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  1. Member
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    May 2014
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    Hello all! I digitally transferred our family's home movies a few years ago and now have the source files on my computer. I'm wanting to find a good software that will auto-adjust things like contrast and colors so that the videos look better. I also want to get rid of that weird humming noise on some of the videos. I tried using Virtualdub but the files are in mp4 format and I can't get it to work (I followed some tutorials on how to fix that but since I'm using Windows 8.1 I guess they weren't compatible). I don't mind spending a little money to make this work which is why I wanted to ask everyone what the easiest/best video software is to accomplish what I want. Thanks!
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  2. Member
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    Feb 2008
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    You mention the videos are mp4, so they are already compressed. Since all you want to do is adjust contrast and color, I would recommend not recompressing them again, but instead let the playback software or display adjust the contrast and color. This will prevent another generation loss of degradation by compressing it again.

    Also, since you describe yourself as a novice, getting the correct color and contrast may be difficult. If you do it wrong and recompress it would be permanent and there would be no way to go back. At least at playback all the changes you make are not permanent and you can keep adjusting it as your skill level improves.

    The humming noise can be filtered with an audio editor like Audacity. If you would like to spend some money you can get Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit). But be careful not to apply the noise filter too strong or else it will sound like it is underwater.
    Last edited by Vidd; 31st May 2014 at 21:48.
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  3. Member PuzZLeR's Avatar
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    Oct 2006
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    Toronto Canada
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    I'm assuming you don't have the tapes anymore, and they are already compressed, so I'm pretty much in agreement with what Vidd posted.

    You would need to play around with filters in AviSynth to get the color fixed, and to work with VirtualDub, but a strong suggestion is to keep the Source. You, being the novice you say you are, will need many attempts at fixing this, so again worth repeating - hang on to your only Source. (But you should always do so regardless.)

    As for the humming you hear in the audio, you can try Audacity software (as mentioned). I detail how I clean the noise in post #9 here:

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/363348-best-approaches-for-editing-Super-8-films
    Last edited by PuzZLeR; 1st Jun 2014 at 14:54. Reason: Grammar
    I hate VHS. I always did.
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  4. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    Sep 2002
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    Does VD open and run in your W8.1 PC? If so, then the problem is VD opening the MP4 video?

    You might want to drop one of the video files into MediaInfo and post the text of what it says here. Then we could better advise you what you might do to get VD working
    with your files. MP4 is just a container name, not the codec used. It could be just about any video or audio codec.

    There are quite a few VD video filters here: http://www.infognition.com/VirtualDubFilters/

    You could also try AVIDemux as it will open most formats and does have some filters available. Also a 64 bit version available. It works similar to VD, so not so hard to learn.
    I use it on my W8.1 64 bit laptop with no problems. It does open a MP4 (H.264 video codec with AC3 audio). It doesn't really have any audio filters, but you can still use Audacity.
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  5. Member PuzZLeR's Avatar
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    For many kinds of formats, including MP4, if you can index, and create an AviSynth script for it, it will open and work in VirtualDub.

    (MeGUI can easily index and create the script, among other tools).
    I hate VHS. I always did.
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