Monitoring - Data Levels "Full" or "Video" ?

Hello!

I wanted to ask which Data Levels option i should choose under the Master Project Settings for Video Monitoring. "Full" or "Video" ?

A bit more info about my setup:

I installed a Decklink Card and hooked up a SmallHd 1703P3X as my external Monitor for Resolve.
I have calibrated the monitor with an Xrite i1pro through DisplayCal with following settings:

D65
colorspace - Rec 709
tone curve - Rec 1886
input/output encoding - full range 0-255

I loaded the generated 3D Lut as the 3D Video Monitor LUT under Color Management in Resolve.

I am using RCM in Resolve with Timeline and Output Color Space - Rec 709 Gamma 2.4


Thanks!

[Peter Chamberlain]

Unless you know for a fact that your display device is expecting full data levels, use video levels.

Hi, sorry for my intrusion but I have a similar question:
My external OLED TV (Pana FZ800) can be set its RGB Range (Full or Normal) and its YCbCr Range (Full or Normal) separately.
It's not clear to me why the 2 ranges are separated, because I suppose that RGB Range refers to when TV receives something like DPX/TIFF (in this case range should be always full), while YCbCr Range refers to when TV receives video codecs (in this case range should be always legal) but I'm not sure.
Anyway, while trying to do my first calibration attempt (DisplayCal and OLED connected via Decklink Mini Monitor 4K) I left "Master Project Settings > Video Monitoring > Data Levels" on VIDEO (as default), and I noticed that switching RGB Range to Full or to Normal actually didn't change anything! On the other hand, switching YCbCr Range to Full implied blacks became greys, while switching on Normal range "greyed" blacks returned blacks.

My question is: since I work always with CinemaDNG footage, when I calibrate my TV, should I set Davinci Data levels on FULL, and TV YCbCr Range on FULL as well? And also RGB Range on FULL?

Thanks a lot.

Key point is to have it the same for sending and receiving device. Is it full or limited makes not much of a difference. If you can, set 4:4:4 and then Full Range.
I assume this should be set before calibration process. If you calibrated with eg. limited then stay this way.
One more point- don't look at source nature (full vs. limited) or other things- monitoring is independent and Resolve will scale final video accordingly to your settings. None of the setting is wrong as long as receiving device recognise it correctly or is manually set to the same option.

Great Andrew! You ALWAYS save my day!

[...] Is it full or limited makes not much of a difference. [...] If you can, set 4:4:4 and then Full Range. [...] monitoring is independent and Resolve will scale final video accordingly to your settings. [...]

Ok, I'll set manually the same option on both TV and Davinci. But which is – at least theoretically – the difference between monitoring in FULL (YUV/RGB) or in limited range? Perhaps dynamic range? Or a bit limited gamut? (i.e. why do you recommend "if you can, set full range?")

Thanks a lot (as always!)

Also, get the SMPTE generated bars on a fresh timeline, look at the pluge section (lower center) and learn how to read it, it will immediately tell if card and monitor are coherent.

learn how to read it.

Thanks a lot for your reply Walter. Please tell me, is there a tutorial to learn how to read? Some Wiki?

learn how to read it.

Thanks a lot for your reply Walter. Please tell me, is there a tutorial to learn how to read? Some Wiki?

This is an idea:

https://www.4kshooters.net/2015/02/16/display-calibration-using-smpte-colour-bars/

learn how to read it.

Thanks a lot for your reply Walter. Please tell me, is there a tutorial to learn how to read? Some Wiki?

This is an idea:
https://www.4kshooters.net/2015/02/16/display-calibration-using-smpte-colour-bars/

Many thanks Walter! Actually very informative and useful!

Great Andrew! You ALWAYS save my day!

[...] Is it full or limited makes not much of a difference. [...] If you can, set 4:4:4 and then Full Range. [...] monitoring is independent and Resolve will scale final video accordingly to your settings. [...]

Ok, I'll set manually the same option on both TV and Davinci. But which is – at least theoretically – the difference between monitoring in FULL (YUV/RGB) or in limited range? Perhaps dynamic range? Or a bit limited gamut? (i.e. why do you recommend "if you can, set full range?")

Thanks a lot (as always!)

Full range has wider usable signal range 0-1023, compared to 64-940 for YUV signal. For 10bit precision it's not that important, but for 8bit YUV signals tend to show banding earlier.

If you card supports it then use 4:4:4 monitoring to avoid any chroma subsampling (also going through RGB<->YUV conversions) and full range to get the most precise signal possible.

If you card supports it then use 4:4:4 monitoring to avoid any chroma subsampling (also going through RGB<->YUV conversions) and full range to get the most precise signal possible.

True, but a moot point if your actual deliverable is YCbCr video using video levels.

I would monitor with levels and a pixel format identical to your deliverable.

You could, but it should be irrelevant and quite often not possible (specially in Resolve). If anything is more correct then it's RGB chain.
Delivery codec is really irrelevant here. Resolve export chain is separate than monitoring, so by matching levels you guarantee not much if there are bugs in Resolve. You need to verify it or trust your software.
This again comes to misleading believe about source/working/exporting/monitoring levels. They don't have to much at all and hardly ever do. You can have mix of source formats, monitor as RGB full and deliver as limited levels 4:2:0 h264. Software without bugs will make all of it working very well.

Full range has wider usable signal range 0-1023, compared to 64-940 for YUV signal. For 10bit precision it's not that important, but for 8bit YUV signals tend to show banding earlier.

Then – please, confirm if it's right – the extremes 0 and 1023 in full range should appear identical to 64 and 940 in legal video range, correct?

If you card supports it then use 4:4:4 monitoring to avoid any chroma subsampling

From BMD specs it seems that my card supports 4:4:4 even via HDMI. BUT in Davinci I can't see where this option is. In Video Monitoring settings I can only see "Use 4:4:4 SDI" option, but nothing about 4:4:4 via HDMI! So what should I activate?

Many many thanks.

In Resolve when working (scopes etc.) everything is full range. Only during export/monitoring when needed Resolve internally converts image to desired range. Never try to limit your grade to 64-940 in scopes for example. This is handled automatically whenever is needed.

Select 4:4:4 for SDI- this should also affect HDMI if card supports it.

I'm still a bit flummoxed on this: Does choosing not to change it to "Full" affect the colors when color grading or the quality of the final render?

Not changing to Full of what? Monitoring settings?

Whatever levels you set in Resolve monitoring settings should be repeated in your monitor. In most cases this happens itself (eg. if you set monitoring to full range and connect over HDMI then TV should detect that your signal is full range), but sometimes auto detection may fail, so you have to make sure that your monitor setting (if manual) follow Resolve setting. Monitoring can be done over limited or full range and this is really irrelevant as long as sender/receiver use the same settings.

Just always graded to 0-1023 in scopes as this later gets remapped to proper values when signal goes to monitoring/export. Never try to hit 64-940 in the scopes as this will cause your final file to have raised pure blacks and dimmed pure whites. If you monitoring is properly set then you should see it on your monitor while working (although these last 64 levels are "quite black" anyway).