Correct output for broadcast safe colors in After Effects

[Christoffer Glans]

I've graded music video in DaVinci Resolve 11 and I think there is some problem with the video level output because it's not correct when looking at the scopes in Avid, even though they should be.
Instead I rendered out the video in UHD resolution at "data levels" which means 0-255 RGB. Now, I've made a master in After Effects, but I need to export it correctly for delivery. How do I do that?
When I render out at rec709 16-235 it doesn't look correct at all.

 

[Stacey Spears]

What format did you render as? How are you viewing the 709 16, 235 render? Is the display you are viewing it on calibrated for 16, 235 or 0, 255? e.g. if you play a file back in Windows Media Player (WMP), it assumes the source is 16, 235 and then expands that to 0, 255. If you play the same file in Media Center, it keeps as 16, 235. If you play the same file in QT player, on Windows, it also keeps the levels at 16, 235. This is why QT player looks washed out compared to WMP on the same machine. On top of that, drivers from AMD and NVIDIA might expand or might show as is depending on the month. I forget what VLC does.

I don't know how a Mac behaves.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I've graded music video in DaVinci Resolve 11 and I think there is some problem with the video level output because it's not correct when looking at the scopes in Avid, even though they should be.

You might be wiser to check the files on a standalone 3rd-party scope like Scopebox:

http://www.divergentmedia.com/scopebox

Bigger, full-featured broadcast scope hardware from Tektronix and Leader have features where they will give you a running list of every timecode number when chroma or luminance flaws are sensed. Note that those scopes generally cost about $20K-$30K.

If you're rendering in data mode, then it's not in video mode and the levels are most likely (but not definitely) going to clip. Generally with Resolve v9 or v10, I haven't had a problem just using a Track node and a soft clip to limit any illegal excursions. With v11, at least you have a Broadcast Safe setting, though I think the soft clips are more flexible and less destructive, depending on how you use them.