Original and transcoded videos look different (colors/contrast) via VLC

[eusi]

Hey,

after I transcoded a DVD video via Handbrake to x265, the color looks "washed out" in VLC.
In other players like MPC-HC, the original video and the transcoded one looked almost identical.

Original video screenshot (via VLC 3.0.6)
https://i.imgur.com/LVCxkKY.jpg

Handbrake transcode screenshot (via VLC 3.0.6)
https://i.imgur.com/Lbg6FTV.jpg

So, is this an issue on VLC side? Because Handbrake will not change colors like this dramatically - so why do both videos look that different via VLC?

Thanks,
eusi


P.S.
Original Handbreak Thread, where everything started
https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=38831

[unidan]

Hi, do you have logs for the two different playbacks? And maybe a sample with original/transcoded?

This looks weird indeed. You could try with the nightly, but I think most patches about HDR have been backported.

To help you, we need messages, to completely understand what your problems is.
To fix this, please be sure before you start the playback to:

1. Open: Tools -> Messages.
2. Set Verbosity to 2
3. Start playback to reproduce your issue
4. Save text in a file or copy into clipboard
5. Then paste the full resulting log here between [​code]and[​/code] (or use Pastebin.com if it's too long)

Also don't forget to name your Operating System and provide the VLC media player version.

[eusi]

Hi, do you have logs for the two different playbacks? And maybe a sample with original/transcoded?

This looks weird indeed. You could try with the nightly, but I think most patches about HDR have been backported.

Thanks for your answer.

Since the videos work, but look way different I started playback of both videos and jumped to 20min mark. Not sure if following logs are helpful:

Source-Log
https://pastebin.com/raw/kekR258h

Transcode-Log
https://pastebin.com/raw/5tFMuztd

I also took two 30s snapshots of the videos as an example:

Source Video (jump to 00:00:09 to get the same scene like the Transcode Video)
https://ufile.io/i61tl

Transcode Video
https://ufile.io/h0tfa

Hopefully you can reproduce via the video samples!

Thanks in advance!

[robUx4]

Hi,

I looked at the files. The source file is marked as BT.470 for the Transfer Function and the Matrix Coefficients (according to MediaInfo). In the destination file the values are BT.709 for the Transfer Function and BT.601 for the Matrix Coefficients.

You are using Direct3D11 so the colours are adjusted for your display in both cases, but the adaptation is different. It should not be an issue if Handbrake did the color space conversion correctly. But it seems it didn't. I believe MPC-HC also doesn't do the BT.470 handling and it also looks washed out for both, which gives the impression the transcoding worked as expected.

Comparing the source file in Direct3d9, where the conversion is not done properly/at all, and Direct3D11 the colors of the source look like the transcode in D3D9. But these are are the wrong colors. It should be more saturated.

So I think it's an issue in handrake which doesn't do the color conversion or set the flags correctly.

[eusi]

So I think it's an issue in handrake which doesn't do the color conversion or set the flags correctly.

Got answer from Handbrake Team:

He's right, bt470bg transfer function is gamma 2.8, and HandBrake doesn't support it yet (probably because so few DVD-Video used it? Who knows after all this years).

And we can't just pass the tag through because it's not supported by modern players. I think there are some plans to add a color space conversion filter to HandBrake, but there is no ETA.

One point to VLC this time

Source: https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.ph ... 19#p183315

Thanks for your support!