Why dark video is a terrible mess

[@TomScottGo]

I can promise there are no jump-scares in here. And yes, I finally got an animator to do in a couple of days what would have taken me a couple of weeks...!

[@khf3940]

how is this from 2 weeks ago

[@Aurora-Palace]

Covid

[@ackerman258]

I wasn’t expecting a jump scare before, but now I’m hovering over the pause button

[@EpicGamer-yu9qn]

(2 weeks ago)

[@E1craZ4life]

Even if there was a jumpscare, it can't beat the skull drill in the brain surgery video.

[@Nugcon]

I bet people in the future will intentionally add banding as "2010's aesthetic"

[@PowerHamster]

You might be onto something

[@ander6070]

I already do this because my equipment is incredibly cheap

[@vyrin]

hahaha facts

[@thornarts]

i’ve already seen it happen

[@Baddaby]

What future?

[@Loveandjoy88]

He's really mastered how to present a topic , his 6 min video feels like a 2 min video

[@dzidkapl]

Not really.

[@carnicbean2786]

@@dzidkapl Like you can do better...

[@relevo86]

I agree with Simon, it’s a simple video and went by fast but I don’t feel like I actually got anything out of it, unless I were to watch it again, maybe.

[@Guztav1337]

How didn't you get anything out if it? It was clear and precise. You can now explain why there are blocky mess of colors in video and photos.

[@turtlellamacow]

@@Guztav1337 I'm genuinely concerned for anyone who watches this and says ehhh I didn't really get anything out of it

[@SimonClark]

Good lord this is so well done

[@Absolutelynotraymorx]

Hi

[@insane66666]

Hi

[@A_Ereira]

Doctor?

[@kiyoshi5430]

Hi

[@michelleobamafootcream9292]

ok Simon.

[@frailty7280]

0:42 no way this dude just sneakily taught us how greenscreening works entirely in the edit

[@JelloBeanzer]

Holy crap

[@michelklaasen]

Lmao clever

[@BusinessZeus]

Not really, he'd look green if that was the only step taken. He did let us know it existed and teach how it worked, but not teach exactly what he did, that would distract from the video and slow his transitions down.

[@lightswitch2622]

@@BusinessZeus what

[@darkdruidsvale]

oh crap XD

[@unfa00]

I'm a graphic designer. Crying over color banding is my job.

[@Cilghal001]

As a graphic designer, would you have time to tell me whether the type of panel used (TN,VA, IPS and all sorts of LED) or perhaps the brightness output or anything else makes a difference here. Or is it solely dependant on the display being 8bit or 10bit and higher? Just a simple explanation would do :P Since it's quarantine time, I trust you are bored enough to spend some time replying to a random comment. :D Thanks bud.

[@gabe8168]

@@Cilghal001 dumb question that was already answered in the video, but I'll say it again because it looks like you didn't watch it. Nomatther how high quality the screen, low bit still looks low bit. And if it can't display that ammount of bits, high bit looks low bit

[@notthere83]

So you're a liar? :P (Just a joke about the intro video of your channel. :) )

[@bennydontplaythat]

@@gabe8168 Possibly, but Tom didn't cover all of these different display types. Sure the data being sent to them is the same but if you've ever seen a white spot in the middle of a black background on an OLED and an LCD screen you understand that they're not created equal. I don't have the answer but I don't think it's as simple as you make it out to be.

[@hobojo153alt4]

@@gabe8168 Technically it might be possibly for a "fancy" TV to do something about it with all the "AI imagine enhancement" they seem to love having. But most people don't like those sorts of filters, or the latency they create.

[@CadenButera]

“256 Shades of Green” is the boring spinoff of a franchise we never asked for

[@Leona_tf]

That sounds like a rip-off rather than spinoff lmao

[@7.65x21mm]

Leonardo Taufan no not really

[@starrgazer9]

Or the code name of Marvel's Hulk movie.

[@clickpause8732]

It involves botany.

[@10HW]

@@clickpause8732 Yes indeed, maybe a teen pot-smoking road-trip movie?

[@jeffram68]

Having worked with digital video as a hobby since the Video Toaster's introduction, I've understood this phenomenon for ages. Your explanation - with animations - taught me a few things I hadn't given much thought to. It also explains banding better than I could ever hope to. Brilliant video as always. Keep up the great work!

[@gavtater]

After 3 years of searching and scouring forums for the reason my 4K television does this while I’m watching Netflix and Hulu, I finally get my answer from a recommendation on KZbin. I feel like I completed a long journey accidentally.

[@attractivegd9531]

nice cat bro

[@stragglypie1038]

Nice bro cat

[@attractivegd9531]

bro cat nice

[@adrihooijer536]

Bro Nice cat

[@aloskss]

Cat bro nice

[@jamesmccann5644]

I think we can assume that this wasn't done in one take, as Tom didn't celebrate at the end.

[@watchableraven3517]

One take!!! :D

[@insanejughead]

No! I always assume they're one takes; why? Because I want to believe. Every 6 to 10 minutes as Tom speaks, there is born a new video topic for us to behold.

[@Jonny7Read]

Shame your sister was

[@josephkony3993]

"why its blocky in the dark" me watching in 144p so my PC can run: huh

[@gus9351]

😎

[@mybeefgotroasted]

I can see individual pixels in 144p

[@dogeraid5937]

*so the video doesn't buffer Just a suggestion...

[@resneptacle]

You got something pre 2005 running there? Cause anything with a Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD should be able to at least play back 480p, even on an integrated GPU

[@tirtagttech512]

@@resneptacle I'm watching this on 144p to save band with while my laptop handle 1080p just fine. Internet is limited in here

[@magalhaes753951]

I actually noticed that if I add noise to my RAW photographs I can reduce color banding, but never knew why

[@beanieteamie7435]

It's probably acting a bit like dithering.

[@santivsj]

@@beanieteamie7435 it actually is, and the same concept exist in sound

[@beanieteamie7435]

@@santivsj Huh, what would I have to search to read more about the audio equivalent of dithering?

[@santivsj]

@@beanieteamie7435 I really don't know. Ever since I learned about that, I've been trying to know more about it. I got introduced to it by a colleague, I actually work in videography.

[@bloxyman22]

@@beanieteamie7435 I dont know about photos, but at least with video compression it can often force the encoder to compress these areas of frames less.

[@SuperWiiBros08]

Gotta love that fun looking editing

[@Gregariousness1]

A verified user with one like

[@kiraqueen3957]

Oof 4 likes

[@siliconsulfide8]

The editor must have a fun time

[@HruaiaVaiphei3]

@@siliconsulfide8 nope this type of editing is never fun.. so much dedication is needed

[@disksector]

@@HruaiaVaiphei3 but imagine doing all that and ending up with a masterpiece that got 3 mil views (above average for tom)

[@simonedoniselli657]

The quality of this video should be use as example of the term "quality" itself. You made a masterpiece!

[@zdrkp2878]

592 likes and no reply :(

[@hystericallover5989]

608 likes and 1 reply :(

[@iProgramInCpp]

@@hystericallover5989 643 likes and 2 replies

[@flingyourself]

omg 666 likes

[@haseenabadshah5381]

696 likes lmao

[@Thinking-OutLoud]

"why doesn't the bright background have colourbanding?" me, sobbing: IT DOES, RIGHT THERE, I CAN SEE IT

[@thejumperkin]

And I see it constantly in anything that has a gradient like that in other productions too! I would say it's a lot more pronounced in dark scenes, but I notice it every time nonetheless...

[@brianjacobs2748]

Me too

[@TheDeltaMoo]

Compression adds some of that but another thing that might be an issue is your monitor settings. There's usually all the scenery, game, normal and whatnot modes that mess with the video. On top of that your contrast setting will also affect it but a bit less unless it's near the minimun or maximum value. These two are easy to get rid of using a colour wheel/picker where the colours blend with each other and a smooth + incremental black to white gradients. You should choose a colour mode where the colour wheel looks smooth all over and set the contrast so that dark greys or light greys don't mix with each other or turn completely black or white.

[@sashabagdasarow497]

Yes... It's just the video

[@DroptheBassForJesusSake]

@Monochromatik-Vision get floatplane bout the closest thing we got

[@masonlevine4356]

As a digital illustrator who has to combat color banding on digital art programs, thank you! I never knew this was a thing until you mentioned it, and it immediately clicked as the reason why my gradients always look a little...unblended.

[@hildibrand3500]

I'm having the same issue when doing illustrations and it's a nightmare!

[@terryt9833]

Noise helps!

[@Bruh-zx2mc]

Always use 16 bit color

[@parkerwasnotavailable]

I love that on his laptop, the Google search is "is my monitor a waste of money"

[@ivangabrielepuca5272]

Woah I didn't notice that!

[@kougamishinya6566]

2:16 for anyone wondering

[@aukustihaho8284]

@@kougamishinya6566 thx

[@legendofthecats9095]

Idk why I read mother

[@I_forgot_something_]

@@legendofthecats9095 Well, is your mother a waste of money?

[@untilnow581]

That Editing...Wow! How lucky we are to have such talented people posting this kind of videos on KZbin. Thank you Tom

[@coolfred9083]

The editing want Tom, but Tom's still great

[@boyhowdy856]

Actually I think the editing is kind of distracting

[@vidieo__]

@hgfd don't you mean the editing?

[@ilyaholt8607]

@hgfd I really liked the part where Tom was being represented by a grid of ones and zeros, which kept changing colour, value and size. I have no idea how to even start animating something like that, so it's incredible to have such high quality content available on KZbin for free.

[@JubiaKun]

not to forget for free

[@Matt-uk3fm]

Tom is just like a guy in a cartoon with a closet full of red shirts

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

And grey hoodies.

[@TheWolfboy180]

Your profile picture is in two-bit color

[@advik5447]

Like Grian

[@FrancSchiphorst]

The freaking level of detail in production, adding a bit of reverb when showing the movie theater.... Awesome!

[@TiogshiLaj]

Tom: "What do you fear is hiding in the dark?" Viewers: *distant screams in h.264*

[@Wryyyong]

laughs in VP9

[@KtanKtanKtan]

Smiles in h.265

[@thinboxdictator6720]

@@KtanKtanKtan I was just smiling the same thing

[@awgmax]

Smokes bong in middle-out compression.

[@chrisfraser8575]

AV1 video still encoding

[@thibautkovaltchouk3307]

The worst for the compression : rain during the night. Multiple small moving objects, dark background and the sound is very hard to compress while conserving a realistic rain noise.

[@AL3X2580]

Thibaut Kovaltchouk the worst is confetti

[@dexter2392]

Well, you can separate the audio and the video sequences, compress the video only and then merge them back together. However, compressing the video properly is very hard because it's dark, it's moving and it has to be depicted with high quality.

[@thehongkongbong]

The music video for Weval - Someday gets completely ruined on KZbin because of that. Páraic Mc Gloughlin edited thousands of pictures into 4 minutes and KZbin can't handle the quick switches.

[@cathacker13]

Don't forget to also shoot it in a forest during winter while there's no snow

[@Jun.Suzuki]

My camera doesn't show the rain

[@freebeerishere]

toms hand gestures are just so satisfying? it’s like “on beat” to what he’s saying. i feel like people don’t usually do with their gestures

[@friedeggs1576]

osu but talking

[@EmilysAdventuresInHorrorland]

Well damn, I never noticed before, but I do now. That is niiiiiiice 😊

[@cryonim]

It was premise for one of his videos.

[@kurtflint64]

Do a search, Tom has already made a video about that very thing too.

[@WalrusFPGA]

Thanks for this easy-to-digest explanation of this phenomena. I deal with this kind of noise constantly in videos, and the inclusion of scanlines in those areas on top of the lower-bitrate they typically receive on top of the re-encoding by youtube to an already-compressed video, can make for some really weird visual anomalies that hopefully our codecs and hardware can get better at dealing with in the future.

[@sharpenednoodles]

3:06 "Why doesn't that have colour banding all over it..." My monitor: *sweats profusely in excessive circular colour banding*

[@Tfin]

The blue? Yes.

[@macronencer]

Is it possible that people using mobile devices don't see the colour bands? I gather they're in the majority now, though I still find it baffling that anyone wants to consume YT on a phone (but I do realise I'm just an old fart).

[@fatih.tavukcu]

@@macronencer Hehe, you said fart! Oh and it also depends on your screen. I guess for most people with average screens the banding on the brighter parts will be much less visible though. And it is *less* noticable than for the dark parts.

[@bluefirexde]

@@macronencer I'm a young fart and still don't watch KZbin on my phone 99% of the time. My iPad or better yet my laptop (with external screens) are way better suited for that.

[@Nyambui]

@@macronencer I was once baffled about using KZbin on the phone. I now find it more convenient to send videos to friends and family, and some content doesn't require continuous, active viewing, so it's like a small, wireless radio.

[@stanleystanley2788]

I feel like Tom just got a degree in every possible thing and knows everything about everything. Less like Einstein and more like the guy down the road who you can ask any question and get an answer. Tom is google, but in more detail.

[@shh11111]

@Anna Baldur same

[@blaster-zy7xx]

It is good to have a well rounded science education to understand the foundation of how the world works, then you can look up the details of a specific subject and have enough of a foundation to understand the explanation of the details.

[@seathrulens]

God put all of his character creation points into intelligence

[@horstherbert35]

That's just mathematics: the basis for all serious science

[@Halbared]

He's a walking internet search engine, a Cylon.

[@lizzalkula376]

"Because if it's very dark the consumer won't care..." Me and everyone I know watching a tv show or movie during a dark scene : "I'd be more engaged if I could SEE what was happening"

[@SarcasticQuokka]

I just remember my parents changing the brightness level mode on the TV so many times. *my mum pausing movie in very intense bit* "oh my GOD IT'S SO DARK"

[@AluminumHaste]

This is why, when I know it's going to be a dark movie/TV show, I get it on 4k bluray instead of streaming it. It's still not perfect and it depends on the quality of the transfer, but for the most part, it looks way better.

[@TrveIrrlicht]

Laughs in "GoT - The Long Night"

[@MrCyberspion]

@@TrveIrrlicht Oh Yess I remember this I was watching the whole season on my Phone so small screen plus extreme darkness = not very enjoyable even tho I was still hyped af before finding out the dissapointing end of it all....

[@Lead_Foot]

@@AluminumHaste Once you watch 4k blu rays on a good HDR display there's no going back. Maybe one day streaming services will have better compression and higher bitrate instead of using a video codec from 2003.

[@zacharyhaynes8969]

The reason I love good 4k restorations is because I hardly see these. Even back in the 2000s I noticed those brands in my blu rays on 1080p TVs. If you haven’t seen The Godfather, for instance, in 4K I highly recommend it. It’s never been more dark, shadowy and crisp since the theater.

[@radianzero]

Tom: "Why Dark video is a blocky mess." Monster Movie directors: _"Im gonna pretend I didn't see that."_

[@Ammar34567]

Tom: "Why Dark video is a blocky mess." Game of Thrones S8E3 directors: "Im gonna pretend I didn't see that."

[@Nadia1989]

GoT director of photography laughing at the distance

[@atreidesemperor1003]

Some episodes are just unwatchable in GOT because is too dark too often

[@BenM.Davies]

That's just David F. Sandberg's video about Darkness in Horror movies (he's known as *ponysmasher* on KZbin)

[@Poldovico]

It's not a blocky mess in the cinema. Instead of 8 bits per channel, you get 10 at a minimum, with the option to support up to 16, and the bitrates are upwards of 250 Mbps, so you have a much greater raw colour space and little need for compression. In fact, DCI compliant cinema compression is very efficient, but lossless. Monster movie directors don't care how it'll look on TV.

[@draxle176]

Me a colourblind person: watches video of a guy in a brown shirt talking about colours that don't exist

[@MrStarman926]

Shirt is more of a dark red or maroon than brown haha

[@The_Dcoder]

@@MrStarman926 r/woosh

[@fhisaldsfulda3241]

@@MrStarman926 *colourblind*

[@kirin1230]

@@MrStarman926 I think you're missing the point

[@sambradley9091]

@@MrStarman926 It's brown to them

[@zakeos6830]

so when you see the background getting more detailed, that means something's coming

[@borbitol]

Just like in old cartoons.

[@JonatasAdoM]

Those markings drawn differently were so annoyingly

[@intensellylit4100]

@@JonatasAdoM markings?

[@danielawesome36]

@@intensellylit4100 I think they mean the *normal animated drawings that give away the fact that it's gonna be animated soon.

[@Lastingbeats]

Actually it happens when the thing already came, giving it by a moment a compressed look.

[@DoomDilemma]

Thank you perfectly explained! I always wondered why my videos looked relativ good on my hdr monitor but when uploading on youtube the darker scenes are always are terrible blocky mess, now I know why.

[@config2000]

And then there are the potato recordings used for 99% of ghost captures, which are then compressed to 140p, and ripped off each time crushing the quality until you are left with grey mushy soup.

[@something3395]

Thats becuse the ghosts refuse to be seen on any high quality video. It scares them off.

[@cappyo]

How else do you think they're going to mask their shitty editing skills lmao

[@Project_VideoGame]

Multiple scteenshots can do that, but ghosts arent real

[@Project_VideoGame]

The white stuff must be the in the infrared (before and outside of visible colour) Cameras can see a bigger spectrum than our eyes

[@nuclearshorts1243]

If your house is haunted, just get a HD camera. Ghosts hate those things

[@Yungblut]

Some friends and me watched a pirate version of Paranormal Activity prior Paramount Pictures relaunched it. Most of them were really scared of the bedroom scenes not because of the tension, but because the black of the open door was full of moving compression artifacts. The codec ghost.

[@kaitlyn__L]

that's really interesting, kind of similar to how VHS would make the dark look like something was maybe going on in it, because of the reduced signal to noise ratio in the dark (same noise, weaker signal, I guess?)

[@EdmfreeMlove]

Yes. Lossy compression on horror movies with lots of dark scenes is the worst.

[@evooff]

Watch a full BluRay disc and you will have much less compression

[@MrBooshot]

This is one of those videos I come back to every now and then because it’s so good

[@CosmicStar3]

I watched it like 7 times now

[@wmascolin]

Actually same, now I notice things that cause noise or banding on digital videos much more often.

[@Ra-Hul-K]

@@wmascolin once you start noticing it there is no going back.. blessed are the ignorant ones

[@unbleed1337]

ohhh

[@zinsy23]

I do the same thing! I sure wish I could put the green screen to such use if I had the digital resources and time to make such thing!

[@thegreycaffiene]

this was very very gripping, i was able to pay attention thanks to how interactive the examples were right there

[@b_alkan1925]

In any point of my life, i have never thought i could see Tom Scott deep fried, yet here i am.

[@nkopanelesedilebona9227]

Does that make KZbin lightly fried video?

[@pablopereyra7126]

@@nkopanelesedilebona9227 Mildly boiled.

[@sinfulloccultist950]

@@nkopanelesedilebona9227 medium rare

[@JstormZx]

@@sinfulloccultist950 prime rib

[@kor9566]

@@sinfulloccultist950 make sure to reverse sear

[@JacobiCreations]

The nice thing about HD physical media like Blu-ray, is that it plays the video at a very high bitrate allowing for those dark scenes to actually look like it was intended.

[@LtdJorge]

Yep, they range from 25 to 150GB. Massive discs for massive quality. Specially those using HDR at 4k.

[@danielbaugh2170]

There should be an option for those with super-fast internet to stream in the same quality as Blu-Ray, with a super high Bitrate. It's sad but Blu-Ray is still the only way to watch movies in the best possible quality :(

[@LtdJorge]

@@danielbaugh2170 the streaming servers have to process that. It consumes CPU cycles, internet bandwidth and memory. It also saturates the network for ISPs. They are not going to give you that option. We are still far from Blu-ray quality streaming.

[@DeathBringer769]

That's why Blurays are still superior to even "HD" streaming services. A lot of people don't know about or underestimate the effect of bitrate compression artifacts. I always notice it, especially here on KZbin. The bitrate limit for a 1080p video here is painfully low.

[@LtdJorge]

@@DeathBringer769 yep. Sadly, the (lack of) flexibility of physical mediums has made them go almost extinct.

[@SakraIgor0qNomoko]

So my eyesight isn't blurry. Everyone is just doing a massive amount of dithering.

[@iabervon]

Well, kind of, I guess. I mean, maybe.

[@KuraIthys]

@Luc Bloom Depends. Strictly speaking the process of dithering trades resolution for more apparent colour. This isn't so obvious at high resolutions, but if you look at a dithering pattern as you would've seen it on very old computers you do lose effective resolution using dithering techniques. There's no free lunch here...

[@daryfitrady7590]

"No! I dont have any eye problems! They just have builtin lossy compression so my brain can process information faster!"

[@BevanWard]

i don't know about you, but since the quarantine has started, ive seen a sharp increase in dithering

[@Todd-_-Umptious]

Did you do digital dithering on my didgeridoo?

[@mf_doog772]

Bro I just got a data time ad that at the beginning said “looks like you’re about to watch a Tom Scott video

[@hyri3188]

"and no one will ever notice the background" People who edited and gave effort for background to look good: Dude wtf

[@Mentocthemindtaker]

Unless you're a matte painter, how much effort are you _really_ putting into backgrounds?

[@IstasPumaNevada]

Sometimes not noticing the background is the point. You need to make it look good enough that people don't get distracted by it, or don't even notice that they're noticing it. That takes skill on its own.

[@clixx13]

Nah they know exactly what he's talking about and actually count on it.

[@drumsofberk]

(btw, I know you are being funny) But with design, that's the point. If you don't notice it, then the hard work paid off. If you do notice and it isn't right, then a lot of work for nothing. Things in the background probably get the most work than the things in the foreground. Most things in film and design, if you don't notice it, that means they did their job. If there is an error in your login screen for KZbin, you'll notice. But if everything is working well, you won't notice it.

[@BierBart12]

@@IstasPumaNevada Hiding things in plain sight.

[@mattildas7515]

You know the Corona situation is bad when Tom Scott has been forced to use a greenscreen.

[@GumSkyloard]

@@cmmartti Plus, he's been doing the green screen thing with his linguistics videos.

[@sundhaug92]

"is my monitor a waste of money", nice one

[@designz3660]

Ye

[@joelsmith3473]

500Hz 8K RGBY 3D OLED Smart TV

[@jacobhelbig6967]

@@joelsmith3473 curved

[@username4471]

@@jacobhelbig6967 foldable

[@bruhdabones]

Joel Smith foldable pocket ready 200Wh 1200Hz 5.7K RGBWWY 4D QLED Anti Relfective Smart Quad Core TV with integrated Roku

[@benhoffman8264]

This is the best explanation I have ever heard for the annoying color banding. I have terrific vision and a high attention to detail. Watching movies, shows, videos, or playing video games with color banding is so annoying to me.

[@genericembarrassingusernam7843]

"Did I waste money on a 144hz monitor?" I feel attacked, Tom. At least my scrolling is smooth as heck.

[@mikethespike056]

You should only buy those for gaming.

[@prest01]

145hz i win

[@noobelix]

Did i waste money on a 240hz monitor??

[@HMABH]

@@noobelix unfortunately yes...

[@Darkness251]

@@noobelix the jump from 144 to 240 doesn't feel as big as the jump from 60 to 144hz (Linus Tech Tips did a very good comparisson for that)

[@PerpetualPot]

I've watched this video a few times.. and and I must say, this was SO well done with the visuals actually showing everything you need. This can just as well be a teaching tutorial in how to use visual aid to enhance the learning of a concept.

[@Marc_Fuchs_1985]

I second that. But Tom also hired a professional animation designer, it was certainly worth it. I have done something similar (with less flashy animations though)about the various image formats a long time ago. For who's interested in this, it's really fun to work with and to watch content about it.

[@Backslasherton]

Tom, I know you had your reservations about people helping, but your work has been great lately. I think this lets you focus on doing your part to make the videos great, and they come out even better. I'm very happy for you and excited to see what happens next!

[@spiroplayzgaming9879]

you put chills down my spine in some parts

[@theparrot271]

*When a compressed video shows examples of compression*

[@Cilghal001]

Just like Marketing department of display manufactures show you different types of technology used in the monitor. They show you a difference between an HDR and a non HDR monitor in a picture, or 60Hz vs 144Hz picture and other stuff :D It's just generic noise on the website in that moment.

[@scipio5916]

Game of Thrones S8 E3: This can’t stop me because I can’t read!

[@Coaster42]

_Laughs in OLED_

[@puffnisse]

What?

[@reinstate317]

Dr.Barrel this episode was very dark and viewers had to increase brightness to the max (that didn’t help anyway)

[@ONESHOTYTGAMING]

I not reach s8 yet I m on S5 😂

[@RedDeadSakharine]

ONESHOT YT GAMING Oh, sweet summer child!

[@ChrisWCorp]

I legitimately was wondering about this the other day. As someone who studied film/post production, I knew about 90% of the answer but just hearing it from you makes it a lot clearer and visually justifiable.

[@hollandbulky8808]

I agree. I already knew about this but when explaining it to my uneducated parents, they seem to think I'm imagining things. Hopefully this video will clear it out to them.

[@tonimena1121]

Shoutout to the editor/animator, this is just amazing

[@infinity2306]

Omg I remember learning about this in school! It took the teacher over 8 lessons just to explained what this guy explained in 6 minutes!

[@ananttiwari1337]

because the teacher explained it in a way more detailed fashion, didn't have time to plan a script for the lesson for months, and also because you already knew about it that Tom's explanation was more simpler to you

[@valehuber2232]

i love ur pfp

[@Saneec]

@@ananttiwari1337 No, they didn't have months to plan a lesson. They've had the entire time that they've been teaching to come up with a lesson. The detail part could be true, but there's not much more to it than the compression engines tend to compress darkness at a noticeable level. The video described what the compressor did as well, and in a way that's universally understandable for most people since it explains all you need to know. Sometimes teachers aren't efficient at what they do but it's okay, there are a lot of things that teachers teach and explain that most 6-10 minute videos will never cover, this just isn't one of them.

[@Mat-8071]

@@Saneec (Assuming we're talking about school teachers and not university professors and also basing what I'm saying on school in my country which might be completely different from others) I think part of the reason why the teacher took much longer than Tom to explain is that the teacher didn't have fancy animations that show what they're explaining, and everyone in the class needs to understand so of course if someone wasn't listening or if someone couldn't understand the teacher would need to explain it all again. Also obviously a teacher can't be expected to spend a month to work on a script to explain something (to sometimes as much as 30 people) and in such a short time for every single thing they need to explain

[@xslvrxslwt]

@@Mat-8071 Teachers are teaching the whole ass theory & case-to-case scenarios in case someone wants to make a living out of this. Stop comparing school with your YT recommendations (btw Tom

[@lek1223]

the production behind this video was amazing, easily one of the best, massive respect to your crew and you

[@landon3137]

"It's because there aren't enough colors." Jay Foreman: *CONFUSED SCREAMING*

[@CarlosPCastaneda]

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

[@notcarrotnose258]

Is it true that there aren't any more colours?

[@shijoejoseph2011]

Michael Bay goes bananas and C. J. Abrams goes bonkers with lens flare. 😂🤣

[@teunw6699]

Neel Marathe the problem isn’t that the colors don’t exist, it’s that the monitors can’t display them.

[@archonjk1196]

@@teunw6699 lower quality monitors can't display them*

[@princessstrawberry4623]

okay outside of the whole video the editing on these videos is actually insane, props to the editor(s)

[@Arthur_da_dog]

Can someone give this guy an award already?

[@prabhakarrao4922]

I’ve finally found a video that explains what I’ve spent hours and hours explaining albeit rather poorly to friends of mine regarding banding. Thank you so much for putting this up on KZbin

[@morgenni]

Tom Scott is the kind of guy who tells you what you wanted to know for a long time without asking.

[@FAIDER_3439]

1:32 bro looks like he's in Buckshot Roulette 💀

[@seal2270]

I was just thinking, "This must've taken a long time to edit." Until I saw the top comment.

[@darren8453]

"Filmed on a potato" - Everyday Astronaut take note

[@mikab.4838]

Can we just appreciate how much work and information is in this video

[@TheRunpoker]

Thank you Tom!!! this question was driving me nuts. I have an absolutely incredible and very expensive screen on my laptop and it kills me that all the dark and gloomy shows look rubbish no matter that I do😭 at least now I know it is not due to my hardware. I just need to switch back to physical media.. oh damn.. they all went bankrupt didn't they🥺

[@Quizack]

This video was amazingly well done. Everything was perfectly laid out in an easy to understand format, and then scripted and edited to perfection. It must be a lot of hard work to plan this out so that each piece not only flows and fits together, but complements each other too. Tom is extremely talented.

[@JayTorin]

Does the fact that I can still see the color banding on the blue gradient say good things about my eyes or bad things about my monitor

[@aimanzikrybinazmi1398]

Both, really.

[@theaveragepro1749]

i dont really think it says anything its just not as noticeable as dark color banding

[@Quicktwister]

I mean it also depends on wether that gradient is more on the lighter side or the darker side

[@M.N.9]

Idk I notice it very easy

[@chrisallen9638]

It means your monitor brightness is too high.

[@SolarWebsite]

I watched the Lego City movie, and I wondered why everything was so blocky...

[@TheGhostTrooper1]

Right? It's so werid... especially with all that color too...

[@TheGhostTrooper1]

@VideoFunSouthwest That's... the point...

[@robotplays346]

VideoFunSouthwest r/woooosh

[@DavidKMartin]

This is one of Tom's all-time best videos. Explaining a complicated topic with simple and conversational (but accurate!) language and *chef's kiss* perfect illustrations.

[@zaramomadi5569]

The editing is so great And damn this guy here making videos answering the question we never ask. I love these videos

[@maxosborne10]

I normally don’t watch these kind of videos but Tom really makes it interesting to me

[@eppinizer]

Jesus christ the editing on this video is stellar.

[@DamiesEvilTwin]

At around 3:30 when you showed the little bit with the brightness increased, that image really delighted me, it was so perfect and clean in its bounding.

[@knicknacknat]

was not expecting a surprise Pat Gill cameo in this video but i can’t say i’m mad about it

[@left8277]

The main thing I take away from this is that Tom watches Polygon

[@SilasSermersheim]

Left827 Same

[@mynewaccount2361]

Patrick stan gang

[@holymakerel]

i said "hehe pat gill!" out loud like i saw a puppy

[@PauaP]

@@mynewaccount2361 I think you mean, BDG Stan gang.

[@wild3052]

@@PauaP no they mean patrick stan gang as they should

[@xaydada]

this video just blew my mind , I was noticing the pixelate in dark area in youtube and netflix videos no matter the video resolution and have done research everywhere to find the fix for this, but it turn out just how the compressed streaming video work, the same movie stored on my hard drive and played on the local video player doesn't have the issue with the version on netflix. also the editing quality of this video is just excellent, 1 instant subed!

[@A_Xian13]

I was watching this at 3am and the door creaking noises scared me so bad I had to look around to make sure nobody was actually opening any doors

[@CountFisco]

Is this going to be one of those videos where Tom flexes his editing skills for 6 minutes straight while I'm crying working out transitions on windows movie maker?

[@Lollllllz]

windows movie works for more than 5 minutes?

[@pitaya4151]

Don't be crying trying to figure out Windows Movie Maker. No one can.

[@guspolly]

Try OpenShot

[@fingmoron]

@@Lollllllz no that's a myth, I remember years ago when I knew how to do things movie maker better than vegas, premiere and after effects that I was teaching myself how to use so decided to use it to make a super simple project on it thinking it'd be easy but the amount of crashes after just importing large files to it made me switch forever. Vegas crashed a lot too back then but in comparison is world better.

[@jan_harald]

upgrade to widows 7 already ya pleb, XP is ancient, and last one to include movie maker ;P

[@ProfessionalRalseiEnjoyer]

3:22 "Normally, it's invisible." Me who can see it without zooming in: *Do I need a new monitor?*

[@MegaGamer22]

Or a new GPU

[@prateekpanwar646]

Or a rgb gaeming lights

[@MawhsiV]

Or new eyes

[@blidea9191]

Or a new brain

[@damonguzman]

I was thinking the same thing. I'm watching this on Galaxy Fold 3 with OLED display. I'm wondering if my eyes are dank or my screen just stank.

[@muf1772]

1. Computer colour encoding usually follows a more or less exponential gamma curve, modelled after the brightness you'd get for a specific relative voltage on a CRT screen. This messes with a lot of things but is one of the reasons dark content looks worse. 2. Video colour encoding throws away the values between 0-16 and 235-255 to account for under- and overshoot in digital representations of analogue video. The remaining values are then stretched to the full 0-255 range by your video player, creating additional banding beyond the banding already created by not using the full range, and by only using 8 bits. 3. Both of these problems can be easily masked to the point of being invisible to the naked eye through debanding and dithering in the video player, something most modern devices are powerful enough to do in real time. However, up to this point they've mostly been niche features in videophile-oriented software like madVR, and unavailable in web browsers.

[@linawhatevs8389]

1. the gamma curve creates more dark colors at the expense of light ones. Not sure what you're on about here.

[@davidflores909]

And on number 2 what encoding are you talking about specifically. There are tons of them and most of them are adjustable in many aspects, including color.

[@Lttlemoi]

Lots of video is encoded not in RGB, but in Luminosity and two chroma components where the chroma components are then subsampled to compress the video even more with less visual quality degradation when compared to similar compression ratios over RGB space.

[@muf1772]

@@davidflores909 I'm referring to limited range YUV encoding, which encodes the Y channel (luma) in values 16-235 and clips off the remainder. This is what the majority of video formats use, including KZbin.

[@gordonrichardson2972]

Muf Yes, gamma encoding is an important and little understood aspect of all digital still images and video. The human eye sees on logarithmic scales, which approximates the gamma function over most of its range, but does poorly in dark areas. You never see banding in bright areas, no matter how compressed the image.

[@sumagenoy2549]

i got an ad saying i was about to watch tom scott what in the actual hell

[@ChiSbaObePcheH11]

0:24 I wasn't expecting to see Pat Gill in a Tom Scott video, but it sure was a pleasant surprise

[@ElijahCiali]

2:16 “Is my monitor a waste of money” Nice one, Will.

[@ABC-in2le]

Tom: "1 Gb/s speed" Me: **cries in 1Kb/s speed**

[@mikethespike056]

Literally. I'm not kidding. I had to wait for this video to load at 144p.

[@JustDeka21]

@@mikethespike056 P A I N

[@cappyo]

Why don't you upgrade your plan instead of complaining?

[@marens101]

@@cappyo If it were that simple we wouldn't complain, would we? Where I live the networks just aren't capable of anything over 2Mbit

[@codinghub3759]

@@marens101 2mbps, My maximum is 100 kbps. Rarely 200

[@qdzsy]

Tom , this is your best video so far. This effect is described incredibly neat and easy. Thanks for your videos!

[@CornflakeMom]

I have literally always noticed this even as a kid. I could never enjoy a movie as much as i could at home as apposed to a theater. Thats why i watch official releases at theaters and not at home with hbo max. I like the real deal.

[@awdadwadwad1723]

Just buy Blu-ray’s?

[@joshuagalvez9678]

@@awdadwadwad1723 Still has the problem

[@CastleBomb44]

@@joshuagalvez9678 less of a problem.

[@wolfetteplays8894]

@@joshuagalvez9678 not if you have 8k

[@giantnoah]

@@awdadwadwad1723 The standard blu rays have the same colors, UHD Blu Ray supposedly bumps it up to 10 bits per color. Theatrical releases often are even higher definition than you can find on any disk, plus if you go to an obscure enough movie you'll get the big screen and speakers to yourself :)

[@wiiseeyou]

As an artist who works a lot with high contrast, few colors, and rough details, I quite like the color banding that happens in compressed videos.

[@Marc_Fuchs_1985]

Isn't it funny, that higher resolutions and more colors aren't the answer to everything? I still love that ancient GIF format, doing aninmations in it. It is a joy for me, not only working out which colors to be picked, but also playing around with how little colors I can use (so dropping file size) while still looking nice. Afterall, 16 bits retro graphics do have their appeal and will always have. Limited abilities with graphics certainly don't equal bad.

[@ClarkPotter]

The animations here are outstanding. Whoever helped you with this is a genius.

[@REPPALAPP]

Editing done on this video is so great. It make the video much more easier to understand.

[@iChupacabraTube]

Quite literally the bane of Google Stadia and cloud gaming. Bitrate can help overcome some compression but this is by far the biggest change between even buffered streamed video and “live” cloud gaming video, let alone local render.

[@JonatasAdoM]

This is why games look more realistic than TV these days

[@ArmouredHopIite]

I don't know if you read these, but I've grown up watching your content and honestly you're the reason I chose my career and thrive in it. Thank you Tom

[@MomiMuscle]

And what career might that be?

[@cityuser]

@@SamuelsBookReviews Probs filmmaking/video creation

[@johngrim8201]

@@MomiMuscle Social worker. I know him IRL.

[@mini-_]

3:06 "Why doesn't that have color banding?" *Me seeing the color banding*: _Huh, I must be a super human._

[@wtfkanal9997]

@@LovableVR bi bu bub beep

[@RokeJulianLockhart.s4eb2q]

@@LovableVR Я машина! 🍷

[@gmg9010]

Colorful I never sleep I keep my eyes wide open PS thought you where referencing a TDG song

[@tekvax01]

why is there colour banding? because high compression MPEG streams suck!

[@pgirfn7237]

Or your screen is either improperly calibrated, or the screen just sucks. Remember, it only looks as good as the weakest link in the chain, which for most people is their display.

[@orig1naln4me]

this guy's editing is the best i've ever seen

[@IkeRetsam]

I adore the “ludicrous speed” joke. 🤣 Space Balls is one of my favorite movies.

[@iraterats7705]

Tom, i'm constantly bored in school because i've already been taught everything interesting that i could've possibly learned on this channel.

[@cycrothelargeplanet]

School only teaches you important stuff in life which have nothing Interesting

[@robjohnsonmusicandgaming]

I'm jealous of how well written literally every one of Tom's videos are

[@kylemerson7313]

People really need to appreciate the editing on this video

[@jalexanderbill]

0:24 love to see a Patrick in the wild

[@EchoLimaIndiaAlphaS]

Me too! Glad to know Tom watches Polygon.

[@oliverbevan2575]

Good that there’s an animator! Was going to say has Tom forgotten again how hard these are to produce!

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

*Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 wants to know your location*

[@lapispyrite6645]

I was thinking about this the whole video! I’m glad I’m not the only one.

[@nachiketh3650]

And I find you here as well gintoki.

[@BlackEagle352]

Looked great on HDR. The plot though, unfixable

[@iceTime999]

@@BlackEagle352 The plot in s8e3 was great.

[@KiLLJoYYouTube]

Xalphire most of the scenes in that episode were shot in the dark. Which meant the phenomenon tom is describing was very conspicuous.

[@relaytour_eu]

This video helped me tremendously. I was struggling with compression artifacts when I had a few seconds of text over a solid dark grey background. Then I remembered this video and decided to switch the background to a light blue gradient. Far less artifacts. Cheers Tom!