Data levels once more...

Hello All,

I have read the manual and forum posts on data levels many times. Unfortunately, I'm still not sure about my settings. Therefore, I would like to ask you to verify the following settings.

1. I set up RAW files from Alexy and URSA Mini in Clip Attributes auto or full.
2. I have a Benq PV270 monitor, which is fed by DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. According to the specification the monitor is 10bits. Does it mean, that I should set full option in the tab Video Monitoring in Project settings? Or should the video data levels be like in the case of a broadcast display set to the Rec. 709?
3. The monitor was calibrated with i1 DisplayPro on DisplayCAL with "Video 3D LUT for Resolve" settings. What signal range should I choose with reference to question 2? Should I set it on HDMI RGB PC Range RGB 0-255 and the same on DisplayCAL (input and output encoding Full range RGB 0-255)?
4. I do color grading in DaVinci YRGB Color Managed (input: BD 4.6K Film v3 or ARRI Log C, timeline: Rec.709 Gamma 2.4, output: Rec.709 Gamma 2.4). If I want to render DCP Kakadu JPEG 2000 for theater projection, should I make color grading with other settings? Will the program convert itself correctly from Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 to XYZ space? Or should I do the color grading in colorspace DCI-P3? Should the data levels in delivery tab for DCP be set to full?
5. For DNxHR 444 10-bit - should the data levels be set to video or full?

Thank you very much in advance.

Too much wrong here to diagnose.

Don't try to deliver a theatrical project unless you can at least monitor well in Rec709.

I think you're making this far, far more complicated than it needs to be. Just color-correct in Rec709, have a good Rec709 monitor calibrated for that color space and 2.4 gamma. Make that right, and then convert it at the very end to P3/XYZ for cinema delivery and hope for the best.

MixingLight.com advises:

In 98% of your workflows, Data Levels is the precise wrong choice to make.

I think this is correct. Read the essays on their website and see if it applies to what you do. I generally have had good luck with Auto in Clip Attributes, but I have had cases where weird, off-kilter DSLR formats look better forced to one setting or the other.

I understand from it, that even if I have the 10bits monitor or projector, I should work and also render the material in Video Levels.

Type of your monitor, 10bit or 8bit etc. is totally irrelevant here.
All what is relevant is correct chain (software/hardware etc) which properly reads file and passes to monitor. This+ understanding what you do are key elements.
All YUV formats (h264, ProRes, DNxHR, MPEG2 etc) are by default limited range and most tools reads them this way by default. Only some formats can store metadata about data range (eg. h264, DNxHR), but problem is that many tools simply ignore this info and still read them as limited range. Only some tools properly read those flagging.
If you ever produce file which is YUV based as full range (manual setting in Resolve export) then you have to make sure that any further tool reads it as full range, if not manually overwrite default behaviour.
In other words- leave YUV based formats as limited range and only use full if you know what you do and why you do it.
In case of preview you have control if you send data as limited or full (in Resolve monitoring settings) and you simply need to set monitor to match it. In some cases monitors (like software) don't properly read metadata in HDMI signal and you may end up with mismatch. This is independent from how Resolve reads files (which behaves in most cases fine by default- if not you can overwrite it). Fact that you will be working with YUV limited range files doesn't mandate limited range monitoring over BM card (and opposite). You can still force full range as long as your monitor is also set to full range. Resolve or BM card does needed conversion internally, so you don't have to worry about it. Key element here is that BM card and monitor use same setting.
In most cases leaving everything by default will work, but in case of some (cheaper monitors and HDMI monitoring) you may end up with wrong chain- in this case you have to set your BM card/monitor to the same range. If monitor doesn't offer such a setting then find out (with test patterns) how monitor interprets incoming signal and use correct setting in Resolve monitoring tab.
To get whole chain working properly your files needs to be interpreted properly for start and then monitor+Resolve monitoring setting use same signal range.

In your specific case BenQ has setting for HDMI signal range (manual page 53), so simply match what is in your Resolve BM monitoring setting (I assume this should be set before calibration). BenQ mentions RGB only, but I think it does also apply if HDMI signal is YUV. Unfortunately your monitor has no specific setting to force YUV/RGB interpretation of HDMI signal, so you have to relay on its auto detection (which seems to be working fine if you don't see very wrong/greenish colors).

Too much wrong here to diagnose.

Don't try to deliver a theatrical project unless you can at least monitor well in Rec709.

I think you're making this far, far more complicated than it needs to be. Just color-correct in Rec709, have a good Rec709 monitor calibrated for that color space and 2.4 gamma. Make that right, and then convert it at the very end to P3/XYZ for cinema delivery and hope for the best.

MixingLight.com advises:

In 98% of your workflows, Data Levels is the precise wrong choice to make.

I think this is correct. Read the essays on their website and see if it applies to what you do. I generally have had good luck with Auto in Clip Attributes, but I have had cases where weird, off-kilter DSLR formats look better forced to one setting or the other.

I agree with most part of what Marc says. Excepting that we use a mix of data and auto in Resolve to get the best results.

In the settings page, we put the level to data. In the delivery page we keep the "auto" on. If you keep "data" level on in both the two places, you lose something in white. I don't know why.

If you can calibrate your monitor to Rec 709, Gamma 2.4, this would give you perfect (well, near about) result for cinema projection.