Incorrect colours when saving out image from Vegas Pro 20 (Build 139) using Voukoder H.264 MP4

1. offizieller Beitrag

    Hi all, I'm having some trouble getting the Voukoder codec to properly render colour on the latest Vegas Pro 20. I tried asking at the Vegas Pro forum, but to no avail.

    Here's what the original looks like: https://i.imgur.com/v8ZWecy.png

    Here's a screenshot from the Vegas-rendered video (not the same!): https://i.imgur.com/i14gkut.png

    Here are all the steps to reproduce the problem:

    1: Go to this site, and download the 1920*1080 testchart.tif file: https://www.belle-nuit.com/test-chart

    2: Open Vegas Pro (preferably v20.0 Build 139), and import the picture, making it last for a second or so.

    3: Select "Render as..." and then select the Voukoder option, followed by the "4:4:4 10 bit alpha" variant.

    4: Click "Customize template...", then: "Show Voukoder dialog".

    5: In the Video tab, select the H.264 codec, then from the Output tab, select "MPEG-4 (.mp4)". Go back to the video tab, and select "4:4:4 General purpose, 10bit projects", finally click "Apply", then "OK".

    6: Close off the Voukoder windows, by clicking the OK button, then OK on the next.

    7: Render out the mp4 file to a location on your drive.

    8: Now finally compare the rendered MP4 file (in say Classic Media Player or Chrome/Firefox/Waterfox), and switch between that and the original TIF file (opened in a picture viewer or Chrome). You'll see that the Vegas rendered version has whites and blacks which are washed out (e.g: what should be R=239,G=239,B=239 looks like 255,255,255). All the six colours are a bit different too in brightness or saturation.

    I don't get the same problem when I render with Vegas' default MainConcept H264 codec at 1920x1080, so I'm wondering what Voukoder is doing that it shouldn't be.

  • Vouk 5. September 2022 um 08:25

    Hat das Thema freigeschaltet.

    With that test image the result from the general Voukoder 8-bit 4:2:0 template looked okay. Saturations are a bit different between the Voukoder renders than the original but perhaps that's because they are clamped to Rec 709 upon output?

    With MPC black and the 10-bit 4:4:4 the superwhites and blacks are lost. The 10-bit file also doesn't look right bringing it back into Vegas.

    I then went into the custom preset and just took the 8-bit 420 template and changed it to 10-bit 444 while keeping everything else the same. This version looks fine in MPC and Vegas, and the same as the 8-bit 420 one. So something is wrong with the Voukoder template? I did both UHD and 1080p and they look the same for both render templates.

    Second version settings:

    General

    Complete name : C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\UHD 10bit 444 third time.mp4

    Format : MPEG-4

    Format profile : Base Media

    Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

    File size : 360 KiB

    Duration : 5 s 5 ms

    Overall bit rate : 590 kb/s

    Writing application : Voukoder (VEGAS)

    Video

    ID : 1

    Format : AVC

    Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

    Format profile : High 4:4:4 Predictive@L5.1

    Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames

    Format settings, CABAC : Yes

    Format settings, Reference fra : 4 frames

    Codec ID : avc1

    Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

    Duration : 5 s 5 ms

    Bit rate : 587 kb/s

    Width : 3 840 pixels

    Height : 2 160 pixels

    Display aspect ratio : 16:9

    Frame rate mode : Constant

    Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

    Chroma subsampling : 4:4:4

    Bit depth : 10 bits

    Scan type : Progressive

    Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.003

    Stream size : 359 KiB (100%)

    Writing library : x264 core 164

    Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.77:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=8 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=11 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=480 / keyint_min=3 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=110 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=17.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=24 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=3:0.80

    Codec configuration box : avcC


    Not working settings:

    General

    Complete name : C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\Voukoder 10 bit 444.mov

    Format : MPEG-4

    Format profile : QuickTime

    Codec ID : qt 0000.02 (qt )

    File size : 518 KiB

    Duration : 5 s 5 ms

    Overall bit rate : 849 kb/s

    Writing application : Lavf59.16.100

    Video

    ID : 1

    Format : AVC

    Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

    Format profile : High 4:4:4 Predictive@L5.1

    Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames

    Format settings, CABAC : Yes

    Format settings, Reference fra : 4 frames

    Codec ID : avc1

    Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

    Duration : 5 s 5 ms

    Bit rate : 846 kb/s

    Width : 3 840 pixels

    Height : 2 160 pixels

    Display aspect ratio : 16:9

    Frame rate mode : Constant

    Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

    Chroma subsampling : 4:4:4

    Bit depth : 10 bits

    Scan type : Progressive

    Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.004

    Stream size : 517 KiB (100%)

    Writing library : x264 core 164

    Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.77:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=8 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=11 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=480 / keyint_min=3 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=110 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=17.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=24 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=3:0.90

    Codec configuration box : avcC

  • Vouk 6. September 2022 um 08:44

    Hat das Label In Bearbeitung hinzugefügt.

    I can verify rsmith's experience. Although the 4:4:4 is washed out at the extremes (looks like a bug), the 4:2:0 image (with a template created from fresh) looks good and the chroma subsampling sections are as expected. I found the 6 primary / secondary colours almost exactly the same as the original TIF using an eye dropper tool.

    And yes, there definitely seems something up with the template system too. Creating the 4:4:4 template and then giving that template a name such as "My444template", reusing that template, and then selecting the 4:2:0 template from the *Voukoder 11.3.2 dialog window* produces washed out colours - as if it was still the 4:4:4 template behind the scenes. Very confusing.

    Vouk: I wonder if you can simplify things a little by putting the Output tab settings on the same tab as the Video tab? There's so few options in the Output tab, and it's awkward to switch back and forwards a couple of times. To newcomers, it's also not immediately obvious that new settings in the Output tab -> Container dropdown are available once you change the codec in the Video tab.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Can you try if this version helps?

    Output

    If you disable "Audio" or "Video" in the NLE's settings it also disappears in Voukoder. So I can't remove it. In the upcoming Voukoder successor there will be a better approch. But I don't have a release date yet.

    Sorry to say both problems still occur for me: For the 4:4:4 variant, the near-whites are washed out to 255, and the near-blacks are washed out to 0. And the template problem still seems to happen where if I select a 4:2:0 profile, and then edit it to become 4:4:4, it unfortunately produces the usual chroma subsampling colour artifacts as if it were still 4:2:0.

    As well as the general Voukoder version, can you put the Voukoder connector version in the GUI as well ? It's 1.6.0.1, but I can't see that anywhere. Just nice to know I'm running the latest.

    That's strange. I went through all the steps exactly in my first post, and I'm still getting washed out whites/blacks. Below is an image. Any idea what could be up? I set all Vegas Pro Options->Preferences to their defaults. Project settings are attached to this post. Are you using Vegas Pro 20?

    By the way, I'm using "4:4:4 10 bit alpha, Audio: none" so I can create mp4 files, though the same problem happens with the slight variant "Audio: project default", where I'm forced to create a .mov file. Any chance of allowing mp4 creation for video+audio files, since Chrome doesn't directly support .mov.

    Zitat von Vouk

    Following your steps above I get this output (which looks good to me):

    I just came in with the same problem.

    I'm trying to render my video in color full range.

    If I write in YUV420 (full range 0-255 of course), then everything is OK. In YUV422 everything is ok too (I would have to confirm it yet).

    But if I save 10-bit in YUV444, the file is marked as full color range but encoded as limited color range (16-235). Of course, in the Vukoder options I have the color range set to Full (PC).

    I do not know how the Vukoder works from the technical side, but it looks as if in the YUV444 format it did not send the full color range flag to the encoder. And the encoder renders converts data from full range to limited.

    I have a project on the screen so I can test if necessary.

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von rgr (11. Oktober 2022 um 18:33)