Video looks bad on windows media player & VLC player, good on iTunes player?

[PaulWog]

I am recording NTSC 30fps at 1080p on my Nikon D5200. All quality settings are set to highest.

When I play back the video file on my computer, it looks low quality & bad on Windows Media Player. Not terrible, but still some darks are too dark, the resolution looks worse than 1080p, etc. It looks the exact same on VLC player. Normally when I use either of these players, movies play back properly & look great.

When I play back on iTunes, the contrast looks excellent, the video looks like it's 1080p, etc. It looks awesome, exactly how I want it.

What do I do so that people can view the file as I see it on iTunes? I'm filming an ALS challenge at my work tomorrow (owner of the chain is donating but only if the staff does it & it goes individually by each site), I don't do video often, but I'm the guy with somewhat decent gear (just a stationary tripod & decent enough lenses) to film it.

 

[robbins.photo]

I am recording NTSC 30fps at 1080p on my Nikon D5200. All quality settings are set to highest.

When I play back the video file on my computer, it looks low quality & bad on Windows Media Player. Not terrible, but still some darks are too dark, the resolution looks worse than 1080p, etc. It looks the exact same on VLC player. Normally when I use either of these players, video files play back properly & look great.

When I play back on iTunes, the contrast looks excellent, the video looks like it's 1080p, etc. It looks awesome, exactly how I want it.

What do I do so that people can view the file as I see it on iTunes? I'm filming an ALS challenge at my work tomorrow (owner of the chain is donating but only if the staff does it & it goes individually by each site), I don't do video often, but I'm the guy with somewhat decent gear (just a stationary tripod & decent enough lenses) to film it.

I'd try converting the video to another format, if you don't already have something that can convert video you can try Avidemux - it was originally developed for linux systems but has been ported to windows. Great little program.

Download Avidemux 2.6.8 - FileHippo.com