Awhile back I asked around and was told h264 was the best quality for file size out there, and alot of people here use it to post videos. But when I use it it looks very flushed/washed out. Here is a screen shot with mpeg-4 vs. h264 so you can see what I mean. While the h264 file is about %40 smaller, the image to me looks horrible in comparison. They were both on best/highest quality going out of premiere (m2t) through debug frameserver and compressed with tmpgenc pro. Why does my h264 look so horrid? :(

http://www.kiukle.com/temp/qt.jpg

I have to say I'm a tad disappointed no-one has responded. I, as well, have had this same problem. I tried doing some tests using h264 after hearing how good it is, and also got the same washed out result.

Are you using Premiere's encoder or Quicktime's?

I'm a Final Cut Pro user and the H.264-encoded videos are clearly superior to MP4, and even better if I twiddle with some of the esoteric settings in Apple's Compressor.

Are you using Premiere's encoder or Quicktime's?

I'm a Final Cut Pro user and the H.264-encoded videos are clearly superior to MP4, and even better if I twiddle with some of the esoteric settings in Apple's Compressor.

Agreed. I use QuickTime as well (from Final Cut Pro) through Compressor and the quality is outstanding. The only thing I've heard of that can rival it is On2 Technologies Flix Series (eg Flix Exporter). Check here:

http://on2.com/

I have same problem, when exporting it from After Effects. Result looks washed out and much brighter than original

Ive generally found quicktime player itself actually contributes to the problem, playing the same clip in another player returns results more in line with the original clip with both at their default settings

eg dual screen grab of the same clip paused in two different players

http://www.webhosted4u.com/vlc_v_qt.jpg

I've overlayed a section from the QT player screen grab on top of the VLC players grab to make them easier to compare

It's a color space problem. I think it is QuickTime's fault. See this (http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1049610#1049610)