H264:all codecs bad decoding quality exept CoreAVC ??

[straubgx]

Hello, I have a Camcorder Sanyo Xacti 2000 and created a short test clip in 1080p60 @24Mbit AVC/H264.

If I play it back it with either:

1) VLC-Player
2) Mplayer
3) ffdshow with a DirectShow Player (Mediaplayer (classic), Zoomplayer) or
4) use the x264 VfW interface with Virtualdub

the video looks like this (cut out detail of HD video frame):
http://www.esatori.de/pics/decoded with VLC-SMPlayer-ffshow-x264.png

If I use the CoreAVC DirectShow Filter with a DirectShow Player (Mediaplayer (classic), Zoomplayer) the video looks like this (cut out detail of HD video frame):
http://www.esatori.de/pics/decoded with CoreAVC.png

While the overall video decoding also looks good with the opensource decoders, only with CoreAVC I am able to see the whole level of detail (phone display)!

Since I am editing Video with Virtualdub (or Avidemux) these program import it with the lower quality of Picture 1, since they use the opensource implementations for decoding.

Anyone knows why CoreAVC does so much better here ??

I would really like to get the video into the programs in the best possible quality and CoreAVC has no VfW interface.

Thanks a lot for any advice!

Gerry

[Blue_MiSfit]

This is certainly a TV vs PC luma levels issue.

What are the levels of your source? You can check this by loading it into AviSynth, and simply adding Histogram() to the end. Scrub to a position with some bright and dark areas, and look in the histogram. If there are significant values showing up yellow, that means you have a full range (0-255) video. Most video is actually TV range (16-235), so I'd be surprised if your content is actually using the full range. Somewhere in your playback chain, something isn't outputting the correct luma levels, and you're getting these crushed blacks.

PS - if you use Media Player Classic, I suggest using the Haali video renderer. This will allow you to toggle between TV and PC range display in real-time, like CoreAVC does.

~MiSfit

[nurbs]

This thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143689) mentions solutions for luminance issues.

[straubgx]

@Blue_MiSfit

I greatly appreciate your quick reply.

I could indeed resolve the matter by changing a setting in the decoding settings of ffdshow:

Under "RGB" the Input Level was set to "Standard" (16-235).
Setting it to "Full Range (0-255)" or "Auto" gives me now all the details as with CoreAVC.

Thanks a lot - I have learned something new.

Gerry