Forgive me if I posted this in the wrong section.

I edit with P-Pro 2.0, export to uncompressed AVI, then burn to MPEG-2 with TMPGEnc. My last project was created at CBR = 8.

I use a NTSC monitor to while editing (via firewire to ADVC-100, then S-video out to NTSC). The video looks great on the PC monitor and NTSC during editing. However, the video always looks dark when played back from the DVD.

Any ideas. Could this be an encoding issue?

Are you certain that your computer screen and your NTSC monitor are both appropriately calibrated?

-Jon

Jonathan-

The NTSC monitor is properly calibrated. The PC monitor... well.. no.

Could it be the encoding?

It could be the DVD player. One of my DVD players has the option to set output to 7.5 IRE or leave at 0. With set to zero it will be darker. See if your DVD player is set up correctly for NTSC TV.
Ron Evans

Ron-

Great suggestion. I've been through the DVD player menu several times. There is no IRE adjustment. I have tried several of the presets. Some make it better... but not a whole lot better. I'll look again.

Thanks

Tim, what is your original video - is it HDV?

Tim, I suppose you have tried the DVD on other TV sets? If not, that would be a good thing to do. Also, try watching a few movies on DVD on both the TV and the computer and see if you see the same difference between them. Both of these tests would help confirm that the problem is your TV, not the encoding.

I've tried the DVD on other sets + DVD players. Some were slightly brighter.. but not by much.

The video is very dark to begin with. But... it looks great on my NTSC. I guess I start with checking the calibration of my NTSC.

I was reading the manual for the ADVC-100 digital to analog converter today when I noticed something very interesting. The convertor can be setup for 0-IRE of 7.5-IRE. My ADVC-100 has been set on 7.5-IRE since I've owned it.

When I edit in P-Pro I almost always set my setup to 7.5 when veiwing the P-Pro waveform monitor. I also make the effort to make sure that the blacks do not fall below 7.5 IRE. Could it be that the 7.5-IRE setting is fooling me into thinking the luminance is brighter? Should I leave it on 7.5 or change to 0 ?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.