Full range question

[age]

Are there some benefits to encoding in full range over the limited range ?
In that case would be useful
give input a full range video and have an option to do internally pc range to tv range conversion as last operation,like a post processing filter?

[Jamaika]

Standard old TV is range imited. At the PC it is full. Full Range has more shades of gray so the file has more information for the CRF. Fullrange is mostly for container MOV, Limited for MP4. It isn't now the rule.
http://bak2.beareyes.com.cn/2/lib/200707/21/041/20070228_dvihdmi_05.jpg
A bigger problem is the choice of color matrix.

[age]

Thanks for answering my question :)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Fullrange is mostly for container MOV, Limited for MP4. It isn't now the rule.

First of all, MOV and MP4 are pretty much one and the same thing. Actually "MOV" was first, as a proprietary Apple format, but later it became an official Standard as "MPEG-4 Part-14" aka "MP4":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14#History_of_MP4

Secondly, the color range is totally unrelated to the container format (or video format). As a matter of fact, "Limited Range" is the de facto standard for Television and also DVD/BluRay. So, all movies that you can get general are "Limited Range".

You get "Full Range" when you do screen recordings from your PC. Video game recordings are a typical example of this.

Generally, PC screens expect "Full Range" (showing "washed out" colors, if you feed them with "Limited Range") and Television screens expect "Limited Range". On the PC, the video renderer does the required "Limited" to "Full" conversion...

[foxyshadis]

The benefit of full-range is that you get 10% less banding and something like 30-40% more colors, all concentrated around the extreme lights and darks. Nothing else. All range increases are the same: Limited range is about 7.5bit in luma, while full range is 8bit. If hardware players would consistently acknowledge full-range, I'd have no reason to ever use limited range again.

[raffriff42]

This quote nails it for me:RGB restricted to 16-235 should be considered broken and faulty, not treated as a first-class option. The only time it's ever produced is by mistake, and no systems expect or correct for it (aside from generic autolevels filters). I'd advise not to include or even acknowledge it.

On the other hand, YUV video is almost always TV range, whereas YUV still pictures are almost always full range, so either is acceptable as long as it's signaled. Some MJPEG recordings use full range, for instance, as do some advanced users.In other words, YUV is 16-235 and RGB is 0-255 - keep it that way unless you have a very good reason for doing otherwise.

[age]

Sorry for the noob question,
So we have the possibilities:
limited range input-->dct,deblock,other operations--> limited range output.x264 (nowadays standard)
full range input -->dct,deblock,other operations--> full range output.x264

Just for my own curiosity :) I was wondering if something like this could gives us more precise output(if it's possible):
YUV full range input -->dct,deblock,other operations, pc-to-tv level compression-->YUV limited range output.x264

[Jamaika]

Theoretically, yes. In practice it is even as to record his camera. The containers MP4/MOV generally doesn't contain information or colormatix range.
http://www.nikonians.org/res/images/2013_04/20130416_124952_figure-1.2.jpg
http://www.nikonians.org/reviews/streaming-uncompressed-hdmi-video-from-your-nikon-d800/p/3
Secondly, the color range is totally unrelated to the container format (or video format). As a matter of fact, "Limited Range" is the de facto standard for Television and also DVD/BluRay. So, all movies that you can get general are "Limited Range".

You get "Full Range" when you do screen recordings from your PC. Video game recordings are a typical example of this.
If you are recording at 4K TV you do not need to use a limited range. You record video for a quick memory card. You only have to look at the specifications of the receiver that you can inflict max bitrate.
Full 4:4:4 reproduction (PC) | Yes for 4K; not fully for HD signal due to internal scaling
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/tx40ax630b-201410223934.htm

[raffriff42]

If it's precision you want (sure, we all do!), how about
8bit to 16bit -->dct,deblock,other operations -->16bit to 8- or 10bit -->YUV limited range output.x264