Modifying a home video

[chrishallowell]

Hi Experts,
I have transferred all of our home videos to DVD. I have found this site, which has vast amounts of great info but the more I read the more confused I got, hence this post....

Here is what I have done so far:
1. Transferred the Hi8 camcorder video to set top DVD recorder using SP, S-Video connection, and a mono audio connection(Camcorder is mono audio only and it does not have a firewire output).
2. Copied the two DVD folders to my PC hard drive

Here is what I want to do:
1. I need to delete the ending blue screen video.
2. Change the menu around. Key word is change here. The recorder adds a very bad looking menu automatically. (Basics here: Different background, 1 play button)
3. Edit video: remove noise using filters
4. Audio upmix: From mono to 5.1
5. Burn to a DVD+-RW for testing

Can someone please tell me which freeware software to use for each task and what the input file format and output file format is?

I have no problems with it taking a long time to ensure the best quality possible.

Thanks,
Chris

[guns1inger]

Skip 2. Once you have done 1 and 3 you may as well re-author anyway.

Steps 1 and 3 can either be combined through avisynth, or you can edit first with something like Womble, then filter with avisynth.

4. There is little point. Save the space for the video and just go to 2 channel mono. You cannot create 5.1 from mono without spending weeks cutting and tuning all the audio by hand. Stereo would give you something to work with and Soopafresh's script would be a simple solution. But from mono you are just wasting time and space.

[chrishallowell]

Thanks for the reply...
So does this look good?

1. Transfer the Hi8 camcorder video to set top DVD recorder using SP, S-Video connection, and a mono audio connection(Camcorder is mono audio only and it does not have a firewire output).

2. Demux using VobEdit or PgcDemux (VOB -> m2v and ac3)
3. Delete the ending blue screen video using MPEG Streamclip (m2v -> m2v?)
6. Edit video: remove noise using avisynth (m2v? -> m2v?)
5. Up mix mono to sterio using avisynth (ac3? -> ac3?)
4. Change the menu around using DVD Styler (m2v/ac3 -> VOB or VOB -> VOB)
7. Burn to a DVD using imgburn (VOB -> iso -> DVD)

Can anyone tell me what format the video and audio files have to be in to use avisynth? And how to get them in that format if different than m2v and ac3? (Using freeware of coarse!)

Thanks,
Chris

[guns1inger]

Aviynth can open pretty much anything. If you are using mpeg-2 then I suggest you use DGIndex to create a .d2v file and load that. I also suggest you give this thread a read : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic309181.html it has some great discussion on noise removal and has some basic sample scripts.

For audio you can convert the AC3 to PCM, open it in audacity and copy the mono into both channels of a stereo wav, then convert it back to AC3 with EncWAV2AC3/Aften, or you could then feed it into Soopafresh's script and see if you get a usable 5.1 : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic326127.html

Imgburn doesn't need an ISO and doesn't need to create an ISO. Use build mode and you can just select the Video_TS folder and Imgburn will recognise that it is DVD Video and burn accordingly.

[chrishallowell]

OK, so here is what I have now...
1. Transfer the Hi8 camcorder video to set top DVD recorder using SP, S-Video connection, and a mono audio connection(Camcorder is mono audio only and it does not have a firewire output).

2. Demux using PgcDemux (VOB -> m2v and ac3)
VIDEO:
3. Create an index using DGIndex (m2v -> d2v)
4. Delete the ending blue screen video using VirtualDubMod (m2v -> m2v)
5. Remove noise using avisynth (d2v -> m2v)

AUDIO:
6. Convert to wav using VirtualDubMod (ac3 -> wav)
7. Upmix mono to stereo using audacity (wav -> wav)
8. Convert audio to ac3 using EncWAV2AC3 or Aften (wav -> ac3)
8.5. Optional: Upmix to 5.1 using Soopafresh's script (ac3 -> ac3)

9. Mux using Muxman (m2v and ac3 -> VOB)
10. Add a basic menu using DVD Styler (VOB -> VOB)
11. Burn to a DVD using imgburn (VOB -> DVD)

Does this look like a good plan? Do I need to add anything or change the order of anything?

Thanks,
Chris

[Knightmessenger]

Are you sure your Hi8 tapes are actually in mono? If you recorded them on the same Hi8 camcorder that outputs a mono signal, then yes they are. However if you ever used another Hi8 camera, then it could have been recorded in stereo. The older ones had stereo capability but the newer cameras can only output a mono signal, even from a stereo tape. Just something you should be aware of.

If the tapes really are mono which is most likely, you still should double up the sound so that it plays in both left and right sound channels. Otherwise only one side of your tv speakers will have the sound. One thing that can do this during a capture or recording is a Y audio cable.

[chrishallowell]

Here's my progress:
1. (DONE) Transfer the Hi8 camcorder video to set top DVD recorder using SP, S-Video connection, and a mono audio connection(Camcorder is mono audio only and it does not have a firewire output).

2. (DONE) Demux using PgcDemux (VOB -> m2v and ac3)
VIDEO:
3. (DONE) Create an index using DGIndex (m2v -> d2v)
4. (DONE) Delete the ending blue screen video using VirtualDubMod (m2v -> m2v)
5. Remove analog noise using avisynth (avs)

AUDIO:
6. (DONE) Convert to wav using VirtualDubMod (ac3 -> wav)
7. (DONE) Upmix mono to stereo using audacity (wav -> wav)
8. (DONE) Reduce noise from audio using audacity (wav -> wav)
9. (DONE) Convert audio to ac3 using EncWAVtoAC3 or Aften (wav -> ac3)
10. Optional: Upmix to 5.1 using Soopafresh's script (ac3 -> ac3)

11. (DONE) Use HCGui to run the avs to get m2v (d2v ---avs--> m2v)
12. (DONE) Mux using Muxman (m2v and ac3 -> VOB)
13. (DONE) Add a basic menu using GUI for DVD Author (VOB -> VOB)
14. (DONE) Burn to a DVD using imgburn (VOB -> DVD)

Since HCGui uses the colorspace yv12 and my home video is yv12, my avs script should stay in that color space.

Thanks,
Chris

[Marvingj]

chrishallowell, Your plan looks good to me. Go for it...