The two screenshots do not show the same: The CDR Screenshot is 1191x675, the PDR screenshot is 1298x735.
I just tested with some video clips with PD16 and CDR 6 - there is no visual difference.
So the problem seems to be specific to your footage, maybe the constellation of PD16 and CDR 4.

PD16
Depending on the preview resolution and the shadow file resolution there can be some differences in the visual appearence.

1. Make sure, that you do not have any adjustments to your footage (fix/enhance)


2. Test: does it occur to all of your clips?


3. Test: convert your clip to an other format - does it occur there, too?

CDR
Make sure, that you have no adjustments or presets set to your footage.

If it is a failure of the combination PD16/CDR4, then sorry, I cannot help then.

Hatti Win 10 64, i7-4790k, 32GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, SATA 2TB, SATA 4TB, NVidia GTX1080 8GB, LG 34" 4K Wide, AOC 24" 1080

Quote The two screenshots do not show the same: The CDR Screenshot is 1191x675, the PDR screenshot is 1298x735.
I just tested with some video clips with PD16 and CDR 6 - there is no visual difference.
So the problem seems to be specific to your footage, maybe the constellation of PD16 and CDR 4.

PD16
Depending on the preview resolution and the shadow file resolution there can be some differences in the visual appearance.

1. Make sure, that you do not have any adjustments to your footage (fix/enhance)


2. Test: does it occur to all of your clips?


3. Test: convert your clip to another format - does it occur there, too?

CDR
Make sure, that you have no adjustments or presets set to your footage.

If it is a failure of the combination PD16/CDR4, then sorry, I cannot help then.

Hatti

Both screenshots were taken from the un-edited video. The video in PDR shows darker no matter what the window size of the PDR viewer is. I don't think CDR 4 is the problem since its colour matches the original footage viewed in the VLC viewer, on the same monitor (so, a monitor is not the problem).

Also, when I resize the VLC viewer window when viewing the original video, it does not get darker; so, I am not sure if that is the issue.

Sure the screenshots are a different size; but, I did Produce the PDR video (no colour correction) and it is darker than the original video (same codec as recorded). From my understanding of the software, the Shadow file resolution is not used when Producing a video. The original footage is 1080p and the Shadow file is 720p. Later I will try to view the preview at full HD and not 720p and see if that is the reason. I think I did see this with another video of ducks in a pond; but, I did not pay much attention to it (I stopped editing the footage). I guess it is more noticeable/distracting with the blue colours of the screenshot video.

I will do some testings throughout the day when I have time. It might be that I ignore the colour in PDR and only use it for putting the video together, which does not sound right. Is there a setting in PDR 16 that effects the colour displayed? I might send a ticket to Support on this one if I do not figure it out (or ask for my upgrade money back).

Thanks for the reply Hatti.

Hello cyclingg,

As Hatti reported, the is no visual difference in preview between PDR16 & CDR4, though there clearly is in the screenshots you've posted. I cannot think what the cause might be at this stage.

Please ensure that both CDR4 & PDR16 have preview resolution set to FullHD.

By the way, Hatti, I think the size difference in the two screenshots is simply a product of GUI arrangement & cropping &, therefore, not a factor.

Here's a zip file containing a number of comparison screenshots between CDR4 & PDR16. Both previews were set to Full HD & monitor was calibrated only days ago.

This is a little unrelated but may be of interest. There is, in fact, a very slight colour difference in displays in CDR & PDR. It's only really detectable in clinical tests.

Using a video generated from the x-rite ColorChecker chart, I checked the RGB values of panels in each display. You can download the video here, if you wish. Note that the greyscale "colours" displayed exactly the same in both, so there was no difference in darkness/lightness.



These colour rendering differences would certainly not cause the kind of display reported by cyclingg.

PIX PIX YouTube channel

Quote Hello cyclingg,

As Hatti reported, the is no visual difference in preview between PDR16 & CDR4, though there clearly is in the screenshots you've posted. I cannot think what the cause might be at this stage.

Please ensure that both CDR4 & PDR16 have preview resolution set to FullHD.

By the way, Hatti, I think the size difference in the two screenshots is simply a product of GUI arrangement & cropping &, therefore, not a factor.

Here's a zip file containing a number of comparison screenshots between CDR4 & PDR16. Both previews were set to Full HD & monitor was calibrated only days ago.

PIX

Hi Pix,

I tried all the different preview resolutions and got the same result. My monitor resolution is 1920 X 1080. When I googled this problem, one answer given to someone (from Cyberlink support) was that PDR does not support this resolution. Now, I don't know if that was an old answer as I did not notice a date; but, by now this should not be an issue. 1920 X 1080 has been a norm for quite a few years now.

I opened the same un-edited video in Davinci Resolve and the preview looks the same as in CDR4 and in the VLC viewer. Something in PDR16 is causing wrong colours. I use nVidea GTX 570 video card with drivers up to date. I know my system is getting old; but, I don't think that is the issue, as I am able to edit without a slowdown.

Hello again,

As you've determined, the advice about PDR not supporting 1920x1080 is nothing short of nonsense. It has always supported monitors 1024x768, 16-bit color or above, as has CDR.

I seriously doubt that a preview resolution setting would affect lighness/darkness. It certainly affect image quality.

In your PDR preferences, under Hardware Acceleration, do you have either of the options checked? Does changing that make any difference to the display? I'm clutching at straws here because I can't think of a possible cause, especially as other software on the same PC is displaying the colours correctly.

PIX PIX YouTube channel

Quote Hello again,

As you've determined, the advice about PDR not supporting 1920x1080 is nothing short of nonsense. It has always supported monitors 1024x768, 16-bit color or above, as has CDR.

I seriously doubt that a preview resolution setting would affect lighness/darkness. It certainly affect image quality.

In your PDR preferences, under Hardware Acceleration, do you have either of the options checked? Does changing that make any difference to the display? I'm clutching at straws here because I can't think of a possible cause, especially as other software on the same PC is displaying the colours correctly.

PIX

Hi Pix,

I have both options checked, under Hardware Acceleration. I briefly thought about that; but, now that you mentioned it, I will try unchecking one and then both tomorrow and see what happens.

I decided to write a ticket and they gave me a list of things to check/try (drivers up to date, memory, video card, etc) and I sent them a "DxDiag.txt" file. I still have this issue. I think they will get back to me saying my processor is too slow. But, I think that would only effect the video playback speed. I wouldn't think it would effect the colour? Davinci Resolve is a bigger resource pig than PDR is and it shows the colour properly; I have slow video playback within Davinci (which is to be expected (underspec on more than one item)). It will be interesting to see what they say tomorrow when/if they reply to my last email.

I will be updating my computer later this summer and it will be interesting to see if this is still a problem. Until then, I will test out the Hardware Acceleration options.

Thanks.

What format is the video? "MediaInfo" can show information about it. It's free.
And where is it from? Maybe it is a special color space?
Do you have a color profile for your monitor? If yes, can you switch it off temporarily?
I have tested some formats and they all show same colors.
I have no clue, whats going on. A slow processor should not affect color, as you said.
Can you put a small piece of that video on an cloud store, so we can test with it?

Hatti Win 10 64, i7-4790k, 32GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, SATA 2TB, SATA 4TB, NVidia GTX1080 8GB, LG 34" 4K Wide, AOC 24" 1080

Quote What format is the video? "MediaInfo" can show information about it. It's free.
And where is it from? Maybe it is a special color space?
Do you have a color profile for your monitor? If yes, can you switch it off temporarily?
I have tested some formats and they all show same colors.
I have no clue, whats going on. A slow processor should not affect color, as you said.
Can you put a small piece of that video on an cloud store, so we can test with it?

Hatti

Hi Hatti,

I do use a colour profile saved from calibrating the monitor. I wonder if it is a Win7 issue? I have used some programs in the past where the software would automatically change the profile and other options I might have on because it did not support the settings I use. I will have to test that out. I hope this is it; then, it is an easy (cheap) fix. Thanks.

I can put a small portion in my Dropbox and link it here later (after work).

If by media type you mean "mov", "H264"? I will try "MediaInfo" later and post.

Thanks.

Quote


Hi Hatti,

I do use a colour profile saved from calibrating the monitor. I wonder if it is a Win7 issue? I have used some programs in the past where the software would automatically change the profile and other options I might have on because it did not support the settings I use. I will have to test that out. I hope this is it; then, it is an easy (cheap) fix. Thanks.

I can put a small portion in my Dropbox and link it here later (after work).

If by media type you mean "mov", "H264"? I will try "MediaInfo" later and post.

Thanks.

I saved out 2 text files for the video info (MediaInfo and GSpot).

I cut out a small portion of the video and Produced it. Here is the Dropbox link to the video (hope it works). The Produced video looked fine in the VLC viewer; but, it looks a little darker when viewed from Dropbox.

Hmmmmm?!? I guess I will ignore the colour in PDR and do my colour edits in CDR4 for now.

I have a Canon 6D, I tested a small clip, it looked visually the same in PowerDirector 16 and ColorDirector 6.
The provided clip also looked the same, but the clip is already produced.
Does the produced clip also look different? Or only the original clip?
So sorry, but I am out. I have no clue, whats going on.

Hatti Win 10 64, i7-4790k, 32GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, SATA 2TB, SATA 4TB, NVidia GTX1080 8GB, LG 34" 4K Wide, AOC 24" 1080

Try this: In PD15 Preferences/Hardware Acceleration uncheck the enable hardware decoding and compare the contrast you see in the quicktime .mov video with that of ColorDirector 4. If it is unchecked then check it and compare the same video again. You have the same adjustment in ColorDirector that you can uncheck and check in Preferences/Hardware Acceleration.

That mov file was meant to be displayed on a mac monitor with a gamma of 1.8. It is also possible that the mov file was recorded with adobe rgb, extended gamut, xv color, not the sRGB on your camera settings so there will be a difference that you can’t fix on a pc. See this article: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1357888 and this one: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418370/discussions/0/141136086940902791 .

We don’t have say a 5 second mov file from you to test.

Quote Try this: In PD15 Preferences/Hardware Acceleration uncheck the enable hardware decoding and compare the contrast you see in the quicktime .mov video with that of ColorDirector 4. If it is unchecked then check it and compare the same video again. You have the same adjustment in ColorDirector that you can uncheck and check in Preferences/Hardware Acceleration.

That mov file was meant to be displayed on a mac monitor with a gamma of 1.8. It is also possible that the mov file was recorded with adobe rgb, extended gamut, xv color, not the sRGB on your camera settings so there will be a difference that you can’t fix on a pc. See this article: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1357888 and this one: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418370/discussions/0/141136086940902791 .

We don’t have say a 5 second mov file from you to test.

I still plan to try unchecking enable hardware decoding; just didn't have time tonight.

I did add a link to a 5 sec mp4 file, rendered with PDR 16. I could try to save out a mov file. I don't want to give a link to the whole video that came straight from my camera.

As far as the gamma setting, why would it matter? All the ways I looked at the original video was on the same monitor. So, shouldn't it look the same in PDR16, CDR4 and VLC viewer?

Quote I have a Canon 6D, I tested a small clip, it looked visually the same in PowerDirector 16 and ColorDirector 6.
The provided clip also looked the same, but the clip is already produced.
Does the produced clip also look different? Or only the original clip?
So sorry, but I am out. I have no clue, whats going on.

Hatti

How can I trim out a portion of the original video and not produce it? I guess when I produced the small clip, it gets compressed a little? I produced it with the same video codec, it just has the mp4 extension instead of the mov that I get from the camera.

Yes, a compression is unavoidable.
To get a smal clip to test with, it has to be filmed with the camera. Five seconds will do. We need a scene, where the difference in color will be seen.
PD16 cannot export to .mov

Hatti Win 10 64, i7-4790k, 32GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, SATA 2TB, SATA 4TB, NVidia GTX1080 8GB, LG 34" 4K Wide, AOC 24" 1080

Quote Yes, a compression is unavoidable.
To get a smal clip to test with, it has to be filmed with the camera. Five seconds will do. We need a scene, where the difference in color will be seen.
PD16 cannot export to .mov

Hatti

I will try to get out this weekend and make a short video.

I posted a reply this morning to this thread, and I do not see it. Oh well.
I received a reply from support and I don't know if they looked at the DxDiag file I sent them or even read what I wrote.

They mentioned to try checking/unchecking the hardware decoding, making sure it is checked the same in both software (which I have with no change).

Then they said, "If you use specific color profile for specific display devices, you may remote it."; but, I am not sure what they mean by "remote it". "In the Advanced setting of Color Management, you may also set it to the default setting to sync the color.". I did mention that I look at the video on the same monitor and the calibrated colour profile is set as the default profile. So, everything is done on the same monitor when I do my tests.

I will just wait until I update my computer later in the year and see how it is. If I have the same issue, this will be the last PDR update I do.