Unable to make HD videos in Premiere Pro
A few things to check - 

Is your export file set to Maximum Render Quality (enable before you export)? This may help if the MP4 compression is to blame for reducing the contrast of your video. Are you recording uncompressed AVI with fraps?



When you export, do you have any Effects turned on in the export settings - particularly the Limiter? This should be off.



Lastly, your installation of Premiere should include the GoPro Cineform codecs. These are as close to visually lossless as you will get with a compressive codec, and while they are NOT the best route for an eventual YouTube upload (and YouTube will remind you of that if you try it), it would be a good baseline to determine what the issue actually is.