What causes replays to come out very dark?

Question

Using the built in replay editor, replays look fine (as they do in gameplay):

But after saving the replay to a file, they come out very dark:

Note it doesn't look too bad here since it's small, but bring up the fullsize and you'll see the difference. Also here's the full video to see the darkened issue:

This seems to be a reoccurring problem for people: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1875348

What could be the cause?

Win7 64bit
6GB RAM
i7 CPU
ATI Radeon HD 5800
1400x900

Asked by Zeno

Answer

Per Steam support, this (the codec part) solved it:

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

You may wish to select a different rendering output codec.

Note that video compression techniques often rely on reducing the range of colors and brightness used in a frame.

Using a different codec may create better results.

You may also try increasing the Brightness Levels in the in-game Video options menu prior to rendering the replay.

For more information and options, please refer to the TF2 Wiki replay article linked below.

http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Replay

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you.

Answered by Zeno

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