cleaning excessive noise with VirtualDub and Neat Video

[defiantclass1]

Hello,

I'm pretty new to VirtualDub and Neat Video. I'm trying to clean up a VHS tape and I have gotten the general noise down a good bit and changed up the color a bit. My problem is that this VHS tape has colored horizontal lines coming from the left side through out the video. Every time I try to compensate for it in a sample frame (s), another area further in produces the same type of lines, just in different colors and in different areas. I can seem to get these lines reduced through out the entire video. Some times the lines are blue, some times red, near the top, in the middle, near the bottom....... It's always changing.

I do not expect to get rid of them entirely or anything, but I'm just wondering if there something I could do the reduce them better through out the video. When I clean up one area it seems to make another worse. I can actually get rid of them entirely, but only by dropping out the color so much that the rest of the video is almost black and white.

I attached a sample to show the type of lines I'm talking about. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks


[IMG]F:\Desktop\VideoFolder\Untitled.jpg[/IMG]

[jagabo]

It's going to be hard to get rid of those discolorations. And you'll probably have to use AviSynth to have any hope of doing it. Do the discolorations move with each frame? Does the color change with each frame? It's probably best if you provide some sample video sequences with a range of shots.

[hech54]

I use Neat Video occasionally ...it won't do anything to remove those color lines.

[defiantclass1]

Ok guys, that's what I thought. I'm not going to pursue it further. AviSynth is even further out of my league, and this isn't so important that it would be worth more effort than this. I just wanted to check with some who would know in case there was something easy I didn't know about. Thanks a lot!!!!

[aedipuss]

head cleaning tape? or a different vhs machine maybe.

[dragonkeeper]

I agree with aedipuss, if the color distortions are not constant i'm inclined to believe that there may be a problem with in the capture set up. Such as dirty heads on the VCR a head cleaner can be had for around $10 bucks or so at wally world. I would clean the heads then try the capture again. And make sure to use a good quality cables.

Oh and make sure the cables are not with in range of any thing that could case some type of interference speakers, ham radio, radio, etc these types of items can be picked up in the cables and induce distortion in the signal. Unless you are using shielded twisted pair.

[defiantclass1]

You know, I really should have thought that!!! I just bought this VCR on eBay and this is the first I used it. Sorry, I really should have considered that. It's a Panasonic AG-1980. It's supposed to be a pretty decent VCR, but that doesn't mean the head aren't dirty. Thanks again, I'll try that.

[magillagorilla]

RemoveDirt in AVISynth may zap those out. In that snapshot those lines are a color that does not exist anywhere else in the frame. Masking in Vegas would not be too dificult.

[defiantclass1]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have not graduated to AVISynth yet . I did look at Vegas just now, that has big price tag with it! If I can't clean it up by cleaning the heads I may start looking at AVISynth. Those lines change color throughout the video: red, green, blue, orange-ish, yellow-ish.... sometimes they disappear all together.

[magillagorilla]

Sony Vegas Movie Studio 10 Platinum Edition is $59 on Amazon and worth every penny. I think v11 is out for $79. Get the one that has Sound Forge, if anything. Sound Forge is a killer audio app and it integrates in to Vegas. It's not nearly as fancy as Vegas pro but it has some nice tools.

AVISynth is definately not for the casual user. It requires a LOT of fiddle time. I am a newbie with it. I generally copy script snippits from forums, thanks to the good folks that post them. I usually just search for my video problem and try scripts others used to fix a similar problem. The folks here are usually nice enough to offer example scripts for a particular problem if you post samples and ask.

I forgot to add, once you get over some AVISynth learning humps you'll find that it's a very powerful tool. It pulls off restoration tricks no other editor can.

[sanlyn]

Be very careful with head cleaning tapes -in fact, stay away from them!The anamorphic heads on the Panasonic are soft metal that a cleaning tape can ruin almost instantly. They cost about $400 - $600 to replace, if you can find parts. Good head cleaning fluid is sold aqll over the internet, along with special tools to apply it. Cheap, compared to replacement heads.

Those horizontal streaks look like video head problems. I've never seen anything like the blue vertical line. If they are constant and never change shape or location, no denoiser will recognize it as noise. Anyway, it's hard to gell from a single frame capture.

[magillagorilla]

Good points sanlyn. I never use cleaning tapes. Read about popping the hood ov that deck and swabbing the heads. Basically you need proper swabs and fluid, and most critical; in whitch direction to clean the heads. I usually hold the swab steady and manyally turn the head, instead of movign the swab. Use swabs 1 time and disgard, this is not where you want to be cheap and try to recycle. I also wear a latex glove on the hand turning the head. Make sure you clean the whole tape path while you have it open.

Hopefully it's not a bad head. It could be a problem with that one tape.