Mavic 3 HLG Davinci Resolve settings

jjcombs13 · Jul 3, 2022

I am looking for some Davinci Resolve color management experts that might be able to shed some light on settings for editing HLG from the Mavic 3 or Air2S. Specifically, I am looking for the proper settings for color processing mode and output color space. Should color processing mode be SDR or HDR and is it recommended to output HLG to SDR REC.709, SDR REC.2020 or HDR HLG? Sorry if these are elementary questions but I am new to HLG! Thanks for any advice.

Dave Maine · Jul 4, 2022

The correct settings will depend on what your target display device accepts and is capable of. All hdr work is driven by both the brightness of the target display device, and it’s available color spaces. Most PCs are not capable of hdr display In any case.

Resolve specifically does not support hdr on PCs without a hdr capable display and the hardware to drive it connected.

jjcombs13 · Jul 5, 2022

Dave Maine said:
The correct settings will depend on what your target display device accepts and is capable of. All hdr work is driven by both the brightness of the target display device, and it’s available color spaces. Most PCs are not capable of hdr display In any case.

Resolve specifically does not support hdr on PCs without a hdr capable display and the hardware to drive it connected.

Hi Dave! I have so much still to learn about color grading [sigh]. I have been recording in D-Log on the Mavic 3 since I purchased it, and recently started experimenting with HLG. My primary delivery is via Vimeo, and I am trying to hit the sweet spot with video quality vs. device compatibility. For the Mavic 3, what color processing mode and output space would you recommend for HLG to keep the footage highly compatible? For the D-Log footage I just used Rec.709 but I guess I was thinking I could get more out of my footage with HLG. Instead I seem to have confused and aggravated myself

Dave Maine · Jul 5, 2022

Don’t beat yourself up. This is truly complex stuff.

VIMEO and other streaming services are not really destinations. They take your files, re-encode them, and serve them out to their final destinations - tvs, tablets, projectors etc. Each of these have their own specific display capabilities, as well as limits caused by the speed of the downlink they are connected to.

The servers actually create several versions of what you send up to them, and serve the one best suited to the end user. If the end user has a HDR capable display, it will send out a HDR version, otherwise it generally serves out a SDR rec 709 version at whatever bit rate the download connection will support. It will choose 4K, HD or even SD depending on its test of the network speed. There is almost nothing you can do as the creator to change this.

A key requirement for a device to display HDR is the capability to display a brightness of at least 1000 nits. HDR will not display correctly or at all if this isn’t met.

Saladshooter · Jul 5, 2022

Dave Maine said:
Don’t beat yourself up. This is truly complex stuff.

VIMEO and other streaming services are not really destinations. They take your files, re-encode them, and serve them out to their final destinations - tvs, tablets, projectors etc. Each of these have their own specific display capabilities, as well as limits caused by the speed of the downlink they are connected to.

The servers actually create several versions of what you send up to them, and serve the one best suited to the end user. If the end user has a HDR capable display, it will send out a HDR version, otherwise it generally serves out a SDR rec 709 version at whatever bit rate the download connection will support. It will choose 4K, HD or even SD depending on its test of the network speed. There is almost nothing you can do as the creator to change this.

A key requirement for a device to display HDR is the capability to display a brightness of at least 1000 nits. HDR will not display correctly or at all if this isn’t met.

You are doing a lot of talking without answering the question that the OP posted:

jjcombs13 said:
I am looking for some Davinci Resolve color management experts that might be able to shed some light on settings for editing HLG from the Mavic 3 or Air2S. Specifically, I am looking for the proper settings for color processing mode and output color space. Should color processing mode be SDR or HDR and is it recommended to output HLG to SDR REC.709, SDR REC.2020 or HDR HLG? Sorry if these are elementary questions but I am new to HLG! Thanks for any advice.

I like the OP would like to know what settings others have had success with using DaVinci Resolve to edit HLG from the Mavic 3. I personally have done better using the normal profile for natural looking video. The Dlog and HLG footage does not edit easily for me on the M3.

Dave Maine · Jul 5, 2022

You are missing the essential point. Using any HDR settings without a monitor to display it is not going to yield good results. It is akin to putting 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 pound bag.

Reading the Resolve Manual is highly recommended to understand how color management and HDR work within it. Randomly trying settings to get a look you want is not recommended. Using the color page adjustments to get what you want the video to look in a color managed environment is the way it works.

Saladshooter · Jul 5, 2022

Dave Maine said:
Reading the Resolve Manual is highly recommended to understand how color management and HDR work within it. Randomly trying settings to get a look you want is not recommended. Using the color page adjustments to get what you want the video to look in a color managed environment is the way it works.

Quick question.... Do you own a Mavic 3?

It seems you don't know how to edit Mavic 3 HLG footage inside of Davinci Resolve yet are answering a question that you have no answer to. I have used HLG on the Air 2s with quite a bit of success but have had difficulty with the Mavic 3 and would love someone's advice. My computers and monitors have no problem making use off the color space required to display HLG properly yet I still have issues with Mavic 3 HLG.

The title of this post is Mavic 3 DaVinci HLG settings...... please defer to someone who can actually help. The OP indicates that he is mastering for 1000nits.

jjcombs13 · Jul 6, 2022

Dave Maine said:
You are missing the essential point. Using any HDR settings without a monitor to display it is not going to yield good results. It is akin to putting 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 pound bag.

Reading the Resolve Manual is highly recommended to understand how color management and HDR work within it. Randomly trying settings to get a look you want is not recommended. Using the color page adjustments to get what you want the video to look in a color managed environment is the way it works.

The intention of the thread was less about understanding how color management and HDR work in Resolve, but more about the settings that are being used for M3 HLG footage in Resolve. I have not been happy with my HLG edits and am curious what settings others are using for their M3 HLG edits.

CanadaDrone · Jul 7, 2022

Regardless of what settings you want to use, Dave is correct that it's a moot point if you don't have a reference monitor capable of displaying HDR properly, which is not easy to find (most monitors advertising HDR capability do not even get close). Same goes for the final result - if it's not going to be viewed in a display capable of properly showcasing the HDR, there is little point to all the extra effort. The bar is mind bogglingly low for a manufacturer to slap a "HDR" logo on the box, bordering on false advertising. A good HDR editing monitor is thousands of dollars and requires a full-array backlighting solution with granular local dimming. Entry level monitors are around $2K USD and they aren't great.

It's no different than shooting in a wide color gamut like P3 or Adobe RGB and then using a cheap monitor for processing that doesn't even cover the sRGB gamut. What monitor do you have exactly? I think all Dave is trying to do is determine if you're wasting your time going down this road or not, and maybe you aren't, but unless you have some very specialized equipment, trying to edit HDR footage properly is going to be a struggle. This is also probably why you are unhappy with your HLG edits. A cheap workaround is to use a good HDR TV, but that adds another layer of complexity.

I'm not trying to be discouraging or unhelpful in any way, but it would help to know exactly what monitor(s) you are using. Furthermore, there are no "catch all" settings that you can use for any type of editing whether that be photo or video, you need to approach each clip individually and it may require dramatically different settings than the previous clip you edited. Output settings, such as color space, depend on the display they are going to be viewed on, so again that question does not have a firm answer. For example if you don't have a display capable of playing back BT2020 color space and proper HDR, you would save yourself a lot of time just shooting/exporting in SDR rec 709. HLG is an open source (royalty free) broadcast standard that omits the dynamic metadata found in HDR+ and Dolby Vision HDR formats. Not every display can handle HLG playback, but you can play HLG on any TV and it won't look terrible, you just won't be getting any real benefit from the HDR.

Roamer105 · Jul 8, 2022

If you want to get into HDR processing with Davinci Resolve Studio (on Windows) I highly recommend to install the BlackMagic DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and connect an LG OLED display on it. That display, true for nearly all displays on the market, does not quite reach 1000 nits. Depending on the model it is around 750 - 850 nits. I happen to purchase the professional calibration equipment from "Portrait Displays" and calibrate HDR, Dolby Vision and SDR on that display. LG will allow you to select the correct tone mapping for 1000nits (HDR10 or DV footage). The result is quite stunning and the large display hanging over (and 5+ feet behind) my desktop monitor works incredibly well for grading HDR. Also, that whole setup is a lot less expensive than a (even for a semi) professional HDR reference monitor.

To process HLG I am using the following project settings on DR:

The reason for the "custom" setup is the timeline dynamic range setting for my configuration. By default it will be set to 4000nits and that does not really work well in my setup. So I force it to 1000nits along with limiting the output to 1000nits. I also want to use the Davinci WG Intermediate color format. If you purchase the STUDIO version of DR you can enable Dolby Vision (not to produce DV output since that requires additional license fees) but to produce SDR output from your timeline without any additional grading.

The following are my Master Settings (using the DeckLink for monitoring). The settings are for [email protected] HDR monitoring: