Removing "white haze" from I would just say shoot me.online videos

[duesouth]

Greetings all I am a veteran that has been doing computer stuff for many years. I cobble together computers from stores for veterans and provide my talents for free.
Recently I started doing VHS to DVD stuff for fellow vets of their VHS tapes that they have taped over the years and have had good success.
Some of them have asked me for old war movies, westerns and so on that they grew up with. I find many on U-tube and other sites.
What I wish to become knowing about is how to get rid of the annoying white whatever it is that people put on these films.

Now, many of the DVD's i make go to vet homes and private vets that don't have a clue as to how to do this, and many of the movies
can't be found except online. On top of that some buffoons like to take an old B&W and 3D the thing. I have that part figured out using
X media recode. But I can't figure out how to get rid of the white stuff.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Although I am a newbie to this, I figure things out pretty quick. But if you held a gun to my head and told me to get rid of the white haze I would just say shoot me.

In conclusion, have a blessed day and happy Memorial Day!

[jagabo]

Post a sample image. But I think you're talking about black levels that are too high, giving the video a washed out look.

[Brad]

I believe you're referring to a "spotlight" effect (center of screen brighter, gradually fading off to normal edges) used in an attempt to bypass YouTube's Content ID system. Inverting that would be quite difficult.

[duesouth]

Thank you for that info. Yes it is a "spot like effect" so I guess I shall just deal with it. Thank you for your help.

[manono]

Inverting that would be quite difficult.

But it can be done, I think.

How about a link?

[duesouth]

I would appreciate any help I can get. As the old saying goes "if you can't figure it out, stuff your pride and ask someone who knows!

[jagabo]

Vignetting isn't hard to reduce if the picture isn't completely black at the edges. For example:

http://rationalqm.us/hotspot/hotspot.html

Maybe this is the type of thing you're talking about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRWbZ9HD4WI

before/after:

[duesouth]

That is exactly IT!!! And as I looked at the movies on that page there are a few that I have dld and this is EXACTLY what I am talking about.
Now the $100,00- dolar question, how on earth did you do that!

What I really hate is these "clowns" love doing this to old movies that the younger crowd never even looks for. Maybe they need to change their underwear I guess. Any tutorials or programs I would need would be GREATLY appreciated.

Have a wonderful Memorial day all, remember our vets and the freedom we upheld, and say a small prayer for this country. Now I have to check on my bronto ribs, brisket, baby backs that I have been smoking from 3am. Have 20 or so folks and friends and vets coming to my cookout.

Fortunately I don't poop without a plan.

[manono]

Now the $100,00- dolar question, how on earth did you do that!

It's exactly what I was getting at with my earlier post. You adjust the levels/brightness/contrast for the most washed out area in the center and then create a mask so that the 'fix' is done less and less strongly the further out from the center you go. Or vice-versa - fix the outside and use a mask to apply the filtering less and less strongly as you move towards the center. I'll assume jagabo did it using Avisynth filters rather than the VDub one to which he linked. In principle it's not hard at all. You have to get the center 'fix' right (or the outside fix), and then you have to create the mask. Once again, a link or (better, so we don't have to do the whole thing) a short sample would be helpful to show you a sample script of how it's done. If someone really did this on purpose for whatever screwy reason, it's probably the same throughout so you don't have to filter different parts differently.

[jagabo]

how on earth did you do that

I used AviSynth but most advanced editors have the ability to do something like this. The spot was added to the original video by averaging each frame with an image of the spot:

output = (original + spot) / 2

To remove the spot all you need to do is reverse the process. Of course we don't have the original image of the spot. So I looked through the video for an otherwise black frame. I found one at frame 250454. Since we are looking at the final encoded image that frame represents (black + spot)/2, or (0/2 + spot/2), or just spot/2.

With a little algebraic manipulation of the above equation we get:

output = (original + spot) / 2
output = original/2 + spot/2
output - spot/2 = original/2
(output - spot/2) * 2 = original

LWLibavVideoSource("1958 The Young Lions.mp4") # get the video (downloaded from youtube)
spot=Trim(250454,250454) # get spot/2
Overlay(last, spot, mode="subtract") # subtract spot from the frame
ColorYUV(gain_y=256, off_y=16) # compensate for the / 2

SmoothTweak should give slightly better results than ColorYUV. But it's an extra filter you have to find and install. Using SmoothTweak instead:

LWLibavVideoSource("1958 The Young Lions.mp4") # get the video (downloaded from youtube)
spot=Trim(250454,250454) # get spot/2
Overlay(last, spot, mode="subtract") # subtract spot from the frame
SmoothTweak(brightness=32, contrast=2.0) # compensate for the /2

The result of this improved script is slightly better than the script I used for the image I posted earlier. The black frame (spot/2) is slightly better (though still not perfect) than the one I used earlier and I cranked up the brightness to better match what I think the original was supposed to look like.

[duesouth]

This is very educational. As somewhat a noob, i am sure That I shall figure this out. After all, I just need to take care of my chickens, mow grass and play. I will download this and consult some guides that I saw and give it a go.

BTW I think that this forum is fantastic, and the people on here are very nice and helpful. Thank you so much for this forum. I have setup a few myself.

Again many thanks.

In the words of Arnie "I'll be baack" :0

[jagabo]

They may not all be as easy as that one.

[manono]

I thought I'd give it a try myself, using the method I was thinking of. And it doesn't work. But masking can be used successfully, I think. Part of the problem is the guy that made the video using the method he did wound up crushing blacks in an oval around the outsides, so it can't be recovered properly all the time. I'd rather get the DVD if I was going to work on it. And as you discovered, jagabo (I think), fixing it as best as possible also requires going into illegal territory and then clipping to 16-235. With such a source it doesn't matter much.

I got the mask from the frame number you provided. Thanks. And then tweaked it a bit.

Anyway:

FFVideoSource("1958 The Young Lions.mp4")
Crop(0,64,0,-64)
Spline16Resize(832,Height)###It's in the wrong aspect ratio on YouTube, I believe###
A=Last
Mask=ImageSource("Mask.bmp").ConvertToYV12()
MergeLuma(A,Mask,0.36)
SmoothTweak(Saturation=0,Brightness=-220,Contrast=3.1,Limiter=True)
AddBorders(0,58,0,58)

I saw the dot from time to time but would have had no idea what it meant if you hadn't explained it, jagabo. Did you figure it out yourself or did vaporeon800 provide you with the clue so you looked up a way to avoid YouTube's CID and then went from there?

[jagabo]

I'd never seen the spot used like this before (only the normal vignetting you get from a poor projector telecine). Since Vaporeon800 mentioned its use at Youtube I went there, searched, and stumbled across that particular video.

[duesouth]

It would appear that I have birthed an interesting thread. I dld avisynth and yes, it does seem like it has a steep learning curve. But, Lord willing.... I will have enough time to get this figured out. Would Vdub be a better choice for one just starting out? I am sort of taken aback by this interface. But I shall give it a go. Thank you all for your help in getting this started in the right direction for me.

[jagabo]

AviSynth is accessed via scripts -- simple text files. See the "Your first script" and "Gettings started" sections here:

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Main_Page

I use Notepad to create scripts. Some people prefer to use Avspmod. VirtualDub is a good editor for checking your AVS scripts. Just use File -> Open Video File to open the AVS script as if it was a video. Or you can drag/drop the AVS file onto VirtualDub.

I recommend you use 32 bit AviSynth, 32 bit filters, and 32 bit VirtualDub. You can't mix 32 bit and 64 bit components.

My script used LWLibavVideoSource() to open the source video. That is not included in a basic AviSynth install. You need to download the LSMASH package and copy lsmashsource.dll into AviSynth's plugins folder. Similarly, SmothTweak() is part of the 3rd party SmoothAdjust package. If you use ColorYUV() you don't need to install SmootAdjust.

[duesouth]

Well, after trying to figure out avisynth, I dld virtual dub +, the one with the self install everything. And I fiddled around here and found shotcut, and am going to test that out. As I said this is all new to me, that is to say how deep this pond is, but I love a good challenge. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Reading all the review of shot cut, I will give that a go too. As they say you can never have enough tools with which to build. G'day all

BTW, there is A LOT of stuff here. My congrats to the makers of this site and many thanks. I had a 3D site a long time ago and also had many good people there. Again thanks for your efforts.

[duesouth]

I say again, this site is fantastic. Just going through the forums I have gathered a bunch of information on all kinds of things. I thank all of you for your help.

I will just live with the white fog, but I did stumble on a way to reduce it. I just reconvert the file to avi, recode it in xmedia, and do that twice. I cuts it down to a watchable video, and when I convert it to dvd, it looks ok. Don't ask what settings, it was a gaff. Oh well time to collect eggs and feed chickens. Have a blessed day.

[-Habanero-]

The way I fix these things is I blend all frames into one average image and then subtract the whole movie by that image. Brightness does need to be adjusted later, however.
There is a virtualdub plugin called hotspot that deals particularly with this issue.

[duesouth]

Thank you habanero, by the way I planted some of those along with ghost and scotch bonnets today I make a wicked pepper sauce. I challenge anybody NOT to scream for milk Have a blessed evening and thank you.

[RBCC]

jagabo : Which Video Editors are you mentioning??
Thank you for your Help!

[jagabo]

I don't really use any editors anymore so I can't really advise. I mostly use AviSynth. But all advanced editors have overlay ability. Even VirtualDub's Logo or Delogo filters can probably do this. You'll probably have to fiddle with the settings a lot though.

[RBCC]

Is there instructions on how to use asynth? Also instructions on values for asynth? John

[manono]

Is there instructions on how to use asynth? Also instructions on values for asynth?

Not sure what you mean by 'values' but there's an excellent AviSynth website with sections for beginners:

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Main_Page

Read everything in the "New To AviSynth - Start Here" section.

And check YouTube for tutorials.