lots of black in dark areas and pixelation!!

[hajj_3]

when i try and play xvid files i get more black in dark areas than there should be, its also pixelated alot of the time. ive tried playing them in winamp, media player 10, windvd etc and its the same in all.

i have just done a clean format and install of xvid 1.1, same for xvid 1.03. i tried opening the files in virtualdubmod and the frames dont have black on, but when you play the videos in something there is more black than there should be and is blocky.

PLEASE could someone help me fix this, its SOOOOO annoying!!!

note: in my earlier post post i was not talking about pirated xvids, it was my own tv cap, which is LEGAL :)

[Teegedeck]

1) If a moderator closes one of your threads don't post the same thread again! You post only once. If you want a thread re-opened ask nicely in a PM. Either rule 4 or rule 8 applies; haven't made up my mind yet.
2) We don't take chances on whether or not suspicious-sounding material is acutally illegal or not. If it sounds suspicious, the thread gets closed. (http://forum.doom9.org/announcement.php?f=6) You should be wise enough not to let talk about your perfectly legal captures sound as if you were talking about TV-episodes downloaded from the net. For now I choose to believe you because I've checked that you have been contributing to discussion about actual encoding.
3) If you have the knowledge to encode then you know enough to test every option there is (XviD's brightness-slider, ffdshow, VLC, mplayer...) in order to assess your problem properly. Don't let others do guesswork on exotic causes where you could test something out easily.

[hajj_3]

its not a brightness issue as the video is pixelated too, will try vlc player later, which things should i install from ffdshow?

[Teegedeck]

Do post screenshots from the original MPEG-2-TS and from the encoding.

[hajj_3]

how do i post a screenshot of the playback e.g in powerdvd as when i do that in programs and save the jpg its just black.

[Teegedeck]

Write an avs like this:

directshowsource("myencoding.avi")

Open it in VDub --> snapshot source-frame. Snapshots from the TS shouldn't be a problem.

You'd better post your .avs from the encoding-session of those episodes, too.

Also you check what filters get loaded on playback (right-klick in the playback window in MPC).

[hajj_3]

havent got the source files for the house eps, as it happens for all the xvids i have, not just these tv caps.

only things related to codecs i have installed are:

divx 6.11, ac3 filter 1.01 rc5, xvid 1.1, powerdvd, windvd.

[Teegedeck]

If you haven't got the source files anymore capture someting new and encode that in order to get to the bottom of your problem.

[hajj_3]

here are screenshots taken with VLC player:

you will need to zoom in, if you look at the guy's neck its really black, so are round his eyes and other areas on there:

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/2557/vlcsnap564857wg.png

if you look on the photo below you will notice black blotches up her bottom lip and other dark areas:

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/5831/vlcsnap577371rb.png

none of the 10 ish filter in vlc player are checked.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Okay, we've got a couple of screen-shots taken from the 608x336 encode.

Any screen-shots from the same frames of the source so we can compare?

[Didée]

My guess is there's something wrong with the video drivers or their setup.

If you open & play such an encode in VirtualDub, how does it look then?

[Teegedeck]

Well... (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=800219&highlight=virtualdubmod#post800219)

/waiting for screenshots from the original :)

[hajj_3]

was asleep. dont have original.

these xvids play properly in virtualdubmod, but they dont in vlc player, when i take a screenshot in vlc player it seems to take actual screenshot of playback, but if i close it, then open the jpg it displays the proper screenshot and not the pixelated 1.

im using latest 84.21 nvidia drivers, havent changed any settings!

any ideas?

[Teegedeck]

hajj_3, you are aware, that we are waiting for screenshots from the original for much more than one reason? It needn't be from those TV-eps; just capture anything now, make a screenshot of this original, encode it, make a screenshot of your encode and post both screenshots so we can see the difference.

You chose not to react to my comment above that around here you don't simply ignore it when a moderator closes a thread you started. You chose not to react to my explanation why we close threads at the merest hint of piracy involved. You also chose not to react to my repeated hint that I want to see sreenshots that prove you're talking about problems that appear when you yourself encode something; not about problems you have with illegally obtained TV-episodes.

For your first two choices you have received a strike as to violation of rule 4 ("...respect the moderator"), for the last one you're now at the brink of a strike for violating rule 6 ("piracy"). It might have been very unwise not to accept that I closed your first thread. I would have left it at that.

[hajj_3]

i cant get a signal here at uni, so cant capture anything!!!

i can only capture when i go home, which isnt that often! you have seen that i have used autogk to encode dvds and tv caps as xvids before!! i dont believe in piracy, but i believe in backing up your own property.

any ideas of how to fix this, it plays properly in virtualdub, but not in normal players like vlc, powerdvd etc, is there some setting i can change somewhere to make other players use the same method as virtualdub for playback?

thanks.

[Teegedeck]

No, most players use the DirectShow-framework which apparently is where your problem is rooted. You have no alternative but to either fix that problem or use a player wich uses its own, inbuilt decoder. VLC or MPlayer.

[hajj_3]

what setting in vlc player could i use then?

[Teegedeck]

You don't need to use any setting, just use it.

In the light of the ambiguity of your problem, I'm afraid this is all help you're gonna get. It is unfortunate that you cannot prove your files are legitimate but you know, I can't take chances. Don't try to open another thread with this topic. By rights, this thread shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Closed.