usually has colors set at 75% of full saturation, to avoid color bleeding because is a composite format - I should have set the saturation to 1.33 to be "right"; I tested this, and in some scenes snow turned pinkish, while the faces looks right... maybe I should set the saturation at 1.33 only for not-snow scenes. I admit I have thought to do it, but I decided to not touch saturation - and probably was a wrong decision!
- the very PAL LD edition I used has low saturation
Still, I like most white snow and black and white husky dog... (^^,)
Only John Carpenter will tell us which version he thinks is right, but probably we'll never know...