Some H.264 video plays back with washed out colors in QuickTime

A handful of readers are reporting an issue where videos compressed using H.264 play back in QuickTime with pale, unsaturated colors while the same videos have correct color in the third-party players.

One reader has posted a screenshot of the issue -- the image on the left is playing the QuickTime player, the image on the right in a third-party player.

MacFixIt reader Robert Spryn writes:

"I'm fairly sure that Core Image/Video is the culprit here for several reasons

• The problem didn't start until Core Video arrived.
• The video looks correct in applications that don't leverage Core Video, or applications such as "Nice Player" which allows you to disable the use of Core Video in its prefs. (http://sprynthesis.com/qt_issue/niceprefs.jpg)
• The same h.264 clips look fine on every computer I go to that has a video card which doesn't support Core Video, such as my mac mini (which means there is actually no problem with the compressed clips themselves.)

"But I want the clips to look good on my computer in regular QuickTime, and on my friends computers that have G5's with graphics cards that support core video. 

"What throws me off though, is that many of the HD trailers on Apple's site, which are also compressed with H.264, don't seem to have this problem. I'd like to know their solution!"

"So I'm going to venture a guess that the brightness "problem" is going to be showing up with these video cards: 

• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
• ATI Radeon 9550, 9650, 9600, 9600 XT, 9800 XT, X800 XT, 9850 XT
• nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200
• nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
• nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL

"Because these are the cards that support Core Video."

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

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