Compressor for VIDEO??
 

Hey Guys,

I have a question that may or may not be stupid. Does Vegas 7.0 (or any editing software for that matter) have a "video compressor"...so to speak...where it brings up "dark" areas of the video and tones down "overexposed" areas of the video?

I know that audio has compressors that do this...just wondering if it is possible with video (without applying masks.)

Mike Crash's auto levels sort of does this.

2- An alternate approach would be something like Photoshop's shadow/highlight (also in Premiere, After Effects). Vegas doesn't have this.

Brightness and contrast filters (am I missing something here?)

Brightness and contrast = BAD :-)
Color Curves = GOOD :-)
The reason I say this is because B&C affects the entire image at once while curves gives you control over the darks OR mids OR brights, independent of each other.
Buy Glenn's Color Correction DVD (I did & highly recommend it) to learn how to use this and several other tools effectively.