Use Mac Display Viewers Weird Behavior

When using "Use Mac Display Viewers", I find that Rec.709 timelines work normally, but if the color space of the timeline is HDR, whether PQ or HLG, blows out anything over 75% on the scopes. This doesn't happen when the option is off, but leaves footage looking inaccurate and less saturated on SDR output due to the R709 and P3 differences. HDR is then more saturated after output due to the Rec2020 color space being larger than that of P3.

Is there a good solution for this? It just seems that the option is bugged out and meant to work well on the 14 and 16 inch Macs that actually have HDR screens but I have the 13" one which doesn't have it.

Don't try to color-correct on a laptop display. Read page 2756 of the Resolve 18.1 manual, "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display." This explains why it's unwise to try to use a computer display for final color correction. The same problem also exists with the "Clean Feed" output, since it's not color managed.

More importantly: don't try to make judgements on uncalibrated GUI displays. That will lead down a perilous road of pain and suffering... I think even more so with uncalibrated XDR displays. And if you do look at anything in the GUI display, don't compare it to what you see in Resolve.

The Clean Feed can be perfectly adequate if you're only editing in Resolve and don't need to make any precise color judgements on the fullscreen preview display. If you do need to see accurate color, you really need a color-managed output with a Blackmagic UltraStudio or Decklink adapter, plus an external calibrated display. And to calibrate it, you need proper test signals, probes, and software outside of Resolve to ensure that it meets normal industry standards.

Steve Shaw of LightIllusion has a good essay on the importance of using grading displays for judging color:

https://www.lightillusion.com/grading_displays.html

It's dicey to try to try to judge anything on a MacBook Pro M1 Max XDR display (I'm staring at one right now), but it's not horrible if you select the "HD Video BT1886" preset, turn off "Automatically Adjust Brightness," turn off TrueTone, and turn off Night Shift. It's not ideal to color grade on, but it's not a terrible real-world display.

Don't try to color-correct on a laptop display. Read page 2756 of the Resolve 18.1 manual, "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display." This explains why it's unwise to try to use a computer display for final color correction. The same problem also exists with the "Clean Feed" output, since it's not color managed.

More importantly: don't try to make judgements on uncalibrated GUI displays. That will lead down a perilous road of pain and suffering... I think even more so with uncalibrated XDR displays. And if you do look at anything in the GUI display, don't compare it to what you see in Resolve.

The Clean Feed can be perfectly adequate if you're only editing in Resolve and don't need to make any precise color judgements on the fullscreen preview display. If you do need to see accurate color, you really need a color-managed output with a Blackmagic UltraStudio or Decklink adapter, plus an external calibrated display. And to calibrate it, you need proper test signals, probes, and software outside of Resolve to ensure that it meets normal industry standards.

Steve Shaw of LightIllusion has a good essay on the importance of using grading displays for judging color:

https://www.lightillusion.com/grading_displays.html

It's dicey to try to try to judge anything on a MacBook Pro M1 Max XDR display (I'm staring at one right now), but it's not horrible if you select the "HD Video BT1886" preset, turn off "Automatically Adjust Brightness," turn off TrueTone, and turn off Night Shift. It's not ideal to color grade on, but it's not a terrible real-world display.

I understand but I can't afford a color calibrated HDR display and the color managing equipment to go along with that. Since I am abroad right now away from my color calibrated R709 display and pretty powerful Windows desktop, I am simply trying to find a workaround to still be able to color grade alright even if it's not 100% accurate.

I am not in the industry so 100% accuracy isn't important to me, but getting as close as I can without an X-rite would help a little.

I find that Rec.709 timelines work normally, but if the color space of the timeline is HDR, whether PQ or HLG, blows out anything over 75% on the scopes. This doesn't happen when the option is off, but leaves footage looking inaccurate and less saturated on SDR output due to the R709 and P3 differences. HDR is then more saturated after output due to the Rec2020 color space being larger than that of P3.

Sorry but for clarity sake. Are you referring to the Timeline Color Space or the Output Color Space?

If an SDR timeline works so should an HDR timeline to SDR outputs. If you are referring to HDR output for an HDR deliverable you're out of luck. It's impossible to do HDR grading on a non HDR display. If you'd need something for on the road the only way would be with a MacBook with XDR display and those actually are very accurate I would say. Not mastering display tier of course but totally serviceable for personal projects.

Another way to go about it would be to simply work color managed in 'HDR' (hate that they use same term) so scene-referred like DaVinci/Intermediate or Rec.2020/Intermediate or ARRI LogC with an SDR output so it matches your display in use. Then when done grading switch to HDR output, export and hope that it looks somewhat sensible for it when viewed on an HDR device.
Absolute no-go for paid projects of course but something to think about...