how to get blacks to be black not grey?

M

matt9b

Well-known member
On my vids, black always renders as grey. Does anyone know why, and if there is a fix for this?

Thanks :)
 
How does it look on your production monitor?

I found things were looking great on the monitor, but when I burned a DVD and played it on a TV in my living room, everything seemed lighter, less saturated, and less contrasty. I increased the contrast on the clips in Vegas, and they looked better on the DVD.

Another discovery was interesting. I have a MiniDV camcorder connected between my computer and a TV, via composite cables (red/white/yellow). I also have a cheap DVD player connected to the same TV via composite cables, using a second set of inputs on the TV.

Footage played from Vegas through the camcorder to the TV looks great. Same footage burned to a DVD and played on the cheap DVD player looks washed out.

Then I discovered that even a commercially produced Hollywood movie on DVD looks washed out played on the cheap DVD player. I figure a couple of reasons for this. First, the DVD player isn't progressive scan. And second, the TV image was balanced using the feed from Vegas through the camcorder.

So there could be all kinds of things causing the symptoms you're describing. A little trial and error should get it corrected, though.

Good luck!
 
First option is that your monitor is calibrated poorly. Most likely. Second, black level is often pushed up for broadcast, so your footage, depending on what you used to record it and on what settings, could easily have a black level that is not low enough. You can correct this with levels, I don't know where it is or what it's called in Vegas. Contrast will affect the whole image, black level (or curves) will only affect the lower end. You can also check the settings on your camera to see if you can drop pedestal or black level. I usually do, I like crushed blacks.
 
i always settle on the color correction preset "studio>computer RGB"....looks like true black on every tv i watch (it) on.

i rfealize that there are more technical and true methods of acheiving this, but no-budget.
 
Look at your scopes; if they hit 0 on the waveform, they're true black.

If you're rendering, though, the gamma curves of your format may lighten the blacks.
 
David Jimerson said:
Look at your scopes; if they hit 0 on the waveform, they're true black.

If you're rendering, though, the gamma curves of your format may lighten the blacks.
Click to expand...

David, that is an intersting point about the gamma curve that I hadn't thought of. Can you share any general guidance on how neutral the various Vegas codecs are? IOW, are there any preferred codecs that don't shift the black to gray?
 
Cassius said:
First option is that your monitor is calibrated poorly. Most likely. Second, black level is often pushed up for broadcast, so your footage, depending on what you used to record it and on what settings, could easily have a black level that is not low enough. You can correct this with levels, I don't know where it is or what it's called in Vegas. Contrast will affect the whole image, black level (or curves) will only affect the lower end. You can also check the settings on your camera to see if you can drop pedestal or black level. I usually do, I like crushed blacks.
Click to expand...

Nope. Tried this, no effect. Black levels are as low as they can get, and yet show up as washed out once rendered.
 
skinny! said:
i always settle on the color correction preset "studio>computer RGB"....looks like true black on every tv i watch (it) on.

i rfealize that there are more technical and true methods of acheiving this, but no-budget.
Click to expand...

Tried this, the colours now look very odd, and still the blacks look washed out.
 
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