remastering FILM 16mm/35mm

[iigood]

Hi guys this is my first post hope somebody can help.

i have dozens of 35mm and 16mm films which i have converted to betacam. (can convert to any format) i have the oiginal films which i have cleaned with a cleaner PEC-12 used for cleaning film i got rid of 95% or the duirt and grease off the film howver as they are extremely old films (1950-60 's)

Now they have alot of spost and scractehces and lines as they are black and white films no matter where i transfer the film it will ahve the same quality now I want to remaster these films get of the lines and black spots etc so it looks like a 100% dvd quality what software can i use and how can it be done the sound also needs work i want the best possible quality (no lines and no black spots)

[filmboss80]

I'm not fully clear whether you intend to work from the original films (for new transfers) or the betacam tapes. In either case, what you want cannot be done perfectly without great expense. Millions of dollars are spent in remastering old films (oftentimes going back to the original negative), including digitally removing scratch lines and dust spots frame-by-frame.

In the case of doing new transfers from film to video, it helps to work with a transfer house that will do deep cleaning and lubrication of the films, followed by wet-gate telecine or other scratch-minimizing process.

I've had a lot of film-to-digital-video transfers done, and I have not found any software that satisfactorily removes scratches and spots from the picture. Yes, you can enhance and improve it, but your expectation of "100% DVD quality" is likely unrealistic.

Certainly, for all the time and expense involved, you should forget the Betacam tapes and focus on new transfers to HD.

If we had a better idea of your budget, transfer process and end format (HD or SD?), we might be better able to steer you in the right direction.

[16mmJunkie]

filmboss80 is correct in his statement as to what you are wanting to do as a individual. The cost to do this, let alone the time would be very expensive. You would require a staff to really do this in a decent time period, as your looking to do frame by frame work. I like filmboss80 have done many film transfers over my lifetime, have found nothing that would "cure" or "fix" your films outside of Big $$$. Emulsion scratches on the film are tough to get rid of. What type of telecine transfer setup do you have?(both 35mm and 16mm) (I was lucky enought to obtain a Elmo TRV 16 in the early 90's) If you don't have a decent setup it's not a realistic expectation to do much more then us hobbyist do. 35mm transfer for me is out of my range with what I have obtained in 20 years of film collection and work.(And of course my wife says the rest of the house is hers) If you would elaborate on your idea we may be able to help...




If the Light ain't Bright, It ain't Right!!

[iigood]

i have a 35mm portable devry and 3 16mm projector (hanimex x2 and a bell and howell which i can say its the worst projector made in history) followed by a telecine box with a digital camera sitting infront and the sound connected via the speaker outlet. (not scans its a direct projector telecine not a recording off the wall either)

I basically want a result as the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp2ZLJ9mKo8&feature=related

lines and scratches removed. i will be happy with a result like the link. more after the result than the condition of the film.

[16mmJunkie]

[QUOTE=iigood;1983336]i have a 35mm portable devry and 3 16mm projector (hanimex x2 and a bell and howell which i can say its the worst projector made in history) followed by a telecine box with a digital camera sitting infront and the sound connected via the speaker outlet. (not scans its a direct projector telecine not a recording off the wall either)

QUOTE]


Well The Hanimex X2(Eiki) isn't a telecine and Devry (model unknown and I am only familiar with a few models) I don't think is either. Unless you've converted them you SOL. You would obtain flicker from them unless they are converted. If your using a "telecine box" like those from Goldbeam or Ambico made your transfer will be low level IMHO. The transfer houses mentioned prior in this thread would be a better option for you. A quote that is always been remembered by me is "Garbage in Garbage out" and yes you can make improvements to a point, but that's it. As to what the youtube video shows is from a 35mm Negative if you look at the other clips. Not a positive strike, as I presumed after going to the site.




If the Light ain't Bright, it ain't Right!!

[jagabo]

AviSynth + RemoveGrain filter then:

function RemoveSpots(clip input, bool "_grey", int "repmode")
{
_grey=default(_grey, false)
repmode=default(repmode, 16)
clmode=17
clensed=Clense(input, grey=_grey, cache=4)
sbegin = ForwardClense(input, grey=_grey, cache=-1)
send = BackwardClense(input, grey=_grey, cache=-1)
alt=Repair(SCSelect(input, sbegin, send, clensed, debug=true), input, mode=repmode, modeU = _grey ? -1 : repmode )
restore=Repair(clensed, input, mode=repmode, modeU = _grey ? -1 : repmode)
corrected=RestoreMotionBlocks(clensed, restore, neighbour=input, alternative=alt, gmthreshold=70, dist=1, dmode=2, debug=false, noise=10, noisy=12, grey=_grey)
return corrected
}

From the FLV file (the original source would probably work better), the original and two passes of RemoveSpots(), side by side (xvid avi):

[16mmJunkie]

As you can see from jagabo and his sample this is proof to the statement I made. "Yes you can make improvements to a point, but that's it." You will not get as you put it "100% DVD quality" with any software alone. Thanks jagabo for proving the point.





If the Light ain't Bright, It ain't Right!!

[poisondeathray]

I checked out some other videos and the demo reel from that guy on youtube - there are some great restorations there

Many of the comments are not in English , and I don't know if it explains the process he used , but I suspect on some of the work, that it was done by hand per frame and airbrush/clone stamping

If this project is important to you, maybe you could contact him / hire him?

[iigood]

AviSynth + RemoveGrain filter then:

function RemoveSpots(clip input, bool "_grey", int "repmode")
{
_grey=default(_grey, false)
repmode=default(repmode, 16)
clmode=17
clensed=Clense(input, grey=_grey, cache=4)
sbegin = ForwardClense(input, grey=_grey, cache=-1)
send = BackwardClense(input, grey=_grey, cache=-1)
alt=Repair(SCSelect(input, sbegin, send, clensed, debug=true), input, mode=repmode, modeU = _grey ? -1 : repmode )
restore=Repair(clensed, input, mode=repmode, modeU = _grey ? -1 : repmode)
corrected=RestoreMotionBlocks(clensed, restore, neighbour=input, alternative=alt, gmthreshold=70, dist=1, dmode=2, debug=false, noise=10, noisy=12, grey=_grey)
return corrected
}

From the FLV file (the original source would probably work better), the original and two passes of RemoveSpots(), side by side (xvid avi):

Great work i am very happy with a result like that howver i have never used avi synth in my life a little help wit the program will be apprecited i tried vdub in the past but had 0 success with it. I am abit of a dummy when it comes to things like this. i usually use tmpgenc which i found to be very user friendly