Video file too dark/contrasty with CCE (2.67), blacks crushed! - Help!

[LordClick]

I am trying to convert a canopus DV file to mpeg2 for DVD, and CCE constantly gives me a file that looks too dark/contrasty, and it loses all the details in the blacks. tmpgenc doesnt do that (but somewhat changes the reds/greens a bit). I tried to change some settings in CCE (like quantization characteristics, and the matrices) but without success. The original video is dark overall.

Any input would be gladly appreciated!!!

[digitalman]

I believe someone posted the same issue in this forum very recently. Their fix was to change the luminance level.

[LordClick]

Actually I changed the luminance from 16-235 to 0-255, and the video got even darker, so I changed it back to 16-235... it's crazy how parts of the video get so dark, I don't understand why... does CCE have problems with dark video?

[LordClick]

anyone who could give me some more hints, settings to try? Here are some images to compare:

First one is original, second one is after CCE:

http://www.encounter.ch/Orig1.jpg
http://www.encounter.ch/CCE1.jpg

http://www.encounter.ch/Orig2.jpg
http://www.encounter.ch/CCE2.jpg

This was done with the following settings in CCE:
Luminance 16-235
Standard Quantization matrix
no filters
Quantization Characteristics = 40
precision = 10
zigzag
progressive
Multipass VBR, after 2nd pass with 3000 min, 6000 avg. and 8000 max bitrate

ANY HELP GREATLY WELCOMED!
THANKS! :)

[RB]

You might try to load the AVI through AVISynth and use the Tweak filter to increase brightness. See the AVISynth docs.

[Mug Funky]

i think maybe your decoder is correcting the output.

when you decode the source, it doesn't change the luminances, and when you encode at 16-235 it bypasses CCE's own filter. so what i'd say is happening is that what you're using to display the encoded output is fixing the luma as if it's a TV set, causing the darker picture.

some info about how you got those images would be helpful here, as that's all i can think of.

[edit] what's up with the frame sizes on those pics? i thought viddy had to be 720x576, or 480?

[LordClick]

okay I will have a look at avisynth, thanks

Mug Funky, of course, frame size is 720x480, i just captured the image part of it (it's letterboxed). The footage was digitized from DV into a canopus DV avi file.

When I captured the images above, I just displayed the original in Windows media player and took a snapshot, then I did the same with the CCE mpeg file. Should I not be able to compare images like that? Should the CCE file look darker so it will look right on the TV set? (but commercial DVDs look the same on TV and comp, how so?) I am a little bit confused... :P

[Mug Funky]

oh.. you say that commercial DVDs look the same? hmmm.

it's all a matter of what dShow filter is decoding your video, and what it's doing to it. without seeing your system i can't really tell.

but if you were to get an m2v file out of the DVD and play it as if it was your own encoded video, it would be decoded by the exact same filters. it would be interesting to see how it looks then.

if all else fails, then there's nothing wrong with just brightening it in avisynth...

[Gumbie]

I have to adjust windvd platinum to lighten everything.But they play and look great on my stand alone so I never change lum setting in DVD2SVCD.
Odd that your dvd's look the same on your PC,lol.maybe I need a better card,haha