GS100K Video Capture problem at DVinfo.net

Jamie Patterson · April 6th, 2004, 06:24 PM

Whenever I capture video from my GS100K to my PC, I lose a lot of detail in the picture. In particular, bright objects like snow lose a lot of the detail that I can see in the LCD and just show up as a big block of white. I use Premiere Pro to capture video by the way. Is this likely a setting in Premiere, my camera or perhaps something to do with the video card in my comptuer? I've tried modifiying ever setting I can think of but have had no improvement in picture quality. Any thoughts?

Tavis Shaver · April 6th, 2004, 07:03 PM

i use Vegas to capture and i find the opposite, generally my lcd is brighter than the actual captured video. I don't have any advice on your query tho unfortunately.

Patricia Kim · April 6th, 2004, 07:30 PM

Allan Rejoso once posted that there have been complaints (I think he meant in Japan) because the lcd screen on the gs100 actually shows you a much better picture than you are getting on tape. That could be a contributary factor. Possibly one way to test the end result (as opposed to what might be happening on your computer screen, in your NLE or with your video card) is to play your footage back on your television - assuming that that is where you will eventually be showing it to others. Of course your television could also give you a false result, but it may help you determine where the problem is. (Better yet, of course, if you have the kind of monitors the pros on this board recommend, but that's another story.)

Justin Boyle · April 6th, 2004, 10:49 PM

sorry but i disagree with all of you. if the video footage can look great on the lcd then it can certainly look great on computer and tv. Jamie ur problem is that ur monitor is set wrong. try playing with ur brightness and contrasts and you will find that it will be fixed instantly. get some color charts from premiere. just search help to find them. make a loop of them and put them to ur tape and then play them on the tv and set them right. do a search for smpte color bars on the net too and find some instructions on how to use them. you will find setting the contrast and birhgtness quite easy and with color, just set it to ur liking when watching footage. it can be a little hard with the color bars. I hope that will fix ur problem. try this on ur computer monitor too. you will find that you wont have enough control through ur monitor so change the settings in ur graphics card and you should be set. good luck. The reason the lcd may look brighter and better is because the brightness and contast ratio may be somewhat brighter then ur computer or tv.

Justin

Tavis Shaver · April 7th, 2004, 12:44 AM

it could be that the gamma level on your video card is cranked up too high. Does black displayed on your monitor look quite dark or does it appear grey-ish, if it does then that could be your problem. By the way your site's great.

Tommy Haupfear · April 7th, 2004, 09:08 AM

Quote:

sorry but i disagree with all of you. if the video footage can look great on the lcd then it can certainly look great on computer and tv.

I don't know about that one. The GS100 LCD can be very deceiving as it tends to show little or no noise that is easily detected on my 17" LCD monitor and HDTV. I also calibrate all of my video monitors.

Jamie Patterson · April 7th, 2004, 10:58 PM

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll give it all a try and let you know what happens.

Justin Boyle · April 8th, 2004, 03:19 AM

yes I guess that that is true tommy but i think that one of the issues here is that the footage on the gs-100 lcd is a lot brighter so makes it look better saturated and better quality. what i was refering to is the fact that the same info going to ur lcd is also going to tape so you are not going to lose quality by putting it to tape. I think by memory pal has something like 625 lines and ntsc was about 525 or something and given this i don't think there should be problem. also since the footage is stored in digital, it shouldn't matter what tape you use because it is just 1's and 0's. I know with analog that when my dad used different tapes the saturation might be better on one then the other. i am suggesting that you wont have this problem with digital. the only problem you might get is artifacts which comes down to the quality of the tape. Anyways guys stop being such hard critics on ur footage just sit back and enjoy it. believe me they are good cameras and if the gs-100 is better then mx500 then you should all be happy. Best of luck

Justin

April 6th, 2004, 06:24 PM	#1
Jamie Patterson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 31	GS100K Video Capture problem Whenever I capture video from my GS100K to my PC, I lose a lot of detail in the picture. In particular, bright objects like snow lose a lot of the detail that I can see in the LCD and just show up as a big block of white. I use Premiere Pro to capture video by the way. Is this likely a setting in Premiere, my camera or perhaps something to do with the video card in my comptuer? I've tried modifiying ever setting I can think of but have had no improvement in picture quality. Any thoughts?

April 6th, 2004, 10:49 PM	#4
Justin Boyle Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 207	sorry but i disagree with all of you. if the video footage can look great on the lcd then it can certainly look great on computer and tv. Jamie ur problem is that ur monitor is set wrong. try playing with ur brightness and contrasts and you will find that it will be fixed instantly. get some color charts from premiere. just search help to find them. make a loop of them and put them to ur tape and then play them on the tv and set them right. do a search for smpte color bars on the net too and find some instructions on how to use them. you will find setting the contrast and birhgtness quite easy and with color, just set it to ur liking when watching footage. it can be a little hard with the color bars. I hope that will fix ur problem. try this on ur computer monitor too. you will find that you wont have enough control through ur monitor so change the settings in ur graphics card and you should be set. good luck. The reason the lcd may look brighter and better is because the brightness and contast ratio may be somewhat brighter then ur computer or tv. Justin __________________ jlboyle

April 8th, 2004, 03:19 AM	#8
Justin Boyle Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 207	yes I guess that that is true tommy but i think that one of the issues here is that the footage on the gs-100 lcd is a lot brighter so makes it look better saturated and better quality. what i was refering to is the fact that the same info going to ur lcd is also going to tape so you are not going to lose quality by putting it to tape. I think by memory pal has something like 625 lines and ntsc was about 525 or something and given this i don't think there should be problem. also since the footage is stored in digital, it shouldn't matter what tape you use because it is just 1's and 0's. I know with analog that when my dad used different tapes the saturation might be better on one then the other. i am suggesting that you wont have this problem with digital. the only problem you might get is artifacts which comes down to the quality of the tape. Anyways guys stop being such hard critics on ur footage just sit back and enjoy it. believe me they are good cameras and if the gs-100 is better then mx500 then you should all be happy. Best of luck Justin __________________ jlboyle

April 6th, 2004, 07:03 PM	#2
Tavis Shaver Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada Posts: 209	i use Vegas to capture and i find the opposite, generally my lcd is brighter than the actual captured video. I don't have any advice on your query tho unfortunately.

April 6th, 2004, 07:30 PM	#3
Patricia Kim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 453	Allan Rejoso once posted that there have been complaints (I think he meant in Japan) because the lcd screen on the gs100 actually shows you a much better picture than you are getting on tape. That could be a contributary factor. Possibly one way to test the end result (as opposed to what might be happening on your computer screen, in your NLE or with your video card) is to play your footage back on your television - assuming that that is where you will eventually be showing it to others. Of course your television could also give you a false result, but it may help you determine where the problem is. (Better yet, of course, if you have the kind of monitors the pros on this board recommend, but that's another story.)

April 7th, 2004, 12:44 AM	#5
Tavis Shaver Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada Posts: 209	it could be that the gamma level on your video card is cranked up too high. Does black displayed on your monitor look quite dark or does it appear grey-ish, if it does then that could be your problem. By the way your site's great.

April 7th, 2004, 10:58 PM	#7
Jamie Patterson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 31	Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll give it all a try and let you know what happens.