Windows Worstation - Web Only - Client reviewing on Mac OS.

Question out to other Colourists, using a Windows PC workstation, who are prepping Web Only projects and who have clients viewing the work in a Mac OS environment...

Some info about my workstation, noting that work is intended for advertising and general web use with conversion to any print work being handled by prepress on the client side. This is a general purpose workstation set up for advertising work...

- Windows 11
- Resolve 18.5.6
- Displays (10bit - Rec 709 100% / Adobe RGB 100 % coverage) calibrated to CIE D65 / 160 cd/m2 (not set to 100 exclusively for Rec 709) / Gamma 2.2 with an average delta E of .5

Grading in Resolve Node based colour management

CST IN

INPUT COLOUR SPACE - set as needed
INPUT GAMMA - set as needed
OUTPUT COLOUR SPACE - Davinci Wide Gamut
OUTPUT GAMMA - Davinci Intermediate

CST OUT

INPUT COLOUR SPACE - Davinci Wide Gamut
INPUT GAMMA - Davinci Intermediate
OUTPUT COLOUR SPACE - REC 709
OUTPUT GAMMA - GAMMA 2.2 (intended for web)

Rendering out to Quicktime / H.264

All of that info to get to my question. Is there anything I can do in Resolve's settings to ensure that the Gamma shift occurring on client-side Mac OS playback isn't being hit with a Gamma shift and should better match up with what is seen outside of Mac OS?

We just calibrate to Rec709/2.4, and ask that Mac clients set their screens up as follows:



It's such a "Wild West" out there, it's impossible to predict how pictures will change with given laptop displays, full-size displays, operating systems, browsers, and video players. For a lot of reasons, we have in our contract a stipulation, "we only guarantee playback on displays within our control." If we loan them an iPad, we guarantee it will look similar to what we see in our color room."

I seem to post this often. Read these:

"Grading for Mixed Delivery: Cinema, Home, and Every Screen in Between" by Cullen Kelly
https://blog.frame.io/2019/10/14/gradin ... -delivery/

and

"How to Deal with Levels: Full vs. Video"
by Dan Swierenga
https://www.thepostprocess.com/2019/09/ ... l-vs-video

and I think both cover the issues and the solutions very well. This video also covers it:

Understanding color management is also helpful:

"Color Management for Video Editors"
https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video ... o-editors/

The above articles will explain why things change on different displays, different playback engines, and the importance of calibration and color-managed outputs.

I generally try to export a second or two of SMPTE Bars at the head of the project, and I import the file back into Resolve to check it on scopes to verify all the levels are correct. Using calibrated displays is a must -- without that, you have no idea what you're looking at. We also accept that the basic picture is going to change a little bit on different devices, because that's life.

Thanks for sharing this - I'll dig in deep with some research this weekend. Much appreciated.