old 1988 home video with TERRIBLE slow motion - trying to edit that in 2008

[AcesOfClubs]

I've been making videos for years, and came accross one that is 20 or so years old. It's a production that I edited using my ancient "camcorder" from the old times and my old VHS player (using basic stop and go editing - 20 years ago lol).

However, part of the original "edit" containts parts which I did in slow motion. These slow-motion segments are INCREDIBLY "jittery". Now that I've ripped the entire VHS to DVD format, can I filter these slow motion scenes? or somehow do ANYTHING to remedy this? FYI - AUDIO is no problem at all- I'll be redoing the entire audio later.

Has there been a thread about this? if so could someone please lead me to it, or perhaps give me any input you could. I'll be checking in regularly (very often).

btw, unfortunately the original footage before my editing (2o years ago) is gone - why didnt I save it!!!!! lol

Thanks so much.


ACESOFCLUBS

[redwudz]

A couple of programs come to mind: VirtualDub Mod + deshaker: http://www.guthspot.se/video/deshaker.htm

And a guide: http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/articles/deshaker_guide.htm

The disadvantage is that VDM only saves out in AVI type formats, though you can frameserve to a MPEG-2 encoder directly.

Or a commercial program you might have a look at. It does have a trial version:

http://www.prodad.de/gb/mercalli_std_details.html?gclid=CJH0npyoj5ECFSRbEgodVRuKGw

[AcesOfClubs]

thanks for the timely response, I will give it a go... apparantly this is something you've run into before - or atleast you've heard of it? did I explain my situation well enough???

[AcesOfClubs]

it appears that "deshaker" is for fixing videos which were taken by Blair Witch cameramen..

My problem specifically is that my original video contains wavering (or twitching, etc...) during ONLY the parts that I had previously edited to Slow Motion. Should I still give it a go?

[jagabo]

Try a deinterlace.

[redwudz]

If the frame is OK, except for 'jitter', it should work. But if there is tearing or distortion, common with 'pause' or 'slow motion' on some VCRs, maybe not.

The way deshaker works, it keeps the video centered and lets the edges move. Then you crop off the edges. Not the best, but it does wonders with shaky camcorder material. Hard to tell how it will work with your specific problem.

VD Mod can open most MPEG files. Info on VD frameserving is here: https://www.videohelp.com/virtualdubframeserve.htm

VD also has many guides and filters available. Some here: http://www.thedeemon.com/VirtualDubFilters/ and here http://neuron2.net/other.html

You can also post a short clip, maybe 10 seconds, below 6MB, or link to a hosting download site. Best in the native format, but then it might be too big.

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: jagabo may have a better idea. Easy enough to try in VD Mod.

[AcesOfClubs]

thank you all for your replies....

these boards are different from those on say "IMDB" - where people would be telling me off nonstop...


Im most appreciative and will continue to post on my progress

hopefully a short clip in on the way.........

[orsetto]

If you wanted to have a handy "torture test" for VHS transfer to digital, this would be it. That consumer slo-mo stuff is murder and there's pretty much no hardware-based solution. Using a playback VCR with very good head TBC like Mitsubishi or JVC or perhaps a Panny 1980 will stabilize the overall video as much as possible but the jitter will still be there.

I'm amazed to hear from members above that there are actually software filters that can work around this: wonders never cease! Please do let us know how this works out for you: your experience could be very informative to others.

[AcesOfClubs]

well I'm in the midst of a serious project here... I hope to find some information that may help all of you....

In the meantime, any other ideas may help-

I'm not giving up...

[2Bdecided]

A short clip would give a better idea of what's happening.

e.g. is it that the effect always looked like that, and you want to improve it? or is it that it looks worse when captured than it did on a TV?

If you had one deck playing in "slow motion" (e.g. 1/4 speed play) and another recording, then unless the first deck used digital trickery to deliver solid fields, the result is going to be full of TBC errors from the original playback video head jumping around. As others have said, you need to solve these problems (or minimise them) during A>D capture before trying to improve the result with software.

Cheers,
David.