xvid and dvd depth

[cooper99]

After encoding dozens and dozens of movies, I've noticed that the picture in a dvd has more depth than an xvid encode, even at max quality settings. It may be that I have to adjust brightness and contrast settings or it's just my eyes. Does anyone agree?

[Manao]

If I'm not wrong, both are decoded in the YV12 colorspace, so there should not be any difference. However, filtering ( c3d, fluxsmooth ) often creates flat areas ( after encoding ) which makes us think the depth is slightly lower. Moreover, since the compression is higher, a loss ( of details, but also of colors ) is to be expected.

[Zarxrax]

Software dvd players usually adjust the colors a bit so that may be what is creating the difference you see.

[MoritzT]

If Zarxrax is right, then encode the DVD (or part of it) to HuffYuv and compare that with your XviD encode.

[trbarry]

You might also try using the MPEG quant which (IIRC) does not remove as much detail as H263, especially at high bit rates.

- Tom