Avi for Web, color issues

busterkeaton wrote on 12/7/2003, 12:07 PM
Hi,

I have a project that is going to be delivered to the web. At first they wanted me to do the Windows Media 9 encoding. Then they changed their minds and decided they want me to deliver on DV tape and they will do the encoding.
My question is that I have already done some titles using computer color space with my whites at 255.

Do I need to change anything? The whites at 255 do look better than broadcast whites, but I am concerned that they will do a preview on a tv before they they import the footage to the PC.

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 12/7/2003, 12:25 PM
I wouldn't worry about it. Just tell them that you intentionally generated the whites at 255 because you knew that the video was for web delivery. Hopefully, they will be impressed by your attention to detail.

John
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/7/2003, 12:30 PM
However, while web can manage 255 for white, there is no reason to deliver at that level. The eye can't detect the difference in color, only luminance. The encoder has to work harder to reproduce the range, and the primary trick in great encodes is to reduce the load on the encoder, removing saturation whereever possible.
So, tell them....but next time, play around a little. You'll find you're very happy for intranet or web delivery losing up to 15% of the overall saturation.
Web media isn't for entertainment yet.....it's for information delivery and dissemination. Hence, audio is more important than video, and video can look great if you simply prepare it correctly. At any rate faster than 56k, all but high motion video can be VHS quality.
busterkeaton wrote on 12/7/2003, 4:09 PM
Spot.

So the range in colors affects the encoder as well? I'm using simple two color titles. So it's either at one color or the other, there's no real gradations in color.

White at 255, 255, 255
and Blue at 0, 0, 225.

So it's blue text on a white background and white text and blue background. There is no other video or colors to worry about. These were the colors that looked best to my eye and the client liked. Using white at 235, 235, 235 looked a bit too grey to me.

There is some music playing under the titles.
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/7/2003, 7:11 PM
Keep in mind, they appear more grey due to gamma differences and encoding typically will darken imagery somewhat. Do a calibration of your own media player, and you'll see what I mean. Your client's probably won't have a calibrated Media Player, but that's beside the point.
Any time you have high contrast, it hits the encoder harder. If there is no motion, you might consider placing markers in that section to keep it from shifting too much.
Here's a weird one, but it's an MS issue...Not a Vegas issue.
Encode a still image. No motion. Then watch it in WMP. It will shift over time.
Do the same thing to REAL's codec or QT. No shift. Because of the way that the WM encoder looks and inserts keyframes, it's weird with stills. There's a more technical explanation, but thought you'd want to see this for yourself.
In other words, you are actually better off slowly zooming a still than to let it be a straight still in W M.