Can't remove buzzing noise from WAV of DVD

[VideoFanatic]

I demuxed a DVD and converted the AC3 file to a WAV.

Normally I can remove hiss and other noises quite easily however this noise seems to be ingrained in the audio and I can't find a sample of it in silence to capture as a noise print so I can apply noise reduction on the whole file to get rid of the noise. Can anyone tell me how to remove the noise?

I use Adobe Audition CS5.5 but if you know of a better editor then please let me know and if possible could you provide instructions.

Wav sample

[Baldrick]

Isn't https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/349932-Why-do-DVDs-have-hiss-in-them-when-played-on...73#post2192173 same problem???

[VideoFanatic]

No. The other problem has nothing to do with this. In the other thread I was asking why I could hear hiss on my PC but not on a DVD player. I could remove the hiss quite easily from the sample in that thread.

[sanlyn]

Is this video made up entirely of this or similar on-location interviews, or are there other scenes in other parts of the video where the same noise occurs? Offhand it sounds like the hum of on-location equipment or transmission noise of some kind. Sounds of people in the scene are prominent and probably continuous, so the likelihood of finding a fairly "quiet" portion would be difficult -- along with the fact that the hum is in the vocal range.

The noise isn't exactly a "buzz", which would have a strong low-frequency harmonic and another component just above the vocal range that might be filtered out. This is more of a steady higher-pitched hum.

[VideoFanatic]

It's all throughout the episode. You hear it in matches and interviews, etc. Is it only possible to remove the noise by finding the noise in silence such as in between commercials? If that's the case then I can't fix it!

Normally for ingrained noise like this I can just switch to spectral view and I can delete the bottom or top of the audio to remove high pitched noise or low rumbling noises but this noise seems to be all throughout the audio in an area that can't be deleted without completely destroying the audio quality.

[JimmyS]

I haven't tried this program personally, but after viewing some of the demo videos for it, it looks to have some very advanced capabilities.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/spectralayerspro

[sanlyn]

It's all throughout the episode. You hear it in matches and interviews, etc. Is it only possible to remove the noise by finding the noise in silence such as in between commercials? If that's the case then I can't fix it!

You mean, it's in the video but not in the commercials? That would indicate a noisy network feed.

[VideoFanatic]

Thanks JimmyS. I'm going to try that program.

Sanlyn, yes the noise is not in the commercials. It's hard to imagine it was broadcast that way. Nevertheless, I still need to remove the noise somehow. Any suggestions?

[sanlyn]

I don't think you coulod do it with freebies like Audacity. I can't say I've encountered this same problem, but I'm certain someone has suggestions. As for broadcast quality -- it's always been a crap shoot. I have a DVD recording of an MGM musical that sounds great -- but it has a 60Hz hum all the way thru it. Bummer.

[VideoFanatic]

Did you record that DVD yourself? How did you record it? I've also got some DVDs off someone who recorded wrestling shows in 2010 and even though they are straight-to-DVD and not VHS-to-DVD conversions they still have a little hiss and some light click flutter. I don't understand how that happens as these are digital TV shows and he said he simply connected his Sky receiver to his DVD recorder via a scart cable. There's no way the show would have those noises so I can't help but think these noises are caused during the transfer which I don't understand how that's possible.

For the sample in this thread, I tried Spectralayer Pro but it's UI is awful and I couldn't even find the noise to remove - it's like the noise is just a part of the audio.

[sanlyn]

Since 2004 I've been recording off an SD digital cable box with a Toshiba RD-XS34 DVD recorder, and another one that I bought a year later (factory refurb at half the price!). The XS34's were prized gear, MSRP $500 and I see some going used for up to 800 bucks. Those were the last of the "quality" consumer machines. I've burned thousands of movies and tv episodes (literally), and stuff like 4 days of Katrina coverage. I also use them for line-tbc pass-thru on VHS captures and I find that as pass-thru devices they also ignore VHS copy protection (but of course they won't record Macrovision internally). They aren't HD machines, so many HD shows thru the newer cable boxes don't record properly via s-video -- for HD I've just acquired a Hauppauge HD PVR and built a PC for it from spare parts(!), but haven't been able to find a way to hook it up (the wife does NOT want to see the wires! Absurd).

I have many movies that clearly illustrate just how terrible some cable broadcasts can be. Alas, so much of this stuff will never be on digital disc, so I just live with what I can get. I've seen VHS that looks much worse (the poor broadcasts are crummy, but not that bad!). I was fortunate to get a DENON a/v receiver with an AnchorBay chip that upsamples beautifully with these crummy SD movies. With most of these classic TCM films, it's the content that counts, and at least it's viewable.

I doubt that the background noise resulted from the transfer. Likely, the show was broadcast that way. I've seen re-runs of Mentalist on HD cable that had horrible color and a ton of grainy crap all over the screen; the commercials look gorgeous, but then it's back to the crud when the episode resumes.

I haven't got much into major audio revision and don't find many problems there. Audacity is all I've used. I had some SONY software once, but I ended up paying $100 for dumb features and toys, and not much more processing power than I got from free software. You might try converting that audio to mono and see if some of it gets partially cancelled out. But it sure sounds like someone screwed up the audio at the network feed level.

[VideoFanatic]

Just wondering what's the maximum bitrate you get when recording 1 or 2 hours on a DVD recorder ? I get DVDs from people who recorded 2 hours on a single layer DVD but the bitrate is around 4.5 Mbps. That's not high enough because I see blocking artifacts.

I have the HD PVR. It does the job but an annoying thing about it is that if you want a bitrate of say 6 Mbps to keep the file size as low as possible but keep all the quality then doing so you get a blocky picture. But if you had recorded at the highest bitrate of say 20 Mbps then converted that to 6 Mbps with a video editor then the picture is fine. I experienced that when recording 720p video game footage and also when recording a standard definition sports program on TV.

I've looked into finding a way to copy HD TV programs off the hard drive of my Sky+ box but there doesn't seem to be a way unless you want to dismantle the box and connect the hard drive to your PC and use a decrypting program. I don't want to have to dismantle my box every time I want to transfer footage onto my PC. So it looks like the only option for me is to do what I said in the paragraph above but that would lead to huge file sizes.

Any idea what the bitrate is of HD TV sports footage?

[jman98]

I've got the Colossus, which is from the same family as the HD PVR, and I don't have the problems you mention. You sure do have a lot of problems. Maybe your stuff is not setup in a good way. Or maybe you are one of the impossible to please people who find fault in EVERYTHING. It could well be the latter based on your posts. I listened to your audio file and while I get that there really is a hum in it, I would just live with it rather than let it control my life, but that's just me.

Normally people would just connect component video from a box like the Sky+ box (assuming it supports this - I have no idea) and an optical audio cable and run those to their HD PVR, start the program playing on the Sky+ box and start recording on the HD PVR. I've used this method to get programs off a US cable company PVR.

Bit rate depends on your provider. Some providers broadcast lower bit rates than they are given from the source.

DVD recorder bit rate depends on the recorder, but I would make a guess that a 1 hour recording might use a bit rate between 6 and 7 Mbps. Unless the recorder is really crappy it shouldn't be blocky at 4.5 Mbps, but for all I know you are sitting inches from whatever you use to view AND blowing up the video, so of course it has flaws. Maybe your video feed is low quality. Without more information and possibly actually having to see your files and setup, it's just speculation.

[DB83]

Just wondering what's the maximum bitrate you get when recording 1 or 2 hours on a DVD recorder ?

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Any idea what the bitrate is of HD TV sports footage?

And more so, you sure like to hijack your own topics to discuss something totally irrelevant to the initial post.

[sanlyn]

Just wondering what's the maximum bitrate you get when recording 1 or 2 hours on a DVD recorder ? I get DVDs from people who recorded 2 hours on a single layer DVD but the bitrate is around 4.5 Mbps. That's not high enough because I see blocking artifacts.

The Toshiba sets 4.6 Mbps VBR for 2-hr recordings. but the results depend on the recorder and the encoding chip (The Toshiba uses Zykor, which wasn't cheap). I see plenty of DVD recordings on other machines (usually with other encoders) that look like crap. The Toshiba could get down to 3-hr recordings with very few macroblocks and good motion handling, but I wouldn't dare use that low a bitrate for action shows. Also it depends on your connecting cables and other components. There's are reasons why the RD-XS34/35 is still a sought-after product but a Philips or Magnavox, etc., recorder from the same period is not. I'm don't claim the Toshiba is perfect. My Panasonic ES20 was better for direct-to-DVD from VHS. It loses some detail with the DNR filter, but VHS doesn't have that much detail to begin with.

I normally record at 5.0 or 5.2 Mbps for most movies, or 6.2Mpbs for 90-minutes or less. If the movie is longer than 1hr 51min I record at 6 Mbps VBR and split it over 2 DVD's or a double-layer disc.

I won't use a DVR. I have never seen a DVR that offered a decent image. If I can't keep the recording and/or I have to go thru hoops and break laws to get it, I do without. I'd rather have a decent SD recording than a crappy HD version from a cable company DVR.

[sanlyn]

DVD recorder bit rate depends on the recorder, but I would make a guess that a 1 hour recording might use a bit rate between 6 and 7 Mbps.

The 5 SD-DVD recorders that I've owned used bitrates in the neighborhood of 9 Mbps for 1-hr recordings. The Toshiba's use 9.2, which is their max. I found that some older DVD players had problems playing 9 Mbps home-made-and-burned DVD's (as opposed to "pressed" retail discs). So 6.2 is about as high I go.

The only macroblock and serious artifacts I see on 4.6 Mbps recordings from the Toshiba appears to be mostly from the cruddy signal coming off cable. But in my experience, 5.0 or 5.1 handles motion better. For the kind of wrestling tapes holygamer prefers, I'd go higher and would likely stick with the 90-minte 6.2 bitrate most of the time.

As you say, it depends on the recorder. Some are obviously better than others. The better ones still command good prices on the used market. I would say that no DVD recorder made after 2006 would be as competent as the high-end Toshibas, many Panasonics or SONYs from 2004-2005, and Pioneer made a couple of nice units.

[JimmyS]

For the sample in this thread, I tried Spectralayer Pro but it's UI is awful and I couldn't even find the noise to remove - it's like the noise is just a part of the audio.

The webinar at the Sony training info. area will give you some pretty good insight as to how this program functions.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/spectralayersintrowebinar

It's about 1 hour long, so you may want to download it and view it at your leisure. In one of the examples, it does cover a situation similar to yours (a high pitch noise) in the demo video, and how he went about removing it. If this program does what it claims to be able do in this demo, it looks to be an amazing piece of software. However, the learning curve for it may be quite steep.

[sanlyn]

Wow. I figured the audio problem would require something more sophisticated than free software. Sometimes this is what is takes to fix broadcast problems on recordings. AT least it's not a $500 plugin.