1280x694 video gets blurred after resizing 720p with\without letter box

[adam sandler]

Hello guys,
I have a video which is 1280x694 I try to resize it to proper 720p, I am adding black bars to keep video aspect ratio and avoid blur, but for some reason video gets blurred. Encoding without size change keeps video quality intact. I tried h264 and x264 and lagarith loseless. Used vegas pro, virtual dub and handbrake.
Here is sample video https://www.sendspace.com/file/abqxej - it is h264 in avi container to make it accessible from virtual dub. Try yourself.
Is there some command line to fix that issue?

[Baldrick]

You can also attach files in your post. Click on Upload files/Manage attachments when you post.

Do you have an example of the blurred video? Or is that it? So we can compare it.

[jagabo]

It's pretty grainy. Try using higher bitrates.

[poisondeathray]

It's pretty grainy. Try using higher bitrates.

He said he tried lagarith - if it was an inadequate bitrate issue - you wouldn't expect lagarith to be affected

[jagabo]

I was assuming he converted the lagarith video to something else later. Obviously, there's no reason for the video to get blurry simply because he added borders.

[adam sandler]

You can also attach files in your post. Click on Upload files/Manage attachments when you post.

Do you have an example of the blurred video? Or is that it? So we can compare it.

here is resized file. pause frames to see the difference.

It kinda removes grain by bluring it, but grain is left there deliberately to make "old look". Sharpen filter 95% fix problem, but might be there are non-filter workaround?
Also it might be something with weird video size, and adding un-even sized letter boxes. For example I can't resize video to 1920x1041(native aspect) - codecs force 1920x1042.


p.s. I tried all bitrates. If I just re-encode without changing size - no blur no matter bitrate I use(quality degenerates on lower bitrates of cource but that's not the case)

[adam sandler]

here is original file, so you don't have to go to filesharring service. sorry.

[jagabo]

Keep your borders mod2. So don't add 13+13, add 12+14.

[adam sandler]

Keep your borders mod2. So don't add 13+13, add 12+14.

no difference.




you can see how fur becomes less detailed.

[jagabo]

No, I don't see any significant blurring. Just the usual loss of quality/detail from reencoding with insufficient bitrate.

[poisondeathray]

How are you determining "burring" ? What is your playback setup for software or hardware ?

How were you using lagarith ? You realize that's lossless when used correctly , right ? If you're seeing blurring with lagarith or --crf 0 or --qp 0 with x264, then it's likely a playback problem, (or eye problem) if you added borders on mod2 margins

[poisondeathray]

OT: This is not related to the issue, but anyone else notice the fur discrepancy on frames 154-156 ? It's like a puff of wind blows part of the "fur collar" right on that patch, but nothing else moves, not hair, no adjacent fur etc... Weird. I don't remember that in the original movie, but it occurs so fast as a tiny blip in motion so easy to miss. Anyone have the original to check (just curious). Doesn't look like typical encoding error

[jagabo]

You mean just below the brunette's chin? It appears in both the OP's videos, "testing.avi" and "testin blur.mp4".

[adam sandler]

How are you determining "burring" ? What is your playback setup for software or hardware ?

How were you using lagarith ? You realize that's lossless when used correctly , right ? If you're seeing blurring with lagarith or --crf 0 or --qp 0 with x264, then it's likely a playback problem, (or eye problem) if you added borders on mod2 margins

Here is Lagarith work on left side and source\crf 18 source re-encode\--crf 0 or --qp 0 mod2 border 14px 12px re-encode with x264
I see the difference, and it is not just re-encode quality loss, as of because re-encode almost identical.

pictures saved from MPC-HC as .bmp images.

[poisondeathray]

You mean just below the brunette's chin? It appears in both the OP's videos, "testing.avi" and "testin blur.mp4".

Yes. That's why I'm curious to see the original , original. Not his "original" . I'm wondering if that had somehow made it past QC

How are you determining "burring" ? What is your playback setup for software or hardware ?

How were you using lagarith ? You realize that's lossless when used correctly , right ? If you're seeing blurring with lagarith or --crf 0 or --qp 0 with x264, then it's likely a playback problem, (or eye problem) if you added borders on mod2 margins

Here is Lagarith work on left side and source\crf 18 source re-encode\--crf 0 or --qp 0 mod2 border 14px 12px re-encode with x264
I see the difference, and it is not just re-encode quality loss, as of because re-encode almost identical.

pictures saved from MPC-HC as .bmp images.

Yes I see the blurring in your bmp. But there is no blurring when I do it. So there is something else going on in your process, maybe some other filter before encoding, or maybe a mpchc playback or directshow filter

[jagabo]

I see the difference, and it is not just re-encode quality loss

I'm seeing nothing like that loss of detail in my own encodings, not even in the "testin blur.mp4" file you uploaded.

Here I pasted the same (?) frame from your video in the middle, between your two images:


[Attachment 40845 - Click to enlarge]

Even if that's not the exact same frame, other frames around there looked very similar.

[adam sandler]

Yes I see the blurring in your bmp. But there is no blurring when I do it. So there is something else going on in your process, maybe some other filter before encoding, or maybe a mpchc playback or directshow filter

FML! just opened those 2 files I attached to thread on my macbook. Tried with quicktime and vlc - both players show different colors but without blur ... am I crazy??

[adam sandler]

So it turns out that MPC-HC default renderer (EVR custom preset) blurres some videos. Switched to haali renderer and no blur now.
TY guys!

[jagabo]

EVR Custom Preset looks the same as the source (all the "good" images posted here) on my computer. Check your graphics card settings. Turn off any noise reduction and other image manipulation filters.

[adam sandler]

EVR Custom Preset looks the same as the source (all the "good" images posted here) on my computer. Check your graphics card settings. Turn off any noise reduction and other image manipulation filters.

You are absolutely right! It was my Intel HD graphics hidden settings, not the player.

However I still have 1 issue I can not understand. I work with Sony Vegas 13 - it's preview window shows more redish colors than source file played in MPC-HC, and if render clip with sony avc or mainconcept avc - vegas delivers exact same redish colors(played in MPC-HC) like in it's preview window. At the same time if I render with x264 - final video(played in MPC-HC) has the same colors as in source video played in MPC-HC. Why is that?

[jagabo]

The difference you're seeing in colors is the difference between rec.601 and rec.709 color conversions. The more reddish colors are what you get when you incorrectly convert rec.709 video to RGB with a rec.601 matrix.


[Attachment 40862 - Click to enlarge]

The source video you posted doesn't specify the colormatrix but it's probably rec.709 (because that's what's normally used for HD video). In the absence of a colormatrix flag modern players usually assume rec.601 for SD video, rec.709 for HD video. But that's not always the case. Some players always use one matrix, some always the other -- even if the matrix is flagged in the video. Note that this can also be a graphics card setting. Players normally send YUV video directly to the graphics card where the video is converted to RGB for display.

[adam sandler]

jagabo you god damn right!!!!!!!
I was fighting this issue for 5 days!!
source video is 1280x684 - vegas reads it redish, rec601 probably
I inserted resized to 1280x720 video and vegas did read as normal not red, and rendered normal!

TYTYTY
I think all questions are solved now!