Weird problem when fading from black

[dwills]

I am having a problem that I hope someone can help with. I have made a small music video for my wife using Premiere 6. I exported the movie (avi) just fine, it plays perfectly. I encode the movie using TMPGenc to a VCD 2.0 compliant vcd. I test the MPG. Works perfectly. I burn the MPG to a cd-r or cd-rw. I play it in my Mintek DVD player, which plays all discs and formats. What happens next is strange.

In EVERY scene that fades from black to a clip, instead of starting out with a black screen, the video plays ~ 1/2 second of the clip that is about to play as a still frame, but semi faded as though the brightness were turned way down. Once the video gets to the point where the scene should be fully faded in, the video scene plays without incident.

In the scenes that cross fade from one scene to another without going to black, the video plays perfectly.

I have tried several brands of cd-r's with the same results. I can burn VCD's that I download off the net and play them with no problem. If I play the AVI or MPG the VCD comes from, it plays exactly as I would expect.

I am authoring with Premiere 6.0 and burning with Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 with the latest service packs.

Since I am making this VCD for an XMAS present, I have a few weeks to fix the problem, but I need to know where to look next. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Doug

[BJ_M]

i dont know where you live as PAL and NTSC use different black levels but you are most likly seeing the diff between 7.5 IRE and 0 IRE between your PC monitor and TV ..

DVd is really +4 IRE but designated digital 16 black.

2 solutions -- 1. render the clip proper for NTSC +7.5 IRE in adobe (TV output)

or

In TMPGenc -- go to advanced settings and check or uncheck "output YUV as basic ....."

maybe in adobe there is also a setting for fades to go to 7.5 or 0 or at least lower than what you have now ...

also - i suspect you have your TV set incorrectly for brighness/contrast ... since 90% of them are ... though still you shouldnt see the still frame ..

if you are in a pal country - dont read the above as your color is different .. PAL TV uses 0 IRE for black

[dwills]

Been on vacation so I am just now getting a chance to respond. I ended up trying the VCD on another (Pioneer) DVD player attached to a different TV and it came out perfectly. I figured then, as you suggested, that it must be a problem with the brightness settings on my TV. Turned the brightness all the way down and still get the same result (it is a VERY old 19" TV so maybe there is a problem there.)

Oh well, as it turns out, I was looking for an excuse to buy a new TV anyway.

BTW, my wife came home feeling very upset from work so I gave her the present early. She cried (the good kind) and can't keep herself from telling everyone about it. Now she's coming up with other projects she wants me to do (she says she never realized I could do what I did), and now wants to buy all kinds of goodies for me (lights, second camera, mixing board, etc.) Gotta love it!