Tweaking converted video

[guns1inger]

You are missing the close bracket at the end of the Blockbuster statement. Every open bracket must have a corresponding close bracket.

[buddycat]

(sigh)
Now it says there's an error on the same line, column 19 again?

[buddycat]

AVISource("C:\My Documents\My Videos\Hoi Hoi San.avi")
Blockbuster(Hoi Hoi San.avi,method="noise",block_size=8, detail_min=1, detail_max=10)
BicubicResize(656,448,0,0.6,0,0,640,480)
AddBorders(32,16,32,16)
#Trim(0,15765).FadeOut(150)

[buddycat]

Here's a thought: should the title of the avi be in the brackets of the filter?

And where does column 1 start?

[buddycat]

Aha! And the answer is NO!

Now, I assume I save the script?

[guns1inger]

Yes. Save the script with the extension .avs
You can test the script from inside AVSEdit by hitting F6 (you might have to tell it where Virtualdub is the first time), or you can load the avs script directly as you would any avi file. If you are happy with the output, you can start encoding by loading the avs script into your encoder.

[buddycat]

I'll give it a try. If I need to tweak, what parameters would you recommend?

[guns1inger]

Usually

Block_Size : either 8 or 16
Detail_max : push it up if necessary. 27, 27 and 32 are good numbers.

I also usually add aSharp to the script (see my sample). Good combinations for aSharp are 1,2 2,2 or 2,4

[buddycat]

Just to make sure I have the steps right:, I load the script in Vdub, then open the avi file, or will lading the script pull that AVI into VDub automatically?

I'll maybe try to do this tonight and let youknow what happens.

[guns1inger]

You open the avs script in virtualdub (or your encoder) instead of the avi file. This will invoke avisynth itself, which will open the avi files, filter it, and send through uncompressed video to the program that opened the avs file.

[buddycat]

Okay, I have Vdub open, but I've only used it pretty much to strip out an audio track to WAV. Now what?

[buddycat]

I have tmpGenc open, too, but not sure how to bring the .avs script in.(?)

[buddycat]

Okay, I just tried doing a Save As in Vdub. and it looked pretty good, until it hit about 5 minutes, and then I got a "cannot seek within file "Hoi Hoi processed avi." The parameter is incorrect."

What happened? What did I do wrong?

[guns1inger]

If you load the avs file into vdub and just play the video, do you get past this point ?

[buddycat]

Playing both the input and output, yes. although it stutters, but I attribute that to my processor. Judging by the preview, it looks like not all the blocks are gone, either.

[guns1inger]

You will never get rid of all of them without killing too much detail in the rest of the image. Remember, you are trying to hide damage caused by too much compression in the first place.

Try saving it out again, using the avs file.

[buddycat]

Define "save it out", please. You mean overwrite it?

[guns1inger]

What do you want to do with the output ?

If you want an mpeg video file, start up tmpgenc, and load the avs file in as the video to be encoded. Configure bitrate etc. and start the encode.

[buddycat]

Nope. Bombed again. Let me ask this: should I be saving it as an avi file?

On another note: I have the older tmpgenc plus. It supposedly doesn't load avi, and I don't know how to pull in the avs.

[buddycat]

Should I be stripping out the audio first?

[buddycat]

Okay, for some reason, this time, tmpgenc took the file! We'll see what happens with the default settings you posted earlier. It ought to be done in about 30 minutes or so. I'll probably let you know tomorrow, as I'm here in the States and it's just after 10 pm....(fingers crossed!)

[guns1inger]

If you don't need the audio, just add either .KillAudio at the end of the avisource statement (see my script), or KillAudio as the statement after AviSource. Tmpgenc Plus (the encoder) does load avis. If you are using Avisynth scripts then you just load them instead of the original avi. Any app that can read them, will.

[buddycat]

I do need the audio, but I can't just load the avs script, I assume?

[guns1inger]

If you don't have a KillAudio in the script, you should get audio. I don't use the audio side, as I strip the audio out and use as is (if AC3) or convert elsewhere.

[buddycat]

TEsted it this morning. It is soemwhat better. the blocks are not as pronounced. What would you recommend as settings to try to cover it up more?

[guns1inger]

You need to experiment. You can use the trim command to just test it on short segments. Remove the # at the begining, and change the frame numbers.

Ther are also alternative deblocking filters. MSU has one that can be called from avisynth, although it is slow and really works best on VCD sources. Try Neuron2.net for more choices if blockbuster doesn't do it.

But be realistic. You won't get rid of all of the problems without introducing new ones. What's gone is gone. You can't get it back, so try to cover up the worst of it.

[buddycat]

I gotcha. I was just mainly interested in trying not to waste too much time for marginal results. Actually, I think this will help most of my clips, as is, a lot more than the one I was experimenting with. I figured if it cleans up this one, it'd really do a good job . But, I'll check out that Neruon2.net, just for fun.

Thanks! I might be back, but this has been most helpful.

[OutSiderBR]

Avisynth does allow you to shortcut some of the scripting by combining things together, however this often makes it unclear to read and debug. Have you ever seen C++ code written by techies - small, compact, impossible to follow at a glance.

Here is a script I used recently to resize an avi for encoding by CCE

# -= AviSynth v2.5.6.0 script by FitCD v1.2.4 =-
LoadPlugin("C:\pathtoplugins\aSharp.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\pathtoplugins\BlockBuster.dll")
DirectShowSource("e:\pathtovideo\video.avi").KillA udio
BlockBuster(method="noise", block_size=8, detail_min=1, detail_max=10)
Lanczos4Resize(720,448,0,0,672,287)
aSharp(2,2,-1,false)
AddBorders(0,64,0,64)

As you can see, the basis of this was a FitCD script that I then modified. In this case I opened the file with a DirectShow filter, but you could use AviSource for most avi files. I apply the blockbuster filter before the resize because it is tuned for certain common encoding artifacts. I use aSharp to add back some of the detail lost during the resize process. Note also - I do all my audio encoding elsewhere, so I added a .KillAudio to the load statement. This stops audio being passed to the encoder.

This is for PAL 16:9 encoding.

Buddy,
whenever I use FitCD it resizes my movies to full screen. The only way to get assymetrical AddBorders() in the script (and letterboxed movie) is using overscan > 0. Also, my "round to"´s are set to 0, and no block align. Why is it that I cannot get letterboxed parameters for the resize command ? I saw your example generated a AddBorders(0,64,0,64), which is a typical letterbox resizing. This, I cannot get with my FitCD.

thanks for yor attention.

[guns1inger]

I have source Round To set to 1, and Crop set to Accurate.
I have Destination Round To varies from movie to movie, as does the overscan. Often OS is set to 0.

I don't remember ever having non-symetrical border numbers. Playing around with it now, I can't force it to give me non-symetrical borders.

Can you post a screen shot ?

[OutSiderBR]

Buddy,
here is an example. It is 656x272 (2.41:1) and if I convert it to DVD, it should be 272*480*(4/3)/656 = 266 pixels height. So, I would write a resize command like :

Lanczos4Resize(720,266).AddBorders(0,106,0,108) for 4:3 or
Lanczos4Resize(720,352).AddBorders(0,64,0,64) for 16:9

FitCD gives me this screen (image FitCD-1). As you can see, no AddBorders commands. If you execute this FitCD code in MPC, you will watch a fullscreen movie.



fitcd-1.png