Help to tidy enhance my 8mm imports

[Lensmeister]

Good evening,

Hoping someone can give me some advice on how to make my old 8mm imports better and answer a few questions.

I am using an old 8mm camcorder (Canon) and a Video-2-pc import device.
I am importing using VirtualDub using the following recommended settings

Settings.
Device → select EM28284 USB video device (DirectShow).
Video → Video Source → Video Composite.
Audio → RAW Capture Format → PCM 48000Hz Stereo 16 bit → OK.
Audio → select Line (EM28284 USB Audio).
Video → Capture Filter → Video Decoder → Video Standard → PAL_I → tick VCR input.
Video → Set Custom Format → Frame Size 352x288 (slow PC) or 720x576 → Data Format YUY2 → OK.
Video → Compression → YUY2 (uncompressed or slow PC) or X264VFW (dual core 2.8GHz+ box for live capture).
Video → Capture Pin → Frame Rate 25.000 → Apply → OK. (if you're in the UK, capturing PAL video).
(make sure Audio → Enable Audio Playback isn't enabled, otherwise you'll drop frames)

I keep getting a horrible flicker on it - See the screen grab (I managed to put the clip in Vegas and when playing it pause it just at the right moment and clip the image). .
IS there anyway to not have it during import?
Or edit/remove it.

As you may be able to see from the attached test clip, the colours are a bit washed out. Can it be colour enhances?

I have the following things to work with.
Adobe Photoshop, Bridge
Vegas Pro 17
I have Topaz Video Enhance AI (but no idea how to use it whatsoever)
Virtualdub
Arcsoft Showbiz
Fix.video Re-Encoder

EDIT: I thought another question.
How do I get rid of the unsightly fuzzy line at the bottom (and to the left) of the footage?


Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

[DB83]

Where does one start ? (and the 'fuzzy' line at the bottom of the screen is the least of your problems or have you not heard of head-switching noise ?)

Sorry to appear uncharitable but this is a shambles.


1. your original source would (or should) have been 720*576. How on earth have you ended up with 720p video ?
2. Your original source would have been interlaced. Now you have low bitrate progressive.


Methinks if you did nothing after the capture to produce this then go back and try the following.


1. You need a lossless codec such as lagarith or hufyuv. (virtualdub2 supports the ffmpeg port of hufyuv out of the box)
2. Capture as 720*576 with no editing after.
3. Upload a short sample of that as an attachment


Someone else will probably comment on the actual capture device which, itself, might have contributed to your issues.

[Lensmeister]

Thanks,

The mp4 clip I uploaded was done using Fix.video Re-Encoder due to the Avi the Virtual Dub created being too big.

I've never heard of head switching noise and I never had the issue when I transferred to old Videos (VHS) from the 8MM tapes.

I've now downloaded the VirtualDub2, I'm guessing the same settings I previously used in the previous VirtualDub?

[DB83]

Well I, for my part, have not heard of Fix.video Re-Encoder.

If you still have that original avi then you can still upload a mediainfo (textmode) report of it. And still cut a short sample using avidemux (copy mode) and avi output.


Most of the settings will apply but if your capture really was uncompressed that will certainly not help your cause if your system can not keep up with the data.

[Lensmeister]

Text file now added


I've got acidemux but it would let me save the clip as avi nor as the mkv it recommends.

My laptop is a Dell inspiron 14 5000 with AMD Ryzen 4000 series processor.

[Lensmeister]

Got it

Now uploaded

[DB83]

Well that was not uncompressed. It was lossless but at a much higher bitrate than both lagarith and huffyuv would produce (approx 55 mb/s.

So I guess that one of your compression settings in vdub was wrong.


But even with that clip you can snip 20 secs and upload that. But I doubt if that will make much difference to the result.

Edit: I see that we were on the same page


But do try the huffyuv or even (heaven forbid) with the software that came with that capture device and use high bitrate (8,000 kb/s) mpeg2. Just to see if your system can now keep up with the stream.

[DB83]

Some other things you need to do is ensure that your camcorder is not at fault (or even the tapes)

Try to connect the camcorder direct to a tv - if it does not have a rca plug then, assuming that the tv has a scart input you can use the adapter that seems to come with the kit.


Are the same issues still there ?


Same with direct preview from the camcorder.

[Lensmeister]

Just used VirtualDub2.

And used HuffYUV codec ... but no video captured

[Lensmeister]

Some other things you need to do is ensure that your camcorder is not at fault (or even the tapes)

Try to connect the camcorder direct to a tv - if it does not have a rca plug then, assuming that the tv has a scart input you can use the adapter that seems to come with the kit.


Are the same issues still there ?


Same with direct preview from the camcorder.

Looked at the footage on the camcorder and there's no jerking or flashing like in the clips.

Will do a clip in the Arcsoft Showbiz the kit came with next.

[Lensmeister]

Arcsoft Showbiz is worse !

[DB83]

Well there is a codec conflict here since mediainfo reports FFVH rather than FHYU and the bitrate is still excessive but that could be down to RGB color space rather than YUV.

You can view the avi directly in vdub2 but the issue still persists.


I can not set my capture device up right now but if it helps I will do a sample tomorrow using the vdub2 port rather than my prefered choice of a stand-alone codec

[DB83]

Arcsoft Showbiz is worse !

Really ?


The clips are quite short and the actual bitrate is quite low. But even then I could not detect those previous issues (apart from the head noise)

[Lensmeister]

Arcsoft Showbiz is worse !

Really ?


The clips are quite short and the actual bitrate is quite low. But even then I could not detect those previous issues (apart from the head noise)

They save to mpeg4 could that be the reason?
Also it's awkward to use.

I'm using another tape and will try another tape tomorrow.

Thanks for you help

[DB83]

Actually. No. Those sample are plain mpeg2 interlaced top-field as they should be

[DB83]

Tonight is a little more quiet than I anticipated so I have done that vdub2 test.

The codec issue is down to the ffmpeg port of huffyuv and no way to change the settings. If you used a standalone version you would have more control.