help for combing/etc from progressive video

[spiritgumm]

Have progressive PAL video (which I am converting to ntsc) but ALL edges (and text) have combing or similar artifacting. Tried vinverse but didnt do anything - if it needs masktools2, I could not find a compatible plugin for Avisynth 2.5. Sample uploaded shows combing on eye glass frames.

[jagabo]

There is no combing. There's aliasing from poor deinterlacing though. Is that what you want to fix?

[spiritgumm]

If that's what you see around the eye glass frame, then yes. I would have thought they used a film source, not interlaced video that needed deinterlacing before converting to PAL. Could the aliasing be caused by encoding progressive video as interlaced by mistake?

[jagabo]

If that's what you see around the eye glass frame, then yes.

To reduce the aliasing artifacts try:

SeparateFields().SelectEven().Santiag().nnedi3(dh=true)

Could the aliasing be caused by encoding progressive video as interlaced by mistake?

No. Someone deinteracled before encoding.

[spiritgumm]

Thanks, the script is an improvement (cleans up the glass frames), although you lose some sharpness and aliasing is still noticeable in the rest of the video - might not be so apparent in that dark sample. I upped strength=3, still aliasing with diminishing sharpness. A brighter sample of the original might demonstrate how bad it is.

[jagabo]

You can't clean up all the aliasing and have a sharp picture. Half the picture is missing.

[spiritgumm]

thanks for the info. Any tweaking of these filters, or another filter, you can suggest?
I believe my Santiag is older version still compatible with Avy2.58. Would upgrading to Avy2.6 and newer Santiag (which requires masktools2) improve results?

[jagabo]

I believe my Santiag is older version still compatible with Avy2.58. Would upgrading to Avy2.6 and newer Santiag (which requires masktools2) improve results?

I don't know. I'm using Santiag version 1.6. Attached is the result I get, for comparison.

[spiritgumm]

Can you do the 2nd sample since first is too dark to evaluate beyond the glass frames?

[jagabo]

Can you do the 2nd sample since first is too dark to evaluate beyond the glass frames?

Here's the second clip, same script.

[spiritgumm]

I found an earlier thread I started with the same request but for a b&w movie. The method suggested using QTGMC( Preset="Slower", InputType=2, ProgSADMask=2.0 ) works alot better to remove aliasing and keep it sharp, although abit late for my purposes. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/381262-Fixing-aliasing-combing-in-PAL-progressive-...lp#post2468172
Anyway, I have another progressive PAL b&w movie and thought it would work well by adjusting the mask value, but I'm having other problems.
First, it's smoothing out too much detail. I read the wiki but I'm not sure how to back that off.
Parts of background look wavy.
There's a rain scene that looks jittery.
I've tried tweaking the filter but I'm not having much luck getting it all right, so perhaps a smarter person can advise.
I'm attaching a compilation clip of 3 scenes. After filtering, the ceiling curtain in first shot gets wavy, and rain scene gets jittery. 3rd scene provides good example of aliasing (top of doorway behind man).