WMV to h26x color fade

[exekutive]

whenever I use handbrake to transcode from wmv to AVC/HEVC, the picture gets washed out. It's losing contrast or gamma or something.
Is there some way to better preserve color/tone?


[Attachment 66389 - Click to enlarge]

[jagabo]

I tried it with a random WMV file (VC1 and WMA1) and had no change of brightness, color, gamma, etc. Maye there's something odd about your WMV file? Maybe it's a playback issue?

[ProWo]

Check the colorspace and colorrange settings of handbrake in your transcode.
Both should remain equal to the source file. Maybe you have changed the colorrange from Limited (TV) to Full (PC).

[jagabo]

Maybe you have changed the colorrange from Limited (TV) to Full (PC).

That was my first thought but it wasn't that simple. The difference between his two images is more of a gamma change than a levels change.

This adjustment in AviSynth gives an almost perfect match:

gamma = 0.82
RGBAdjust(rg=gamma, gg=gamma, bg=gamma)

[exekutive]

I tried it with a random WMV file (VC1 and WMA1) and had no change of brightness, color, gamma, etc. Maye there's something odd about your WMV file? Maybe it's a playback issue?

No it's a pretty consistent issue with many files, but they're encoded with a more recent version. Maybe WMA1 is too ancient.
Player makes no difference.

Try the one in my screenshot (DLP_PART_2_768k): https://standaloneinstaller.com/blog/big-list-of-sample-videos-for-testers-124.html

[exekutive]

Check the colorspace and colorrange settings of handbrake in your transcode.
Both should remain equal to the source file. Maybe you have changed the colorrange from Limited (TV) to Full (PC).

colorspace filter completely disabled. I don't see colorrange.

[poisondeathray]

DLP_PART_2_768k.wmv is a wmv3 file


Actually both your screenshots are incorrect in terms of levels and color

Here is what is should look like. Left is correct. Notice the difference skin tones and "green shirt"

You might have multiple issues going on. Possibly a renderer issue, or gpu settings or drivers.

How are you viewing it and taking screenshots ? (what software, how is it configured)


[Attachment 66400 - Click to enlarge]

[exekutive]

DLP_PART_2_768k.wmv is a wmv3 file

WMV3 is a fourCC ID. Codec is Windows Media Video 9 . And is there a point?

Actually both your screenshots are incorrect in terms of levels and color

I think you're getting hung up on the inconsequential. My post is about the difference before and after transcoding.

Drivers and GPU are fine.

[poisondeathray]

DLP_PART_2_768k.wmv is a wmv3 file

WMV3 is a fourCC ID. Codec is Windows Media Video 9 . And is there a point?

The point is the fourcc identifier is usually what is used to distinguish between codecs. e.g. jagabo used wvc1 , which is a different type of WMV than wmv3

Actually both your screenshots are incorrect in terms of levels and color

I think you're getting hung up on the inconsequential. My post is about the difference before and after transcoding.

Drivers and GPU are fine.

It's not inconsequential - it indicates problems with your setup, and the details matter as to which decoding pathway is being used for WMV3 vs. h264 vs. h265. A different decoder, renderer can cause the same video to look different. For example, one type of video might use HW acceleration, and a different pathway

There is no difference before and after handbrake for me on the same source video, so it's likely a problem with your setup .

For example, are you using more than 1 player at the same time ? often this causes a different renderer to be used for each instance. Details matter. Which software and settings ?

The fact that both your screenshots are incorrect, and that your handbrake output is different when it should be the same - suggest that you have other setup problems .

If you want help answer the questions. Otherwise figure it out yourself

I can upload a WMV3 colorbars video for you to test and debug your configuration. These are known colors

[jagabo]

This is what I see, before and after encoding with Handbrake:


[Attachment 66401 - Click to enlarge]

The same as poisondeathray. That's using a rec.601 matrix.

[exekutive]

Turns out it is the player. In fact I get 4 different pictures, from 4 different players, with the same file. All have default video settings. No filters.
I'm really surprised. Why so much inconsistency? It almost looks like they are choosing arbitrary colors. Do we have no control at all with what our videos will look like to other people?

[exekutive]

I can upload a WMV3 colorbars video for you to test and debug your configuration.

Sure. That could come in handy.

[poisondeathray]

standard 75% colorbars and tone , as "square pixel" 640x480, using wmv3

For example, "red" should be rendered in RGB as 191,0,0 using computer RGB . In this example it will be 191,0,1 because of 8bit precision and rounding errors .

It should look something like this in a media player if rendered properly. Usually a common culprit is the renderer choice, and quicktime will always be different


[Attachment 66405 - Click to enlarge]

[exekutive]

Check the colorspace and colorrange settings of handbrake

I re-encoded the same file several times with the same settings. Only changing the colorspace for each one.
Here they are opened in the same player (IINA). I can't see any color difference between them.

standard 75% colorbars and tone , as "square pixel" 640x480, using wmv3

thanks for the file

[jagabo]

Different players do different things with levels and colors. Some rules of thumb: If your video is SD use limited range rec.601. If HD use limited range rec.709. Specify the color matrix and range in your encodings. That will give you the best probability of getting the right colors at playback. Some brain dead players will still screw up though.

[rgr]

Turns out it is the player. In fact I get 4 different pictures, from 4 different players, with the same file. All have default video settings. No filters.
I'm really surprised. Why so much inconsistency? It almost looks like they are choosing arbitrary colors. Do we have no control at all with what our videos will look like to other people?

Use the MPC-HC (or MPC-BE) player with the MPC image renderer installed (https://www.free-codecs.com/download/mpc_video_renderer.htm).
This is probably the only combination that always displays the image correctly.