VMR9 Incorrect Brightness / Gamma for Video (1 Viewer)

[orencha]

OK.
There seems to be some problem with brightness / contrast level while using VMR9. The brightness / gamma level is too high, resulting in lousy picture while watching Video / DVD. To clarify: black image is shown as grey.

I did a deep search on the forum, finding several people with the same problem. The only common thing I could see for all of them, is that they're all using some kind of ATI RADEON card (various types).

The common answer is trying to mess with the brightness / gamma levels of the RADEON control panel application, in either "Desktop" or "Fullscreen 3D" modes.

There are 2 important things I would like to clarify, before continuing:
1. I'm using a Toshiba 29" CRT TV as my ONLY output device (S-Video).
2. Brightness / Gamma levels are OK for ALL other applications. Including "Media Player Classic" in VMR9 mode. Including fullscreen 3D games.

Therefore, I suspect this issue to be MediaPortal specific. I do not accept the "patchy" solution of messing with the Radeon Control Panel application, it will solve the Video issue for MP but will distort the image for EVERYTHING ELSE (including MP itself, while not watching video/DVD).

Perhaps MP tries to access some hardware video controls (brightness/gamma/contrast) itself, that have problems with specific adapters (like ATI RADEONs)? If so, can this option be disabled for debbugging? Is there a "pure video" mode, to display video just like other applications, such as MediaPlayerClassic in VMR9 mode?

I know that this issue is not related to codecs. I tried all of them, EXACTLY the same results for all (brightness to high). I also tried to enable/disable post-proccessing - again, same result.

Another thing: someone mentioned in one of his post a config file, card1.xml if I remember correctly. Found no documentation related to it. Can anyone shed a light on this file and its format/values?

Does of you who had/still have this issue, can you help us all find what's common to all of our configurations? (eg: we're all using RADEON chipsets, we're all using TV out, etc...)

If any additional information is required I'll be more than happy to post it tomorrow (currently I write from my laptop...)

Thanks in advance everyone.

- Oren.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: 0.1.3.0
Skin: MCE
Windows Version: Windows XP Pro SP2 with all latest updates
CPU Type: Intel Celeron-D 2.4 GHz
Memory: 512 MB
Motherboard Chipset: ASUS Pundit-R (ATI Chipset)
Video Card: ATI Integrated Radeon 9100 IXP
Video Card Driver: (unavailable at the moment)
Video Render Type: VMR9
Video Codec Type & Version: (same with all)
Audio Codec Type & Version: -
TV Card: none
TV Card Type: none
TV Card Driver: none
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

[orencha]

Additional Information

Here is a more detailed information.... Hope somebody can help, I saw other posts here with similar problem (but no adequate solution).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: 0.1.3.0
Skin: MCE
Windows Version: Windows XP Pro SP2 with all latest updates
CPU Type: Intel Celeron-D 2.4 GHz
Memory: 512 MB
Motherboard Chipset: ASUS Pundit-R (ATI Chipset)
Video Card: ATI Integrated Radeon 9100 IGP
Video Card Driver: 6.14.10.6553 [28/06/2005 ATI HCL]
Video Render Type: VMR9 Renderless
Video Codec Type & Version: Mpeg2Dec Filter (but same with others)
Audio Codec Type & Version: MPEG/AC3/DTS/LPCM Audio Decoder
TV Card: currently none
TV Card Type: none
TV Card Driver: none
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

[javers]

Hi Oren,

What your experiencing could be this:

Computers use 8 bits of data for each of the primary colours (RGB), so each channel can have a value from 0 - 255. Black being at RGB 0,0,0 and white being at RGB 255,255,255.

However studio (film and TV) colour only range from 16 to 235 (black being at RGB 16,16,16 and white being at RGB 235,235,235. When you view video footage via overlay it stretches out the values from 16 - 235 so they fit the computer colour scheme of 0 - 255 which makes blacks look correct but is ultimatly showing you incorrect and inaccurate colours.

VMR 9 however keeps its colours at their correct values of 16 - 235 giving a more accurate colour range. However on a device set to display computer colours, it makes blacks look grey and whites not brilliant white. Therefore the only way to display VMR9 properly is to turn down the brightness and turn up the contrast of your TV / Monitor.

Jon

 

[vbap]

Unfortunately, as Oren stated, he does not experience the same problem when using, for example, WMP in VMR9 mode...

Orenn, have you also tried for example PowerDVD or WinDVD?

 

[orencha]

No, I haven't tried WinDVD or PowerDVD, I can try soon.
However, as said before, I did use various software for displaying various content (MediaPlayerClassic for videos, Direct3D games), and the first and only time I saw this problem is with MediaPortal.


As for javers' post:
Just to clarify, my "black" does not looks like (RGB:16,16,16), it looks actually more like (RGB:64,64,64) or even "whiter" (I will later try comparing to a reference color).

And... it happens with ALL kinds of video files and all codecs: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, MPEG4.

I can try checking if it happens only with TV out or also with standard VGA, however it will take a few days as I currently have no VGA display nearby.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

i have the same problems on my system!

I just finished a test with PowerDVD inside MP and everything was fine...no changes of brightness/contrast/gamma...the picture was perfct!

I changed the MP setup back to use the internal player using VMR9 renderless and the problem is again/still valid!


Actually im using CVS Version 18-08 13-30 and i found a difference to the official version MP 0.1.3.0 using TV relating to this problem:

0.1.3.0: selecting TV from main menu -> then changing to full screen watching -> brightness/contrast/gamma changes

CVS: selecting TV from main menu -> brightness/contrast/gamma changes now (still inside the TV menu)

-> the change of brithness/contrast/gamma is now earlier! Perhaps it helps to fix that problem!?

 

[javers]

Oren if your RGB is around 64,64,64 then something is definatly wrong! A good way to test the values is do a screen shot from a frame of video that you know should be black (like the first few frames of a movie, or even better the test patters from DVE or AVIA) and then paste the screenshot into paint and use the dropper to read back the exact values.

Would be interesting to see if the rendered values of black vary from different players and different people's set ups. I'll try and find time to post my values using MP / VMR9 renderless later tonight.

Jon

 

[YYota]

I have the same problem since 0.1.3.0. ALL VIDEOS played with MP are too bright. This doesn't depend on codecs or anything, I've tried messing with all possible settings but nothing changes. Even overlay mode is too bright!

Brightness is correct in other applications (WMP, Windvd, Powerdvd, MediaPlayerClassic)

Brightness is correct in MP 0.1.2.0 as well! So it is a bug introduced in 0.1.3.0 for sure.

My graphic card is an ATI as well: 9200.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
YYota

 

[almostcrimes]

I am having a very similar problem to this one, on an ATI Radeon 7500 TV-Out. As soon as MP goes into video display mode everything gets brighter. In my case it isn't too severe a change but definetely noticable and the colors look a bit washed out. Interestingly, I can see the same effect on the menus screens in two cases:

a) if I shrink the video to preview mode and then stop it (i.e.: when I'm watching a previously recorded TV show) the gamma levels go down as soon as the video stops playing.

b) For a split second after I select an item to view the menus get brighter. This is right before full screen video kicks in.

This leads me to believe that the issue is definetly related to invoking video playback. Strangely, I've been running MP for about two weeks and didn't really notice this issue until recently. I am still digging around to see if I changed an option that might account for this somewhere.

 

[MÃ¥rten]

Any updates on this issue? This is really driving me nuts…

All video files (and even the live TV feed from my Hauppauge PVR-150) are way too bright. Black areas turns grey! No matter what renderer I choose or what codec I use. Overlay or VMR. However, still images, the MP GUI and my windows desktop look ok.

When playing the same media in an external player, e.g. MS Media Player or PowerDVD, the picture is perfect.

I’ve tried this on two separate “fresh†XP Pro installations with the same result. Tried both MP 0.1.3 and MP 0.2.0. I’m currently running a Radeon 9550, using the VGA output connected to my old CRT TV with a RGB converter cable.


- Windows XP Pro sp2
- MotherBoard: ASROCK 939A8X-M
- AMD Athlon 64
- Radeon 9550 se, VGA out
- Hauppauge PVR-150 (MCE)


Regards,
MÃ¥rten