Is VCD format inherintly dark?

[kenif1]

I have done some searching on this and have not really found a solution. Seems like every vcd I view is quite dark. Better on the home dvd player and tv, but still not as bright as the originals. I have never made a vcd myself so I cannot tell you any settings. Just seems as though whenever I get a vcd it is dark. Is there something I can do to lighten them up?

[BJ_M]

turn the brightness up ?

[888888]

I have done some searching on this and have not really found a solution. Seems like every vcd I view is quite dark. Better on the home dvd player and tv, but still not as bright as the originals. I have never made a vcd myself so I cannot tell you any settings. Just seems as though whenever I get a vcd it is dark. Is there something I can do to lighten them up?

I have noticed this too. The blockiness of VCDs makes them seem darker. I think this is either an optical illusion or there are more dark bits. Maybe try encoding into higher bitrate MPEG 1 or 2 for SVCD just to see if they will lighten up when watching them on your computer.

[zedolfblack]

Is this a case of Luminance Range errors?

A video's luminance range can be squished so that it's values range from 16 to 235.
If it's luminance range is not squished then it's values would range from 0 to 255.

If a video is (re)encoded and it's original luminance range is not correctly detected then the re-encoded video will have errors.

A video with a squished luminance range (16-235) if processed as non-squished (0-255),
OR
A video with non-squished luminance range (0-255) processed as squished (16-235).

BOTH will have errors as the luminance range gets mapped to incorrect values within the encoding process.

Martin.

[kenif1]

Thanks for the reply's. As I read it VCD will work fine if encoded properly. I must just be getting lousy copies.

[d_unbeliever]

i always back up from original vcd movies...and they are always bright, as bright as the original...

maybe it will depend in your source vcd.