Still no clipping option

I know, it's a old story, but i am wondering that's nobody still missing a simple clipping option for legal broadcast delivery's?! I was really looking forward to it. In DR 17 all possibilities for legalize still working not correct - just for container formats. Can't understand why a finishing tool like DR don't have such a option like every NLE. ( and yes, we do legalize manually shot per shot, but at the end it will be great to have a "clip for safe" possibility for all unwanted spikes ).

Thanks,
Dany

Is the "Broadcast Safe" Project setting not working for you?

I have used the OFX Gamut Mapping plug-in for this, and you can specify separate Lum-only and Sat-only levels. I'm enough of a stickler that I don't like using it for the whole show, and prefer using it only shot-by-shot (like with scenes with florescent lights or explosions), but you could use it all the time as a Timeline Grade if you wanted to.

BorisFX has their "Broadcast Safe" plug-in if you want to pay for that:

https://borisfx.com/effects/continuum-broadcast-safe/

Thanks for your advice Marc. Yes, Gamut Mapping works well for RCM workflow, but not for others.

I'm Just wondering why DR don't have a serious option for that reason. Sure, Baselight have the same "problem". But since DR have edit, fusion and fairlight implemented it's not a "only" grading tool anymore. You do master delivery's out of it and not just a graded file back to the edit with archivable gamut. So you have be worry about the QC.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Danny, as peter says, what’s about broadcast safe and video range settings in the deliver page stops u making a broadcast safe deliverable?

Broadcast Safe.png (45.23 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

Peter, Jim, thanks for your advice, but like i said before it's a unsolved story. We have done much tests with broadcast QC department. May it's a German QC "issue" only, but please have a look on that threat - it's still relevant:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=73379

Thanks,
Dany

Danny, as peter says, what’s about broadcast safe and video range settings in the deliver page stops u making a broadcast safe deliverable?

Broadcast Safe scales the signal, it doesn't just clamp it, so it can affect your grades (which is why I never use it). It's especially bad for branding when certain colours must be kept intact.

Danny, as peter says, what’s about broadcast safe and video range settings in the deliver page stops u making a broadcast safe deliverable?

Broadcast Safe scales the signal, it doesn't just clamp it, so it can affect your grades (which is why I never use it). It's especially bad for branding when certain colours must be kept intact.

Exactly Tom, that's the reason why a simple clipping tool is so important. f.e sharpening can quickly create out of range peaks. This can't be fixed with a legal level operation, therefor you need clipping.

Broadcast Safe scales the signal, it doesn't just clamp it, so it can affect your grades

What's more, it can affect other people's grades when it comes to me finishing edits for marketing their film/product. I can't have clients wondering why grades look different to what was supplied.

The fact that the Broadcast Safe feature not only affects out of range signals but also parts of the image that are already broadcast safe (in fact, it can change the image even if it is ALL broadcast safe) is what makes it useless for me. I don't need it 'applying a nice rolloff' (that really isn't very nice and can create very dirty looking yellows for example), the colourist has already done this to their own creative intent; I need it to make sure my deliveries pass QC, and nothing else!

Now, once I found that Resolve auto-clamps the signal on export, none of this was an issue for me anyway. But then recently I was supplied a file that had failed QC, and simply bringing it in and re-exporting it from Resolve didn't fix it... So I applied a Soft Clip of 0.1 in the highlights, which isn't going to make any difference to how anything looks, but Soft Clip is one operation that clamps the signal. Job done. That was in 16.2.7 or 16.2.8.

Fast forward to 17.1 and this thread, and I look into this matter properly. There is a check box in the Deliver Page that was added either in v14 or v15:

Checkbox.png (10.18 KiB) Viewed 1075 times

Ticking this box would mean that image data was not clamped, but it seems that a bug has crept in at some point which means that sub black and super white data is retained no matter what. I've verified with Resolve 12.5.6, which didn't have this option, and the file that failed QC will export with the signal clamped without me having to do anything other than use Resolve for the export.

So hopefully, as long as this bug is fixed, we should be all good? Or would there still be room for parts of the signal that would fail QC? I don't have a Tektronix scope with its Arrowhead display so I'm not able to test this further.

Making things more confusing is that if you are in Color Managed Mode and use tone mapping (which is the default in all presets), then my out of bounds file now looks good in Resolve... but STILL exports with the original illegal levels! I'm not even sure how this is possible, I mean it's either tone mapping the signal or it's not, right??