Youtube changes colour of uploaded videos!

[sgm122]

Hi guys,
I seem to have this problem with pretty much every video I upload: when I upload a video edited in Premiere and exported as Quicktime with preset HD 1080i 25fps, H.264 (which I find gives the best quality), Youtube seems to change the colour of it by adding a kind of red/magenta tint to everything, which completely screws up the skin tone (seems if theres any red present it enhances it!). I have uploaded the same file to Vimeo and there has been no change to the colour, so its just something on Youtube.

Has anyone else ever heard of this problem? Is it the export settings Im using thats causing it?

Any help appreciated!!

Here's some examples (Youtube=left, original video file=right):

[Selur]

wild guess:
iirc Youtube the levels to 0-255 (PC range) and expects the source to be 16-235 (TV range), so this might be the effect of what happens if you feed youtube with content which is already in pc range. (strange thing is: I would have expected that Quicktime uses tv range by default)

[roma_turok]

Try upload to YouTube test 10 sec MP4 file with YouTube preset:

[jagabo]

It's a rec.601 vs rec.709 problem.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/329866-incorrect-collor-display-in-video-playback?p...=1#post2045830

[flashandpan007]

What is your workflow? From what file from what camcorder to final Quicktime to upload to YouTube. Want to know where the problem is.

[jagabo]

The problem could even be in the flash player in the browser or in the graphics card. Download one of the HD videos from Youtube and check it. As I understand it, Youtube ignores the colorspace flag (if present) and just reencodes YUV videos without flagging the colorspace. It's up to the player or graphics card to decide whether the conversion to RGB for display should use rec.601 or rec.709. Many players will assume rec.709 with unflagged high definition video, rec.601 for unflagged standard definition (or lower) video. If my understanding of what Youtube does is correct, you should make sure your HD uploads use rec.709 color.

[sgm122]

I've tried the Youtube mp4 export format and got the same thing. So I'm recording on a Canon 600D T3i which produces .mov files. I then import them into Premiere using DSLR settings, edit and export (every export setting I've tried gave the same result). They all look perfect on Quicktime player and VLC player, but when uploaded to Youtube the red is enhanced and tinted throughout everything I think.

I downloaded one of the ones I uploaded and it looks fine, so its only on Youtube's player that it looks weird. How do I make the videos use rec.709 colour??

[sgm122]

BTW, Im using a Macbook Pro 15" 2013 model which has a 1GB dedicated graphics card, but I can't find anyway to access the settings for this, anyone know how?

[roma_turok]

How video look like in Google Chrome?
Google Chrome using html5 player

[sgm122]

Ive been using it in Chrome with HTML5, in Safari its maybe slightly less bad but the problem is still definitely there

[sgm122]

Its obviously pretty hard to tell because of the size but I think it plays without the red tint when I watch it on my phone :S

[roma_turok]

link of video?

[sgm122]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9eQZgkSmhM

[roma_turok]

I don't know, but this look like on my computer(Win7 firefox):

[sgm122]

Thanks, I think thats actually what its meant to be like. its kinda hard to tell on the frame tho, can anyone tell me if this shot looks so red for them?

Seems like it may be how Youtube is playing back on my computer then?

[sgm122]

OK so I checked it on an iPad and the video is as it should be, so it is just the playback on my Macbook (huge relief!). Anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? Could it be an issue with HTML5?

[jagabo]

In post #1 the video is being played locally with rec.709 colors, in the Youtube player it's being displayed with rec.601 colors. When I play the Youtube video (Firefox and Adobe Flash Player) with software decoding it displays with rec.601 colors. When I set Flash Player to hardware decoding it displays with rec.709 colors. I downloaded the 1080p MP4 video from Youtube and found that the colormatrix isn't specified.

So Adobe Flash Player converts unflagged 1080p video to RGB with a rec.601 matrix when using software decoding. When using hardware decoding the graphics card (on my system) is converting with rec.709 (this could vary depending on the OS, graphics card, and drivers). I would try explicitly flagging the color matrix in your uploads and see if that makes a difference. Also try switching Flash Player to hardware decoding if you can. On Windows systems you right click on the video while playing in the browser and select Settings.

Of course, you're operation on the assumption that the camera is using rec.709. You need to verify that. As I understand it, Canon used to use rec.601 (or pc.601) colors and switched to rec.709 or pc.709) a few years ago. At least, on some of their cameras.

[sgm122]

Thanks for your help guys! Im still very confused though, how can I change these settings? Or how can I explicitly flag the color matrix in the videos/uploads? I cant even find where this information is in any of my files. On Chrome, Youtube is using HTML5 by default for my videos and theres no settings option when you right click it, so I dont know how to access any software/hardware decoding options?

I saw on a different forum someone said "Only 5D3, 6D, 1DX and 1DC use Rec.709 space", suggesting that my Canon 600D uses rec.601.

This is so confusing for someone new to all this!

[racer-x]

Yes my t2i records in rec.601. It is advisable to convert the original mov to RGB PC.709 prior to any color grading. Then on export to mp4' you should set color matrix to rec.709.

I don't use Premiere, check the manual on where to specify color primaries and color matrix.

[flashandpan007]

What does MediaInfo tell me when I have a rec.709 or a rec.601 video file?

[flashandpan007]

I ask because I downloaded a EOS 600D videofile -> MediaInfo tells me "YUV"
I downloaded the 1080p mp4 of your video -> MediaInfo tells me "YUV"
All of my AVCHD clips -> MediaInfo tells me "YUV"
Where do I see the difference?

[jagabo]

If you want to run some test: attached is your video as downloaded from Youtube and recompressed with rec.709 flagged, and with the colors converted to rec.601 and flagged as rec.601. Play them both locally to see if your player responds to the flagged matrix. They should both look the same as your original non flagged video played locally. Upload them to Youtube and see if Youtube treats them differently. We're assuming here that your source is rec.709. It may well be rec.601, in which case the playback you're seeing on Youtube has the correct colors.

[sgm122]

They both look normal, the rec709 one is slightly more red than the rec601, but nowhere near as bad as the Youtube video:
Heres the rec601 beside the Youtube video

[sgm122]

And heres the rec709 one

Ill try uploading them both to Youtube and see how they look. How did you convert and flag them, and see all that info?

Thanks a million for your help!

[flashandpan007]

I downloaded your attached files Orkka test rec601.mp4 and Orkka test rec709.mp4 and checked them with MediaInfo:
Orkka test rec601.mp4 -> Matrix coefficients: BT.601
Orkka test rec709.mp4 -> Matrix coefficients: BT.709
and for a file straight from a EOS 600D it tells me
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601
What does that mean?

[sgm122]

Just uploaded them to Youtbe and the same thing is happening even with the flagged viddeos :/

[jagabo]

and for a file straight from a EOS 600D it tells me
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601
What does that mean?

I don't know what it means when the matrix is different from the others.

<edit>

From what I've seen, players only pay attention to the matrix coefficients.

</edit>

[racer-x]

and for a file straight from a EOS 600D it tells me
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601
What does that mean?

Same as the mov straight from my t2i. Matrix coefficients are what you need to go by.