Davinci Resolve Refrence Monitor Calibration - Davinci Resolve and Display Cal Tutorial

[@alexandersakharov4446]

Well, it is better to use this way of display calibration that don't have any calibration at all. In the same time this calibration workflow gives very approximate results. No correction matrix for colorimeter was used. i1 Display Pro required it. Generic matrix could be downloaded from DisplayCAL site, but is is much better if you can create it for you own monitor with spectrophotometer. No brightness and contrast was set before 3D LUT creation. Free pluge/brightness patterns could be used. No OLED light control was used to set white brightness to 100 nits or little bit higher. 3D LUT itself does not correct it. No RGB gain control was used (two points RGB control is enough) to control white balance. Better to do it before 3D LUT creation. No calibration check was performed. You can't be sure you calibrate it correctly if you didn't check it. Unfortunately, external pattern generator required for this step. Last but not the least - OLED TV should be in wide gamut mode for this calibration. Any calibration can only "cut" saturation, not "add" it. So, it is better to use wide gamut to permit LUT "cut" right part from it to reproduce Rec.709 correctly.

[@pollloxxx]

Sir, you Know where i can see a tutorial like you are mention? sorry my english

[@alexandersakharov4446]

@@pollloxxx You can find a lot of info in Portrait Displays channel kzbin.info

[@midphase]

I would also suggest that you disable the "Use Monitor LUT" for the Scopes. To me it makes no sense to use a LUT for scopes since I would think one would always want the scopes to show what the actual footage is without going through a LUT. Not sure why this is the default behavior in Resolve, but it seems wrong.

[@viciouseyemedia6650]

Where can I find the Use Monitor Lut option?

[@midphase]

It's in the main settings (the ones you access by clicking on the gear wheel) down at the bottom of the color management page. @@viciouseyemedia6650

[@Rob_eight10media]

Hey! ..I said turn off zone one lights 38 times and nothing happened!! .. what gives???

[@Darksideneo]

Why did you use 260cd/m2? Its also better to use 100 IRE color adjustments in the TV.

[@caspiansfriend]

Important PSA (for newbies like me): You can't do the very First Step ( Select monitor calibration/Lightspace et al) unless your are in the Color page. The option is greyed out if you are in Edit, for instance. That may seem super obvious to more experienced Resolve users. But for me, initially it was infuriating to see the option greyed out. I'm trying to follow along but I "can't" even do the first step, until.... duh!! (palm to forehead!) Get on the Color Page. Now all is right with the world again.

[@Takeme_DCUO]

😮 Hey I have an i display pro plus, want to calibrate my c2 oled but I don't have light space or Calman. I downloaded Davinci. Will I still be able to calibrate on resolve without those two softwares? I'm brand new to this and trying to teach myself lol. Thanks for any advice or feedback 😁👍

[@jononeill2008]

Hi Theo, Thanks for the video. I've followed these steps but in an ACES managed project. the LUT always ends up wwaaayy off, am I doing something wrong? I'm literally following the steps but with an ACES project. Thanks

[@harrij.9542]

There is a bug in Resolve version for ages that makes the Monitor 3d lut apply also to the GUI viewer image. Theres posts about in the BM forum. Some users have it, some don't. If you have it, you can't get similar image between GUI viewer and external monitor by using this method. Need a lut box basically.

[@parametriq_]

I think I'm in the case OTL

[@Cinematographer_brenton]

Great video Theo! love the channel :) keep making awesome videos!

[@JohnJonesRocketCity]

Wow man you really got some powerful content on this channel. Def sub’d.

[@curlyhead4545]

Great tutorial. Can you tell us what monitor you are using? Thanks

[@Miesnermedia]

Thanks Frank! The reference monitor is a LG C8 and the GUI monitor is a BENQ SW320

[@josh6499]

Thanks a lot, helped me out greatly with this.

[@GuidoValdata]

Hey, first thank you a lot: you are the only video on this argument that is easy enough to follow. and also fun. I have one question: can you do this calman process to calibrate the GUI? and if yes: how does it go along with the monitor calibration that we all do(?) systemwise? for a bit of context: I'm on a macbook pro 2018, and I have calibrated the monitor with i1 display and x-rite software. this worked well for photos, but with videos I'm having some color drifts + gamma shift on the exported videos. I know these are actually more questions in one comment, with different causes/solutions. I researched the issues but could not find a solution. Especially with Premiere some have been convinced that a LUT applied to the export in media encoder will fix the gamma shift. of course it doesn't. I look at you with some hope of a comprehensive and generous feedback. Hope you'll read this and will find the time to answer. Thank you again. Guido

[@rory567]

Hey man! Love your videos, you rock! Wondering if you've had any burn-in problems with your OLED ref monitor?

[@adamblair-smith3063]

Hello, displaycal (python version) wants to give me an ACES lut or some other kind of intermediate lut for DCPs, rather than a monitoring LUT for rec.709. Is there a way to change this? The input color option only shows intermediate color spaces.

[@ClarkSeverson]

Thanks for the videos. I really enjoy them. Any particular reason you went with the i1Display Pro? I am trying to decide which calibration unit to purchase.

[@pgmash]

Thanks Theo for sharing! How often do you recommend to calibrate the monitor? I mean in which time intervals?

[@laurentiudll]

Does the lut apply only during Davinci launches or does display cal keep it active on top of the display desktop as well when davinci is not running ?

[@hjlee918]

Thanks for sharing the knowledge. For my lg oled e8, I choose 'wide' as colorspace instead of 'auto' so that color gamut and volume is close to p3.

[@Miesnermedia]

Good tip John! I'll have to give that a try.

[@ApostolosNikolaidis1]

Hey thanks for that, was looking all over for that information.

[@RetroPixel_analog]

Ok maybe you can point me into the right direction! I have the following setup and i am not sure how to accurately calibrate my external display. I use an Eizo CX271 (which should cover rec709 withe ease) until right now the screen is connected directly to the graphics card. So far i always thought it would be a great idea to use it´s hardware calibration capabilities (directly calibrate the screen, not the graphicscad output) and calibrate it to rec709 with the ColorNavigator software. But the more i read, the more people say not to use CN cause it produces inaccuracy. What would be the right way for me to calibrate that screen for colour-grading? I have a second screen (just for sharpness reference, and cutting since colours are bäää). At the moment the screen is connected directly to the Graphics card (1080 Ti). Additional things i own but not really use are: Intensity Pro 4K Thanks for your help.

[@dogeyes7261]

I love these technical videos. It saves a lot of digging through forums. I have some monitor/gpu related questions if you feel like answering them. I plan on getting a pocket 4k as a first camera and using Resolve to teach myself post production with the goal of going semi-pro for commercial work, and serious short films. I’ve been practicing with the free version in the meantime. I think I got the answers already, but I essentially need assurance. If not, it’s all good. Consider it a free script outline for tutorial 1) I would connect a color accurate monitor to a decklink running from a PCIe 4x slot, right? 1) a) and this would function in Resolve only for color grading, or would it work in Resolve, generally, in other tabs? 1) b) What about windows? 1) c) I can use another monitor in conjunction with the “decklinked” one, off whatever GPU, as an extended Resolve desktop, right? 1) d) if I’m working with 4k footage, I need a decklink capable of handling the resolution and frame rate of the source as a signal out, BUT I can use a lower resolution color grading monitor off this decklink without a problem, just for grading? However the above works will ultimately determine the monitors i need, i think 2) Is there a rule of thumb for how much VRAM overhead is needed on the main GPU if I want to run, for example, a 16:9 2k 144hz monitor as a main panel, with a secondary ultrawide 1080p, or even 2k, monitor, before eating into performance? (I was planning on splurging on whatever current nVidia 11Gb card is available when I finally build my NLE in mid 2020, and going by BM’s guidelines I should only need 6-8Gb VRAM for 4k, leaving me 4-6 Gb for monitors, if I understand this, but I’m also interested in heavy VFX so I’m prepared for the news I may need $2500+ in GPUs for this) 3) those scopes they make are pretty cool. This isn’t really a question 4) are these questions answered in the 5000000 page manual and I should just go read it, finally? I’d rather pay textbook prices for a physical copy than try to read that thing on my pc or phone Thanks!

[@盲道道道]

Have you solved this？Because i have same question.

[@ROTFLCopterMan]

Do you experience any input lag with your LG C8? Basically the reference monitor(LG C8) lags the audio slightly.

[@musicelect]

Thanks for sharing I'll have to give this a try. I just started working in HDR, but my Decklink decided to stop outputting HDR. I swear those cards are designed to fail.

[@dellsdiy]

I’m new to this but wondering why we would calibrate through davinci resolve and use a LUT vs calibrate the actual monitor outside of resolve. Or do I do both?

[@jacobclaassens690]

Did you find out?

[@dellsdiy]

@@jacobclaassens690 nope. I ended up calibrating my monitor outside of DR and it’s working fine.

[@HikingWithCooper]

Because you're not getting a clean signal outside of Resolve. You need to be connected to a Decklink card and to use that, you have to be in Resolve. I don't understand why but you can't properly calibrate coming out of your GPU because it changes the colors. I asked Darren Mostyn why you can't just calibrate off the GPU and he got all technical with it LOL. Logic dictates that if your GPU is sending out 50% too much blue, calibration would back blue off 50% and you'd be good but unfortunately logic doesn't always work out.

[@chariesbergero9662]

You calibrated an Oled TV right? Before calibrate y¡the TV throw Decklink or similar you need to enter to a factory TV menu, right? and turn off TPC and GSR, other wise, the TV is not ready to do a calibration for Davinci. Could you explain what you did with this menu factory? Thanks

[@studiojohnny]

Have you had any trouble monitoring at 260 nits? I know SDR spec is 100 nits but I often wish I could view it bright because the image just doesn't excite me much at 100 nits. The whites look grey to my eye even in a pitch black room.

[@TheBikeFather]

do you need to do this if you have only 1 main monitor, e.h a laptop? isnt it enough to calibrate the monitor directly?

[@brown2840]

Question, I use my clean feed monitor also as a 2nd display from my GPU. I plan on using a decklink as my clean feed also. If I calibrate this way for resolve, will I also need to do a separate calibration for my OS system, or can one calibration be used for both? Hope that makes sense! :)

[@joelarvidsson]

Interesting. I have an lg c8 which is calibrated with a Calman (dont remember the exakt hardware, but its was a very fine in calibrator). Should you always get a lut to put in to Davinci? I mean you could put in the right settings manually from the calibration. Or is it just for convenience to have one lut?

[@Miesnermedia]

Good question Joel! I also calibrated with calman (I just showed this way since it will be relevant for most people). The calman calibration creates a 33 point 3d lut and saves it to the tv, so it's actually technically better than using the lut output from resolve since then you have the full output available from the decklink that is then being transformed in the tv (instead of limiting the output of your decklink with a lut). If you want to be silly you could do a resolve calibration on top of your calman calibration, but I doubt you'd really see any improvement. -Theo

[@AlfonsoCoronel]

Hi, when I finish the calibration I need to do something else with my monitor or only put the LUT in resolve and that’s all? Thanks

[@directedbymarvin]

Now that you posted 2 tutorials how to calibrate your OLED, one over Calman and here with DisplayCal, do you see a big difference? Have you tried to calibrate for HDR on DisplayCal?

[@HikingWithCooper]

The problem with the Calman for LG is that you can't calibrate Resolve and therefore you can't get a proper clean signal. Their website specifically states that their LG software is what top Hollywood colorists use but this is a bald-faced lie. I'm filing a report with the FCC today as this was just discovered by myself yesterday. Avoid Portrait Displays like the plague. They're crooks.

[@thatactorguy]

My instrument doesn't show up.

[@cinepost]

What calibration tool do I need to purchase for $300? Will the Calibrite work? Do I need to install some drivers or buy Calman for LG? All my options in monitor calibration are greyed out....

[@HikingWithCooper]

There's a full list on their site in case you haven't found it yet.

[@cinepost]

@@HikingWithCooper whose site?

[@concettastellato3828]

Hi! thanks!!! I have a new LG CX, only 2 questions: I wanted to know if before calibrating on Davinci I have to do a hardware calibration,, and secondly, the second tab (calibration) of displaycal latest version compared to what you have is very different and I can not understand the settings That I have to put :(

[@盲道道道]

Decklink is necessary？Because I use gpu hdmi output two display.

[@jionmonster]

Thanks for the video but what do I do if the monitor calibration options don't even light up or allow me to select them?

[@Jacobroy]

Go to the colour page bro

[@sunnykurapati]

which monitor are you using for references.?

[@gereral1_jackofalltrades]

Sweet I can calibrate my desview r7p monitor now with my spider 3 :)

[@lulumink0]

So you don't need a i1display or spyder to do this or I don't understand how this works.

[@dabistudio_japan]

Hi MiesnerMedia, I’ve tried so many times this with my external monitor and always finished with crazy ugly colors from the LUT. Good luck guys! It really depends on what external monitor you have, mine sucks, a 4k LG. Impossible to make it work.

[@SoundnPics]

Thanks! It’s helpful !!

[@j.oakley9588]

Somebody please help me out here. At about the 3:15 mark he’s messing with controls in “this little thing here”. Are these the controls of his actual monitor? This is where I kind of get lost. After he adjusts the color… Specifically the green, he hits stop measurement and then proceeds with calibration. I just went right to that step. Is there something I should be doing with the actual monitor? I don’t know how to do this with the one I have. Using the BenQ sw270c.

[@jonahoskow7476]

I went through this exact process to create a monitor LUT and a GUI display LUT. The colors look great/matching, but the contrast is very very very low. 1. Is there a simple reason why it removed all contrast? Even the GUI display LUT resulted in a lack of contrast. 2. Once this works properly, is it necessary to turn on Mac Display Gamma? Probably not. 3. Will Rec 709A tags mess up files that are going to broadcast? My files go to television broadcast. Thanks!

[@akyhne]

1) What do you mean by contrast? On TVs, contrast adjust the white, and brightness the dark area. On (most) monitors , it's the opposite. I assume, you mean the whites are dark. If you followed the guide (which is wrong btw.), you set the set the software to adjust white level "As measured". In that case, there should be no change to your monitor's output. Your colors will just be more accurate, which is the purpose. If you calibrate your monitor for video editing in Resolve or any other NLE, the max nits or cd/m² should be between 80-120 nits. He didn't do that, but went for 240, which is way too bright for color grading in a dark room. 2) No idea. As a general rule, you should never touch any control, after calibrating. As matter of fact, all "enhancements" should be disabled, BEFORE calibration. If your monitor supports auto adjust of brightness, depending on ambient light, disable it. Any auto adjustment features! 3) AFAIK, you should choose Rec.709a only for color grading om Mac, then change to regular Rec. 709, before exporting, but I could be wrong. The Rec.709a is just a dirty fix from Davinci Resolve, to fix a problem with Apple color management. Maybe Apple will fix this in future hardware, maybe it can, and already has been fixed in software, who knows. And maybe Apple will just be Apple and don't care about standards.

[@colinmason7398]

Hi, thank you for sharing the knowledge, but does the monitor has a limit in terms of brands and functions, I saw that you use the ' expert mode', does that comes with the monitor itself?

[@Miesnermedia]

Hey Colin! "Expert Mode" is just one of the picture profiles on this tv. Most will let you change between things like "movie", "vivid", "standard", "game", "sport", etc... Just make sure it lets you control the RGB white points/gain and that will be all the control you need for displayCAL. -Theo

[@colinmason7398]

@@Miesnermedia Thanks you Theo! you are so kind, keep up the good work. Cheers

[@Shauny_D]

Should I keep checked "use mac display color profiles in viewers" option after calibrating? In davinci settings.

[@bastienchill]

Up

[@MylonasFilms]

extremely helpful

[@monologtr_]

sdr to hdr workflow tutorial pls(dolby vision and hdr10+)

[@ArthurDaniel100]

there are the resolve option in Spider too?

[@dspiraluk]

That looked like you calibrated to SRGB. Youre supposed to calibrate for REC709.

[@VideraMedia-]

but you never mentioned the very first selection drop down at the top! What do I pick!?

[@nikilragav]

How come the P3 gamut is so low?

[@Justin_Allen]

My issue is that I am using an Ultrastudio 4K Mini and I cannot seem to get my calibration window on the LG C8. It only stays on either of the two monitors that are attached to mt graphics card. Is there a step I am missing?

[@katermurr]

did you check in resolve preferences "Release video I/O hardware when not in focus"? after changing this prefs i was able to keep the calibration window on the decklink hdmi output.It was a bit fiddly as it tended to jump whenever i didnt have resolve in the foreground - but it worked.

[@KAREKINFPV]

Can anyone point me in the direction of "Color Calibration Profiles" like the ones in lightroom and camera raw? Not monitor color calibration?

[@RipRecords]

HOLY FPN in the shadows! Def a Blackmagic camera...ha

[@ulrichmors574]

Hey, do you see a way to have the mon LUT as default in new projects?

[@johnberry1471]

I don't think you can set a video monitor LUT as default in DVR. I use a Blackmagic Micro Converter SDI To HDMI 12G. You can load the calibration LUT into this, so that it is applied to all projects.

[@orangerecords_studio]

thi sguy i s clever and funny to listen to when he speed-talk !:) great tutorials !

[@orangerecords_studio]

I can not find any 3D lut chois in D. R 17 :(

[@bojancosic7267]

Does this process work using Datacolor SpyderX Pro?

[@bojancosic7267]

Never mind, I figured it out. The answer is: yes.

[@toxotis70]

@@bojancosic7267are you sure? How ?

[@sharasethna]

After doing this exactly my reds are way to saturated any solution?

[@mickymack1230]

Thanks for sharing that you're a star....Top Banana!!!

[@livebig6414]

why did you choose such high cd/m2? if you edit videos it is way too much

[@kevdwong]

Does anyone have any tips for keeping the test patterns on the screen? As I switch between resolve and displaycal my monitor won’t show the test patterns unless resolve is active the active window.

[@Fennworld]

In your "Video and Audio I/O" preferences (System), *uncheck* "Release video I/O hardware when not in focus".

[@nickpapps7155]

Anyone having issues calibrating their monitor on a mac with DisplayCal and Resolve? I'm unable to see the grey square on my monitor. Contacted the developer about this as well, no solution yet. Thanks!

[@rickymaxx]

hub.displaycal.net/wiki/3d-lut-creation-workflow-for-resolve/

[@JMUDoc]

DisplayCAL really is a "where has this been all my life?!" kind of thing - it's FREE, and nothing comes close until you get to CALMAN (which is two grand).

[@mcankaka]

Calibration is not accessible in my Davinci.. Is it for just Studio version =/

[@illusivefilms]

You need to be in color mode to access the function

[@lawrenceanthony8187]

thanks

[@mdfaisalvideo]

is that LG oled C8?

[@chosenideahandle]

Lol.

[@andersistbesser]

Why you dont just calibrate your monitor without resolve?🤔

[@chosenideahandle]

I know this idea can get crapped on. Anyone that has bought Technicolor certified monitors, I've got two examples I've put spectrophotometers on. Even taking into account ambient lighting, neither have required any changes from the factory settings over the last two years.

[@solutionguy18]

perfect

[@jonesfotodirector]

Maybe just a tad too much caffeine? But super-helpful, really smart kid, ultra-concise and to-the-point - what's not to like?

[@caseybest9711]

420th like nice

[@Miesnermedia]

Nice

[@tekoppentekoppen761]

Can you please talk faster please. It's like I can almost hear every word.

[@stridefilms5729]

#500th Like :)

[@wepranaga]

face reveal

[@charleswaldorf9640]

a little be slower to speak is nice

[@reformedtech]

Given the Filename of the generated lut, now im confused if it generated a 2.2 Gamma Lut or 2.4. Which is the case ? Resolve 2023-05-15 00-41 2.2 F-S XYZLUT+MTX.Rec709.B0.0,2.4Gawn65.A2B0.CLUT.png

[@reformedtech]

From ChatGPT By default, the Portrait Displays CalMAN calibration target uses a gamma of 2.2, which is the standard gamma for most computer monitors. However, it is possible to change the gamma target during the calibration process by selecting a different gamma value in the calibration settings. To determine the gamma value used by the LUT generated by the Portrait Displays CalMAN preset, you can check the metadata of the LUT file as I mentioned earlier. If the LUT filename contains "+MTX.Rec709.B0.0,2.4Gawn65", it indicates that the LUT is designed for a gamma of 2.4. If the filename does not contain this string, it is possible that the LUT was generated with a gamma of 2.2, but you would need to confirm this with the calibration software used to generate the LUT.

[@stevesexton6194]

The file name says 2.2.