Final Cut Pro 10.8.1 - problem with HDR videos since upgrading to MacOS Sequoia

If you are shooting on an iPhone, shoot Apple Log and you are covered now and in the future (as Joema describes also). The philosophy is to capture the maximum possible and work down from there. You can grade in SDR if necessary of course.

I got an iPhone 16 Pro, the first iPhone I've gotten that is capable of shooting decent video a few months ago, and I've done a lot of experimentation.  I find the HDR HLG modes produce very over-processed images (video and stills). They look great on a phone but on a larger monitor they look way over-sharpened. 

On the contrary I was very pleased to find that Apple Log produces very high quality video that looks really natural. You can use LUTs when shooting that allow you to see what you are shooting in HDR. There is a fantastic 3rd party app called Cinema P3 on the App Store that adds some extras not available in the built-in app or in the Blackmagic app for that matter. There is a couple of cheap in-app purchases that are well worth the small cost, including an excellent set of LUTs for easy viewing of Apple Log video. 

If I were in your situation, I would downgrade to Sonoma for sure. If you don’t want to do a full reinstall, you could install it on an external SSD. This is what I did with Sequoia to reply to your original question. It was only after a few months that I installed Sequoia on my work machines.

I have discovered something new in all this. HLG doesn't work as noted even after the most recent upgrades, but today I had to open an older project for client, I had edited it in Rec 2020 PQ and what do you know....it plays in glorious HDR! Thought I was seeing things, so I tried to open an HLG project and its all dull and faded still. So on my system Rec2020 PQ works, so that sort of destroys their theory that its "3rd party monitors" wouldn't you think? It seems to just be HLG out of FCP. Anything else as stated on my set up shows in HDR on the 3rd party monitor! The only thing that doesn't is HLG out of FCP. Rec 2020 PQ out of FCP is in HDR.

For what it's worth, I just thought I'd mention it!

Can you give the specs of the media and the project properties you used?

could you post screenshots that post the project properties, the clip into, and what you see in the FCP viewer and in the QuickTime Player.

I am also having this issue! I'm on an M1 MAX and FCPX 10.8.1. I use an external monitor and it gets HDR from the M1 from everything via the HDMI port EXCEPT FCPX! Its all muted down. The screen on the laptop shows HDR footage in HDR. However it won't output via HDMI port to a monitor in HDMI from FCPX. I've tried everything, including making a new library. Like I said it shows it as HDR in FCPX but it will no longer output via HDMI in HDR.

I have changed display settings several times, the monitor I'm using will show HDR photos etc, just nothing out of FCPX via the M1's HDMI port.

I believe this is a bug with either Sequoia or FCP 10.8.1

Thanks Luis. Yes, I should've clarified that. In FCPX it's AV Output. But in System Settings I have to put that 3rd monitor as "Extended Desktop" and I have to enable "HDR output". Two different locations.

Thanks for the detailed response, but what people aren’t understanding is 1) the HDMI port on the MacBook Pro DOES put out HDR for everything BUT FROM FCPX! It is HDR with the desktop image I put on it etc. It is SDR out of FCP since Sequoia. And 2) it worked flawlessly before Sequoia!

I’m talking about hooking an external monitor to the built in HDMI port of the laptop, and in FCP, you use that monitor as an external program feed. If you have a laptop, try it out! The desktop image you use for that screen and anything you drag to it is HDR, once in FCP it will be dull and not HDR while the laptop screen shows as HDR! Doesn’t matter if it’s iPhone HDR, or shot on a professional camera in Rec2020. The monitor will only show everything in SDR, and yes, all my FCP settings should send out HDR, the projects did before Sequoia.

It used to work perfectly and Sonoma broke it. Neither FCP 11 or any Sequoia updates have fixed it.

@joema - You're correct - the color points are 9-18-9, primaries BT.2020 and color transfer BT.2100 (HLG).

The clips display correctly everywhere except in FCP. No issues in Preview, QuickTime, Resolve Studio or any other programs. It's only in the viewer in FCP.

The color profiles have custom names because the monitors have been calibrated, but for HLG testing, I'm using Video Range 64-940, Gamut 2020, EOTF HLG and Luminance 1000. For PQ,Full Range 0-1023, Gamut 2020 (but have tested with P3-D65), EOTF PQ and Luminance 1000.

I'm configuring the settings in FCP's HDR Mastering Display Metadata section, correctly when working with a PQ project, but not HLG since they don't have/use embedded metadata.

AlainBE wrote:

I am the one who started this post months ago

In the mean time, I have reverted to shoot in SDR.

Obviously this is a serious problem that needs to be sorted out but surely the simplest solution would be to revert to Sonoma until it gets sorted. Is there anything specific to Sequoia that you really need? There is always a danger in updating to a new OS early, particularly for 3rd party hardware. I always seem to have a battle with my Epson printer every time I upgrade macOS.

Also I don’t know what camera you are using but if you shoot in log or raw you should be able to process in HDR anyway, now or in the future. You shouldn’t need to shoot in SDR.

I have this problem too, with fcp 10.8 and 11.2. and macOS Sequoia. I'm using a Powerbook pro M1 16". I installed Sequoia on an external drive, just the OS and fcp 11 and compressor. I noticed something what hasn't been said here. On the picture on the left you have a screenshot from tcp on an external monitor (LG). The monitor is the only screen used. In the middle you see a shot from the LG used as extended monitor after I dragged it from the laptop screen to the LG. On the right a screenshot on the laptop monitor. This could be a temporary solution for laptop users but as soon as you close the lid of the Powerbook it becomes dark again. This happens in FCP 10.8 and 11.2.

Mark, thanks for all the work on this. I did some testing today and started getting set up to debug it with XCode.

That will take at least a couple of days. I will need to create a Sonoma boot disk so I can do comparative tests between Sonoma and Sequoia. If successful, I'll file a bug, post the results here, and discuss the details with other industry contacts.

I tested it today with the Atomos Shogun 7 monitor, which is supposedly HDR. It showed "wrong" behavior but in a different way -- with the HDR setting enabled in MacOS System Settings>Display, and with the Shogun 7 set for Rec.2020 HLG or PQ and HDMI input, the image became too light, not too dark.

If anyone with a Shogun 7 has reproduced the typical "too dark" behavior, let me know the specific Atomos and MacOS settings.

Can you give the media specs please from Medicaid or Invisor?

Please can you confirm that the video does not appear in HDR when the LG is mirroring the laptop screen.