FRAPS YV12 to MeGUI Encoder color loss help

[lolyondaime]

Hello I'm a noob when it comes to encoding etc and Ive been researching my problem and have yet to find a solution that worked specifically for me. Recently I started uploading screen capture videos to Youtube. Basically I use FRAPS (YV12 mode because RGB lags on my computer immensely during recording) to capture whichever game I am playing and when I'm finished due to the size of the video capture file from FRAPS I need to compress the size.

I tried following a tutorial on Youtube using a program called MeGUI, which also uses AVISynth and x264 encoder like a lot of programs tend to do. AVISynth is where my problem lies. Now when I go to create my AVS Script, I click on "AVISource" and input the video straight from FRAPS, with no previous editing, into the "Input Video" area to start the script it looks great, colors are perfect and just like the original. However, when i press "Preview AVS script" I can see the color appears brighter or more "washed out" than the original. This is without even touching any of the filters. The "script" is literally blank other than:
avisource("E:\Videos\C9 2012-09-18 15-09-47-36.avi")
#deinterlace
#denoise
#resize
#crop


Any idea why this might be making my colors a bit too bright/washed out? And is there a way to fix or at least get close to the original color? If not whats a better way to go from FRAPS to a lossless compressed codec suitable for HD quality on Youtube?

Youtube video tutorial followed: Here

[jagabo]

There are different ways YUV colors are converted to RGB (see rec.601, rec.709, PC.601, PC.709, etc.). It's likely just the way the conversion is done during the preview. Or your graphics card's video proc amp is maladjusted. How does the final encoded video look compared to the original?

[lolyondaime]

Like the preview, lighter/brighter/washed out and not like the original. I've seen those but have little knowledge of their meaning/how to apply them using my current program

[jagabo]

So playing the original YV12 Fraps video and the final encoded video with the same media player (but not at the same time*) results in different levels and/or colors? You may need to adjust your graphics card's video proc amp. It might be best if you provide small samples so someone else can check whether you really have a levels/colors change, or just a display issue.


* "not at the same time" is important because often only one program at a time can use the graphics card's video overlay feature. When using video overlay YUV video is written to the graphic card's memory and the the graphics card does the conversion to RGB for display (using its video proc amp settings). When a player isn't using video overlay (ie, if you start a second player while the first is still running) it will perform the YUV to RGB conversion itself. It may not use the same conversion method so you may end up with different levels and colors.

[lolyondaime]

Yes this was the case in the past... the very near past. I'm doing a test right now, I have a video queued up as we speak one i just took with fraps and encoded using MeGUI no more than 5 minutes ago. My graphics card is a NVidia Geforce GTX 560M. Would you by chance know the correct way to adjust its video proc amp? I believe I tried earlier and also looked for the correct way but I'm unsure as to if it worked... which is why im currently doing the test

I will say things seem a lot darker than before

[lolyondaime]

so I've tried playing with my video card's contrast brightness etc to no avail. I even tried changing my desktop color setting's hue to some funky color, recorded, and played it back only to find it was normal color when i changed my desktop's color settings back to normal. Does anyone know exactly what it is FRAPS is recording? It seems like its definitely NOT what you see on your monitor.

[jagabo]

I even tried changing my desktop color setting's hue to some funky color, recorded, and played it back only to find it was normal color when i changed my desktop's color settings back to normal. Does anyone know exactly what it is FRAPS is recording?

Fraps is recording the RGB contents of the frame buffer (video memory). The Desktop proc amp controls how those RGB values are adjusted as they are sent to the monitor (the contents of the frame buffer isn't changed). The same is true for the video proc amp. Applications still write the same YUV values to the frame buffer, the proc amp controls how they are converted to RGB as they are sent to the monitor.

[lolyondaime]

ah well sorry for the lack of knowledge but do you know where i can access my computer's proc amp? I'm still a bit confused. Theres a desktop proc amp and a video proc amp but neither of these are the ones i need to access?

[jagabo]

do you know where i can access my computer's proc amp? I'm still a bit confused. Theres a desktop proc amp a video proc amp but neither of these are the ones i need to access?

The video proc amp controls how video from media players is adjusted before sending the picture to the screen. Note that media players can use different methods of getting video to the screen and they may have their own proc amp controls. So you need to isolate where your issues are.

You can use the video in this post to adjust the video proc amp:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/326496-file-in-Virtualdub-has-strange-colors-when-o...=1#post2022085

What I usually do is adjust the monitor with a BMP levels test pattern (256 shades of gray) with the Desktop proc amp set at neutral. Make sure (nearly) all the different shades are distinguishable and the darkest shade is as dark as the monitor can deliver. Then use a video test pattern like the one above and adjust the video proc amp as indicated in that post (make sure your player isn't adjusting the image).

But you should really upload small samples of your Fraps caps and your encoded video. Just a few seconds of material with full range of brightness is enough. Then we can tell you whether you have a conversion problem or not.