Video becomes blue

[stevelee2030]

Hello. I'm new to the forums and i would like some help.
I'm doing a project for school and when i put videos into Windows Movie Maker, the video becomes blue.
I've included a picture of how it looks like. Please I need help to solve this problem because the assignment is due on Monday!!

[JohnnyMalaria]

Looks okay to me - the keyboard doesn't have a noticeable blue color.

Most likely the camera's white balance setting is set incorrectly.

What format is the original video? Is it DV or some other AVI format? If so, open the captured file in Media Player, find the same frame as the one you posted, press Ctrl-I to save the frame as a .BMP or .JPG and post it here. Without seeing the before and after, it's hard to tell if Movie Maker is doing something unexpected.

[stevelee2030]

ah ok ill post the original
i dont think its my camera becuase when i play the original it's in color like this

[redwudz]

If indeed it is DV, you can run it through VirtualDub or VD Mod and adjust the color. But try playing it with a player like VLC Media Player to make sure it's not just a player or codec problem. VLC uses it's own codecs, so it's not affected by system codecs.

Virtual Dub can also be used as a DV editor, plus do quite a few other things. Well worth learning. If you want to process DV with it, you need to add a DV codec. I use the Panasonic DV Codec.

If the problem is not in the video, it may be in your display settings on your computer. Video settings may not be the same as your screen settings. But all videos played or opened in WMM would have the same problem.

[JohnnyMalaria]

ah ok ill post the original
i dont think its my camera becuase when i play the original it's in color like this

Thanks. That helps!

On a whim, I tried switching the red and blue channels using Paint Shop Pro. The result - pretty much what you are getting.

So, for some reason the color information is being misinterpreted. i.e., RGB is being treated as BGR (or vice versa) or, for 32-bit pixels, ARGB is being misinterpreted as ABGR (A = alpha channel).

EDIT - the other possibility is that, in YUV, the U and V are swapped.

What is the source of the material? Most likely the wrong codec/colorspace converter is being used.

Anyway, the solution would seem to be to swap the Red and Blue channels. Not sure of the best tool for that, especially given your deadline!

Here's my reconstructed blue image (from your original brown one):

[TKS144]

Vegas Video has a video FX for that, but it would be senseless to go out and buy the product just for that.

[stevelee2030]

It is a AVI file

[JohnnyMalaria]

Please provide as much detail as possible:

1. Source - what camera (the images are 320 x 240, is it a webcam?)
2. How did you create the AVI file?
3. Any idea what format the video is?

A quick and dirty way to get at 3) is to simply open the AVI file in Notepad. (Either right-click and use Open With... or rename the file to whatever.avi.txt then double click the file).

The file will appear in Notepad (it may take a while to open if it's a big file) and will start with something like:

RIFFø‰ AVI LISTÄ  hdrlavih8   V‚                  
   ÈÔ
                         LISTl~  strlstrh8   iavsdvsd            é  0u         ÈÔ
                 strf    @ ÀÀ?Ï ÿ@
ÀÀ?Ï ÿÿÿ€ÿ?Èüÿ        indxø}     
   00__             €       ~  

From the first line or so, you can tell the codec used. In this case, the dvsd tells me that the AVI format is standard definition DV.

Just copy and paste it into a reply here.

[stevelee2030]

1) Source- It's my digital camera Canon Powershot A620
2)How did I create it? I just pressed the button and it recorded??
3)Format?
RIFF [ AVI LISTF
hdrlavih8 j
? 
  ? @
LISTt strlstrh8 vidsmjpg j
@B  ? ' @
strf( ( @

 MJPG ? LIST\ strlstrh8 auds
+ j9 + '
strf

+ +
 IDIT FRI JAN 05 12:28:51 2007
LIST INFOISFT CanonMVI02 JUNK~

P.S. The guy above mentioned Vegas. I found out my dad has Vegas on his computer. Is it possible to fix it with Vegas? If so please tell me.

[vhelp]

Evening all..

stevelee2030,

don't mind my jumping in..

I noticed that your source avi value: vidsmjpg

I think that your camera is outputing MJPEG or a variant of it. I always
thought that such camera's output .mp4 or something. I guess MJPEG i
another codec format, too.

So, it would seem that your AVI viewer is having trouble with the mjpeg codec
and is decoding U/V planes in a swapped manor. It could be on account of
the codec at fault, or else the software you are using to view these avi's.

Try virtualDub. It usually get every format correct. At least just to see
the video to be certain that it aint something else causing the problem.

-vhelp 4190

[stevelee2030]

mm the problem is that when i view the original and view it in any media player, WMP, VLC, it has color and when i import it to Windows Movie Maker and save it as a DV AVI or WMV it turns out blue.

[JohnnyMalaria]

MJPEG is quite an old compression format. Each video frame is simply a JPEG image.

Since JPEG's are stored in a YUV format, it certainly lends support to the U and V planes being switched. (And, since the U and V relate to the black-and-white less red and black-and-white less blue, it explains why a simple switch of red and blue works).

Microsoft provides an MJPEG codec with DirectX 9.0 and is probably the one being used.

Can you post a very short AVI file (just one or two frames will do)?

Re Vegas, TKS144 can probably assist there (which version does your Dad have?)

[stevelee2030]

ok here's the avi file about 2 sec long
and my dad has Vegas 7.0 i think
here's the avi file
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/1/6/603166/MVI_0532.avi

[vhelp]

stevelee2030,

It looks like your source could be a YUV source. I might be wrong. But you
did say that you were using WMM, and I believe that it uses DirectShow to
decode your source. And this leaves me to believe that it is decoding
inside YUV color space, and is the probable reason/cause for the improper
color planes.

Below, is a AVIsynth script that will open a given .AVI source and swap
the U/V planes (if encoding to YUV was V/U) back to normal. I ran a quick
test using your pic (image) above, in this manor..

** save your .jpg as a 24 bit BITMAP.. ie, blue_reconstruction.bmp
** I dragged it (opened it) inside virtualDubMod and saved it as an .AVI.. ie,
** blue_reconstruction.avi
**
** Then, I wrote a quick avisynth script (a text file) and included this file (below)

 # First test run of .jpg -> .bmp -> .avi -> avisynth[ swapUV() ]

 x = "d:\blue_reconstruction.avi"
 AVIsource(x)
   convertToyuy2() 
 swapUV()

Here is what it now look like.

** .jpg -> .bmp -> .avi -> avisynth[ swapUV() ]


If you want to see if this script -cures- your U/V (blue) issue, copy
and paste this script (below) into notepage and save it, and then open
it inside virtualDub or virtualDubMod and see if the color is restored
(or, decoded) to normal. The script is actually the same as the one
above. (remember to use the proper PATH string. I'm using d:\ )
and call it, 'blue.avs'

 # Second test run blue.avi -> avisynth[ swapUV() ]

 x = "d:\blue.avi"  ## your filename
 AVIsource(x)
 # convertToyuy2()  ## I desabled, for now
 # swapUV()         ## I desabled, for now

Then, just drag this your editor or player and review it.
If it doesn't change, just remove the '#' and re-save it and re-run it, again.

[EDIT] -- it looks like your source is an MJPEG, and virtualDubMod is opening it, perfectly!
No blue nonsense here.

-vhelp 4191

[JohnnyMalaria]

Thanks for the clip.

On my Vista system, the file plays correctly (brown desk). When I drop it into Movie Maker and create a .WMV, it behaves.

On a clean install of XP Pro SP2, the same thing - brown in, brown out.

I suspect a rogue codec is somewhere on your system and it is being selected instead of the Microsoft one.

Have you any codec packs installed?

[stevelee2030]

ok i've uninstalled 2 codec packs i have installed and i will restart and check.

[stevelee2030]

wow thanks guy my problem is solved!!!
the problem was simply the rogue codecs!!!1
thanks anyway guys especially johnny who helped me from the start.
Big thanks to you and others.
Thread can close now.
Pray that I will get a A its for Bio 1 Honors. XD

[JohnnyMalaria]

Excellent!

This was a very interesting thread - got the old grey matter going....

Good luck with the project.

[redwudz]

Another victim of codec packs. Don't even let those near your computer.