Help with restoring old VHS concert broadcast TV footage

[paul92]

Hi all.

Firstly a little backstory here, as a child my father taped a Mike & The Mechanics concert took place in South Africa, and was broadcast on SA TV in the mid 90s, as a child who was into music, I played the tape over & over & over again, eventually the tape was damaged & thrown out.

A few years ago, I happened to stumble across the very concert on a bootleg website also recorded at the same time my father was recording it. Upon downloading it found that the quality of the recording was absolutely terrible, I know it may have been an old tape, but it seems to me that either the VCR that taped the broadcast, or the VCR that was taking the capture was faulty, as it would appear there is chroma noise galore, and the tape is full of noise.

I have finally decided to attempt getting the picture to a more watchable state, I downloaded the concert yet again (this time from a YouTube source - it's the same source as mentioned above) while I wait for the master copy (at least from the bootleg site to finish, so I may something at a higher resolution to work with), but the YouTube Source is working fine so far. I have been experimenting with Virtual Dub, and must say I am very impressed with some of the improvements I have made. By applying the Gamma Filter, and switching from sRGB to Linear, and tweaking the brightness & contrast, and a few others. I seem to have gotten rid of a lot of the noise, or whatever it is called on the screen.

Here are some photos, Left is original, and Right is after VirtualDub

[Attachment 53241 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 53242 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 53243 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 53245 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 53246 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 53247 - Click to enlarge]

Although picture may be darker, I still feel it looks better than before.

The only issue now I am stuck with is all the colour changing, here is another screenshot.

[Attachment 53248 - Click to enlarge]

What do you suggest be done?

As I no longer have the original VHS tape, this online source (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NLVixIaHgM) is all I have to work with currently.

Would anyone be able to advise me further.

Thanks

[DB83]

Well if you think your 'improvements' make that source look better you really do need a trip to an optician.


The youtube source may be bad but there is little if no room for improvement. Not from that atleast. A higher resolution source maybe but not from that.

[lordsmurf]

You're making the image worse, far too dark, crushed levels. You're apparently color correcting on an uncalibrated monitor. That means you're "correcting" the color to a bad/flawed viewing device.

Trying to restore Youtube is trying to unring a bell. The damage is double-done, it's almost always f'd and beyond any repair. And realize I say that as somebody that specializes in restoration. At best, you just exchange errors with no net gains in quality.

Waste of time.
Better use of time = tracking down better quality.

[paul92]

Thank you so much for the advice.

and lordsmurf I appreciate your answer.

I have decided to give this up, I do have a few other questions however https://torrent.genesis-movement.org/torrents-details.php?id=2582&id=2582 here is the link for the original file surely the resolution will be better than YouTube quality, would it be any better trying to restore from here?

In the meantime I have also contacted somebody who claimed to have a better source available. (Or did when he posted 12 years ago) Not sure what will come out of it, but waiting to see.

Thanks again.

[lingyi]

FYI, you're treading on questionable ground with your link and the content.

From the site you linked:

"1.What is a bootleg / ROIO?

The term “bootleg” originates in the smuggling world, where smugglers would hide contraband inside the long boots that they wore to escape detection by customs men. It gradually came to be used to describe any item with dubious origins (implying some kind of criminal activity), and eventually ended up as a convenient name for Unauthorized recordings, which were sometimes pressed up onto vinyl or CD and issued by obscure record labels, without the consent of the artist or the record company. These would take the form of live concert recordings, demo versions of tracks, and sometimes even completely unreleased songs by popular artists (as in the case of the first important bootleg, Bob Dylan’s “Great White Wonder”.)"

Forum Rules

Warez rules
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Do NOT talk about warez releases
Like filenames Movie.2012.DVDSCR.X264.AAC.P2P.mkv. Please don't download warez movie/tv releases.

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Advocate warez. Recommending the use of warez.

[paul92]

Recording was taken from a TV Broadcast, which would have been authorized. Nothing to do with Warez.

[DB83]

Technically it is.


The tv broadcast would have copyright attached. The tv station would have paid to use it. Re-use can flout the copyright.


At the end of the day, it is the owner of the copyright (could even be the band) who decides if rights have been infringed. But the forum rules expressly forbid the promotion of warez and these have been pointed out to you.

[paul92]

Thank you so much. Noted.

Here's a question, if I had to put the the concert back onto VHS, would the VCR's built in electronics help stablise the picture more? But then again the imperfections aren't with the tape, but with the recording on the tape.

[DB83]

No. You can not get back what is already lost.


And just to clarify the recording issue. From the early days of VCRs you were allowed to record, time-shift etc. for your own use. That was established by means of a court-case else VCRs would have ceased to exist. What you essentially are not allowed, same really as with a dvd or blu-ray that you think you own since you paid for it, is re-distribute copies. The trading of 'bootlegs' is a 'grey' area. Bands know it goes on but, generally, turn a blind eye as long as it does not impact on their royalties, concert sales etc. And more so as long as the traders make no financial reward from it but do it as collectors. I can actually give you a personal example which I might have mentioned before. Some 15 years ago I was quite active in trading circles for one rock band and through that built up a decent collection (all have since been given away). Yet there was one guy who received the majority of his own collection by gift, including some of my own creations, which he was quick enough to rubbish. But he was even quicker in charging real money for copies which he claimed only covered his costs - obviously not the case. He was 'outed' in the forum for this band and made to remove said items from his sales list.

[jagabo]

if I had to put the the concert back onto VHS, would the VCR's built in electronics help stablise the picture more?

The VHS deck will see all the crap in the video as true picture content. It will record that onto tape and introduce a whole new generation of crap.

[paul92]

No. You can not get back what is already lost.


And just to clarify the recording issue. From the early days of VCRs you were allowed to record, time-shift etc. for your own use. That was established by means of a court-case else VCRs would have ceased to exist. What you essentially are not allowed, same really as with a dvd or blu-ray that you think you own since you paid for it, is re-distribute copies. The trading of 'bootlegs' is a 'grey' area. Bands know it goes on but, generally, turn a blind eye as long as it does not impact on their royalties, concert sales etc. And more so as long as the traders make no financial reward from it but do it as collectors. I can actually give you a personal example which I might have mentioned before. Some 15 years ago I was quite active in trading circles for one rock band and through that built up a decent collection (all have since been given away). Yet there was one guy who received the majority of his own collection by gift, including some of my own creations, which he was quick enough to rubbish. But he was even quicker in charging real money for copies which he claimed only covered his costs - obviously not the case. He was 'outed' in the forum for this band and made to remove said items from his sales list.

Thank you so much for the clarity, and explaining the legal context.

I would love to know how people manage to start a collection, especially of rare material, but that's something for elsewhere.

Thanks again.

[paul92]

if I had to put the the concert back onto VHS, would the VCR's built in electronics help stablise the picture more?

The VHS deck will see all the crap in the video as true picture content. It will record that onto tape and introduce a whole new generation of crap.

Thought as much!

Holding out that, eventually I will get a new video source.

[lingyi]

Keep searching and asking around. Go global with your search using search engines in different languages. It's sometimes surprising that Japan in particular has commercial releases of things never available anywhere else.

Just be careful and don't discuss or link to anything that may be questionable.This is [not] the forum for discussions in that vein.

[paul92]

[QUOTE=lingyi;2582874]Keep searching and asking around. Go global with your search using search engines in different languages. It's sometimes surprising that Japan in particular has commercial releases of things never available anywhere else.


I managed to track down the email address for the guy who directed the concert 25 years ago, and asked him if he would know where I may be able to track down a decent copy.

I'm not the kind of person that gives up easily!

[DB83]

I did something similar.


I was able to contact a producer/director of some commercial footage and had permission to re-produce some of that with the appropriate acknowledgements.


There was a guy, who is dead now so who knows what happened to his stuff, who boasted of having tv material - or even tv material that was not broadcast. He was also a trader but always 'butchered' his dvds since he thought a little scratch in the right place would render them un-copyable. Wrong !! More often than not that scratch made them un-playable.


As for this 'rare' material he claimed to only trade it in return for other 'rare' stuff yet never went in to detail as to what he actually would trade it for.


Good luck with your quest. If, indeed, you do ever get a better version and need some assistance in restoring it (for your own use of course) then you know where to come.

[johnmeyer]

There is a subscription music video service called "Qello" which has a large inventory of concerts, all in highest available quality. Mike & the Mechanics are part of their inventory:

Mike And The Mechanics

It looks like the sample clips may be from more recent concerts, with a slightly different personnel lineup (some members apparently have died). However, you might want to contact them and see what their full inventory includes.

You can get Qello as an add-on to your Amazon Prime subscription, if you have one:

Stingray Qello

[paul92]

A guy in Manchester has the tape which was apparently the lead vocalists personal tape, but getting him to transfer it is another story. Has the recent AI tech made restoring this video any more easier?

[lordsmurf]

Has the recent AI tech made restoring this video any more easier?

"AI" doesn't do anything yet, and may never for this sort of usage.

LLMs are the current buzz, and video restoration really has nothing to do with that. "AI" isn't yet intelligent, but more like a drunk parrot, or a bad round of "the telephone game".

Garbage in, worse garbage out.