Handbrake issue with RGB

[yosuke30]

Very hard to pick the right name for this thread, since I'm not really sure what the problem is.

I want to record some footage in RGB, here are the settings (bandioam+lagarith): https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/rb9J8l6h.jpg
Then I just want to shrink the size using handbrake: https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/EJ5a3LQh.jpg

But after handbrake it looks like this: https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/2UCgqSnh.jpg
And the recorded footage from bandicam looks like this (Which is the way i want it): https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/am6eF0th.jpg

If you look at both images you see what my problem is, the "after handbrake" one looks much brighter, which is my problem.

The new video looks a bit brighter. I took a look at this thread (https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/304139-Color-loss-even-when-doing-lossless) but i barely understand what ppl are saying.

Since I have no way of changing my source now, since its all recorded now, what do i need to do with handbrake that it compresses my video without changing my source?

[Bernix]

Maybe the problem is in your videoplayer. If you can, try use videorenderer EVR custom present. I have similar problem in potplayer and only videorenderer that works the way I want (where black is black) is mentioned above.

[sneaker]

Look at MediaInfo from source file and HandBrake output file. I assume source is RGB and output YUV. Unfortunately, HandBrake does not seem to have an option to control the color conversion (matrix, range). You would have to either switch to a different conversion software or do some pre-processing in e.g. AviSynth. That means in AviSynth you have the source filter and convert it to YV12 with proper colors, then use a virtual file system to input the script into HandBrake.

[yosuke30]

Can you recommend any other software instead of handbrake (other than avisynth)?

[LigH.de]

Any software not using AviSynth (why not, do you not work under Windows?) or VapourSynth (tools are in development and still prefer Windows, probably) would have only one alternative left: ffmpeg. Handbrake is a kind of GUI for ffmpeg. Other similar tools (e.g. VidCoder, TEncoder) would have similar limitations. I guess Hybrid by Selur may offer more technical options, but I don't know in detail...

[hello_hello]

Are you certain it's not a playback issue? It's quite possible the RGB version is displaying correctly but the encoded version isn't. What media player are you using?

RGB is full range and should be converted to limited range when encoded as YUV. The YUV video should be expanded back to full range on playback. I suspect Handbrake is converting to limited range but it's not being expanded again on playback.
Logically, if the source is RGB and displaying correctly, and Handbrake wasn't reducing the levels when converting to YUV, the picture would be too dark (assuming the levels of the encoded video are being correctly expanded on playback).

Have a look at your video card settings. I always set the video card to expand the levels as then they should always be correct regardless of the player being used (or almost always). For Nvidia, it looks something like this:

[yosuke30]

hello_hello, you are right.
That was the problem. Nvidia sets "use video player standards" as default, now that I changed it to Full 0-255 it looks as it should.

Thank you very much.
I guess when uploading it on youtube it will look as it should?

[hello_hello]

Thank you very much.
I guess when uploading it on youtube it will look as it should?

It'll upload as it should. Whether it'll display correctly depends on the software used to view it. I'm not sure if browsers (or flash etc) would tend to expand the levels or rely on the video card doing it. It's not something I've thought about.

Edit: I picked a random YouTube video and it seemed to display correctly and was unaffected by the video card setting, so I assume the flash player expands the levels.

If the player expands the levels the video card should know not to expand them again, so it's safe to leave the video card set to full range permanently, although it might pay to check the setting survives a reboot. Nvidia drivers can sometimes be a bit odd.