Saturated Render??

S35 wrote on 3/18/2008, 2:53 PM
Hi everyone, I thought it's about time I ask about this.

Whenever a video file is rendered, the output appears significantly more saturated (and shadows become more deep and rich) than the original.

I've had this same issue ever since 2005 while using a consumer Vegas-like product made by Sonic Foundry.

I'm guessing it's my computer and/or drivers, because another person had this same Vegas-like product without an issue.

The problem used to only be with mpeg-2 files, and avi's were fine. But with Vegas Pro 8, they all seem the same (over-saturated).

I've rather become used to this rich look, as it applies a filmic appearance for me :-) but I'd like to be able to know the color corrections in my Preview window will look the same as the final output!

Thanks for any advice in advance!

System Specs (I know it's older, but it works perfect except for the above issue):

Gateway 505 GH

Windows XP SP2 (upgraded from internet; original was SP1)

Intel Pentium 4 530 Processor with HT (3 GHz )

PCI Express ATI Radeon X700 Pro Graphics Card (256MB)

3 GB RAM

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 3/18/2008, 3:24 PM
This would suggest that your computer monitor and/or external monitor are improperly calibrated/set up?
S35 wrote on 3/18/2008, 3:31 PM
Hi, thanks for the response.

Actually, I'm only using one monitor, and the preview window in Vegas shows normal, but when watching the render (ie. in WMP 11) the video looks saturated.

For a twist, when re-importing the render back into Vegas, the video looks normal.
farss wrote on 3/18/2008, 4:05 PM
So logically me thinks the problem is in WMP11.
S35 wrote on 3/18/2008, 4:16 PM
Probably correct; however, when put on DVD, the file shows the same oversaturation.

It could be every player except Vegas takes advantage of some kind of color management profile or something on my computer.

If only there was another player to preview raw M2T's in, then I could know for sure.
S35 wrote on 3/18/2008, 4:34 PM
Has anyone else noticed this at all?

Deeper saturation in a player and normal in Vegas??

Does the internet update to SP2 have any missing drivers??
S35 wrote on 3/18/2008, 5:20 PM
I am sorry about these ignorant questions, but I've lived with darkened video for three and a half years.

I just ran a test, and it appears I only have one mpeg decoder installed??

I don't know if this is related to the problem; but I am wary of these "free codec packs" as they seem to do more harm than good (and didn't work the last time I tried).

You all may as well forget about this topic; as I said, I rather like the rich video... it's only sometimes the darkening/saturation gets annoying (as detail is lost in the shadows).

Thanks again everyone.
TGS wrote on 3/18/2008, 5:25 PM
I would be willing to bet it's your "Overlay" settings of your video card. This will affect everything on your screen except the video window of Vegas. Even your capture screen. If you can play an .avi in Vegas that looks normal, but looks overly rich in WMP or excessively dark. Normally that's what happens with Nvidia cards, but I noticed you have ATI. Might be the same with theirs too.
Right click on screen and choose Video settings or go to video settings in control panel and adjust until WMP looks like the Vegas screen.
You can open both Vegas & WMP at the same time and have a video paused at the same section on both players.
fldave wrote on 3/18/2008, 6:07 PM
Yes, I'm 95% certain it is a WMP / video card issue. I had the same thing on two of my PCs, one with ATI card and one with nVidea card. WMP goes flaky with the hardware accelerated setting. Back the Hardware Accelerated setting off to about half-way under the advanced video settings. Reboot and see if that clears it up. If not, shut it off then reboot and see if it makes a difference. A middle setting cleared my issues up completely.

You probably shouldn't be playing Halo 3 on your video editing PC anyway, so it is a trade-off.

Or try another video player, Nero Showtime or VLC, and see if that clears up without changing your settings.

Dave
Kennymusicman wrote on 3/18/2008, 7:17 PM
also, Media PLayer Classic is another player you can try that gives you lots of options
S35 wrote on 3/19/2008, 5:09 PM
Hi, thanks everyone for the responses!

I downloaded VLC player and took some snapshots:

One from the original m2t, one from the mpeg render, and one from an avi render.

The mpeg and avi both look more saturated than the m2t.

Since these pictures were taken from the same player, I'm guessing it's not a hardware acceleration issue.

As mentioned earlier, a computer tech I know had the same consumer "Vegas-like" product by Sonic Foundry (Video Explosion Deluxe 1.5), and never had this problem.

It was only me who had this problem ever since I first got this older consumer product... and now Vegas Pro 8 shows no difference.

(The only difference in Vegas is avi's also appear over-saturated when rendered.)

The computer tech immediately noticed the darkened output, when I gave him a dvd a few years back. Again, this would indicate a physical issue... not just monitor calibration or hardware acceleration.

There may be no solution... maybe Sonic Foundry/Sony products just don't like my computer? :-)
johnmeyer wrote on 3/19/2008, 9:23 PM
TGS has hit the nail on the head and I will give you 99% certainty that if you change the overlay settings (the advanced section of the display settings), you will fix your problem. This was discussed quite recently in these forums, and it was EXACTLY the same problem. Don't bother doing anything else until you have played with the overlay settings.

Here's that other thread (where he set someone else on the correct track):

Washed Out Blacks

Here's one where Spot made the same recommendation:

Brightness of HD Rendered in sRGB vs cRGB

Control Panel -> Display -> Settings tab -> Advanced button -> Overlay tab

The "Overlay tab" may be labeled something else, depending on your video card, so you may have to hunt around for it. That's what it's labeled on a modern ATI card.



S35 wrote on 3/25/2008, 11:26 AM
Hi everyone... PROBLEM SOLVED. Thanks for your advice!!

I didn't actually adjust my video card settings, but I adjusted some settings in VLC player:

Under Preferences> Video> unchecked "Overlay Video Output"

Under Preferences> Main Interfaces> wxWidgets> checked "Imbed video in interface"

Also Under Preferences> Video> Output modules> Direct X> "Use hardware YUV -> RGB conversions" is checked.

I'm not sure if all three of these options fixed the problem, but it works perfect now... (of course, WMP is still over saturated, but I don't care).

Thanks again everyone!!