Help! I'm drowning in color settings/spaces

Hi to every color-scientist out there!

I've been reading all morning about color calibration but I read a lot of opinions and different views on the subject.

I'm working freelance in the post-production industry for 2 months now and my boyfriend build me my own workstation.

my workstation:
Windows 10
2x Xeon 2670
Nvidia geforce gtx 1070
Monitor: Dell UP2716D


Before I had the luxury to work in post-production studio's where I didn't (need to) think about color calibration and settings and whatsoever...

Most of the time I work for commercials. So I use after effects, premiere and I assist for some projects other colorists in Davinci Resolve.

Now I've figured that Adobe premiere displays and encodes everything in Rec709.
In After effects you can choose the color space you like or no color space.
In Davinci it depends from the raw footage/your preference to grade in? Correct me if I'm wrong.

So main question: which color settings/setup is best? There are settings everywhere...

I have settings in my Nvidia config to adapt my 'video color settings'.
option 1; Use video player settings (standard)
option 2: Nvidia - settings (if selected you can change gamma, color, ...)

Settings in adobe software? Should I leave it non-color managed e.g. after effects?

If I composite a file in AE - I'm not working in a color space, color management is off - and I export to a uncompressed YUV-10 bit file or dpx for davinci resolve. Is that a correct workflow?

When using Davinci resolve I also render my videos as uncompressed YUV 10-bit for my clients.

Monitor settings I've put in sRGB cause I've read that's the best color space for video. I have also a Rec709 setting but then I have al very deep contrast, black screen.
I've read a lot about X-rite and spiders but that's not doing everything right, does it?

I just want to make sure that the colors in my work I see on my monitor are matching to most screens, televisions... in general. I know it's impossible to match everything.

I'm trying to understand more of color management.

Can someone help me?

You could keep it simple and just do everything in Rec709. If you have a color-managed output feeding an external display calibrated to Rec709, and Resolve is completely set up for a Rec709 2.4 gamma timeline and a Rec709 2.5 gamma output, then what you see is what you get. If it's just TV commercials, I don't see the need to make it more complicated than this.

Don't believe what you see on a computer display. The factory presets are misleading at best and an outright lie at worst. Only trust an external calibrated grading display (connected with a Blackmagic video adapter) and (preferably separate) waveform monitors and vectorscopes. Keep this as simple as possible and avoid over-complicating it. Know going in that true grading displays are not cheap -- you get what you pay for.

There are settings everywhere...

I have settings in my Nvidia config to adapt my 'video color settings'.
option 1; Use video player settings (standard)
option 2: Nvidia - settings (if selected you can change gamma, color, ...)

Settings in adobe software? Should I leave it non-color managed e.g. after effects?

If I composite a file in AE - I'm not working in a color space, color management is off - and I export to a uncompressed YUV-10 bit file or dpx for davinci resolve. Is that a correct workflow?

When using Davinci resolve I also render my videos as uncompressed YUV 10-bit for my clients.

Monitor settings I've put in sRGB cause I've read that's the best color space for video. I have also a Rec709 setting but then I have al very deep contrast, black screen.
I've read a lot about X-rite and spiders but that's not doing everything right, does it?

I just want to make sure that the colors in my work I see on my monitor are matching to most screens, televisions... in general.

Marc's approach is the orthodox recommendation while working inside Resolve.

You are opening up a common can of worms when introducing the little carnival of software applications that either obey, ignore, or impose their interpretation of whatever color management system is in place on your system configuration. Resolve is no exception -- in that it it can be set up to to ignore or conform with your system settings - the option to *Use the Mac Display Color Profile for Viewers* is an example.

Resolve is universal enough to work in any colorspace currently in approved use. You do have to figure out which one is appropriate for your workflow, no one else can automatically pick that for you.

As for relying on a silo'd commodity platform -- that is, a garden variety PC/graphics monitor, that is going to take some effort to come up with something that is useful. Its not 100% coherent, but sRGB is not that bad a choice... if you surrender to the notion that nobody watches television anymore. Probably not quite true, yet.

The nVidia settings you refer to are overall PC system management settings and Windows operators will have to chime in here to comment on whether Resolve automatically ignores them or not. I don't know. Not something I use in Mac, other than on my iMac5K that I use to pull up Resolve to check betas and operator's manual comments.

What Adobe software does? It better conform to sRGB, 709, or P3, or 2020 or 2035 or else. Ranging is another matter -- beware that eventually you will run into the 0-1023 vs. linear video issue, where overall black-white levels are mapped incorrectly. Especially if you insist on using the "Uncompressed 10-bit" codec for your clients. Actually kind of dangerous, especially if you are in Windows/Mac situation, because there are Quicktime flags that the differing OS's will confuse. Sometimes going from one direction to another you will get a codec-None flag, and it is inevitable that you will encounter the ranging problem. Exactly like the two kinds of drivers at Indy -- the ones who have hit the wall, and the ones who are going to hit the wall.

If you're going to make really big files (even if these are short subject commercials) consider dpx sequences if you are sharing out projects.

If you are encountering a big contrast issue with flipping between sRGB and 709, there are bigger problems that you need to deal with in your internal configuration. This may be the full range RGB - YCbCr709 ranging issue right away.

The lowest price photospectrometer you should consider would be the i-one (C6) that SpectraCal offers. The Spyders and other Fisher-Price devices don't have the dark sensitivity that will get you an accurate (as opposed to precise) result. Yes, dark sensitivity. White balance is a no-brainer. If you have been a colorist for any appreciable amount of time, you know this.

Good that you realize "it's impossible to match everything." Not widely appreciated. So many people think they can dive into this field and cut up a fish into a steak-shape and sell it as filet mignon, when its filet-o-fish. (McDonald's reference) What is in that special sauce? ACES (without 'u')?

jPo, CSI