COLOR BANDING! How to fix this?

[ocd]

I have noticed on almost every one of my movies, a very annoying color banding *Separation when watching scenes of the sky, etc)

The files I play are 720p or 1080p, MKV and MP4 containers, AVC video stream. This color banding is very annoying.

It is not only in Splash. CoreAVC does it. XBMC does it. I have tried to set this in Nvidia control panel, and also within Splash. I have tried to play with Color Space, etc.

The problem is not limited to HDMI output to TV. Even on the huge 18.1 inch 1920x1080 screen, I notice this same issue.

I am using HDMI out from my laptop Nvidia 9600M GT video card directly to Samsung TV.
I am also using the laptop screen it self.

Banding is present on both Monitors.

The Built in Media Player in the TV does not show this banding.
WDTV also does not show this color banding and colors are smooth and evenly spread.

What is this? Why is this happening? How can I fix it? Is this an Nvidia issue? Or the way Video is processed on PCs? It bothers me to high hell, someone please tell me what the technicalities are behind this.

[ocd]

I have tried literally every setting in my Nvidia control Panel. No Joy!

The built in USB Media Player in my TV handles this without an issue. I have played 1080p 25mbps MKV right on it with no color banding.

Every other player I have used on my PC seems to be having this issue. Is there anything Splash Developers can do to tackle this? Or is this an Nvidia/Windows 7 problem?

This is ridiculous. I love your product, and want to continue using it, so what do I do?

The only way I see is for Nvidia to do something but no one there seems to be listening. The easiest way to spot this right at the splash pro Main screen. Open up the player and you will see the Separation in the Blue gradient. Then run a Video with Multiple hues of Red or Blue, or a video with a Bright Light in a Dark scene, or the scene of a blue Sky, and you will see.

I am not alone...but most people just aren't seeing this until I show it to them. Its really terribly annoying...What can be done?

[vivan]

There are a lot of reasons why banding can occur:
1) on PC screen - lot of notebooks displays has 6bit color depth. It's 262k colors instead of 16 millions. Driver dihters 8 bit image to 6 bit display, so result is worse than true 8 bit display.
2) banding in video. It's cost of high compression... Codec can't compress gradients well.
I don't know how to fix this using splash - but there is debanding filter in ffdshow.
3) wrong color range conversions. E.g. TV range -> PC range -> TV range. I don't know how to control that... Just make sure that you choose TV (limited) range (16-235) everywhere.

[ocd]

I have seen this on every single monitor within Splash and outside of Splash as well.

Here's what's interesting. Playing back a high bitrate 1080p AVC HD using the Samsung TV built in USB Player does not show any banding at all.

Using the PC, every monitor and TV shows banding/gradients. It is not just on my monitors. It is every where, everyone's monitor I have tested it on.

Is this a PC specific issue with Nvidia? They don't listen. I've spoken to them and all they tell me is something I already know. I have double checked all settings. Re-installed all drivers. Played with every setting. Including TV specific color range and Monitor specific color range but no joy!

This is happening on all LCDs, My notebook 1080p Display, PC monitor, both cards are Nvidia. A 9600m gt and a GTS250. I use these cards only for video playback.

1080p looks great! but Banding is always there when its a clear blue sky. This is a problem even on BluRay Discs!

It is also interesting when you see Windows 7 logon screen, you can also see a slight amount of banding there as well!

What GIVES??? Can Someone get Nvidia on the right track here? True Color 32bit/60hz screens or 120hz, doesn't matter.

TERRIBLY disappointed that a measly USB Media Player built into a TV does it better than Nvidia! Lots of you will start noticing this issue if you look for it. Please report back. Thanks Vivian for your response.

[Knight]

There are a lot of reasons why banding can occur:
1) on PC screen - lot of notebooks displays has 6bit color depth. It's 262k colors instead of 16 millions. Driver dihters 8 bit image to 6 bit display, so result is worse than true 8 bit display.
2) banding in video. It's cost of high compression... Codec can't compress gradients well.
I don't know how to fix this using splash - but there is debanding filter in ffdshow.
3) wrong color range conversions. E.g. TV range -> PC range -> TV range. I don't know how to control that... Just make sure that you choose TV (limited) range (16-235) everywhere.

So you suggest Limited 16-235? Always?

[P.J]

Would you share the video file?

[ocd]

PJ: That would take a while. I barely get any time and when I do I like to spend it watching something.

I'll give you an example though. Just take a look at any marvel comics movies.
When you see the Marvel Logo in red, you will see the Gradients/Banding issue I am talking about. Its very annoying.
You can get a sample "clip" in mkv 1080p high bitrate ~25mbps if you wish, and you'll see it. My TV eliminates that issue when used with its own media player, everything looks great.

When using the PC, annoying large gradients.

Sample to look at, Xmen, and IronMan movies in 1080p mkv high bitrate h264 avc videos.