Tech Problem - VLC will only play my game recordings darkened, even though I think the recording itself is brighter [UP: solved]

[Veelk]

Okay, so I'm trying to do games recording, and I've run into a problem. For some reason, VLC depicts my video file as darker than it is supposed to. The only times it doesn't is if I record in Simple-Lossless format

This is how it looks on my game and how it's supposed to look. Okay? But recording lossless is obviously taking up a huge amount of space, which is unnecessary when a game like GoW doesn't have any super great details to render.

But if I record in anything not Simple-Lossless, it comes out looking like this when being played:

That is a screencap, it's what I see on my monitor.

Now, I am PRETTY SURE this is my VLC player doing something funky. I just don't get what. Because if I use the screenshot function on it, which seems to screencap the video file itself without filters, I get this:

So, my understanding is that the file itself is fine, but VLC does SOMETHING to it that makes it look dark.

I've tried to look up solutions for htis, but the only one that works is changing "Video Output" to "DirectX (Direct Draw)", but that causes it's own problems in making other videos look worse.

And it doesn't explain why Simple-Lossless settings in OBS avoid doing this. Keep in mind that it's ONLY Simple-Lossless. If I switch to "Advanced", even if I still have Lossless recording selected, I get the darkened effect when I play it on VLC.

Can anyone explain what causes this?

Edit: SOLVED!

 

[Deleted member 2152]

My best guess would be it's somehow related to recording in full vs limited color range and how the video encoder in VLC is processing that data. Not much of answer, I know. Maybe try installing a different video encoder or media player (mpc-hc + madVR is a popular combination) or research into the OBS recording settings related to that?

The Simple-Lossless thing sounds like a bug, assuming the settings are set equal between simple mode and advanced mode then there shouldn't be any difference in output.

 

[Veelk]

My best guess would be it's somehow related to recording in full vs limited color range and how the video encoder in VLC is processing that data. Not much of answer, I know.

Click to shrink...

Okay, that fixed it. The only issue for that is that I had "full" set up for my console recording session. Those screenshots are off an emulator, but it will look dark when I try recording my PS4 gameplay for GoW3. But that'll be a different time. Thank you!

Edit: Alternatively, do you have any tips on how to Stream and Record at the same time? I'm trying out a couple things, but if my encoder tends to overload when I'm doing both.

 

[Deleted member 2152]

Edit: Alternatively, do you have any tips on how to Stream and Record at the same time? I'm trying out a couple things, but if my encoder tends to overload when I'm doing both.

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If you're stuck using the software encoder then that's dependent on your cpu, you might have to upgrade to a better one but lowering your bitrate and/or resolution should give you more headroom. Otherwise I'd use NVENC if you have an Nvidia GPU, especially a 2000 series one. It's all a balancing act but streaming and recording simultaneously is pretty intensive and even harder to pull off if you're also running a game.

 

[Veelk]

If you're stuck using the software encoder then that's dependent on your cpu, you might have to upgrade to a better one but lowering your bitrate and/or resolution should give you more headroom. Otherwise I'd use NVENC if you have an Nvidia GPU, especially a 2000 series one. It's all a balancing act but streaming and recording simultaneously is pretty intensive and even harder to pull off if you're also running a game.

Click to shrink...

Damn :/

I'm running an emulated version of GoW Collection, so it's basically a PS2 game running at 1440p 60fps. It's not much, but it's probably not nothing either.

I wanted to stream and record it, but from what your telling me, that basically involves playing the game twice, and idk if I want to do that

 

[Deleted member 2152]

Damn :/

I'm running an emulated version of GoW Collection, so it's basically a PS2 game running at 1080p 60fps. It's not much, but it's probably not nothing either.

I wanted to stream and record it, but from what your telling me, that basically involves playing the game twice, and idk if I want to do that

Click to shrink...

Even a high end PC would get brought to its knees doing all three of these at that resolution and frame rate. Emulation is usually really CPU demanding so that alone is probably using most of your processor's resources. I don't think it would be possible to pull this off unless you have a separate computer for capturing footage so I would choose just one between recording or streaming and optimize your OBS settings for that. NVENC should help a lot if you have the hardware to support it so you should definitely try that out.

 

[Veelk]

Even a high end PC would get brought to its knees doing all three of these at that resolution and frame rate. Emulation is usually really CPU demanding so that alone is probably using most of your processor's resources. I don't think it would be possible to pull this off unless you have a separate computer for capturing footage so I would choose just one between recording or streaming and optimize your OBS settings for that. NVENC should help a lot if you have the hardware to support it so you should definitely try that out.

Click to shrink...

I already use NVENC, the new one.

As for a seperate PC....hm...I actually do have one, except I think it might be missing an internal HDD. It's also pretty old, but if I just need it for recording, would that work?

 

[Deleted member 2152]

I already use NVENC, the new one.

As for a seperate PC....hm...I actually do have one, except I think it might be missing an internal HDD. It's also pretty old, but if I just need it for recording, would that work?

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As long as it's got a reasonably modern cpu, yeah, that's definitely the move. You would have to get a capture card though which can be pricey.

Sorry, I should have mentioned the capture card part in my last post. This type of setup is how most big streamers handle recording and streaming.

 

[Masterspeed]

Do you have a HDR monitor or have anything set to HDR? That's normally a problem for me

 

[Deleted member 2802]

Do you have a HDR monitor or have anything set to HDR? That's normally a problem for me

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this.

HDR messes with everything

 

[Veelk]

Do you have a HDR monitor or have anything set to HDR? That's normally a problem for me

Click to shrink...

this.

HDR messes with everything

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Not sure if it was specifically an HDR setting, but setting my color range to "partial" on OBS seems to have solved it. It looks better from my PS4, which as it's color range set to full, as well. I don't know why, but at this point, I'm not looking any gift horse in the mouth.

 

[Astral Lovelace]

As long as it's got a reasonably modern cpu, yeah, that's definitely the move. You would have to get a capture card though which can be pricey.

Sorry, I should have mentioned the capture card part in my last post. This type of setup is how most big streamers handle recording and streaming.

Click to shrink...

Or use NDI, which is probably comparable to a cap card.

 

[Morrigan]

Locked by OP's request~