VMSHDP10: WMV video => muted brightness/contrast

Peter_i wrote on 1/9/2011, 9:04 AM
Hi there,

This is my first post on this forum, so be gentle! ;-)

My main system is a 32-bit 3Ghz PC with 2GB memory, NVidia GeForce7600GT graphics card, and running under XP Pro SP3.

I have recently upgraded from Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0 to Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0 and have encountered the following problem on both systems...

I have noticed that when I import a WMV format video (that I am working on for a client) into V10 it appears to be a lot duller than the original - it seems as though there's been a shift in brightness and/or contrast upon import - this definitely does not happen in V9.

This brightness and/or contrast shift is propagated upon rendering out the video from V10 and the effect is compounded if this new WMV video is then loaded back into V10 (e.g. to add to other footage).

I have regretably had to revert back to using V9, as V10 is unusable at the moment due to this problem. The problem also exhibits itself on my Dell Vostro 3700 laptop.

Has anyone else encountered this problem - is it a bug, or is there some (new) setting that I need to adjust?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Kind regards,
Peter

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 1/9/2011, 9:36 AM
Colorspace conversion to Studio RGB is a well-known "feature" of the WMV format, whether the video needs it or not. Since the Vegas preview is always Computer RGB, some videos will look flat in the display, and render even flatter the second time around.

For this reason, most pros recommend against the Widows codecs (WMV, Microsoft DV), and opt instead for another output format, depending on its intended use or destination.

What preview differences you may be seeing between the two VMS versions are hard to pin down without some additional information. Are you viewing on your primary or on a secondary monitor? Is the "Adjust source media to better match project or render settings" preview option turned off in both of your installed versions? I know of nothing intrinsically different between the two, everything else being equal.
Peter_i wrote on 1/13/2011, 2:25 PM
Thank you for your reply and apologies for not responding earlier - I've spent the last few days travelling.

I am viewing using my primary display (LCD monitor), but the same effect is present on my secondary monitor (CRT monitor). Both have been calibrated and matched using a Spyder3 colourimeter.

The "Adjust source media to better match project or render settings" option only appears to be present in VMS 10 (I could not find that option anywhere in VMS9) and this option does not appear to have any affect on the imported WMV quality - on or off, the video is always muted in brightness/contrast.

What would be the output format of choice for most pros?

Many thanks,
Peter
Chienworks wrote on 1/13/2011, 4:40 PM
A quick answer is anything but WMV ;)

But, before we can give you a more useful answer we need to know what your client wants from the video. How will it be delivered and viewed? Burned to DVD? Viewed on PCs from hard drive? Streamed or downloaded online? There are so many different formats and codecs in part because there are so many different ways to present the finished video. Some are very good for one use but not for others, and vice versa.
musicvid10 wrote on 1/13/2011, 4:42 PM
The "look" of WMV in the Vegas preview is going to be flatter than on Windows Media Player, for instance, because of the way colorspace is handled.

Are you preparing this video to be used on the web, such as Youtube?
The most popular (and preferred) format for web delivery is h264/AVC in the mp4 wrapper.
There are two AVC encoders in your Vegas -- Sony and Mainconcept.