good color correcting filters

[greymalkin]

hello,

i was asked to see what i could do with an old wedding video probably from the 70's...the wedding ceremony itself was in a dark, candlelit room..i went ahead and capped it (uncompressed .avi in vdub) even though i didn't think there was any information whatsoever in there...well i was surprised after messing around with brightness/contrast and the HSV( i think?) filters that i was able to pull out quite a bit more detail! Now, however, everything is kind of a green hue (like night vision!)...the other parts of the video where they are in a better lit area there is kind of a red tint to everything...are there any excellent 3rd party filters for color correction and pulling information from a very veeery dark source?

thanks!

[edDV]

FinalCut Pro, Vegas and Premire Pro contain primary-secondary color correction, levels filters and scopes.

Best "prosumer" 3rd party app is supposed to be
http://www.synthetic-ap.com/

[lordsmurf]

A proc amp would have been the first best solution.

Next, in software, pretty much anything. TMPGENC, AVIsynth, VirtualDub, Vegas, FCP, Premiere ... they all work to varying degrees.

[redwudz]

With VirtualDub, I've had some luck with the 'Whitebalance' filter. It has other color adjustments also. http://www.hlinke.de/whitebalance201.zip

For just individual color adjustments in VD, this one is handy. http://neuron2.net/rgb10.zip

[greymalkin]

thanks!

lordsmurf,
i realize that getting the video corrected before capturing is the best way to go, and i'd really be interested in seeing just how much you can push an old vhs source as bad as this, but really i'll never pay for that kind of hardware unless someone offers me some big bucks to transfer their vhs tapes...but of course noone will do that because i have very few skills and credibility ...it's a conundrum (spelling?) .

i did the next best thing and captured as an uncompressed .avi and what i'm going to get out of the video is already going to be more than they expected!

I guess i should figure out how to use vegas...i've dabbled with it a little but it seems cumbersome and confusing...even premiere seems to be easier..and usually adobe products require a bit of learning...

[Soopafresh]

This one is pretty cool.

http://www.compression.ru/video/smart_contrast/index_en.html

[SatStorm]

and pretty slow too....

[edDV]

A proc Amp before capture solves most problems. Then digital color correction is more like a touch up.

If the video was captured with incorrect levels, the Vegas levels and HSV filters will get you close but at the cost of quantization resolution.

Best to get it right during capture.

[greymalkin]

this amp of which you speak..can i rent one somewhere if they are willing to pay for it? i'm guessing i pass the signal through it on it's way to the capture card and it has some knobs or something on it to juice up the brightness?..i messed with some auto-level and auto-color settings and it got it visible but reeeally grainy :P...

honestly though, i didn't think i'd be able to get as much as i have so far out of this video...

[Soopafresh]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=93571&highlight=HDRAgc

Here's an example: http://rapidshare.de/files/1485164/HDRAGC.wmv.html

[edDV]

this amp of which you speak..can i rent one somewhere if they are willing to pay for it? i'm guessing i pass the signal through it on it's way to the capture card and it has some knobs or something on it to juice up the brightness?..i messed with some auto-level and auto-color settings and it got it visible but reeeally grainy :P...

honestly though, i didn't think i'd be able to get as much as i have so far out of this video...

I don't know about rentals. Not in my town.

Typical proc amps are analog devices that adjust the following:

Setup (aka black level or brightness)
Gain (aka white level, contrast or picture)
Chroma (aka color or saturation)
Hue (NTSC only)

Pro duplicators will be eyeing these settings on scopes. Amatuers use trial and error.

[greymalkin]

hmm...this leads me back to my above analysis of why i don't have one

[pfh]

FYI, I happened to find a factory refurb. Sima Color Corrector Pro for under $140 about 7 months ago. It's a less expensive "proc amp" that might be worth looking into and could be used for your other transfers as well.

[greymalkin]

coolio...thanks for all your good information..i really am interested in what these amps can do especially for a video as terrible as this one..i'll post a couple shots tonight when i get in of just how bad it is

[edDV]

coolio...thanks for all your good information..i really am interested in what these amps can do especially for a video as terrible as this one..i'll post a couple shots tonight when i get in of just how bad it is

Try to make it a frame cap from an editing program rather than a screen cap. That way we can analyze it.

[marksk918]

FinalCut Pro, Vegas and Premire Pro contain primary-secondary color correction, levels filters and scopes.

i have premiere 6.5. what filters would you recommend using to help transfers from super 8mm?

[greymalkin]

sorry guys for not replying with a frame...i just went ahead and used to auto color/contrast plugins in premiere and tweaked them out a little bit...it looks way better than it did and there are things you can see now where there was just black before...the people who asked me to do the video didn't expect much and told me not to spend too much time on it so i didn't :P