FILM9 - Restoration software for old films (8mm, Super8, 16mm) and video

For info if this product with other users:
- Before installing Film9, there must be no older version of Avisynth on the computer. Even the Avisynth directory needs to be deleted.
- Avisynth MUST be installed in the default directory and not in any other location.
- Without installation of K-LITE MEGA CODEC PACK (and not another pack!), Film9 does not work.
- After installing the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (after an update of K-Lite), you must reinstall the Lagarith codec.
- As a general rule, you have to follow the proposed course without thinking that you can do better than what the programmers suggest (I also have the same fault ;)).

Happy learning from Avisynth Marcurios!

Hi,

I decided to try out what you said in your reply just to be thourough and to see if my installation was somehow wrongly done.

So i cleared out the codec pack and it's directories, Avisynth and indeed another version of Avisynth and removed all related directories and cleaned out my registry and restarted my rig and then reinstalled it as mentioned in your reply.

The only difference this time is that Film9 properly detected that Avisynth is installed now, the other bugs are still very much the same.

Noise cleaning only works in preview when tweaking and not in the final rendered result.
Stabilization doesn't work in the final result either, only chroma and luma edits work.

And it still restarts VDub briefly a second time after the movie has been completely rendered and overwrites the just rendered movie with a short few seconds of the vid and then immediately closes vdub again, and i only have the first few seconds because of that.

It looks like the procedure is a two step procedure, first chroma-luma edits and on the second pass it does the cleaning and stabilization or something like that, but it cuts of a few seconds in the last pass leaving the clip unfinished, i'll try a bunch of different settings to see if i can figure out where it goes wrong.
than maybe i can contribute to the software being a little better in the end.

EDIT: if i use "with synchro" it completes the second pass, but the descratch looks like it's only 50% working from what i see in preview when tweaking the effects.
So it does work, but the preview looks a lot better than the actual result.

You can already see that my advice on Avisynth was correct.

It's right, Film9 works in two passes.
So you can't see all the effects on the first pass, that's okay.

What is not is that the second pass does not go all the way, this is only the fact of a codec problem.
You can try to change the output format of your clip in the "Preferences" page, to see if a single codec is a problem.

Another element, Avisynth does not process 4k files, it must be limited to FullHD

Hi Gelinox,

It's a 1280x720 clip

I got it to calculate the second pass, and now stabilization also works, but Cleaning filter is not working, i did a few short clips now, but the cleaning filter work perfectly fine in preview when tweaking settings, but not in final render.

I'll try to render as adiffernt format to see if that changes anything, but i suspect that there is something wrong withing the cleaner script.

EDIT: the cleaning filter only works in preview mode (while tweaking settings) in the "without synchro" mode, but then the rendering of the second pass stops in 2 seconds, no matter what video codec i choose in the project window, not even with tiff images, it just cuts out on the second pass.

In the "with synchro" mode the second pass completes, but neither in the preview or in the final render cleaning works, also not in video mode.
And cleaning up old 8mm footage is essential, and that is the one thing that will not work.
Maybe it would in the "with synchro" mode if that wouldn't cut out in the second pass, but it sadly does.
I tried almost all different settings here, i'll try to disable stabilization to see if that might do something weird in the second pass, but i suspect there is a error in the cleaning routine.

Cause from what i read in the forums here other all think that the cleaning routine is not very good, that probably means they haven't noticed that it's actually not working. Cause when i see the preview in "without synchro" mode, it is clear that if it works, it actually works very good and cleans up most dirt.
So my money is on that there is a bug in the cleaning routine or script that halts the second pass.

Hello Marcurios,

The "Without Synchro" option is only intended for film captures in the projection stream and with projector speeds of 16.6fps for PAL and 20fps for NTSC.
The "With Synchro" option is intended for captures made with a servo-control between the projector and the sensor to obtain 1 film-image = 1 video-image.
This "With Synchro" option can also be used for captures with a scanner, but you always need 1 film-image = 1 video-image.

For Descratch to work at 100%, it is imperative that this notion of 1 film-image = 1 video-image be respected. In other words, it means that all the successive images must be different.
If you have duplicate video frames, the descratch cannot perform its function 100%.
If your captures were taken by specialist companies, chances are there are duplicate images in your clips.

Hi Gilles,

Well that is a bit strange, cause i now found out that it works ok if i use the "without synchro" option but leave the "vertical flip" checked.
I unchecked that before cause i found it distracting to see my footage upside down.
But that is the very reason it stops on the second pass, if i leave it on it will complete the second pass with cleaning filter and do a good job, and my footage is indeed captured by a specialist company in PAL 25fps format, so i assume that they must have calculated/interpolated the missing 7 frames in a manner that doesn't leave duplicates, but actually calculates a different picture.
professional software can do that from what i have read.

Your films being captured by a specialized company, it is necessary to forget the "Without Synchro".
On the other hand, it is necessary to check in VirtualDub, by advancing image after image, if there are no duplicates.
It is true that some companies do a real job of interpolation.
But others can simply add intermediate images identical to the previous one (IVTC concept).

I forgot to mention, it only works if i only enable cleaning and nothing else, and upside down and "without synchro".

No other setting wil work, they will all cut off rendering at the second pass on "without sycnchro"
and any other setting than "without synchro" won't clean the video.
So if you want the vid cleaned of scratches and specks, you can't use "with synchro", cause it doesn't clean anything then.

So it doesn't really work very well alltogether.

But, i tried enough to know that i have to go and learn Avisynth myself, cause i have seen far better results from people that work with Avisynth scrips themselves.

Good Courage for Avisynth ...
Everyone is free.

I bought NeatVideo for VDub, problem solved, now i can do everything with VDub, i realized that only thing that was still missing on my toolbox was a good cleaning filter.
No need to go and study for days either.

Hello Marcurios,

As for me, I do not see the use of buying Neat for Avisynth, while it exists as a plugin for most editing programs in 64bits.
Neat already has a cleaning filter.
Good Avisynth!

Buenos dias, encontre este programa y el comentario en el foro de videoedicion.org y luego este amplio pos en videohelp, que noto que es del año 2014. Ayer descargue el ejecutable y no puedo instalarlo en un PC con W7 64 bit. Al hacerle clic no se abre el ejecutable,y muestra una ventanita que dice:The setup file is corrupted. Error code 1. Please obtain a new copy of the file, por lo que supongo no esta pensado para versiones de windows actuales. Si saben como instalarlo en W7 , serán agradecidos

Hello,
I imagine your file is just corrupted.
Have you tried to download it again? once the download is complete your file should be around 63mb.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gelinox

Hello,
I imagine your file is just corrupted.
Have you tried to download it again? once the download is complete your file should be around 63mb.

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Hi and thanks for your reply. Yes I made 3 times thikin like you, but from videoedicion.org forum reply me thta the problems is (maybe) i have no the last frame work 4.7.2, that's why can not execute the program. Best regards

Your file is 63 mb, yes or no?

Film9’s Remove Dirt works perfectly for me, but I have noticed that if you switch on auto white in colour base it turns off the Remove Dirt. I have tested Neatvideos dirt removal and it is no where near as good as Film9’s.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gelinox

Your file is 63 mb, yes or no?

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Sorry for delay. The exe file is 59.675KB

VideoNet:
Your file is not complete. The download did not proceed normally.
In MP give me your email address, please

Greetings from a (confused) new user who is trying to get up to speed on this stuff. I'm running into a problem with the apparent speed-up of a file coming out of Film9.

The original file runs 23:00, but the Film9 version runs only 20:17. I don't see anything cut from the shorter version, it just runs faster. If I put the original film straight into Virtualdub2 it comes out at the original 23:00. Anything obvious I might be missing on why it comes out shorter when using Film9? Other than that I'm thrilled with the results so far.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions. Please let me know if you need any more details on the files, settings, etc.

Hello,

Look in the parameters of your "Project" window, the heading "Argentique Film Tuning Speed" must contain a value identical to that of the frequency of your original film.
This is provided that you do not want to adapt the speed of an 18fps film to a standard video frequency for example.

The user manual will give you further details.

Regards

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gelinox

Hello,

Look in the parameters of your "Project" window, the heading "Argentique Film Tuning Speed" must contain a value identical to that of the frequency of your original film.
This is provided that you do not want to adapt the speed of an 18fps film to a standard video frequency for example.

The user manual will give you further details.

Regards

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Yes, that was certainly it. I had done a test run of a short 50 foot reel and had set the speed in Film9 to match the file created in Adobe Premiere. That was a few months ago. I just got a new scanner, did the longer film, only to discover now that Adobe changed Premiere and you can't do the export at that rate. You can import at 17 FPS, can edit it at 17 FPS, but when you use "Match Source" now in trying to export it 17 FPS is no longer available and it dropped to 15 FPS. It would be nice if they alerted you that "Match Source" isn't actually matching everything. 18 FPS is also not an option any longer.

Once I told Film9 the file was 15 FPS all went well. Many thanks for the much appreciated help.

As another reasonably new user of Film9, I have finally completed by Telecine hardware and successfully had a go with Film9 about a year ago. I have now returned to the project and on the same machine with (as far as I'm aware) no changes to any of the components (VirtualDub2 and Avisynth) and now getting an error when trying to open a clip. I'm using multiple .BMP files - around 4100 of them and when I try to do anything with them Film9 opens VirtualDub2 and then I see the following error message:

Avisynth opne failure:
I don't know what "s" means
(C:\Program Files (x86)\Film9\lfo\DLL\S.avs, line5)

Looking at the script (which I assume is generated by Film9 I see that the start parameter is "s" - see the script below:

SetMTMode(5,0)
SetMemoryMax(1500)
Import("tools2ms.dll")
PlugClip()
Clip = ImageSource("F:\8mm film captures\Reel10\Reel10_1.bmp", start =s, end=4100, fps = 16, use_DevIL = true, pixel_type = "RGB32")
Clip=Spline64Resize(Clip, 1400,1040)
Clip= ConvertToYV12(Clip, interlaced = False, matrix = "Rec709")
Clip=KillAudio(Clip)
Clip=Crop(Clip, 4, 4, -4, -4, align = True)
Clip=Spline64Resize(Clip, 1400,1040)
ClipB=Clip
Clip=SubtitleGB2(ClipB, Clip)
Clip=subtitle(Clip,"Reel10_1",size=48,text_color=$ FFFFFF, align=8)
Return Clip

Looking at the help for Avisynth I'm not sure "s" is a valid parameter for the start frame count - or is there something else wrong with that line.

Any help much appreciated.

I have tried uninstalling Avisynth and letting Film9 reinstall it for me - to no effect.

Just a little more information.... I've renamed the file set strictly as defined in the Film9 docs (so now Reel10-0001.BMP through to Reel10-4090.BMP and now the script has replaced the "s" with "sets". looking at the Avisynth docs it's expecting an integer for the start parameter so it does look like a Film9 bug.

I've been given a 20min long WMV file (1GB) that has a number of film-DVD transfers edited together. I am attempting to clean it up, lot of dirt, and correct to colour balance.

I have used Film9 with the Medium Preset and it is looking a lot better, but the dirt and scratches are still there.

Can you help with what settings I should change please?

I'm cleaning up digitized 8mm movies and find that the dirt removal option is pretty good - Under Cleaning select 'Clear Dirts'.
Colour balance I find is quite tricky. The easy option is to select AutoWhite under Colour base but for my 8mm movies it brings the noise up too far for my liking. I always turn AutoGain off as this just makes it worse in my opinion. I've ended up playing with the colours in the Color Balance settings and I can usually get to a point which gives pleasing results.
The AutoWhite would be better if it could be tamed a little.

Hi Guys,
I'm new to any form of code: I am illiterate actually, I do my best to read or listen to "Code Geeks": but my brain simply fuzzes out, my eyes glaze over and I think of a beautiful beach somewhere on a summers day: As hard as I try any technical matter simply turns to crud..oozing crud when my mind attempts it.

I'm a visual artist: Illustration, cartooning, caricature, fine art, photo restoration & colourization: I can draw the concept, but I can't code it:

So I know I start at a distinct disadvantage. I don't wish to be obtrusive or at worst someone that is seen and treated as an ignorant simpleton due to my lack of "Logic ability"

I am truly interested in:

1: History : on all levels, from my local region, National, International, Ancient
2: Art : In all it's forms
3: Film and Photography : But more so from the historical aspects of the media : What they recorded and from the historical perspective, How ( Movie, Still, Film types) and the back stories to who invented the various methods, mechanisms etc. to record images, moving or still: knowing the basics of the technical aspects has also intrigued me.

I have spent a number of years now in sports art and photo restoration: Sports teams, stars and legends etc. colourising old photos etc.
I now wish to begin extrapolating my portfolio of historical repertoire, knowledge etc and begin restoring old Film or more accurately, old film that has been since transferred to digital devices and uploaded online. You all know the drill: Old Movie footage, historical scenes, family footage, sports footage etc.

Of course there are a number of excellent purveyors of these crafts online, via Youtube etc. and I'd like to be able to create / restore / enhance and bring to life old film as part of my art.

I have Film9, Photoshop, Corel Video Studio ultimate and various Topaz products: The moment people begin speaking about the various codes surrounding the "Best ways" to achieve results: Avisynth etc, I go goggle eyed and fall to pieces.

Currently I am utilizing the Colab opportunity by Jason Antic to colourize Film, DeOldify, But find it is so very wishy washy with accuracy and or reality, often simply avoiding colours for items such as Signage, Correct colours for vehicles, fashions, uniforms, Sports uniforms, Flags etc for a "perceived Colour wash" rather than any form of true to research colour adaption.

Anyhow. I thought I'd just come onboard and say G'Day and throw my hat in for advice for Software or how to utilize what is best in the world of coders collaborations to kick off.

Best Regards
Peter
Past Colours
Sydney Australia

Welcome, but I don't see why you posted in a thread about Film9. Nothing in your post has anything to do with this software. You should instead start a new thread.

:):)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnmeyer

Welcome, but I don't see why you posted in a thread about Film9. Nothing in your post has anything to do with this software. You should instead start a new thread.

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Hi John,
Thank you for your welcome note :)

I'm a little quirky at the best of times, my apologies for cluttering this thread with an intro about myself. However, despite not being precise and not framing a direct Film9 question or indeed adding to it with a "How to" or a nifty new piece of Code that could be included.

I'm from what it seems, all about Film9. This definitely looks to be the space I'll frequent as Film9 will be a go to to drive some Film Restoration and colourisation videos as I move forward.

Best Regards
Peter

Film9 is an excellent way to begin, prior to using deoldify. I have had some excellent results with 1940 circa 8mm film. Cleaning up things first in film9 will improve your results on the deoldify colab site.