Requesting for some tv station logos and watermarks

[vhelp]

Hi all

Some of you may already know that I have been researching in the area of either reducing or
even removing station logos from video streams.

( I was planning on attempting at an white paper article, but I thought I would put it on hold
until I have something more or less proof of concept -- a working function -- and then write
one up. )

As of right now, I have met up with some success in this area and at this junction I need some
samples from video sources off of "digital" channels i.e., digital cable; satellite tv; QAM OTA
sources, etc.

A -- I would really love it if you can provide it in full quality .PNG or, if bitmap (.bmp) could you please
.RAR or .ZIP it and post a simple link to them. Note, please don't use hosts such as the familiar
rapidshare as they are blocked from my ISP/work, but if they are small (under 10mb) go ahead
anyway and I'll d/l them here on my home computer.

B -- if you can spare it, upload a 1 second video source i.e., digital cable or satellite or OTA
and compress it with .RAR, set it to the following for even smaller file size using these params:

--> compression method: [BEST ]
--> [x] create solid archives
--> [x] use multimedia compression

C -- if you could upload a set of full frames: one in normal video, and other in black frame w/logo
It would even be better if you could post some 5 or so frames i.e., .PNG files, because the more,
the better my chances at testing them and scoring big-time with a working tool .. thanks.

There are no limits -- post as many kinds as are available to you i.e., cartoon; regular; etc.

Thank you all for your assistance in advance

-vhelp 4704

[vhelp]

-- DEMONSTRATION SAMPLES -- of de-watermark images

To give you an idea of my progress in this area and the work thereof, here is a demonstration
of some examples. I've also included a short avi clip of the demo below so that you can flip
through them easily and quickly through virtualdub if need be.

I realize there's still more work that needs to be done on the filter algo but its a good step
in the right direction of progress

SPIKE.TV station logo demos -- analog cable tv source

vhelp.dewatermark.demo.avi -- 668kb short 480x360 video



















MY9 station logo demos -- analog cable tv source






-vhelp 4705

[GideonK]

Demo link gives me a 'page not found' error msg.

[vhelp]

Sorry, I didn't know there was a problem till now. Anyway..

Yeah, blame the site for that. I uploaded the avi, and it made it in fine, I'm sure. I guess
its up to the forum board to produce the actual URL but something must be borked because
I never get one whenever I upload files other than .png files. I just assume that a url link
would be furnished, but not. Maybe admin can figure out the problem

-vhelp 4706

[AlanHK]

Some of you may already know that I have been researching in the area of either reducing or
even removing station logos from video streams.

So what method do you use?

I use Avisynth filters, either Nologo (for alpha blends) or Xlogo (for solid colours), or occasionally both.

Neither are perfect, but I can set them up in a minute or two (or seconds if I can recycle a logo mask) and make the logos something you have to look for rather than something in your face like so many are now.

[vhelp]

So what method do you use?

I don't use any. Personally, I prefer to just keep the logos as they are. But I was speaking on
the developing aspects of a filter. The challenge of putting coding up something like this has
been on my mind for quite some time now. I know lordsmurf feels they don't hold up to
expectations in many applications -- different logo / watermark types, and I understand and do
agree most of the times. In the demos I posted above they are not perfect, either. But this
is alpha stage for me, so you understand, I'm a newbie to this sort of stuff, though its very
interesting indeed.

I was considering the posibility of a avisynth plugin (thanks to Myrsloik) but its been a while
since I last took a look at his avisynth_c delphi port and at the moment it looks too complicated
to put together. But I'm going to look into it over the weekend and see if it can be done.

The version that I am working on, is for the intention and design for "dynamic" operation,
and no user intervention, though that can/might change, depending on the final algo I
incorporate. Its still alpha coding at this point. I just got so happy that I made up with some
progress that I felt like sharing it You understand.

Anyway, as the post is stated, I'm looking for "digital" sources because I don't have access to
this source medium and I need to consider that into the algo design since there are dramatic
differences in the two source type -- analog vs. digital. One is noisey and the other, clean.

Thanks for your interest..
-vhelp 4709

[vhelp]

-- DEMONSTRATION SAMPLES -- of de-watermark images of: MY9 channel

I added a few more logo demos (above in first post) from my analog cable tv. This set if from the
MY9 channel. Still waiting (hoping) for some station logos from digital sources

I'll post more station logo demos of other channels as I find them, try them and so on.

-vhelp 4710