Comments on: How to Fix Washed-Out H.264 Video

By: Thiaghu

Thiaghu — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:50:16 +0000

Fantastic article! Finally i got a good solution for my doubts to fix washed out videos………… Thanks! Nice contribution………..

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:52:58 +0000

Thank you ! Merci ! Gracias !
At last I can encode acceptable videos ! What a relief

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:13:20 +0000

Thanks for sharing, Torley! Next time I release a Byteful Video, I’ll be sure to try out that 3rd-party x264 codec you mention.

And thanks for drawing more attention to this annoying problem. I’m sure, in time, I’ll be able to award the Byteful Award.

Let me know if you learn anything else, and I’ll be sure to update this entry if I learn anything new, as well.

By: Torley

Torley — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:34:53 +0000

I'm sorry BT, I actually pasted the wrong link. I meant: Brightness Issues with H.264 QuickTime Movies It's been frustrating yet encouraging to see multiple threads on this issue. I even asked Neil, the maker of iShowU and Stomp, if he could find a way to fix this. The tag-stripping described in the above link sounds the simplest — but it hasn't worked for me, or perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I'd be glad to hear if there are any new insights and/or a simpler solution. That being said, thanx for speaking out about this, Byteful! And I hope you get to award that. =] Torley´s last blog post..When companies, like stars, align

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 07:10:06 +0000

Torley, thanks for pointing that out, but I mentioned that technique in the 3rd paragraph of this article: “There is a way, which is outlined on the thread, to correct this problem without rendering video again by using alpha transparency, but that only works on MOV files and doesn’t preserve hinting (i.e. the ability for you to start watching a video before its finished downloading).”

However, thanks for pointing out a concise description of that technique! I’m sure many people will find that useful.

Has anyone gotten that technique to work and ALSO preserve hinting? If anyone can figure that out, they win the Byteful Award. That award doesn’t exist per se, but I may have to invent it if someone can pull that off.

By: Torley

Torley — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:12:24 +0000

Perhaps this is a more effective solution? Fix QuickTime Gamma Shift Torley´s last blog post..Torley's weekly Twitter for 2008-12-14

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:09:40 +0000

Hi, Nicholas.

I haven’t had much issue with color desaturation. Are you using Compressor or Quicktime Player to make your h.264 files? And what versions are these?

By: Nicholas Taplin

Nicholas Taplin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:28:34 +0000

My problem with the color change with the H.264 codec is not the increase in brightness. It’s that the colors in your video get completely desaturated. Although I’m recording lectures now where the color integrity is not paramount, for my personal projects I relish in having lush colors, which seem to be impossible with the H.264 codec, and H.264 is the only usable codec for small file sizes. I don’t think there is any change I could make to the saturation of my video in Final Cut Pro that would make up for what H.264 does to the video.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:04:16 +0000

Hi, Manuel!

Handbreak is a great app, but it’s designed to convert DVDs into movie files, not to convert movie files into web-ready h.264 files. Different purposes.

I’m not surprised that the video washed out even more. Whenever you encode video, it’s better to have less steps. The more times something is reconverted, the more quality you will lose. Try converting the original .avi file to the smaller bitrate instead.

By: Manuel

Manuel — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:25:13 +0000

uuh, awesome,

I have searched like a dumbass for this solution. Really annoying quicktime does this washing out of my movies. Although I have to convert 2 times now, I think it’s worth it.
By the way, do you have infos about handbrake? The videos there look pretty good, not washed out.
Another question: I had converted an avi to mp4, then tried to export the mp4 again to a smaller bitrate for ipod and, surprisingly, the video wash out was done again, means it got even brighter again. After 5 conversions the screen would be white I guess

By: cd

cd — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:55:43 +0000

Your brightness option is bad! If you have a pure white background, it will bring down your white so its not a good solution.

Try this instead:

1. Open the Quicktime movie
2. in quicktime player, Go to “Window/Show Movie Properties”
3. Select “Video Track”, then click the “Visual Settings” tab
At the bottom left, change the transparency to “Blend” then move the slider to 100
Change the transparency to “Composition”
4.Close the Movie Properties window, then play or scrub the QT. Your black levels should now look correct
5.Actually, “Save as a self-contained movie.”

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:14:19 +0000

Thanks for chiming in, cd. I’m familiar with that solution, but it was not an option for me because it requires that the files be inside of a .MOV container and not the pure .mp4 container.

Also, in my experience the brightness reduction is not noticeable in most situations I’ve run into. For example, does the “Wheel, Jets, & Rails” video look like crap? I’d venture to say no.

Thanks for pointing out this other solution though. It is my hope that people will see the various solutions collected here and find a method that works best for them.

Anyone else have a solution?