Night video to DVD (improve contrast and saturation)

[cd090580]

Hi,

I've shot a night "light and sound" show with my Sony DCR-HC62E mini DV camcorder.
My camcorder was on a tripod so the image is very stable but It lacks of saturation I think.

What filters can I apply to improve my video (noise reduction, and then saturation enhancement or contrast or both ?)

The source is DV SD 720*576 PAL 16/9

I've put a sample video: I cut parts and put them together to make a sample of about 75 seconds with parts of different scenes of the show.

The sample video is here: http://www.terafiles.net/v-151148.html

So, what avisynth settings would make this video nicer ? The target is to put on DVD. I can use the max bitrate, the full video is about 22 minutes and length.

[aedipuss]

how about just a screenshot? telefiles doesn't seem to work here.

[jagabo]

Try VirtualDub. It has lots of filters for changing brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.

[sanlyn]

The video is terrifically underexposed -- which is another way of saying that what you have in the darkest areas is pure noise, not detail. Making the darks "brighter" will only amplify noise and severe mottling. Dark detail was crushed in the camera. Opening the file in VirtualDub improperly might have crushed dark detail more. But....c'est la vie.

A quick try with ColorYUV, TemporalDegrain, QTGMC, GradFunc2DBmod, NeatVideo, gradation curves, ColorMill. Didn't have time to experiment with the dark mottling. But this would be a good study for trying to see what Dither() and its version of Dfftest can do.

night-TD_QGF_vd2.mpg (PAL, 66MB)


[Attachment 13520 - Click to enlarge]

[cd090580]

The video is terrifically underexposed -- which is another way of saying that what you have in the darkest areas is pure noise, not detail. Making the darks "brighter" will only amplify noise and severe mottling. Dark detail was crushed in the camera. Opening the file in VirtualDub improperly might have crushed dark detail more. But....c'est la vie.

Do you know what setting (if possible at all) I can change in the camera to have a better video quality (I tried Color Slow Shutter, the colors are great but but video is not fluid anymore, like it was shooted at 1-2 fps).

The camcorder is a Sony: DCR-HC62E ( http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/DCR-HC62E/specifications )
User guide: http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/3278986112.pdf

[sanlyn]

As far as I can see, Color Slow Shutter is not an "exposure" setting. The settings I see that might be suitable for the scene you photographed could be "Twilight", "Candle", or "Fireworks". No automatic setting can adjust precisely for every light situation. All auto settings work on calculated "averages", most of which exist in the imaginations of the people who design the settings. In such situations you need to learn to take your own exposure readings and set aperture, ISO, and other operations manually. Doing so successfully is partially the reult of some basic technical knowledge about light, and partially the result of experience with similar situations. Or, try some of the suggested settings and see which one will suit the situation.

I'm not sure what you mean by the video being "not fluid". The sample video and the uploaded video are the same duration and 25fps frame speed, and the audio in on sync and proper pitch in both. Maybe your Color Slow Shutter had something to do with that.

Your video sample used a proprietary SONY dvsd codec not found on many computers, so I had to use DirectShowSource to open the video. That might have some affect.

[cd090580]

I did not upload a sample with the Slow Color Shutter enabled.

[Cornucopia]

@Sanlyn, please don't send him off on a wild goose chase.
"DVSD" is the standard fourCC for "Digital Video SD" aka DV. Most DV codecs co-opt the dvsd moniker for their brand (Sony, Panasonic, Pinnacle, Matrox). This allows the standard Directshow MS DV codec reader installed in ALL versions of Windows to be able to read it correctly, regardless of manufacturer.
The lone wolf in most DV scenarios was Canopus, which used a "CDVC" moniker, breaking the usual setup and requiring that only their codec be used for both encode & decode. Big reason why it wasn't the most popular.
Of course, we here know that the DV data is ~the same in any of those versions, so just changing the fourCC would make one kind able to be read by another kind.

As stated in the OP, the camcorder is a standard miniDV camera, hence the dvsd.

All your other suggestions were quite helpful, though...

The camera shoots 50i (25 Frames per second, 50 fields), so the shutter speed would normally be 1/50th second, but with AutoNS or the Slow Color Shutter enabled it slows to 1/2 of that (1/25th sec), which would make the EQUIVALENT motion be 12.5 Fps (as per the manual, and yes you should consider that an exposure setting). But since cd090580 states that no clips with "Slow Color Shutter" were uploaded, it might not be that.
However, if they didn't know that AutoNS also slowed the shutter, it's possible those clips were done that way, and that could account for what Sanlyn was seeing.

Scott

[sanlyn]

(I tried Color Slow Shutter, the colors are great but but video is not fluid anymore, like it was shooted at 1-2 fps).

Sorry, I see you said that you tried that setting, but I misunderstood. I see that you didn't use it in your sample.

[sanlyn]

Cornucopia....my concern was whether or not the original video was recompressed with a lossy codec when the sample was made and whether it went the YUV->RGB->YUV route. I know about 4cc codecs. I don't know anyone (including a couple of SONY owners) who has that codec on their PC available for Avisynth. I could play it, but couldn't open it as vanilla AVI. I work with video on four PC's, it's tough enough syncing them with the same Avisynth/Virtualdub plugins, let alone every known codec. Anyway, I saw signs of lossy recompression. Even if badly exposed, I haven't seen DV source shimmer like this one. But it's the O.P.'s video, he can use whatever he wants.

Yes, shutter speed affects exposure, as does aperture. Don't know what I was thinking there, I meant to say the camera still produced 25fps in the sample. But that's because I misunderstood the O.P.'s remarks about the shutter setting.

Gosh. Wonder if the original source looks exactly like the sample.

[poisondeathray]

Windows doesn't ship with a VFW DV codec - you need to install one if you want to use something like avisource() in avisynth (which relies on VFW) e.g. cedocedia . vdub does come with an internal DV decoder, so vdub alone should be able to open it directly

DV camcorders are very noisy, and have very bad low light performance - this is probably the original source. If everything else is equal, the smaller the sensor , the worse the low light performance. DV cams from that period used tiny sensors, like 1/6 of an inch

I don't know if this model has controls for gain , but increasing gain will increase the noise as well. The only satisfactory way to improve this type of shot is use external lighting (would would probably not be possible) or another camera

[sanlyn]

Yes, poisondeathray, I meant to say a VFW DV codec isn't around here. Need a refresher course in Techy Vacabulary 101, I guess.

Come to think of it, 10 years ago I watched a bat mitzvah DV recording that looked worse than the VHS version shot by someone else.

[jagabo]

AviSource() needs a VFW DV decoder. Windows only includes a DirectShow decoder. Cedocida or ffdshow will work.

[cd090580]

Anyway, I saw signs of lossy recompression. Even if badly exposed, I haven't seen DV source shimmer like this one. But it's the O.P.'s video, he can use whatever he wants.

This sample has not been recompressed. I just cut parts with Virtualdub and direct stream copy mode.

The videos was recoded in DV SP (60 min, 16 bit audio) and transferred to my pc with WinDV

[sanlyn]

Thanks for the info, cd090580. That's the correct way AFAIK. I admit, night time photo-video is difficult and tricky. Fortunately, lots of digital gear has a preview screen, sometimes you just have to make a few samples and check before moving ahead. Automation works sometimes, but sometimes it makes things difficult.

[cd090580]

I shot another video and the colors are better and more saturated.

Sample is here: http://www.terafiles.net/v-152648.html

Video is DV, 720*576 16/9 ratio 25fps

The dark is not very dark, so what settings can I use to make the dark darker but without reducing the luminosity (if it's possible at all). Also, what denoiser can be use to reduce a little the noise ? Maybe neatvideo (I can download the trial to test)?

I can use Avisynth or Virtualdub to filter. I also have Vegas but I don't know which filter I can use.

So, what can settings can I use to make it more "professionnal" and look better on a 32" LCD TV.
Thanks

[jagabo]

Start around here:

AviSource("sample_citadelle_2.avi")
ColorYUV(off_y=-34, gamma_y=150, gain_y=150, cont_u=100, cont_v=100)
TTempSmooth(maxr=7, lthresh=20, cthresh=30, strength=5)



Adjust to your liking.

off_y controls the black level
gamma_y brings out details in dark areas without blowing out bright areas
gain_y brightens the picture
cont_u and cont_v increase the contrast

[sanlyn]

wow, jagabo and cd090580, better results. You can see what those myseterious shapes in background actually look like (I was thinking they were big trees).

[cd090580]

I just change the following two settings in the camcorder for this new shot:

* Use manual exposure (set to max)
* Enabled AutoSlow Shutter (reduce shutter speed to 1/25th second in dark areas)