Dark .mov Files In Videowave

[psychia3]

This is an issue I've had for a long time. I use a Nikon Coolpix AW100 and although the film clips look great on the camera, they are way too dark on most common media players and in Roxio videowave. The only time they are the same quality as recorded is when playing them in Quicktime. All of this on a Windows 8 PC. I've attached screenshots from Quicktime player and VLC media player to show the difference and that the footage is really only usable in Quicktime quality. Roxio videowave is the same quality as VLC.

 

I usually just lighten and brighten these dark video files using an old version of vReveal but it really damages the video quality, making them more pixelated and not as sharp as the original. I don't understand why I can't use the files as my camera recorded them if programs such as Quicktime can play them as intended.

 

Please, does anyone know how I can achieve Quicktime video quality for .mov files in videowave, or any other editing program for that matter?

[sknis]

Hi, Interesting problem with several possibilities.

 

1) Since almost everything on your computer looks dark

a) Check the setting on the camera. You may have accidentally set the playback to bright so that it looks OK on the camera.

b ) Check your color calibration on your computer screen; it may be sett wrong. Most computer screens will have an adjustment for color/brightness/contrast.

 

2) Have you tried to adjust the color/brightness/contrast via automatic or manual settings. (See image below.)

 

3) In the pictures you show, it looks like an indoor scene that is not brightly lit. Is your camera set to flash or light the scene. Are you using the automatic setting on your camera. Can you set it to use an indoor scene?

 

4) It looks like the gain in Quickime has been set high so it looks somewhat clearer than VLC. but I would not call that acceptable.

 

5) In my opinion, it is the source that must be corrected. Your camera screen is giving you a false image. Do you have the same issue if you shoot outdoors with the sun out? Trying to lighten a scene on a computer results in the computer program trying to interpolate what "should " be there based on what is around it. If the surrounding areas are too dark, then the program interpolated it as black.

 

PLEASE. It took me a long time to write this and to bullet the possibilities. Please don;t respond with just saying I tried everything and nothign worked. Address all bullet points so we have and idea of what works or what works to some extent. You posted a pretty good question, now take the time to respnd in the same manner.