FCP Display Gamma Problem (Everything Dark)

I recently let system update do it's thing and went from 10.6.4 to 10.6.6 including updating to the latest Pro-Kit. (The Pro-Apps (FCS 3) were all updated to the latest version while one 10.6.4).

Suddenly FCP, DVDSP, & Motion show all of my video files extremely dark (STP & Color are show them fine).

It's as if the gamma those programs are using to display the image has changed. (Quicktime & other non-Apple apps show it fine).

I've messed with FCS Maintenance Pack, and also used FCS Remover to remove and re-install, but that hasn't fixed the issue.

I'm sure there is some setting, or corrupted file somewhere that's causing video to be displayed wrong, but I'm not sure where to look, or what to change at this point.

Any help, thoughts, ideas? Thanks in advance.

ElysianChris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recently let system update do it's thing and
> went from 10.6.4 to 10.6.6 including updating to
> the latest Pro-Kit. (The Pro-Apps (FCS 3) were all
> updated to the latest version while one 10.6.4).
>
> Suddenly FCP, DVDSP, & Motion show all of my video
> files extremely dark (STP & Color are show them
> fine).
>
> It's as if the gamma those programs are using to
> display the image has changed. (Quicktime & other
> non-Apple apps show it fine).
>
> I've messed with FCS Maintenance Pack, and also
> used FCS Remover to remove and re-install, but
> that hasn't fixed the issue.
>
> I'm sure there is some setting, or corrupted file
> somewhere that's causing video to be displayed
> wrong, but I'm not sure where to look, or what to
> change at this point.
>
> Any help, thoughts, ideas? Thanks in advance.

If you are watching video in these apps, most don't show video properly, no matter what, whereas some can be close (depending on your computer's GPU and display, and how well the display is calibrated). You can really only judge the actual look of the video with a properly calibrated external broadcast monitor connected by a video I/O card/device. I've noticed that the pro apps don't all show video the same, but they are usually pretty close.


That said, I'd suggest zapping your PRAM and resetting your SMC. You may also want to use a tool like Onyx to remove cache files, etc.

Also, you should check your ColorSync profile in the Displays System Preference. Selecting another profile then your usual one again can often reset one's display. Note, that by default, OS X 10.6.x will auto-create a display profile, which may not be very accurate. FCP expects a display gamma of 1.8 (in order to "approximate" an accurate view in the Canvas and Viewer), but Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.x) auto-creates profiles with a gamma of 2.2.

Let us know if any of that works, to start with...


-Dave

I changed the gamma profile under Display and that did the trick!

Thanks.

Somehow that got changed to HD-709. Don't know how that happened, but changed that out fixed the problem.

I'm glad that it was that easy...


Too bad you spent time reinstalling FCS... surely, no fun...


-Dave