Converted VCD files appear washed out

[Scroat]

I have converted some VOB files to VCD and SVCD using flask, and after that, TMPGEnc, and I find that black regions on the original are no longer black but grey, and the whole thing appears washed out...

I tried applying a color adjustment in TMPGEnc to decrease brightness, contrast and gamma, so that in the preview it seemed to be exactly the same colors, but again the results seem to be dull as if the brightness/gamma were still set high.

I tried once again with the brightness set way down so it was almost too dark to see and black really should have been black, but same result.

Playing the created files on my DVD player produced the same results.

What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?

thanks

[Scroat]

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong place. I'll try again.