Dark contrast render problem

danishcamb wrote on 5/16/2013, 4:38 AM
Program not rendering correctly:
I've encountered a problem in Movie Studio Platinum 12 Suite.

When I render a video project the output video becomes a bit blurry and the contrast gets very dark. The input video is fine and in the preview window of the editor the video looks fine.


How do I get it to render in the right way?

I have set the project to have the same properties as the input video.
What format I render to has no impact on the end result - it gets dark either way.

I mainly use AVI files from DXtory video game recorder, but the darkening also becomes apparent when using other input formats.
I've tried rendering to MP4(mainavc and xdcam alike), WMV and the contrast gets dark when I do this.
If I render to AVI the picture gets stripes over the screen which splits the picture into tiny rows, along with this the video becomes dark as well.
If I take a videocamera file that already have been rendered by a different program and render it through Movie Studio Platinum it becomes darker.

If I render a JPEG to any video format for axample AVI or MP4 the dark contrast occurs.
If I render a JPEG picture to JPEG the darkening does NOT occur.


I've heard people with similar problems changing the studio RGB options, but I have had not success at doing this. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong.



_________________________
I'm using 512 ram in dynamic preview.
Render settings is set to video input settings.
_________________________
I'm running Windows 7 64-bit
AMD Phenom II processor
ATI Radeon 5870 graphics card
4 DDR3 Ram

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 5/16/2013, 11:00 AM
1. Dark, Contrasty Playback:
Use the Levels filter, Computer->Studio RGB preset on the output.

2. "Slightly blurry"
a) Match Media Settings in your project. This is a specific procedure. Search it, and don't guess at it!
b) Set your render frame rate exactly the same as your source frame rate. Example: if your source is 24 fps, don't render at 29.970 fps.
kodack10 wrote on 5/18/2013, 2:01 PM
The darkness and lightness you are seeing is because your video sources black and white levels don't match the projects. Black can be 0 or black can be 6, white can be 94 or white can be 100.

Go into the video effects chain of the track that has your video. Click add "Sony Levels"

Select the preset for "Computer RGB to Studio RGB" and voila, your video looks the way you were expecting it to. I saved a preset of computer RGB to Studio RGB with the words "USE THIS ONE" added so I could quickly find it later for other videos.

You're welcome.
danishcamb wrote on 5/20/2013, 1:46 PM
Thank you for your input. I've already matched my settings.
I've done the Computer to Studio RGB and I notice a slight change for the better. Though it's still not quite as good as supposed to be.
danishcamb wrote on 5/20/2013, 1:49 PM
Thank you for your time :)
It does seem to improve my render output but it's still not optimal. I may be able to correct it by manually setting the Computer to Studio RGB, but the slight blurriness is harder to get rid of. It's as if the colours flow together.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/20/2013, 2:42 PM
Post the complete properties of your original screencap video using MediaInfo (from Sourceforge).
Also upload a clip to a file sharing site (not Youtube!) would be helpful.
danishcamb wrote on 5/21/2013, 11:38 AM
I can somewhat improve the render by using Computer to studio RGB in video fx -> sony levels . But this of course doesn't remove the blurriness which occurs. The blurriness gets worse when there's a lot of fast moving in the video.

It's a 92,8gb AVI with 1980x1080p and 30 frames per second. Bitrate: 1992192kbps Datarate: 1990656kbps.

I can't get Mediainfo to work from the Sourceforge download.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/21/2013, 1:55 PM
Surely you can upload a short original sample somewhere.
danishcamb wrote on 5/21/2013, 5:15 PM

I've uploaded the original here https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=2D1923CD9AD79284&id=2D1923CD9AD79284!235

musicvid10 wrote on 5/21/2013, 6:12 PM
Wait. Doesn't Skydrive process the video for Silverlight?
We want to analyze the ORIGINAL VIDEO; anything that has been processed is completely useless.

Dropbox, MediaFire, Google Drive are all file sharing sites.
danishcamb wrote on 5/22/2013, 9:23 AM
Sorry, I didn't realise that Skydrive did that.

I hope you'll be able to see this then
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6eeb6mn4amhw22t/test_video.avi

musicvid10 wrote on 5/22/2013, 12:11 PM
OK, it's Lagarith AVI.
Follow the Better Method in the video tutorial, with the following changes:



-- Use these Levels settings, not the ones in the tutorial.
-- Render at full 1080p. Render the intermediate as Progressive, not Interlaced.
-- Specify the frame rate in both renders by typing in exactly 30.00 fps. Your footage is not NTSC.
-- Disable Resampling at the Event level (these two are likely the cause of your blurring).
-- Try one using the Animation preset in Handbrake. Remember, the encoders in Vegas are optimized for consumer camcorder video, not Animation or CG.

Best of luck.


danishcamb wrote on 5/22/2013, 5:38 PM
I followed your steps, although I'm unsure what you mean by animation preset in handbrake. I don't see it anywhere.

The contrast is closer to the original but it's still not the same. Other than decreasing the quality of my video drastically I don't see how this should help.
Of course your steps posted here on the forums would solve issues with blurriness, but these doesn't help fix my problem.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/22/2013, 8:25 PM
Maybe you're expecting too much from interframe compression.
I'll make a best-case render in Handbrake and upload it for you to look at.
At least BluRay quality should be attainable.

That's time-permitting.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/23/2013, 12:11 PM
OK, here's my shot at it, using my "best practices" in Vegas->Handbrake.
Since there is no resize / deinterlace going on, this is about as good as it gets in x264, even if you were to take the time to teach yourself AviSynth.

Let me know if it looks better or the same as what you've come up with.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20519276/test%20video-1HB.mp4
danishcamb wrote on 5/23/2013, 5:00 PM
Hmmm weird. Yeah that looks better than what I made. I don't understand cause I followed your steps. But clearly I must have gone wrong somewhere. Have no idea what it might be though.

But I don't suppose getting a good render quality would be an issue if it weren't for my problem. It is very strange. The closest I've come to a solution is people saying that I need to add a level setting computer RGB to studio RGB. But this doesn't work. It's so frustrating.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/23/2013, 11:56 PM
I showed you the precise, correct levels setting for your source above. It's just math.
I've got scopes in Vegas Pro.

I still suspect your frame rates are not matched correctly throughout your entire work path.
Your video is 30.000 fps, not 29.970.

I also put a Sharpen=0 filter on the output.
danishcamb wrote on 5/24/2013, 4:54 PM
I can assure you sir, I added the precise level correction you said and I'm sure I set it at 30 FPS.
To prove my point I just copied my files to my laptop and rendered the same content there. It worked. No dark contrast whatsoever it is same as original and the blurriness is gone.

I haven't tried the Sharped=0 correction yet though.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/25/2013, 9:03 AM
No offense meant. I was pointing out that the custom levels setting I provided is a more precise replacement for the generic Computer->Studio filter recommended to you by others, that's all. Use one or the other, but not both. If you need help with other settings, post back.

To be clear, the custom levels setting I provided optimizes your video bandwidth for REC 709 delivery.
It doesn't try to match your RGB source levels, which are suboptimal.

danishcamb wrote on 5/26/2013, 10:54 AM
And I'm not questioning you. Just neither of the solutions improves the render.
I'll just use my laptop for it, until supporters figure it out.