grainy dark video Help

[timbo2288]

hi i am new to the whole editing video scene and i was wondering if someone could help me take an old video i have that is really dark and quite grainy and brighten it or least tell me if it can be saved i have tryed alot to get it to look better but nothing seems to work... i would love help thanks.

[edDV]

Post a typical frame

[timbo2288]

deleted

[jagabo]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/321877-Video-from-a-dark-basement-any-way-to-brighten

You need to post a video sample that hasn't been reencoded.

[timbo2288]

what do u mean i am sry if u sound dumb to this but i really am i have tryed on my own to figured it out but its starting to give me a headache

[poisondeathray]

he means you should upload a native, unprocessed video sample , because the method in which you take a screenshot or re-encode a video might have already thrown away some information. Your best chance at recovering anything meaningful is to look at the original video

you can upload a video sample directly to this site if <30MB , or use a 3rd party free hosting site if >30MB (e.g. mediafire.com, sendspace.com)

(although if that screenshot is even a remote indication, I would guess this will be a futile exercise)

[timbo2288]

really what i was trying to figure out which i think u kinda of gave me a heads up on the whole thing is if they file can be brighten or even saved i am willing to send it to anyone one who things they could do it or even give me a couple of options of how they would go about it

[timbo2288]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mmmzigmv3cm/Picture.mpg here is file let me know what someonethings if it can be saved and if maybe they can do it?

[poisondeathray]

Was that sample "picture.mpg" directly from the recording device?

If so, there is not much you can improve because not very many actual details were recorded. When you "brighten" it up, there is only underlying noise. If you try to brighten it more, all you do is bring out more chroma noise. You might be able to make out some vague shapes at best

[jagabo]

VirtualDub and Neat Video can tease a little bit of detail out of it:

[poisondeathray]

That's a much better job , jagabo, I guess I'll eat my words

What settings /filters did you use?

I think you should have advanced a bit more into the clip

[jagabo]

Normally I would have used AviSynth to open the video and ConvertToRGB(matrix="PC.601") but I got lazy and just used VirtualDub directly because I know that its Brightness/Contrast filter works in YUV and can boost the brightness (7 or 8 percent) without losing blacker-than-black. That gets blacker-than-black high enough so that it isn't crushed when converted to RGB for further filtering. I then used the levels filter to adjust the contrast and gamma. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was something like 0, 1.3, 28, 0, 255. Finally I applied Neat Video with strong temporal and spacial filtering. I used a shot with no recognizable detail (just noise) to "train" Neat Video. There wasn't much motion in the shot that I posted so the temporal filter didn't blur the image. That was one of the brighter parts of the video so you're able to make out what's going on. Unfortunately, later shots were darker and didn't have much detail to enhance...

[44echo]

I wouldn't mind seeing a little more of this video.

[poisondeathray]

yes, I'm wondering if there will be a 'happy ending'

[timbo2288]

thnks guys lol i am going to try to see if the rest works do u think all of it can be saved and if someone does the whole thing let me know i was kind of wondering to about the happy ending lol

[jagabo]

The second ~half of the video has nothing recognizable.

[timbo2288]

damn it lol i was hoping there was away it just kills me to know be able to see this video there is know way to get it all to look that good

[timbo2288]

i am trying it myself what neat video did u use and do u remeber what u used for the settings for neat video

[aedipuss]

hehe, about mid way through she appears to throw something over the camera. nothing there to recover.

[jagabo]

i am trying it myself what neat video did u use and do u remeber what u used for the settings for neat video

I used mostly the default settings -- but it's important to "train" Neat Video with a sample of the noise you want to remove. From the main Neat Video dialog navigate to a frame with a large area with no details. With a normal video you would look for a flat white (not too bright) wall or something like that. Then press the Configure button. From the next dialog you can mark an area yourself or just press the Auto Profile button to mark an area and sample it.

[Redeem]

Hi everybody,

I'm a new forum member and I need help to improve the quality of a very dark and grainy video.
In particular, I need to find out who is the guy with the light crossing my garden in the night.
I have tried a lot to enhance it but with no luck.
Could anybody help me with this?

I really appreciate your help!

[newpball]

Basically there is nothing there to see.

[Redeem]

Yes I know, it's very blur but I was hoping in a magic like the one done by Jagabo in the post above...
I've tried to do that but I am not good at video editing, so...
Do you think there is nothing to do about it?

[jagabo]

Here's what I got with a little brightness, contrast, and gamma modification. Not recognizable. If you reencoded that video for upload I might be able to get something better with the original clip.

[newpball]

Do you think there is nothing to do about it?

Oh there is something to do about it but not in post.

If you want to see who walks in the garden you need more light, a better camera and better video compression, or go infra-red.

[Redeem]

Hi Jagabo,

thank you very much for your help.
I'm not sure I have understood, the video I have uploaded is the original one from my garden cam. This cam
compresses the video to H264 format. Is there anything I can do?

Tnx a lot!!!!

[Redeem]

Yeah newpball I know, it just happened that the cam of the garden
is not working properly, indeed it has infrared for nigh recording but
for some reasons it did not switch the mode.

Thanks again for your support!

[newpball]

Yeah newpball I know, it just happened that the cam of the garden
is not working properly, indeed it has infrared for nigh recording but
for some reasons it did not switch the mode.

Then tough luck and move on!

It is what it is!

I hope others here do not give you false hope and have you waste time, there is no force in the universe that can enhance that video into something that will show a recognizable face!

[jagabo]

I think a little more detail could be teased out of it by applying motion tracking and scaling then averaging multiple frames together. But that's way to much work to do for free.

[newpball]

I think a little more detail could be teased out of it by applying motion tracking and scaling then averaging multiple frames together. But that's way to much work to do for free.

No that only works with uncompressed of very little compressed video.