[Markp]

I should add that I’ve been looking at the comps with two of the commercial analysis tools out there – Color Finesse and Scopo Gigio, and as far as my untutored eye can tell, certain levels are way too high; some form of correction needs to be applied. But here, I’m groping in the dark a bit.

[Markp]

Mike –
Thanks for the reply.

The external monitor is a small, secondhand unit of unknown provenance; an old Panasonic – which is hooked up to the composite output of a Matrox Parhelia. (we’re strictly in home set-up territory here, alas)

I agree that it’s strange about the material looking good on this monitor.
Obviously I’m looking at the contents of the After Effects composite window; so everything that looks good is NON-encoded; it’s the encoded stuff that’s causing the trouble. So far I’ve viewed it on two separate TV’s – one an LCD – and it looks pretty dreadful on each – halos of oversaturated color.

As to encoding, I fail to see what else I can do, really. Subjectively, I’ve found the MainConcept encoder to be as good as any I’ve tried. I’m using the default, highest quality, DVD-compliant settings, so I can’t see why there should be any trouble there.

I know that the footage undergoes a colorspace conversion during encoding, I’ve been looking up stuff about keeping my broadcast colors legal (PAL). That’s what I currently suspect, anyway.