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Author Topic: Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback  (Read 4901 times)

wer

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Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback
« on: January 07, 2012, 03:09:44 am »

I'd like to suggest implementing Color Managed video playback as a feature.  It has previously been suggested for image/cover-art display, and indeed that would be nice, but implementing it for video playback would be brilliant.

Currently, Media Player Classic Home Cinema has implemented this feature.  They do the transformations on the GPU. It plays back glitch-free; works great.

I've tried it out, and the results are AMAZING.  Robin Hood (the Errol Flynn version) takes on a realism it never had, instead of the cartoonish colors so often seen with too-vivid computer displays.

This feature would be especially helpful for those people with wide-gamut displays, which tend to over-saturate when showing non-color-managed material.

Those of you who have a wide-gamut (30-bit color) display, or a color-profiled monitor, I strongly suggest you download MPC-HC and take a look.  You'll be shocked at how much better it looks.

Obviously MPC-HC is not really a competitor to JRiver... If this could be implemented in Media Center (there's no reason why not) it would be the only application of it's type to take such a dramatic step in improving video quality.

Some info on how they've implemented this in MPC-HC is here:
http://voxelium.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/icc-color-management-in-media-player-classic-home-cinema/

Thanks,

-Will
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Hendrik

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Re: Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback (MPC-HC has it)
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2012, 03:55:29 am »

You can already do this if you use madVR (with RO HQ), and feed it a 3D LUT that was measured and calibrated against your TV/Monitor.
I'm not sure if there are tools yet to create a 3D LUT from an ICC file, but these resources can possibly help you:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=154719
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=162285

Granted, its a bit more effort then just enabling an option, however you do get full control over the result!
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wer

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Re: Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback (MPC-HC has it)
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2012, 03:27:19 pm »

That's interesting... I'm not too surprised that madVR has some facility for this.

But I've read through the articles and "a bit more effort" is something of an understatement.  The path to go from ICC profiles (which is what everyone has, since that is the standard for Windows color management) to ti3/cal to 3dlut to madVR is convoluted, and I would think beyond the ability/tolerance of most users.

Much better to have the support in Media Center, even if that support only extended to making the ICC->3dlut conversion and loading that into madVR for you.
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Sandy B Ridge

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Re: Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2012, 03:38:27 pm »

Calibration is definitely something on my to do list. I was hanging on for a little while on the assumption that continued development of MadVR would potentially need recalibration every few releases. I have a spectrometer thingy lying around for my photo work, so I don't think it would be too much hard work to get the 3d LUT going once I figure it out.

Does anyone know how much of a 'hit' adding a 3dLUT to MadVR has on the GPU performance? My GT430 is just about keeping up with things at the moment, but fear that adding an 'extra' step would be too much for it. Any idea?

SBR
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Hendrik

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Re: Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2012, 03:52:10 pm »

"Most users" probably installed the ICC profile that came with their monitors driver, if even.
Those ICC are basically useless, as every screen is different, and without measuring your display, it really doesn't help much.

If all you want is to compensate for a wide-gamut screen, i believe madVR has a simple switch for that without a full 3D LUT.

Anyway, automating the ICC -> 3DLUT process is probably not that hard.
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wer

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Re: Suggestion: Color Management for Video Playback
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2012, 03:07:54 pm »

I don't have a link to throw at you for proof, but Madshi discussed the performance impact on another message board, and said the impact on MadVR was negligible, and not worth being concerned about at all.  I'm sure if you asked him he would be glad to explain why.
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