Can you upload that image so others can test it? Use the attachment button in your follow up post. That way we can test it and see if our results are the same on different systems.

Kevin
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Hi MisterCerberus -

I found the same thing with your image... sort of!

Produced to MPEG-4 1280x720 @ 9MBps & side by side in the MediaLibrary, the colours in the produced file look washed out by comparison.

Side by side in the timeline, they look the same & colour analysis is consistent. Here's a snapshot - this is not a trick!



Repeating the procedure with other images yielded similar results.



Were your screenshots taken in the Media Library, timeline or somewhere else?

Cheers - Tony
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Hi,
I downloaded the image and brought it into PD11 applied chroma key and a background.
here is wmv file Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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It probably has to do with the video levels ranges 16-235 vs. 0-255. Your graphics card software such as AMD Catalyst has a setting just for video to control whether the 16-235 (TV) or the full 0-255 range is used. The 16-235 range will make video frames look "washed out" compared to an image which is usually shown with the full 0-255 range. Gateway DX4380, AMD A8-5500 Quad Core 3.2GHz with ATI Radeon HD 7560D; 16GB RAM; 1 TB SATA 7200 RPM; Windows 8 Pro 64-bit; PDR11, PDVD12.

MisterCerberus -

Your issue was bothering me. It may well have something to do with GPU settings, as Xerox suggested.

The screenshots I posted above were all from PD's timeline. I wondered how the original image & produced video would compare when viewed in their "normal" settings. So - I put the images in PhotoDirector & opened the videos with Splash Pro.

I got a different set of results. That doesn't really shock me, because it's dependent on how the player/viewer displays the video/image

The comparison screenshots are attached, which support your initial assertion that colours are modified in production.

Cheers - Tony
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I'm possibly talking to myself now, but it's worth noting in the forum.

The more I test this, the more I find that producing a video in PD does change the colours.

My latest test involved simply placing some colour boards... not PD's - hand crafted accurately coloured rectangles - in the timeline & producing to MPEG-4 1920x1080.

After production, I compared the original colour board to the colour displayed in the video. They're never the same! Using a colour picker for analysis, it's clear that (as the OP stated) colour is being lost/greyed in production.

In this example, I used a red colour board - 247.32.48. In the produced video, the colour was displayed as 255.53.45



So - either PD is taking out some colour, or the testing I'm doing is flawed. If anyone cares what might be happening to video colour in production, maybe they could run a couple of little tests.

Cheers - Tony
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Hi,
I am not a computer guru or 'display' guru or have the knowledge or programs to test for comparisons. But when stting up one computer system there are various factors to keep in mind. the monitor has a Native color profile, and there is RGB color profile, sRGB color profile and one program ( a bitmap editor) has a NTSC color profile and my printer profile. All these profiles display colors slightly differently so there is a lot of differences between each system depending on what the owner has set as the default. The way I understand colors and reproduction (besides color printing) sRGB give a wider range gamut.
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Jim -

We could start a non-gurus club!

I understand what you're saying about colour calibration, but in the tests I've done I'm looking at ONE monitor (correctly calibrated) and comparing original images with the same image produced in a video file.

As Xerox pointed out earlier, setting the Dynamic Range to FULL (0-255) will provide greater depth of colour in video playback. In the colour board tests I did, selecting that option in my NVIDIA control panel (with no enhancement selected) made no difference to the actual displayed colour.

Anyway, I appreciate your interest & comment.

Cheers - Tony

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This subject sure is interesting. I don't think I have read before in the forum about someone checking the color compared to the produced file. I would think that would be pretty important, logo company colors and such.

Go Tony! Hoping to learn more about this from all the work and testing you guys are doing.

Just an inexperienced question from the sidelines.

Can Color Director be used to adjust color and get the SAME result as the original? Not that you should have to.

Kevin
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I've been playing with that too - & PD's colour enhancement - to see what settings would be needed to accurately reproduce the colours.

In truth, I'm hoping someone might explain that my testing procedure is flawed so I don't have to do it any more!


Cheers - Tony
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Hi Tony,
I am posting a color chart that I have that may help as it has full range of colors.

If you want as png let me know. The image was produced in my vector drawing program on a i7-2600 3.4gh processore with geforce 560ti graphic accelerator and LG 24" monitor using sRGB color profile 0-255 range just so you know.
you can import to PD and compare values.
JIm Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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That's too funny Tony!

I know how you feel to WANT to know why
Something happens as it does in PD. some results are such a mystery!

MP3 audio sync, SVRT Bitrate differences , HA artifacts, and other things...

Despite the strange things that happen..... PD gets the
Job done for me! Thank goodness!

Don't give up Tony!

Kevin
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Bit of a can of worms, this one!

I also got intrigued and did some testing but came to the conclusion I was chasing the wrong thing really.

Use red color board 170,0,1

Take snapshot of timeline

import to Adobe Elements and test color space changes

Snapshot - Use color picker
no color profile
168,0,0

sRGB
169,0,0

Adobe RGB
144,0,0


1080 .mp4 take screen snip - Use color picker

no profile
157,24,2

sRGB
157,25,1

Adobe RGB
132,28,3


DV .avi screen snip - Use color picker

no colour profile
172,4,4

set to sRGB
173,3,3

Set to Adobe RGB
147,7,9

So that lot just showed lots of changes but no easy answers, but pointed me in the general direction of color spaces and video encoding.

Sorry for the list of references but they all indicate the same thing - color changes do and will happen when encoding depending on ............................................ (insert your understanding here, having read the references)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/desktop/bb530104(v=vs.85).aspx
http://www.compression.ru/download/articles/color_space/ch03.pdf
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/40003/color-space-conversion
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/40002/color-space
http://vimeo.com/forums/topic:46866
http://frapsforum.com/threads/encoding-fraps-videos-solving-colorspace-issues-wrong-color-faded-etc.1537/

Cheers
Adrian
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Thank you Adrian!

I'll put the can of worms to bed, since my understanding remains at .............................

By the way, does this look washed out to you?



Anyone know where the OP's gone?

Cheers - Tony
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Quote: Anyone know where the OP's gone?

Sorry about disappearing, my area lost its phone connection for about a week.

Quote: Were your screenshots taken in the Media Library, timeline or somewhere else?

The screenshots showing the washed out colours were taken from a media player after exporting the file. I tried three separate media players (Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic, and VLC Player) and got the same results with each.

I've tried importing the produced video back into PowerDirector. If I preview the video in the work area, the preview has the same washed out orange palette as when I play it in a media player. However, when I move it into the timeline, the colours appear normal and red once again, which I suppose proves that the exported file does contain the correct colours, it's just not showing them for some reason.
Exporting the video again produces an identical video, no further colour changes.

Quote: It probably has to do with the video levels ranges 16-235 vs. 0-255. Your graphics card software such as AMD Catalyst has a setting just for video to control whether the 16-235 (TV) or the full 0-255 range is used. The 16-235 range will make video frames look "washed out" compared to an image which is usually shown with the full 0-255 range.

That sounds possible. If my media players are using a more reduced colour palette to say, my image viewing software, that would explain the difference in the video playback.
How would I go about checking if this is the case and, if so, how would I fix it?


I don't need the colours to be replicated perfectly of course, but if my reds noticably become oranges in a title logo that mainly contains reds (And contains the word 'Red' as the first word in the logo), that's just going to be a problem.

In Windows 7 (64 bit)to set your Color Management:
Start > Control Panel > Color Management. Advanced Tab.

I am using the sRGB color space.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote: In Windows 7 (64 bit)to set your Color Management:
Start > Control Panel > Color Management. Advanced Tab.

Okay, I've found the screen, but I have no idea what I would do here to fix the problem.

It looks like you have the right color space now.
There are color calibration tools to get everything adjusted to the same colors.

However it is not worth the trouble sometimes.

The Important things are to have your monitor adjusted to produce normal colors. Sometimes you can simply reset the monitor to factory defaults.

Secondly you want your printer to print what you see on the monitor.
My printer prints darker than the monitor, so if use the light profile in the printer driver.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.