Filters to enhance clarity of picture

[raj11]

Hi Friends,

For last 1 year, I buy DVDs and rip those; In this process, I know that I have upgraded myself a lot; BUT still I know that I need to go ahead and ahead...

Nowadays, I am facing a problem lot... While doing the rip, I am not satisfied as the picture quality is not up to the mark; brightness is there; but I WANT TO ENHANCE THE CLARITY OF THE PICTURE....

Please let me know, some filters which can help me to improve the picture quality so that it feels like talking with some one in one hand distance....

I use Avisynth - Megui..

Thanks..

[davexnet]

Improve upon the DVD? It seems unlikely. Perhaps you should post
an extract showing the problem.

[manono]

Improve upon the DVD? It seems unlikely.

He's in India, you'll notice. It's quite likely the picture can be improved as Indian DVDs are among the very worst in the world. As you suggested, a short sample will be needed for us to be able to make suggestions.

[raj11]

Thanks for the reply.. I will definitely add after returning from office. Only one question I have.. How should I give the sample? Video clip for 2-3 mins?? will it be enough? In that case, I need to give link of the uploaded clip. Right friends?

[manono]

How should I give the sample? Video clip for 2-3 mins?? will it be enough?

More than enough. Too much even. Ten well chosen seconds will be plenty. No one needs the audio so, open a VOB in DGIndex. Scroll to a place that shows the problem you're trying to correct. Also make sure there's some steady movement in the selection. Use the [ and ] buttons to isolate the section and then File->Save Project and Demux Video. Upload the resulting M2V here if it's small enough (30 MB, I think), or to Sendspace or MediaFire and provide a link.

[raj11]

@manono, Please download the file and let me know some filters through which I can make the quality superb.

[SallyDog]

ooops, you forgot the m2v file

[sanlyn]

check.zip is an ac3 audio file and a d2v project file. No video there. You want the m2v.

[raj11]

check.zip is an ac3 audio file and a d2v project file. No video there. You want the m2v.

But how can I get that m2v file?? plsss help.

[raj11]

Another thing, when I open Megui --> Ctrl + R --> when I drag and drop this d2v file, I get the video; I thought this is asked for; if not, what I have to do?

[poisondeathray]

check.zip is an ac3 audio file and a d2v project file. No video there. You want the m2v.

But how can I get that m2v file?? plsss help.

Follow manono' s instructions above

Use DGIndex ; file=>save project and demux video

open a VOB in DGIndex. Scroll to a place that shows the problem you're trying to correct. Also make sure there's some steady movement in the selection. Use the [ and ] buttons to isolate the section and then File->Save Project and Demux Video. Upload the resulting M2V here if it's small enough (30 MB, I think), or to Sendspace or MediaFire and provide a link.

[raj11]

Yaaaa, this time I am successfull. Hope it is fine now.

[manono]

1. I asked you to provide a video that shows the problem and has movement. A selection of two men standing and talking isn't that. Out of the entire movie that's the best you could do?
2. Like many Indian movies on DVD, it's field-blended from a PAL source and needs SRestore to unblend it and return it to its PAL framerate.
3. It has a godawful ugly logo and I remove those things. Unfortunately, removing it will leave behind a blur that many don't like. I don't care as I hate the nasty things.
4. Like most field-blended DVDs, the colors are desaturated and it looks dull and lifeless. I usually saturate the colors a bit and sharpen up the movie as well.
4. I can't tell about the levels - if they need juicing up as well. It's an outdoor scene and maybe it needs some 'brightening up'.

[sanlyn]

Someone has certainly done something with black levels (the darkest details are badly crushed, to the point where I doubt they could be completely restored), and the images are already too bright. The usual "contrast" increase won't work because blacks and highlights are off the walls of both sides of a histogram, despite the fact that the images look washed out. So a simple contrast + saturation won't play here. There's a huge gap on the histogram between RGB 30 or so and the midtones, which gives the pale look.

I'll have to fiddle with this a bit tonight in YUV and then RGB, maybe work with gamma until things can be juiced up a bit without distorting what's left.

[sanlyn]

Didn't have time to address the blended-fields issue with SRestore, but tackled levels and color. I notice Indian cinematographers are quite competent; they would never set colors the way they look in the source. I started in YUV with this:

ColorYUV(cont_y=-70,gamma_y=-40,off_y=-3)

to get things into 16-240 range. Then, converted to RGB and starting with gradation curves:


[Attachment 13742 - Click to enlarge]

The VirtualDub filters used were ColorMill, gradation curves, ColorTools, and msharpen. Tweak at will. A .vcf file of the VirtualDub settings is attached as a .zip file, below.

Frame 654:

[Attachment 13743 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 13744 - Click to enlarge]

Frame 1163:

[Attachment 13745 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 13746 - Click to enlarge]

Colors were very slightly tweaked for each shot. They aren't lighted in quite the same way.

[raj11]

WOW!!!! Just Superb Man.. Hats off to u, Sanlyn. Picture quality is just awesome. I am extremely happy. The pictures looks as if it has got the LIFE in itself...

I will try it with Vdub; if facing any problem, defenitely will get back to u.

[raj11]

1. I asked you to provide a video that shows the problem and has movement. A selection of two men standing and talking isn't that. Out of the entire movie that's the best you could do?

Okk.. I am searching for some movements of the characters; Also trying to give Video of inside house.

[manono]

Okk.. I am searching for some movements of the characters; Also trying to give Video of inside house.

That's OK, forget it. I was able to figure out what I needed to know.
However, getting rid of the blending isn't anything you can do in VDub. Deinterlacing it won't fix the problem. You'll need AviSynth for that.

[sanlyn]

I needed Avisynth anyway to get levels and colors into a 16-240 range in YUV before going any further. Just increasing saturation couldn't be done without a "fix" in Avisynth beforehand. Luckily there seems to be very little noise but, still, something like SRestore would have to be done first.

Before going to RGB, work in Avisynth. Then:
ConvertToRGB32(matrix="Rec601",interlaced=true) -- Or, "interlaced = false" if that becomes the case. Don't open the YUV video directly into VirtualDub without that conversion, or black levels and gamma will be a mess; the men will appear to be wearing wigs. Blacks in the source simply disappear at a certain point, and there's no way to get some of it back.

[jagabo]

I'd start somewhere around:

Mpeg2Source("Try.demuxed.d2v", CPU=6, Info=3) 
Yadif(mode=1, order=0)
SRestore()
ColorYUV(off_y=-8, gamma_y=75, cont_u=150, cont_v=150)

[poisondeathray]

<offtopic >

manono - Is there such a thing as a "good" Indian DVD that doesn't have defacing logos, isn't field blended or have other problems ?? Or is it just that the problematic ones get attention in forums like this

[sanlyn]

Related to poisondeathray's question: I see great technical work in India's movies (mostly). But DVD? Nightmares. I don't know what Indian labs do to 'em.

The more you fiddle with raj11's sample, the more you find problems. I had a similar idea as jagabo, but I couldn't control crushed blacks + green or purple hair + gamma washout in YUV alone; processing of both scenes is so different yet so similarly messed up, I had to go to RGB for filters that would maintain some sense of dimension in the images. The deepest blacks look a little better, but some of them are permanently crushed. The first shot was made in total shade, the second in sunlight. I'd rather work delicate color in RGB for stuff like this, because exactly the same settings won't work for both shots. And that doesn't even count the way the transfer lab muffed it.

Below is what I did earlier, but here the VirtualDub filters are run in the AVS script. I made some slight changes in the settings, so a revised .vcf is attached below.

vidpath="E:\forum\raj\"
ppath="D:\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\"
vdpath="D:\VirtualDub\plugins\"
Import(ppath+"QTGMC-3.32.avs")
Import(ppath+"SRestore.avs")

MPEG2Source(vidpath+"Try.demuxed.d2v",CPU=5)
AssumeBFF().QTGMC(preset="very fast")
SRestore()
ColorYUV(cont_y=-70,gamma_y=-40)
TTempSmooth()
Crop(2,56,-2,-56)
AddBorders(2,56,2,56)

ConvertToRGB32(matrix="Rec601",interlaced=false)
LoadVirtualDubPlugin(vdpath+"ColorMill.vdf","ColorMill",1)
ColorMill(25955, 25698, 26212, 25700, 24676, 27488, 27499, 28011, 28013, 25700, 25700, 25700, 25700, 1124, 6148)

LoadVirtualDubPlugin(vdpath+"gradation.vdf","GradCurves",1)
GradCurves(1,"000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f2021222324252627282"\
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LoadVirtualDubPlugin(vdpath+"MSharpen.vdf","MSharpenvdf",1)
MSharpenvdf(80, 16, 0, 0)

ConvertToYV12(interlaced=false)

[manono]

manono - Is there such a thing as a "good" Indian DVD that doesn't have defacing logos, isn't field blended or have other problems ?? Or is it just that the problematic ones get attention in forums like this

Indian DVDs vary between being mediocre at best to being the worst in the world. I work with classic films mostly, and I can count on the fingers of two hands the ones I've seen (out of around a thousand) that weren't field-blended (many of them sourced from PAL VHS tapes and run through cheap standards converter boxes). And those were hard telecined. None of the widescreen ones are 16:9 - none. Even a good percentage of the newest ones have terrible problems. I saw a new one just the other day that was field-blended, and it's a major and very popular and very good film. But many of the newer ones are encoded progressively and are 16:9, but may be lacking in other respects - bad subs, incompetent encoders, logos, crushed blacks and blown whites, you name it.

Here's a thread about the new release field-blended film I mentioned. Note what the guy who actually works in the 'biz' (Schandna) has to say in his second post:

http://zulm.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12375

[sanlyn]

Thanks for the links, manono. Wow, what damage! I often go to sites showing excellent restoral work on DVD's from India, but those links are 4 to 6 years old now. I have to agree with comments in the links, the newer transfers shown look unworkable -- not to mention unwatchable. Sad. IMHO the trend isn't limited to India.

[baunduley]

@sanlyn, @manono there are always two sides of a coin

thanx to the crappy dvd makers. some of the ripper groups are respected like god because of them..... these guys seemed to have lots of knowledge and time.
the movie manono has mentioned has been ripped by DDR and xRG respectively
http://www.desitorrents.com/forums/dvd-rip-releases-228/gangs-wasseypur-2012-dvdrip-1-...6/#post5190539
http://extratorrent.com/torrent/2764343/Gangs+Of+Wasseypur+2012+Hindi+DVDRip+XviD+E-SuB+xRG.html

(if posting of torrent links are against site's rules please remove them and pardon me)


now i'm biting my nails to see how u will rate these groups
because all the newbies from India in this forum (including me) want to rip like them

[sanlyn]

Not all rips come from torrent downloads. If I see that a post is such, I ignore the post. Some of this stuff appears to be hand-me-downs thru so many copies, there's no telling where some of it comes from.

I have only a handful of classics from India. But they are bonafide USA retail issues, and they look gorgeous. I wouldn't waste my time or electric power watching the awful ripoffs.

[sanlyn]

...And added a touch of NeatVideo (at a mere 25% power) to get it a little more snap. Any sharpener would do. There are dozens of other tricks that could be used in Avisynth and/or VirtualDub. Endless possibilities.
raj_try1_PAL_NV.mpg