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midwinter · Jan 23, 2002, 12:21 AM

Hi all,

I did a quick search for this problem, and no one seems to have suggested a fix for it. I'm using the Dazzle Dv-Brdge to capture DV video into my imac, and the video capture is *far* darker than it ought to be. Well-lit scenes are watchable, but darker scenes are all but black. I've posted a screen capture here.

I realize that this apparently has something to do with the Apple DV codec and the way it registers "black:," but i was wondering if anyone knows of a fix? I *do* have an older version of AfterEffects, if that might be of any use, but other than that, I don't have anything besides iMovie and QT for video *editing*.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers
Scott

[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: midwinter ]

[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: midwinter ]

lucylawless · Jan 23, 2002, 02:40 AM

huh, I have that same hardware and haven't seen this problem. What's your system look like?

search for BTV on versiontracker. I haven't used it, but it has options for brightness/contrast

midwinter · Jan 23, 2002, 09:21 AM

Originally posted by lucylawless:
huh, I have that same hardware and haven't seen this problem. What's your system look like?

search for BTV on versiontracker. I haven't used it, but it has options for brightness/contrast

iMac DV 400/384 RAM

The screenshot i posted is actually of BTV pro

i'm capturing using composite video out to the Dazzle, and firewire from there. I've also posted this to www.bensoftware.com, so hopefully he'll know what's going on.

By the way...I've never managed to get the image controls (hue, contrast, brightness, etc) to operate in BTV....

Thanks
Scott

jed · Jan 23, 2002, 10:45 AM

I have a similar problem, though not to the extremes that you apparently do. all I know is my images look great on the camera's lcd, and darker when I capture them, and darker still when I view them on television. I have just attributed this to the fact that the camera's lcd screen is brighter than my monitor, which has higher/different gamma than a typical TV.

If there is a solution I'd love to hear it. I am too lazy to apply brightness controls in FCP to fix this

lucylawless · Jan 23, 2002, 02:26 PM

does it look like that in iMovie, too? What about in OS 9?

SirCastor · Jan 23, 2002, 02:49 PM

Hmm. I got a couple of questions.

a) You sure it's the codec and the scenes just aren't shot with enough light?

b) try pulling something else in. Plug a VCR into your Dazzel bridge and import some video from another source. See if they lighting problem still occurs there.

I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're doing, but I find a lot of darkness problems are attributed to people underestimating how much light is really needed to record something on film or video and keep it viewable.

Jan 23, 2002, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by SirCastor:
Hmm. I got a couple of questions.

a) You sure it's the codec and the scenes just aren't shot with enough light?

b) try pulling something else in. Plug a VCR into your Dazzel bridge and import some video from another source. See if they lighting problem still occurs there.

I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're doing, but I find a lot of darkness problems are attributed to people underestimating how much light is really needed to record something on film or video and keep it viewable.

That capture was of last night's rerun of Voyager, being played (not re-player or captured) through BTV and the Dazzle. I'm *only* capturing video from a VCR.

My USB capture device doesn't have this problem, and I'm wondering whether or not it's somehow inherent to DV... Or perhaps I just have something configured incorrectly on my VCR (which acts as a tuner). Hmmm. I *have* noticed that some channels are brighter than others....

This is all a bit of a mess because I've only just started trying to capture video in 10 (previously I'd done it in 9).

Yes, iMovie is also dark. There's definitely something strange going on here... Could it simply be the composite video cable? I'm using a regular stereo RCA plug (only one channel) rather than the yellow cable. It shouldn't make a difference, though....

Grr. I suppose I'll take some things apart tonight and see what's what.

Thanks for your help so far!

Cheers
Scott

midwinter · Jan 24, 2002, 02:42 PM

*bump*

Hi again.

No help from Dazzle (yet), although they're pretty quick responding! I've posted a comparison shot of identical quicktime movies, one captured via DV input (into BTV Pro) and one captured using the XLR8 dongle

Here's the link http://homepage.mac.com/scottrogersmac/

Cheers
Scott

[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: midwinter ]

T Allen · Jan 25, 2002, 08:00 PM

Scott,

Can you put a meg of that captue on your mac.com page? I'd like to snag it and have a look see.

Regards,

T Allen

midwinter · Jan 25, 2002, 09:43 PM

Originally posted by T Allen:
Scott,

Can you put a meg of that captue on your mac.com page? I'd like to snag it and have a look see.

Regards,

T Allen

Sure,

Would you like to see a meg of DV? Or would you like it compressed with something like Sorenson 3? I have also, as I posted earlier, placed a comparison screenshot on my mac.com page...

here's how to get in touch with me:
email: scottrogerspersonal@yahoo.com
MSN: misterrogers_@hotmail.com
Yahoo: scottrogerspersonal
ICQ: 8338964

Let me know.

Cheers
Scott

lucylawless · Jan 25, 2002, 09:59 PM

Originally posted by midwinter:
*bump*

Hi again.

No help from Dazzle (yet), although they're pretty quick responding! I've posted a comparison shot of identical quicktime movies, one captured via DV input (into BTV Pro) and one captured using the XLR8 dongle

Here's the link http://homepage.mac.com/scottrogersmac/

Cheers
Scott

[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: midwinter ]

this must not be one of the dark scenes you mentioned earlier, the ones that are all but black, because I like the darker one better here. You get more detail in the dark one. Have you tried just turning up the brightness in quicktime during playback?

I've also noticed that my dazzle-captured movies are darker than my tv, but I decided that the dazzle was correct. The TV now looks too bright to me....

midwinter · Jan 25, 2002, 10:22 PM

Originally posted by lucylawless:


this must not be one of the dark scenes you mentioned earlier, the ones that are all but black, because I like the darker one better here. You get more detail in the dark one. Have you tried just turning up the brightness in quicktime during playback?

I've also noticed that my dazzle-captured movies are darker than my tv, but I decided that the dazzle was correct. The TV now looks too bright to me....

Hiya.

The problem with turning up the brightness is that the image seems washed out (even with adjusting the contrast). The problem, if the Dazzle DV codec is indeed correct, is that regardless of whatever gamma correction I do on my Macs, the QT movies are nearly unwatchable.

Cheers
Scott

ckohler · Jan 26, 2002, 06:48 PM

I also have the Dazzle DV-Bridge and have noticed that the video I capture (reguarless of source) comes out darker. Please continue to post your findings as I would also be very interested in finding a solution to this issue.

I'm not sure if this helps, but I've noticed that in OSX (and OS9), I cannot adjust the image quality settings when using any Fireware capable capture device. The settings are greyed out. Others have told me that this is typical when using a firewire camcorder as well. Seems like if these options were enabled, we could solve our problem. Here's a screenshot....

GK · Jan 26, 2002, 09:01 PM

Uhm,

depending on how much editing you plan to do, maybe you should consider buying FCP 3, which has the ability to correct your problem.

If you're a student, you can get FCP for $ 299, which is quite affordable.

T Allen · Jan 26, 2002, 11:29 PM

I thought Apple sold solutions - not problems. Where's the wonderful 'brand experience' in having to dish out another grand for FCP after you've spent $1,800 on a new iMac and a $1,000 for a firewire camcorder?

So, besides making shitty video, what exactly is iMovie good for? Anything?

. . . I'm gonna go kick my dog now.

midwinter · Jan 27, 2002, 01:26 AM

Originally posted by ckohler:

Interestingly enough, I made the same screenshot not 5 hours ago. Here's a response I got from Ben Bird (author of BTV):

"This is a common problem when viewing DV. Part of the problem is that the Apple's drivers do not implement standard brightness/contrast controls for this device, since this would be difficult to do while still retaining good performance. I am looking into solutions for this in BTV but I haven't found any yet."

Looks like we're pretty much screwed on the DV capture end of things....

Cheers
Scott

P.S.
While, yes, I can get FCP Pro for the academic price (I'm a teacher), I think that T Allen is right. I shouldn't *have* to fork out $300 just to get the decent video capture I OUGHT to get in the first place.

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: midwinter ]

ckohler · Jan 27, 2002, 04:10 AM

It's good to know that the color correction feature in FCP is there if I need it for something serious (of course I have to fork over the bucks to buy it), but even using FCP isn't an end all solution. I also like to use my DV Bridge as a video capture device for webcam software. Thus the brightness correction really needs to be real time in the driver software. I was kinda hoping there was a way to adjust the actual unit itself. I guess there's not.

midwinter · Jan 29, 2002, 01:02 AM

Interesting little update...

I'm watching a VCD I made earlier, and for some reason the color doesn't look all that dark. Could it be possible that this color/brightness/contrast problem is corrected somehow in the VCD encoding?

I mean, it's a *little* bit darker than it should be, but really not all that much.

Just a heads up.

Cheers
Scott