Restoring Deleted scenes for fan project

[fearmyrage]

I am a big James Bond fan and recently did a fan edit of the movie Licence to Kill. I decided I wanted to to try and restore some of the movie's deleted scenes but I am running into a few problems and would appreciate some help.

1. Quality of the deleted scenes is very poor, lots of dirt scratches and color problems that I have to fix in Photoshop and such. The first problem I am running into is that the video on the DVD in 30 fps and interlaced. I need to convert it to 24p and when I try it always comes out looking worse the when I play the video back in VLC with yadiff 2x deinterlacing enabled. i am using Adobe premiere to output the video from from the DVD's VOB file to and uncompressed avi. The 19 second clip is over 700mb when finished but still doesn't look as good as when its played through vlc.

2. The second problem is more general. I started playing around in restoring the video and of course it is very time consuming. Are there any guides that give tips on speeding up the process?

[manono]

1. Assuming your source isn't field-blended (make sure that in every 5-frame cycle 3 frames are progressive and 2 are interlaced), then a simple IVTC is needed to restore it to progressive 23.976fps. A short sample could confirm (or disprove) what I say. AviSynth is the best way to perform an IVTC (=InVerse TeleCine or undo hard telecine done to your source).
2. If you're really using Photoshop for this, then anything is faster. Another good reason to learn AviSynth, which has a ton of cleanup filters of all kinds. To give you an example, have a look at this before and after, all done entirely using AviSynth for the restoration:

http://vimeo.com/2823934

It's not my video. If you were to post a short clip from the source, there are people here that can give advice as to the kinds of cleanup needed and the filters to be used.

I need to convert it to 24p and when I try it always comes out looking worse the when I play the video back in VLC with yadiff 2x deinterlacing enabled.

Deinterlacing it is exactly the wrong thing to do to it. If using Yadif gives better results than what you're doing in Photoshop, Photoshop isn't the answer.

[fearmyrage]

Let me clarify. I am using Photoshop for the removal of scratches and dust. I am and trying to get the video into a workable state and it looks like AVIsynth is what i want to use.

[manono]

Let me clarify. I am using Photoshop for the removal of scratches and dust.

And most likely an AviSynth filter or two can remove the scratches and dust, without you having to do it frame-by-frame. There's a learning curve for AviSynth, but since you're putting in many hours of work anyway, by learning it you'll ultimately save yourself dozens, if not hundreds, of hours in the end. That fellow to whose video I linked, has other newer ones where he uses AviSynth spot and scratch removers and frame interpolators to make his footage look even better.

Again, a sample would be most helpful.

[fearmyrage]

How do i post a video sample here while maintaining the original integrity of the file?

[manono]

How do i post a video sample here while maintaining the original integrity of the file?

Open a VOB in DGIndex and use the [ and ] buttons to isolate a small section with which you'd like help. Then go File->Save Project and Demux Video and upload the resulting M2V here if it's small enough, or to Sendspace or Mediafire if it's not.

That M2V will be exactly as on the DVD. A well-chosen small sample will be enough to determine what needs doing.

[fearmyrage]

Here is the first clip I plan on working on

http://rapidshare.com/files/610136570/deleted%20scene.demuxed.m2v

And just in case you care, here is the original VOB

http://rapidshare.com/files/1539216234/VTS_09_1.VOB

If you could point me in the right direction for info on making AVIsynth do what I want I would be most thankful.

[manono]

Interesting, it was 'telecined off of a PAL 25fps source. To IVTC back to progressive video the AviSynth filter TIVTC can easily do it, but it'll be returned to 24.975fps. To get it to 23.976fps you'll have to slow both the audio and the video. Or you can encode it at 24.975fps and keep the audio unchanged followed by applying a special pulldown to have it output interlaced 29.97fps for NTSC DVD. Anyway, a basic IVTC will go

TFM.TDecimate(Mode=0,Cycle=6,CycleR=1)

I haven't got time to do the other work it needs but, rest assured, it's a fairly routine job in AviSynth. Perhaps others will step in before I return. It's 12:30 AM Christmas morning where I am. Merry Christmas!

To learn more about AviSynth, read the docs included with the DGMPGDec package which included DGIndex. Also, read up at the AviSynth site:

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page

[fearmyrage]

Thanks for the help. I got some reading ahead of me.

[fearmyrage]

edit

[fearmyrage]

So I am slowly figuring this out.

I got the m2v loaded into Virtualdub and I can save as an avi and run AVIsynth scripts on it that I have downloaded, but I still cant get the video to IVTC. The filter in Virtualdub doesn't seem to do it. What am I missing?

edit:

Ok. So I got it loaded into Virtual Dub and I ran the scrpt you recommended and now it says the avi is 25 fps like you said it would be, but honestly it still doesn't look as good as it does in VLC being deinterlaced. Am I doing something wrong?

[poisondeathray]

So I am slowly figuring this out.

I got the m2v loaded into Virtualdub and I can save as an avi and run AVIsynth scripts on it that I have downloaded, but I still cant get the video to IVTC. The filter in Virtualdub doesn't seem to do it. What am I missing?

You don't load the m2v into vdub or save as AVI (yet)

Avisynth is a frameserver, it does everything uncompressed

1) Open the .m2v with DGIndex, make sure video=>field operation is set to "honor pulldown flags"

2) File=>save project. It will create a .d2v file

3) Open a file in notepad , write MPEG2Source("PATH/file.d2v") . Change the paths and filenames to match. Save it, rename the file.txt extension to file.avs. If the .d2v and .avs are in the same directory, the PATH isn't necessary . .avs files are simple text files. They reference the video

4) you can open that file.avs (the name doesn't matter, it could be cow.avs, or dog.avs) in something like vdub, or avspmod (push f5 to preview) . If you're doing this by scene, I suggest you start naming them appropriately so they are indicative of the content (ie. get organized) it will save you lots of headache later

5) you can start adding filters and building the script from there

The 1st line MPEG2Source(...) is known as a source filter. It's just there to open the video. IF you had another video type you might use another source filter e.g. AVISource() for AVI, ImageSource() for image sequences. That's not even the basics yet, but should get you started... more people will pitch in


(I would start using avspmod if I were you, this project will require more filters, it will be easier in the long run IMO. avspmod is like a miniGUI for avisynth, you can edit and preview scripts, compare different versions of scripts in different tabs and switch back & forth with number keys, use macros, user functions, even encode from it)

I agree with manono - there is a bit of learning curve for avisynth, but spending a few hours learing now will save you 100's of hours later, especially with dirt removal, frame interpolation (replacing bad frames) .

[smrpix]

Not really anything to add here except a word of encouragement. Curious to see your results. Personally I find dust and tape splices kind of charming artifacts.

The original negative almost certainly sits well-labelled in a vault somewhere and your restoration project could be done "for real." (Audio build would be a bear though!)

Best of luck.

[jagabo]

~300 frames of the original and a quick fix, side by side. Used RemoveSpotsMC(), ReplaceFramesMC(), and ReplaceFramesSimple(). TFM().TDecimate() was used on both to restore the 23.976 fps film frames.

[poisondeathray]

Ok. So I got it loaded into Virtual Dub and I ran the scrpt you recommended and now it says the avi is 25 fps like you said it would be, but honestly it still doesn't look as good as it does in VLC being deinterlaced. Am I doing something wrong?

In what way is it "worse" ?



Before we even begin to discuss clean up, dirt, color etc....Deinterlacing is the wrong thing to do, because this is progressive content (ie. from film, real frames) , not interlaced content. Unless there is a specific special reason (e.g. maybe certain cases of blended fields), you generally never deinterlace progressive content

1) deinterlacing will degrade the resolution (effectively cut it in half in some areas)

2) deinterlacing will cause artifacts "marching ants", "stair stepping" aliasing or "jaggies". (better deinterlacing algorithms like QTGMC will give fewer artifacts and cleaner results, but still is the wrong thing to do)

3) deinterlacing will cause jerky playback (you will get repeated frames that weren't decimated) . You will be left with 29.97p with duplicates (thus the jerky playback), not the original 24p film rate or even the 25p PAL derived source rate

There is some residual combing from field matching because of the film jitter in this case - but that can be taken care of by something like vinverse() but that will still give you better results than deinterlacing. In contrast to deinterlacing, field matching will give you back the full progressive frames, then decimation back to the original framerate will eliminate the duplicates



I've uploaded some comparison screenshots of bob vs. yadif vs. fieldmatch/decimation. It doesn't show the jerkiness of the deinterlacing (you can't do that in a still), but it's meant to demonstrate the degradation of frames by deinterlacing

Notice how all the deinterlaced shots in general look more blurry? It's because a basic deinterlace like bob just resizes a field into a frame. It discards the other field. You're left with half the resolution. Field matching uses both fields of frame to generate the original progressive frame

Notice in diagonal lines on the boat, there are jaggy edges? Yadif does it's best to interpolate those lines, but you're left with "dots" . In motion, they look like buzzing or "marching ants". You can notice these "dots" in the shot with the captain as well, look at his facial features, eyes etc...

[manono]

...but honestly it still doesn't look as good as it does in VLC being deinterlaced. Am I doing something wrong?

Have you had a chance to check out jagabo's result? He did it pretty much the way I would (or anyone would), except for the fact that the 'real' framerate of your source is 24.975fps.

[fearmyrage]

Have you had a chance to check out jagabo's result? He did it pretty much the way I would (or anyone would), except for the fact that the 'real' framerate of your source is 24.975fps.

Yeah. It looks fantastic. Now I just need to figure out how to do it.

And when I said it looked better in VLC, by that I mean the image is smoother, the picture is sharper with far less noise and comb effect.

If you all were interested these were the other scenes I was planning on doing.

Airport
http://rapidshare.com/files/1120314208/airport.demuxed.m2v

Boat Survey
http://rapidshare.com/files/2878519541/boat%20survey.demuxed.m2v

Boating
http://rapidshare.com/files/688384805/boating.demuxed.m2v

Casino (This one is actually not in that bad of shape)
http://rapidshare.com/files/214171722/casino.demuxed.m2v

Hotel (Probably the scene I am most interested in)
http://rapidshare.com/files/3759395081/hotel.demuxed.m2v

[poisondeathray]

How is the blu-ray version? Does it have the same deleted scenes? And are they "restored" already or just upscaled "crap" ?

[fearmyrage]

I don't know for sure but I would have to imagine they are the exact same files. They have the same special features and I don't know why they would not fix the video for the DVD but fix it for the Blu ray.

[jagabo]

Have you had a chance to check out jagabo's result? He did it pretty much the way I would (or anyone would), except for the fact that the 'real' framerate of your source is 24.975fps.

Yeah. It looks fantastic. Now I just need to figure out how to do it.

Here's the script:

Mpeg2Source("deleted scene.demuxed.d2v", CPU=6, Info=3)
TFM(d2v="deleted scene.demuxed.d2v") 
TDecimate() 

bef=last
last=Trim(bef,1,0)
aft=Trim(bef,2,0)

RemoveSpotsMC()
ReplaceFramesMC(last, 17, 1)
ReplaceFramesMC(last, 27, 4)
ReplaceFramesMC(last, 57, 2)
ReplaceFramesMC(last, 63, 1)
ReplaceFramesMC(last, 74, 1)
ReplaceFramesSimple(last,bef,Mappings="[104 104]")
ReplaceFramesSimple(last,bef,Mappings="[137 137]")
ReplaceFramesMC(last, 140, 5)
ReplaceFramesSimple(last,bef,Mappings="[219 219]")
ReplaceFramesSimple(last,aft,Mappings="[220 220]")
ReplaceFramesSimple(last,bef,Mappings="[266 266]")

Trim(0,300)

the 'real' framerate of your source is 24.975fps.

Is it? I didn't notice. I just assumed it was 23.976 and used my automated Mpeg2Source().TFM().TDecimate() script generator to create the starting script.

[manono]

Nice. Is that bef/aft stuff an easier/faster way of doing FreezeFrames? I'm working on the hotel one and it needs a lot of freezeframing.

[jagabo]

Nice. Is that bef/aft stuff an easier/faster way of doing FreezeFrames? I'm working on the hotel one and it needs a lot of freezeframing.

I used ReplaceFramesSimple() with shifted versions of the video simply because I knew of it. I didn't know of FreezeFrames(). It looks like it's much simpler.

[fearmyrage]

Any case anyone cares I am still working on this and it is coming along.