Apple Snow Leopard 10.6 Build 10A432 QuickTime X color & contrast inconsistency
Over the holiday, I ran some tests upon realizing that QuickTime on Snow Leopard was presenting all of its content washed out with less overall contrast. Below are the steps I followed while preparing documentation of this issue to submit to a QuickTime product specialist at Apple.
I discovered that QuickTime X on Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Version 10.6 Build 10A432) has significant color and contrast inconsistency across multiple applications.
Could this inconsistency be due to the change in the Mac default system gamma value from 1.8 to 2.2 with Snow Leopard?
The following images are best viewed at original size by clicking on each image to read text. Alternatively view the slideshow here.
Side note: All of the screenshots were taken using Command-Shift-4. I normally use Snapz Pro X to take screenshots which creates files with the sRGB color profile embedded. Because of this, I was unaware that using the OS’s default Command-Shift-4 for screenshots results in a PNG which has an embedded color profile that is defined by the current System Preferences’ Display Color settings. The confusing thing is that, when creating a PNG from Photoshop, the option for embedding the color profile is not a selectable option. However, the System Preferences’ Display Color settings are shown as if they are being included in the file but there is no option to disable it at this point. The user has to first convert the file manually from within Photoshop to the desired color profile, then save the file as a PNG in order to modify the default embedded color profile that is included in PNGs when using Command-Shift-4, if it is needed. This is why there can be little consistency between screenshots taken on multiple computers unless care is taken to make sure that all systems are set up using the exact same color profile or post color profile conversions will need to be carried out.
For all of my tests I set the display color settings in System Preferences to sRGB IEC61966-2.1.
IMAGE #1
IMAGE #1 is the original PSD file (CandyMountainLane.psd) I started out with. It was set to 16bits/Channel but due to the default screenshot PNGs being created at 8bit I changed the PSD to 8bits/Channel for these comparisons. There are no noticeable differences between viewing this image in 8bit or 16bit.
I imported the original PSD (IMAGE #1) into After Effects then exported it as a QuickTime movie (ColorTest07Animation.mov) using the settings seen in IMAGE #2.
IMAGE #2
IMAGE #3 is a screenshot of ColorTest07Animation.mov viewed in QuickTime X.
IMAGE #3
IMAGE #4 is screenshot of ColorTest07Animation.mov viewed in QuickTime 7.
IMAGE #4
There are no noticeable difference between the QuickTime X (IMAGE #3) and QuickTime 7 (IMAGE #4) players running on OS X 10.6 Build 10A432. They look the same.
Noticeable differences can be seen between the QuickTime screenshots (IMAGE #3 and IMAGE #4) and the original PSD (IMAGE #1). IMAGE #3 and IMAGE #4 are lighter with less overall saturation and contrast than IMAGE #1.
IMAGE #5 is a Movie Clipping made from ColorTest07Animation.mov and drag-and-dropping a frame from QT 7 to Finder and then opening in Photoshop.
IMAGE #5
For some reason, the Movie Clipping opened in Photoshop (IMAGE #5) is accurate when compared to the original source PSD file (IMAGE #1). When viewing the Movie Clipping in QuickTime it looks different than opening this same Movie Clipping in Photoshop (working color profile is set to sRGB). Viewing the Movie Clipping inside of QuickTime looks the same as the movie it was saved from. So it seems as if the way QuickTime is presenting video content system wide is washed out with less contrast and inaccurate when compared to the original image. It does not seems as if QuickTime is presenting the movie that was saved with sRGB color profile as it should be.
IMAGE #6 is a side by side comparison on Snow Leopard of CandyMountainLane.psd (IMAGE #1) & a screen shot of ColorTest07Animation.mov viewed in QuickTime X. Noticeable color & contrast differences between the two can be seen.
IMAGE #6
IMAGE #7 is a screenshot of viewing CandyMountainLane.psd (IMAGE #1) imported into Final Cut Pro version 6.0.6. This is only the PSD presented in Final Cut Pro and is not yet a video.
IMAGE #7
IMAGE #8 is a screenshot of the Final Cut Pro Sequence Preset Editor and Compression Settings I used to export the QuickTime movie file (ColorTest07AnimationFromFC.mov) from Final Cut Pro.
IMAGE #8
IMAGE #9 is a screenshot of the resulting QuickTime movie file (ColorTest07AnimationFromFC.mov) exported from Final Cut Pro using the settings shown in IMAGE #8.
IMAGE #9
IMAGE #10 is a screenshot of the resulting QuickTime movie file (ColorTest07AnimationFromFC.mov) exported from Final Cut Pro using the settings shown in IMAGE #9.
When exporting QT movies from both Final Cut Pro and After Effects, noticeable color and contrast differences can be seen when comparing the resulting files that have been compressed using the Apple Animation Codec to the original PSD (IMAGE #1) when viewing it in Preview, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, & After Effects. The exported movies are lighter with less overall saturation and contrast than the original source material.
IMAGE #10
IMAGE #11 is the results from outputting one frame as a PSD from After Effects with its output profile set to the projects working space of sRGB IEC61966-2.1.
IMAGE #11
Noticeable color & contrast differences can be seen when comparing this output frame to the same image (IMAGE #1) output as a QuickTime movie compressed using the Apple Animation Codec from both FCP (IMAGE #10) & After Effects (IMAGE #3).
IMAGE #12 is the original scaled down version of CandyMountainLane.psd (IMAGE #1) shown in lower left for comparison to how ColorTest07Animation.mov (IMAGE #3) looks.
IMAGE #12
IMAGE #13 is the original scaled down version of CandyMountainLane.psd (IMAGE #1) shown in lower left for comparison to how the same file looks in Preview.
IMAGE #13
IMAGE #14 is viewing CandyMountainLane.psd in Preview, PS, & QuickTime 7.
QuickTime presents the same file washed out and with less contrast over all.
IMAGE #14
IMAGE #15 is a screenshot of ColorTest07Animation.mov viewed in QuickTime 7 on OS X 10.5.8 Build 9L30 with display color settings in System Preferences set to sRGB IEC61966-2.1.
IMAGE #15
No noticeable differences can be seen between this screenshot (IMAGE #15) and the original PSD (IMAGE #1).
Unlike Apple’s intermediate codecs as well as H.264, Apple Animation is not affected by the QuickTime 7 ‚”Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility” preference setting.
IMAGE #16
IMAGE #16 is a side by side comparison on Leopard of CandyMountainLane.psd (IMAGE #1) & a screen shot of ColorTest07Animation.mov viewed in QuickTime 7. Unlike viewing the same files compared on Snow Leopard (IMAGE #6) there is no difference when viewing on Leopard.
My conclusion is that it is now impossible to perform video color correction on Snow Leopard due to QuickTime not being able to maintain color, brightness, or luminance when compared to the original source material if it is, say for instance, a numbered sequence of RGB frames.
On OS 10.5, when avoiding Apple’s intermediate codecs, color and contrast are consistent between multiple applications if care is taken. So needless to say, pros should not upgrade their main workstations to 10.6 until Apple corrects this.
UPDATE: 2009-09-10
I have not yet had the chance to try the workaround of calibrating Snow Leopard to use a gamma value of 1.8 as described in this Apple support article. If this workaround does work, I would not consider this the solution because H.264 and the Apple Intermediate codecs are notoriously known to be difficult to deal with when attempting to maintain color and brightness consistency from high quality source materials to compressed videos for web delivery. X.264 and gamma tag strippers have been many users’, including myself, solutions for this. I was hopeful that the update to OS X 10.6 would be the solution for these long standing issues but it’s not the case at this point.
UPDATE: 2009-09-11
Calibrating Snow Leopard to use a gamma value of 1.8 as described in this Apple support article does not solve these issues.
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QuickTime in Snow Leopard seems to be pretty strict about the color profiles within the video files. I just ran a sort of similar experiment to what you did, and found that when I manually added the “HD” color profile to the rendered MOVs using Automator, the contrast, gamma, and saturation appeared much closer in gamma, contrast, and saturation to the original image source with its embedded color profile.
It appears that, in absence of an embedded color profile, QuickTime in Snow Leopard defaults to the “SD” codec, which has a lower gamma level and therefore looks lighter.
Derek, thank you for this precise demonstration of the problem. It was driving me crazy since I thought it was something wrong with the settings on my end. I hope that Apple will issue a Snow Leopard or Quicktime update to fix this ASAP.
If you hear of any updates, please let me know.
Thank you for posting this Derek. I would have thought I was doing something wrong. I just installed Snow Leopard last weekend and have not used anything but iPhoto yet.
Very impressive demonstration !!!
kk
Just posted some tests we did here:
http://mograph.net/board/index.php?showtopic=20687&st=0&gopid=170698&#entry170698
I was considering dragging my Mac Pro to the local “genius” bar to yet again walk out frustrated that I knew more about the OS than any of them. Glad to find someone who knows what they are talking about, has info to support their statements, and is kind enough to share it with the community. Thank you!
Thanks for the kind words and suggestions. Even after further testing and research I still do not have a solution and am unfortunately still waiting to hear from Apple engineers.
Intresting to se more people finding this problem. Have you find an soultion?/Joel
a possible workaround I have found online for gamma shift in QT codecs (H.264 and DV-PAL)
SOLUTION: After rendering into a QuickTime/h.264 file, open it up in QuickTime and select “Show Movie Properties.” Highlight the video track then click on the “Visual Settings” tab. Towards the bottom left you should see “Transparency” with a drop-down box next to it. Select “Blend” from the menu then move the “Transparency Level” slider to 100%. Choose “Straight Alpha” from the same drop-down and close the properties window and finally “Save.”