Restoring Cartoons

[Cornucopia]

@sanlyn: dead link

Scott

[sanlyn]

Fixed it. I used the jpg instead of the png, which screwed up the npage layout.

OOOOps. OK now.

[jagabo]

This was the best I could do with Virtualdub in about 5 minutes.

Adding Tweak(Hue=15, sat=1.5) to my earlier script will get colors and saturation similar to that but keep the white balance adjustments. But I think it looks way over saturated in other shots. ColorYUV(cont_v=100) will also give about that same adjustment. But overall I think ColorYUV(cont_u=-50, cont_v=50) looks better, less over saturated in places.

For those who don't know: cont_u and cont_v in ColorYUV increase the color saturation when positive values are used, decrease the saturation when negative values are used.

[lordsmurf]

Here's a video example where the script causes loss of detail and ghosting. Note how the lines in the curtains largely disappear during the pan. There are ghosts in the piano lid. And the bar that holds the lid open disappears. Once the camera stops panning all those problems get cleaned up. Reducing the TTempSmooth settings will alleviate those problems but you'll get less effective deflickering in still sequences. Maybe someone knows one of the motion compensated temporal noise reducers that works better.

The TTempSmooth is just too aggressive. The original film has some grain, so it's not just digital noise. You can tolerate some. I think frameserving this into VDub and using some of those NR filters will be better here. Aviysynth is nice, but has it's weaknesses. Maybe a combo of the two.

You need this early in the script:

ChromaShift(C=0, L=-2)

And I think some of the script ordering needs to be changed.

santiag() and AAA() isn't working as well as I'd want, but both are giving better results than santiag alone.

I'm not sure if LSFMod is helping much. In fact, I think it's making things worse, for the edge noise and aliasing.

I've never used HqDering(). Are you using a stock version, or a modded one with MaskTools? I can't find that one either. (I could guess, but would rather have yours.)

Add deen() for edge noise.

I'm still messing with it.

There's different errors per episode. This is an easy one. Several eps in, it has blurring and duplication of fields. SRestore() will be my attack there.

[lordsmurf]

I found HqDeringMod on another site. But I don't see that it doing anything, aside from adding more filter time. What is the purpose of this filter?

I've fixed most everything for this one, and the video is encoding now. The first ep was one of the best, quality-wise. Less issues on this one.

Need to do the audio. Again, one of the better eps here.

The sample I want some input on is the one with blurring -- episode #2.

[jagabo]

I found HqDeringMod on another site. But I don't see that it doing anything, aside from adding more filter time. What is the purpose of this filter?

I don't think HqDering did much here either. I was hoping it would remove some of the DCT ringing. If you find Deen works better go ahead and use that.

I used VirtualDub's DeFlicker. There's the Avisynth version, but it seems to behave differently.

For the OP: I never had much luck with the AviSynth deflicker filter. You can use Donald Graft's deflicker filter for VirtualDub in AviSynth scripts with:

LoadVirtualDubPlugin("g:\Program files\VirtualDub\plugins\deflick.vdf","DeFlick")
ConvertToRGB32() # VirtualDub filters need RGB32
#DeFlick(window size, softening, interlaced, scene change threshold, show scene change)
DeFlick(8, 6, 0, 10, 0)
ConvertToYV12() # assuming want it back to YV12

Change the path to the plugin to reflect where it is on your computer. If you crank this up enough to stabilize the background (the softening setting) you will run into the same type of problems you get with TTempSmooth.

[lordsmurf]

The video on the first one turned out really good. I've fixed all the colors, removed most noise without side effects, etc. But that was the easy one! I'll post samples later. (I shouldn't be doing video on this system. It's not optimized for that.)

What I may do is use this thread to chronicle what I'm doing, per episode, so others can learn. Brief notes here, and detailed ones at the digitalFAQ.com forums. I've not had fun in almost a year now, and this is my idea of fun!

And indeed, it's so I can learn from others if needed! I'm always eager to trade tips! (I'm not one of those a-hole pros that never shares. If you've read my bio, you know I was there myself 15+ years ago, and it sucked. There was no magic internet where you could learn these things yet!)

So stick around jagabo, sanlyn, cornucopia, manono and others! I'm going to subscribe to the thread -- something I rarely do here.

26 eps makes for a nice case study.

[Rugratskid]

I can't wait to see this. I've been interested in the video and audio restoration process for a few years now, and would love to be able to learn more about it. And thanks for helping me out with all this lordsmurf.

[sanlyn]

Playing with Episode 2 (Ostrich). More work than play. Biggest problem(s): (a) I gave up trying to deblend the damn thing. (b) the "flicker" isn't flicker. It's block noise and banding that moves and varies. Literally, large patches of color are missing. No bitrate to work with. Seems to have started as 29.97 telecined, then blend deinterlaced and whatnot to get to 25 FPS (that's a guess, but definitely had 3:2 pulldown at one time). Genius who sought to ruin this video succeeded admirably.

Have to take time off and find some food for the family.

[Rugratskid]

I can post a new version of Ostrich if needed in better bitrate, quality, and color.

[sanlyn]

That would be preferable, thank you.

[Rugratskid]

Episodes 2 and 3 have been updated.

[lordsmurf]

I can post a new version of Ostrich if needed in better bitrate, quality, and color.

1. Always provide the best quality that you can acquire! Do not be lazy, as I despise "good enough" (lazy attitude). I don't need to waste time restoring crap if something else better is available to work from.

2. Always provide alternative sources when available. Even if you think they're worse, they may be easier to restore. Let me decide what's best, and what's not. The obvious exception is if it's truly butchered -- tracking errors encoded into the video, small fuzzy resolutions, etc.

3. And then don't overwrite earlier files -- change the name to "v2" or whatever.

____

I'll be upfront with you, NOT doing that is going to piss me off.
It makes things needlessly complex, and may require extra work that wasn't necessary.

Just communicate what's what at all time. No silent changes, no holding back if you have alternatives.

So, before I start, are there any more that have better/alternative sources?

[Rugratskid]

There's one for episode 17 (Theodore's Dog) It's up now. Episodes 2 and 3 had the same source but were "restored" horribly by friends of mine.

[lordsmurf]

Yeah, the new 2-3 eps are better to work with. Whoever "restored" those just butchered it.

I'm not sure about ep17 -- v1 has good things, v2 has good things. I may try to fix v1 first. The blending and lower res is what makes v2 less desirable. The chroma and audio noise is easily corrected. (Well, easy if you know what you're doing.)

Yeah, it's not easy, but challenging and fun. I always like to think of how I'll have this awesome DVD on a shelf, complete with artwork, pop in my discs with excellent menus, and enjoy my work. I've done this for myself for 20 years now. Rarely does somebody present me something that I'd also like to see, something not easily found.

Have you checked Youtube, DailyMotion, Google search site, and trading forums/groups, to verify that this is indeed the best source around?

Example: This one is better! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzap7s_the-alvin-show-alvin-s-alter-ego_shortfilms

[Rugratskid]

That's actually a old Dailymotion upload of mine :P Must've forgotten about it.

[lordsmurf]

What is this?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10xena_the-alvin-show-episode-1961_shortfilms

[Rugratskid]

Back in September of 2009, one Alvin Show episode was released on DVD. BUT it was from the syndicated run, not the original CBS versions. Nothing new has been released since.

[Rugratskid]

Also, here's a better version of Sam Valiant: Private Nose (Episode 4) It will be on Dropbox soon. I forgot this was one of the episodes I got in trade. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15o9ot_the-alvin-show-sam-valiant-private-nose-syndicated_creation

[lordsmurf]

EDIT: I see what's what now, for the release.

Do you have the DVD release? The download is crap compared to a release.

The most original version of something is always best. Not a later reencode. Sites like Youtube/etc are a last resort. Ideally, you want tapes, MPEG-2 (home conversions), etc -- not download or streaming site versions.

[Rugratskid]

I got this from VEEHD. And I don't have the original DVD.

[lordsmurf]

I have many contacts. Before starting, I'm want to see what else I can get.

Downloads for old shows like this had to start somewhere else -- usually VHS. Those, in turn, may have been converted to DVD using shoddy methods. But still, it's often better than yet another re-encode that you found online. The goal is to locate the tapes and DVDs.

So this is on hold for now.

[Rugratskid]

I got about 10 VHS rips from someone in trade. If you want, I can direct you to that person.

EDIT: Here's the person: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/members/antifrodis.11891/

[jagabo]

Back in September of 2009, one Alvin Show episode was released on DVD. BUT it was from the syndicated run, not the original CBS versions. Nothing new has been released since.

That's probably a good reference for colors, if nothing else.