Hi, I've noticed something very disturbing, I tried changing the output method in MPC (media player ...) and there seems to be a big difference in gamma (brightness) between VMR9 (a lot brighter) and Overlay Mixer (darker). Overlay Mixer seems more natural, is there any avi file I can play to check the correct gamma setting (like the gamma calibration images on the web). Also why does this happen?

BTW it doesn't matter what filter I'm using to decode ffdshow and XViD decoder give same results.

P.S. which should I use for XViD decoding ffdshow or XViD decoder.

Thanks.

You should use the ffdshow decoder. Not sure about the rest.

Okay, that was a really tough question. It seems that gamma, brightness etc. can be set for VMR9 specifically, and these settings are stored in the registry or something. Also these settings are different from overlay mixer's settings.

It seems to me that some application has adjusted your VMR9 gamma correction value. The only software capable of adjusting VMR9 values manually that I know is Zoom Player. The free version is able to do the trick.

So, start out Zoom Player and go to "Player Options". Switch to "Advanced Mode" if necessary. Then choose "Color Controls". That screen has a "VMR9 Color Values" panel from which you can set the gamma correction value to a proper one, and store the new setting as a default.

The decoder shouldn't matter at all on this issue.

Thanks, I'll check it out, though I doubt any application of mine did it because I have two boxes with different configurations and both exhibit the same symptoms.

Thanks.