VirtualDub Filters

[Jelleke]

Hi,

I'm a newbie into repairing video quality so I have a question.
I have a tv card from pinnacle where I record with, but after capturing I have some noise into my video, but I found on a website that it's normal if you have noise when capturing thru analog tv cards.
Here is a picture of the result:

I also read on the internet that you can repair these kind of noise with VirtualDub, but now my question:
What do you guys think are good vitualdub filters to repair this and to make this look good onto dvd and which settings would you use?
I also uploaded a part of the video (only 2 seconds) on a server, it's a picvideo mjpeg recording
With this video you can also try to see if you get something good out of this: http://users.telenet.be/skaterke/test.avi

Thanx,
I hope that I can learn some good things from you guys.
Jelle

[DRfrankenpimp]

you would use the temporal smother. i noticed your video has scan lines,you are aware of what those are? if not use the deinterlace filter to correct this

[TheFamilyMan]

Spend some time searching the forums. There are several excellent threads on noise reduction solutions. My favorite vdub noise reduction filter is this:
http://www.compression.ru/video/denoising/index_en.html
It is slow, but its results are excellent!!! Unfortunately cleaning up video is an art and the beauty of the results are in the eyes of the beholder. Good Luck.

[dphirschler]

I hope you are not concerned about the interlacing because that is normal. If you are concerned about some grainy-looking noise (as in the purple background), then look into using a temporal cleaner.



Darryl

[Soopafresh]

That's going to be a difficult video to filter. There is too much interference noise. If you absolutely want to clean this video as much as you can, you can use AviSynth with the DeFreq and FFT3Dfilter plugins.

Other than that, just crop the video to get rid of the black bars and noise along the edges.

[Jelleke]

Hi Soopafresh,

I want to try your filters but how does avisynth works? It's chinese for me.
I allready read tutorials but don't understand anything of it!

[junkmalle]

Aside from resizing to DVD specs I'd leave the video as it is.

But... I've found that the X.264 codec can remove a lot of noise from noisy video. The codec does a lot of temporal and spacial filtering to get very high compressions. Here's a before and after (Smart Deinterlace, X.264 in single pass Quantizer mode at Q=30) shot:

Before:

After:

I don't really see this as an improvement but some people will like the noise reduction.

[Soopafresh]

Avisynth is a powerful program that acts as a video processing frame server. You'll have to learn some of the syntax on your own - it is too much work to explain in a single reply post.

It looks like this -

SourceVideoFile-------->AviSynth------>AviSynthFilters----->Encoder--->TargetVideo


You need to install AviSynth 2.5, then create a Script file which will tell AviSynth what to process. All AviSynth scripts must have a .AVS extension.

Example:

Jelleke.AVS

LoadPlugin("d:\avisynth\fft3dfilter.dll")
LoadPlugin("d:\avisynth\defreq.dll")

DirectShowSource("d:\avisynth\test.avi")

converttoyuy2()
DeFreq(fx=20,fy=-50)
fft3dfilter(sharpen=0.6,bt=0,sigma=5)
######### end#############

You can then open Jelleke.AVS in VirtualDub or TmpgEnc or another encoder and it will filter the source file with the AviSynth settings.

Here's an example of the before and after using AviSynth -

Looks OK in a still image, but that broadcast noise is still there (only less so).

[Soopafresh]

Hey Junkmalle - looks like we both chose the same frame !

[Jelleke]

Hi,

Ok, I understand it now I think!
So, it's allready a good start yes, but I am such a person who wants it on it's best Lol
So, I am now trying for some other filters and stuff to make this image quality even beter! Lol...
Thanks for helping by the way and if some of you guys know more tips and filters, just say it!

[raffie]

^^ Tell me, are you the Jelle from the video as in Jelle from Spring

[Jelleke]

No,
I am not, but it's a friend of me! Hehe!
I sometimes play in the television soap also.
How do you know spring? Are you also from Belgium?
I just recorded this video because I was their when they sang that and I want to hold this video forever because it was a special day for me!
But that off-topic Hehe... On-topic then...
My sound isn't synchron with the video when i save with X264 codec (because that was a goud suggestion from junkmalle), but when i save to uncompressed or lossless codec everything is synchron, very weird.

[mgh]

This type of noise is the most common in my part of the world.
I find the alparysoft denoise filter for virtualdub from
http://www.alparysoft.com/products.php?cid=2
to be the most useful.
Speed of filter depends on amount of denoising you choose.
Interlaced sample after application of filter

Non-interlaced sample after filter

[dphirschler]

Leave the noise in there if that is what you are going to wind up with. He looks like plastic!


Darryl

[Jelleke]

Yeah,
It is, he looks like plastic, but if you watch the original file on television it really isn't nice!
All the noise, there is to much, it isn't the same quality as you watch that via television, and i want that, but I think it's very difficult, as I am a newbie into restoration.

[junkmalle]

You can get similar results with the "2D Cleaner" and "Temporal Smoother" filters.

With 2D cleaner you'll want to use a radius of 2 to 5, and a threshold 5 to 10.

With Temporal Smoother you'll want a filter strength of 3 to 5.

These will also give everything the "plastic" look though.

[Soopafresh]

Stumbled across an AviSynth filter you'll either love or hate. It adds a scanline effect, like that of an interlaced screen. Works pretty well to mask out the broadcast noise of the source in this particular case. Have a look -

(Xvid Encoded) scanlined.avi

Link to Filter - http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/files/scanlines_25_dll_20031103.zip

[junkmalle]

The Scanline filter simply blacks out one field.

I think you don't understand that your video consists of two interlaced fields per frame. When you watch it on TV you don't see both fields at the same time. You see one then the other (just like the scanlines filter except that the TV alternates which of the fields is left black and plays them twice as fast).

So the interlace artfacts are normal and, depending on what you are doing, don't require any changes -- just proper handling on the way to a DVD.



The noise on the other hand can be reduced by the various noise filters that people have pointed out.

[vhelp]

I wanted to explore this Scanline(n) method, because it was something that
I did a very long time ago in vdub, before my system blew up and I lost
it, some time last year

Scanline(n) reminded me of it, and my ideas for it too, hehe.. anyways..

@ supafresh

What value did you use on that clip, ..because I can't duplicate what you did ??
I've tried values from 0 to 100 and still no similarity, hmm..

Thanks,
-vhelp 3491

 x="c:\My Documents\test(1).avi"

 loadplugin("c:\scanlines.dll")
 segmentedAVISource(x)

 scanlines(100)

[junkmalle]

I used this AVISynth script:

AVISource("test.avi")
ConvertToRGB
Scanlines(0)

The filter only seems to work in RGB mode.

[Soopafresh]

No, I do know that. I'm saying from a visual perception standpoint, the scanline filter creates the "illusion" of a cleaner looking video. Kinda like stepping on your toe when you have a headache. After all, it's how the brain sees it in the end.

[junkmalle]

No, I do know that. I'm saying from a visual perception standpoint, the scanline filter creates the "illusion" of a cleaner looking video. Kinda like stepping on your toe when you have a headache. After all, it's how the brain sees it in the end.

I'm sure he did some other filtering too. Note the scanlined AVI file is cropped and resized -- he didn't mention that either.

[edit]

Oops, sorry. I thought it was vhelp that posted that message.

[/edit]

[vhelp]

I'm sorry. I wanted to run it through my own twisted vdub de-interlacer,
hehe.. but I can't seem to make it look similar to the output of the
XviD clip

oh well.. thanks anyways guys.
-vhelp 3492

[Jelleke]

Soopafresh,
Which script did u use for that result?
Really want to try it myself!
I tried this:

AVISource("D:\test.avi")
ConvertToRGB
Scanlines(100)

But that didn't made the same quality is yours!
Thanx

[vhelp]

I think that what he did was, apply a light filter on it, and THEN
the scanline for the effect.. which looks good, IMO

-vhelp 3493

[Soopafresh]

You guys are good. Indeed, I did add some filtering to the source.

1) Deinterlacing - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/trbarry/TomsMoComp.zip

2) Noise Reduction - ftp://ftp.fftw.org/pub/fftw/fftw3win32mingw.zip (support file-put in \windows\system32) AND the cleaner - http://bag.hotmail.ru/fft3dfilter/fft3dfilter16.zip

3) Sharpening - http://home.arcor.de/kassandro/RemoveGrain/RemoveGrain.rar

4) Added Scanlines (see above for URL)

* The Noise Reduction Filter mentioned above is kick @ss. Very different than most of the spatial or temporal filters out there. Works on progressive and interlaced sources, as well. If anything, just try it out on any of your more difficult material. Unfortunately, it's a bit slow (but for good reason).

---------------AVISynth Script------------------

LoadPlugin("TomsMoComp.dll")

LoadPlugin("FFT3dFilter.dll")

LoadPlugin("rsharpens.dll")

LoadPlugin("scanlines.dll")

AviSource("d:\test.Avi") #May Need to Use DirectShowSource instead

Converttoyv12() # Needed for most of the loaded plugins

TomsMoComp(TopFirst=-1, 10)

FFT3dFilter(sigma=4.0, plane=0, bt=2, sharpen=0.5)

Crop(4,72,-4,-72)

Lanczos4Resize(720,480) #or 576 for PAL

scanlines(90).rsharpen(mode=3)

[vhelp]

hi soopafresh

Thanks for the filter inlight'nment hehe.. I knew it was pre-filtered.

Anyways..

At current, I am trying to perform a scanlines.cpp port to delphi
(I think it almost works, but keeps crashing on me) via plugin for
avisynth -- you can now write filters through delphi in DLL 's.
( I found at doom9 by Myrsloik) ..It works. I've re-created the steps.
I'm in learning mode right now

Anyways.. just before I shut down.. (had many crashes since learning
this, and my system is hanging w/ a kernel.dll that is stuck on my screen,
and dying to crash on me now) .. plus, I'm dead tired.

See you all next time.
-vhelp 3295

[vcd4ever]

Hi Jelleke,

I have tried with some virtualdub and tmpgenc filters and this is the best I have managed so far, Link Removed.

vcd4ever.

[Wilbert]

Why don't you use a normal deinterlacer instead of this scanlines stuff? The latter mangles your video as you can see.

[SatStorm]

@Jelleke: In case you wish to use virtualdub to filter your source, just use the " typical" (and pretty fast) combo: Static Noise Reduction ( 6, interlace on), Dynamic Noise Reduction (8 MMX version)
MSU_Smart sharpen at defaul value (small overall) may "restore" the "missed" sharpness of the picture that way

Try it, you might like the results (easy to use, freeware and non avisynth!)

Just for the info, the "MSU Denoising" Filter, is like using 2D Cleaner (1,1,10) and Dynamic Noise Reduction ( 9 ). Not the same but very like