Why are many "rips" dim?

[Lantry]

Why are many movies I download very dim or dark? Even if you turn up the brightness on ether the player or monitor it just makes the blacks bluish, and everything else still not bright enough. Is this because who ever encoded it didn’t know what they were doing? It’s a real drag to DL a great movie like "Godfather II" and have it be dim... I know it’s was free so what am I complaining about but still I wish people could do a better job. How can I keep from making this mistake myself? Is there anyway to fix a dim movie?

Lantry (death to DVD - AVI/DivX only!!)

P.S. Sorry if I am not supposed to talk about download copywrited movies in here, but is there a single person reading these post that doesn’t know that they are out there? I doubt that very much.

Thanks

[ViperXT]

You are probably seeing a camera version(unlikely with old movies) or a poorly done analog capture(from VHS or set-top DVD).

[Lantry]

Please give me a little more credit then that! It’s a rip from DVD! Plus I mean come on, the movie was made in 1974, where is anyone going to get a chance to film it in a theater? Plus again come on I not fresh from the cracker factory, I would know if it was captured through a card from tape etc. I have about 240 gigs of movies downloaded, and yes a lot that were captured that way. Sorry for the angry response but I just expected a post in the "advanced" area to get replies that are not such a slap in the face....

Please try again to answer my question and know it is the DVD rip that is most prominent out on Grok, you can get it yourself and see.

[vhelp]

Evening Lantry,

Is there any way ta fix a dim movie, in most liklyness, NO.
But, you could re-encode it, and then turn up the brightness, and see
if that helps any, but then, you proabaly already done that, or you
DON'T WANT to go that route.

In any case, as long as you understand that although you can re-encode
the clip, rememering that data is lost already, as in your clips
so called, dimmness. So, whomever encoded it, did a bad job!
Its not worth trying to fix it. As, you'll only be making it worse
due to the re-encoding. Also, you CAN NOT get a guarantee that those
clips you've D/L'd haven't ben re-encoded from someone else, who you
ended up D/L'ing from?? ...course not.

But, if you really are sick of the quality of such dim clips, and
you think its worth re-encoding (yet again) try it out and see for
yourself what can or cannot be done. But, chances are, you'll end
up having trouble anyways, I mean, if the clip is bad already, hence,
dim, who know what else could be there, problem'wise? like, framerate
or something else odd.

-vhelp

[ViperXT]

Why are many movies I download very dim or dark? Even if you turn up the brightness on ether the player or monitor it just makes the blacks bluish, and everything else still not bright enough. Is this because who ever encoded it didn’t know what they were doing? It’s a real drag to DL a great movie like "Godfather II" and have it be dim... I know it’s was free so what am I complaining about but still I wish people could do a better job. How can I keep from making this mistake myself? Is there anyway to fix a dim movie?

Easy there big boy. Your question just seemed to be a newbie complaining about a lousy cam version. Like was suggested, you could re-encode and alter the color settings. Also, your playback software may allow you to tweak it further. I would also check to see if your monitor is properly calibrated.

[Lantry]

ViperTX-

Again your logic (or lack there of) is flawed. If you just read that I have 240 gig of movies you must assume that if it was a monitor problem I would be able to figure it out. ALL my movies would be dim. But that is not the problem I described. I am sorry but it is insulting to get suggestions that assume I don’t have a clue. What I am looking for is a detailed description of the settings in TMPGEnc, etc. that effect the brightness of the movie encoded. I realize there is nothing I can do to fix the poorly encoded movies I have downloaded but would like to know how to keep this from happening when I encode moves myself. Moreover I am hoping that other that are out there doing these poor encode jobs will read this thread and stop putting bad encoded movies out on Grok, Kaz, etc. So if you can help all of us out with these settings that would be great but please don’t ask me more questions along the line of “have you cleaned the glasses on your face lately?”!


Lantry

[ViperXT]

Well I am sorry that my suggestions may be insulting to you. I have a few other ideas but quite frankly I am worried about you being insulted by them. Maybe change codecs(assuming you are using a non-mpeg file type)? Have you tried the output image in basic Y, Cb, Cr setting in TMPGenc?

[Martyn1980]

i dont know if this applies to all your movies but you shouldn't really download movies as long as The Godfather II, its well over 3 hours, and would need to be at least 2.4gb in mpg mode or preferably 3.2, or at least 1.4 or2.1gb in DIVX, plus The Godfather films arent that bright anyway, and i have the DVD's, plus if its a DIVX file encoding it again would probably make things worse, now i hope i havn't insulted you here, but its the truth, its not really worth downloading really long films unless you dont mind a huge download, or arent bothered about quality, im guessing you have a DIVX version of the film, i cant check the one you speak of as i dont like P2p software like Kazaa/Grokster, but im guessing the dimness you speak of is because DIVX removes a lot of detail, and this can make low light stuff look dim or patchy, the fullscreen version of Jason X is terrible for this.

There is no solution to this other than get better quality version of the films you want, you cant make shit better, you can make it different but not better, the reason it looks dark is because its missing most of the detail DIVX is pretty shit most of the time, and only occasionally does it turn out near DVD, its only good for screeners of new movies, a waate of time for older stuff.

Dont moan at people trying to help you, just because you download low quality movies,for DIVX 90mins and under 700mb, 90 to 160mins 1.4bg 160-210mins 2.1gb, if you want quality then thats the filesizes you need to look at.

and one more thing if DVD dies like you hope, would you be happy with your DIVX movies being VHS rips



P.s.If you decide to encode anything in the future stop overclocking your processor, it will only produce errors and waste your time.

[kayfam]

Oh oh looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning with an attitude like that.

[vhelp]

Lantry,

>> Moreover I am hoping that other that are out there doing these poor encode
>> jobs will read this thread and stop putting bad encoded movies out on Grok,
>> Kaz, etc. So if you can help all of us out with these settings that would
>> be great but please don’t ask me more questions along the line of have
>> you cleaned the glasses on your face lately?
Wow. If you think that people are going to listen to you, you're mistaken.
You, are among the many that wish others will follow your shout if it you,
who is doing the shouting, but no-one is listening. In other words, it's
not gonna happen. It's so not gonna happen. People call this wishfull
thinking. Sort of like, I wish the maker of DVD would lower their prices
if I tell them they are making a mistake in pricing them, when a VHS is way
cheaper! Me, of all people, would tell them, to listen to me, that their
prices on DVDs are way too high, and that they should lower them to the
VHS level. That's the analigy.

* this FORUM has many guides. Just go the the left, and read the FAQ for starters.
If you still want to go this route, start reading from the top down. There is
NO jumping ahead in my line, when it comes to advanced encoding eticits, etc.
I expect you and all beginners to start at the bottom (top, left for starting
point) and work their (your) way up to advanced level.

If you're planning on do'n this for sure, make sure you own the rights to the
medium ie, DVD movie disk. That is, that you paid for EACH dvd disk you are
planning on creating VCD/SVCD etc. from. But, from the looks from your post,
you've ben D/L'ing lots of pirated movies, which leaves me to believe, that you
are not in it for backing up purposes It's pretty obvious from where
I'm sitting. No, I'm not perfect. I've done some nauty things too, if you get
my drift. I just don't promote it or add to it here, by helping others to do
it. But, one thing I can ceriously say is I haven't done the, go out and rent
movies dirt cheap and rip them, encode them, and give them back, thing.
I've got tons of VHS, and every week a buy a new one ($5.00) or 1 to 2 DVD
movies a month or so. But, these are mine and I play them any way I feel.
I don't loan them out to other (any more) to copy them. Now, I just tell
them, if they want, I'll make them a CD of a VHS copy, but at their cost ie,
they pay for the VHS tape and I give them back both their paid for copy of the
VHS tape and the cd I made from their paid for VHS - give them both back to
them when project is complete. It's a backup in their mind, as well as a
convenience. But, i wont give them my DVD and say, here, go make a copy of
it. Friend or not. I just don't practice any more.

Me, I do this as a hobby/entertainment. I basicaly started out wanting to PUT
my VHS tapes onto CDRs in the form of VCDs way back when. After the many long
and hard months of trial and error, doing lots of what ifs, I am where I am
today. I can look at a source, and tell you its crummy, and will probably give
you a hard time, but this same source in your hands, and you just don't understand
why it's dim! But, put 7, 8, 9 or more months in your hands, and you'll become
an expert in such trivials.

I hope I've ben helpful (not insulting) here. If not, sorry.
-vhelp

[Lantry]

KayFem

Well I want to thank you for some of what you said. You are correct that most likely the problem with the copy of “The Godfather II” does lie in who ever encoded it trying to squeeze a long movie into somewhat smaller files. Just for the record the aprox 3 hour move was divided into 2, 700 meg DivX files. But if you read, as someone with 240 gigs of space I wouldn’t care if they were 2, 7 gig files! With that said the rest of what you just said is just stupid, no offence. Most 2 hour movies can be “ripped” or “encoded” into file of about 700 megs that look every bit as good as a DVD! I have tons so I should know. If you don’t agree then go work for Sony or something. I mean sure its not 100% the same quality of a DVD but its 95% which more then makes up for the ridicules prices the movie industry is trying to make us pay for DVDs, players, writers, media, etc. As for what you said about over clocking that is just about the dumbest thing I have ever heard!!!! Yes you can get errors with over clocking but they are at a BIOS level!! Man I really can’t believe you suggested such a problem. You don’t get problems from an over clocked processor in a movie play back, or encoding!!! If your settings are not correct your whole PC will just shut down BUT over clocking does NOT cause movie dimness, or any other errors!!! Wow I guess its ok because most people don’t know much about over clocking, but that is just ridicules!!! My 1800+ O’ Clocked to a 2000+ has been stable for 8 months. Anyone that knows anything about Soyo Dragon motherboards would just laugh at your post. “Oh no my internet connection just dropped, it must be my over clocked CPU!” “Oh no a game I just DLed wont run, it must be my over clocked CPU!” “Oh no my right arm just went numb, must be my over clocked CPU!” LOL!!! So you know I can encode movies on my error ridden over clocked PC faster than real time!! Can you? And no I have NEVER had an error in the process!

[vitualis]

Grow up.

Regards.

[Mirror_Image]

Grow up.

Ditto on that; those little girls with bad attitudes are such a bore.

[Lantry]

Uhh I'm 62...

[Mirror_Image]

Uhh I'm 62...

have you cleaned the glasses on your face lately?

[Lantry]

Haha!! Like the picture of the GREAT Orson Wells you have whom I respect a great deal…. You must admit My “dirty glasses” confrontational writings make for great ratings!! Like War of the Worlds no? (The 3rd Man just plain RULES!!)

P.S. I am not really 62

[Martyn1980]

I wouldnt expect someone who prefers DIVX over DVD to have any regard for quality, compare the 2 disc Oceans Eleven to the 700mb one theres a hugh difference and its got ac3 sound, but even that isnt near to DVD quality, and im not talking little things, just because its smooth doesn't make it the same as the DVD, any groups who release now and care about quality make 2 hour films 2 700mb files, check out Blade 2 or Murder By Numbers, compare them to High Crimes which is only 700mb, these films are easy to find and easy to get, but all you will get is crap off Kazaa/Grokster.

As for the overclocking, come on boy, i never said it would mess up your system, i have the same processor it wouldn't take me long to do, damn thats fast encoding faster than real time, i can do a 2 hour VCD in 43minutes using CCE, SVCD 85minutes and 720x576 in real time all encoding from DVD, so dont make out you have this amazing system, i consider mines slow now and yours isn't a whole lot better so stop bragging, its not like you have a Athon XP2200 overclocked and over 2 gig of DDR ram, so please enough, its not a competition ok.

Overclocked Athlons can have problems with CCE and DVD2SVCD, i never said it would mess your Bandwith, and i certainly never said it was the cause of your dimness, i think your parents are to blame for that, as well as your attitude, be grateful people answer your questions and learn a bit more before being so big headed.

[Lost_Soul]

A simple answer go to the shop and buy the DvD.
and ur a bit obsesed with ur 240gig of movies arent u?

[Martyn1980]

Exactly, the films a classic and needs DVD to be properly appreciated, i buy all collectable DVD's, classics Box sets, that sort of thing, i only download or Copy stuff i might not necessarily buy, or arent sure about, too many people want everything for free.

[keating5]

nice rig, I have six but all much slower.