Vhs/DVD clarity question

[sanlyn]

As manono says, I used a rather standard set of filters, each with a ton of settings that are tweaked for specific problems. I did nothing "unusual". I used Avisynth, which works from a command-line text script, and its output was monitored in VirtualDub. You watch the output, make adjustments, watch it again, adjust again, etc., etc. There's a learning curve involved in analyzing problems, choosing which filters and settings to apply, knowing when enough is enough, and knowing what the limitations are with a piece of video. Another user might have done something different, but basically the same things.

I'm 70 years old but I really do try to learn as I go along and I am fairly saavy on most of the technology that is available to us all. I just haven't gotten involved with this subject until now. I'm very curious!!

LOL! well, I have a little more age on you. Maybe that's why I'm one of the more persnickity and cranky members around here. But I started 12 years ago. I learned from people like manono, and by watching and studying what others did. I admit, they have a devil of a time with me now and then -- but we're still talking.

A pro shop would use similar methods and software. But their tape players would be far better. Some of their shop electronics and software are more sophisticated than most of us can afford, but we mere mortals manage to get pretty good results with what we have. However, nowadays there are lots of people around who call themselves pro's, when they're really just paid amateurs who know less than many members here. We can recommend at least one REAL pro who is a long standing member.

You need a place to start where you can get a basic handle on this stuff. Unfortunately there's no single post here, mostly individual guides for specific software and hardware. I often wonder why. But many members got their start at www.digitalfaq.com. Here is a link to several articles in their basic video and capture guide: http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video.htm . Some of the equipment discussed is a bit dated, but the methods and principles have not changed. Their home page also lists restoration services, managed by one of our members (lordsmurf), who is highly recommended

Another informative guide has demos and working examples of specific Avisynth usage and filters. This site specializes in anime (animation) but almost all of the filters discussed here can be used with "real" video (I used a couple of them on your sample clip). It's a long page with lots of images; click the filter name under an image to see the results, and compare back-and-forth: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech31/post-qual.html.

A better VCR would make a vast difference. Working models of the good stuff are difficult to come by. I use some well-kept or repaired Panasonics from the mid to late 1990's, going thru 7 purchasers on eBay over the years to collect 4 good working models. I also had a couple of high-end JVC's that eventually bit the dust. Just finding a good VCR can be a trek in itself. Other gear that I collected are a couple of older DVD recorders used for recording off cable TV and as line-tbc pass thru units -- something else covered by several forum threads. Rather than use push-button software packages such a those all-in-ones you see at BestBuy, I use separate editors, encoders, and authoring programs. You get better results with specialized equipment, without spending a great deal. The big-buck "pro" stuff from Adobe and SONY are OK, but you're buying features you'll likely never use -- and there are even better filters and encoders at far lower cost. HCenc itself is a pro-quality MPEG/DVD encoder, and it's free.

Try the links above. They've served as effective starting points for many who are members here.

[Caiosouza]

Hello, Oldretiredguy
I'll try to help you in the best possible way from the beginning,to you understand how the process works so you can use the codes in your videos, ok
But honestly, if I had a good financial situation like your, and the video has great value to you, I would send a copy of the video source for someone like sanlyn or Jagabo, and let them work quietly for obtain the best possible result, and pay generously reward the work.
While I spend my time with things more accessible for the moment, as a simple video editing
But also know that this has become a personal challenge for you,do not think you are a fool,if you do not get everything you want immediately, requires a lot of patience.

STEP 1

You need VirtualDub
Take this: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-conversion/1727-virtualdub-filters-pre.html

Let me know when you already have it, and can open

Then go to step 2

[jagabo]

Is this a second generation VHS tape? Ie, not the original tape recorded by the camcorder?

Good conversion of VHS to DVD (or other digital format) starts with a good VHS deck. The first thing to look for is a deck with with a line time base corrector. That stabilizes the horizontal sync, mostly eliminating horizontal jitter:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/306272-Computer-video-capture-vs-vcr-to-dvd-combo?p...=1#post1882662
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319420-Who-uses-a-DVD-recorder-as-a-line-TBC-and-wh...=1#post1983288

Jitter eats up bitrate when encoding for DVD (or other high compression codecs). Jitter reduction has to be done before the video is captured. You can get it with a good S-VHS deck or some DVD recorders used in pass through mode (running the video signal through the recorder, not recording onto DVD). Unfortunately, good S-VHS decks haven't been manufactured in many years. Getting a used one in good working condition is an expensive crap shoot. Your best bet is to find a professional that has the proper equipment and have him do the digitization for you. If you want to play with the video yourself have them deliver it in a lossless compressed format, not a DVD or some other lossy compressed format. Don't let them use the noise reduction or sharpening circuits built in the S-VHS deck or video capture device. That will create ghosting and halo artifacts which are hard to remove later. You can get better noise reduction and sharpening in software -- with a lot of work, and knowing what you're doing.

Regarding the sharpness of your video, the biggest problem is there isn't much detail in the MPEG 2 source (a consequence of MPEG 2 compression, maybe noise reduction in the VHS deck or capture device, and maybe because this is a second generation tape) especially after reducing the blocky artifacts caused by MPEG 2 compression. After deblocking and sharpening you end up with flat shaded areas between sharpened edges. That makes it look very cartoonish.

[sanlyn]

I'm in full agreement with jagabo's advice, and I second it. I don't know that it's a 2nd generation tape (but it could be), but it also looks like EP slow speed, and recorded with a DVD/VCR combo (that's a guess, but that's what it looks like). Not every player is accomplished with such tapes, but many are. A pro shop, as jagabo suggests, could make a much better digital master for you using a lossless format. That would be a large file, perhaps 35-40 GB for a 90-minute tape using huffyuv or Lagarith compression, but you could have the tapes captured over several smaller files. It would make the best archive, usually on an external hard drive, for current or future use. From that point you could filter, tweak and encode to your heart's content with no harm to the original.

One can tweak poor captures and rework bad encodes, but you can't create detail that isn't in the original capture. All one can do is remove some noise, improve levels and color, try to clean some bad edges and frame rips, etc.

@oldretriredguy (and I'm one of those old retired guys), you needs a better VCR, some sort of line tbc or pass-thru device, and a better capture device. Capturing old and damaged tape directly to DVD at low bitrates without help from better components is not the way to improve old videos. It won't happen by throwing more filters at a poor capture. It's apparently within your means to learn to do it properly with better gear, even if can be a pain in the neck sometimes to do it that way. What we describe as a "better" way is really the way more advanced users do it....and they get the results you're looking for.

The two images below are interlaced frames captured in VirtualDub. As interlaced, you'll see some rough interlaced edges; they won't look that way in deinterlacing players or on TV. The images are from the original m2v (top) and from the posted mkv (bottom). Each image has an RGB histogram that I used in VirtualDub. Histograms are a great aid in analyzing many problems.

The top image from the original has very poor detail. Remember, you can't enhance detail that doesn't exist. But it's made a little worse as shown in the histogram: the spectrum of colors is displaced to the right (bright) end, with color jammed against the right-hand edge -- indicating blown-out brights. Once that detail is destroyed during capture, you'll never see it again. It is photographed in subdued light in the shade, so it will never look like bright sunlight. But the raised gamma and lack of darker blacks makes it look washed out and lacking depth. Despite the fact that the red color band is shifted more to the right than the other colors, the image has a blue color cast. The cat is gray, and so is the trunk of the plant and the soil in the box. Raising brights and midtones masks many textures in the tree, foliage, and lawn.


[Attachment 21546 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 21547 - Click to enlarge]

(bottom image) Besides some noise removal and sharpening, using color and other image controls brings some natural color to the cat, and even to the small tree which now looks more like wood. Some of the brighter details were rescued by lowering contrast. Restoring proper black levels brings more "perceived" detail and texture into everything, and colors are more dimensional and lifelike. Over sharpening will unfortunately create many of the artifacts that were removed; it won't create more detail. From the bottom image it becomes obvious that removing noise with no detail to work with can have odd effects, especially with poor definition and mostly noise to begin with.

The DVD recorder does seem to have a minimal tbc, although judging from the amount of shimmer and object displacement in the video it doesn't appear to be very effective. The tape player used doesn't seem capable of drawing more data from the original tape (if it exists to begin with), and is not tracking properly. The low bitrate does more damage: there simply are not enough data bits to allow the encoder to describe fine detail and fast motion accurately. You should give more info about the player and recorder used.

At the risk of scaring the hell out of you, I'm attaching a copy of the Avisynth script I used for the mkv. The text file has comments on lines that begin with "# -----". These lines are comments, not executable code. Avisynth ignores them. But I want to caution: the amount of filtering used in this script SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY with a better capture. Filters are destructive to some extent. I have made captures from VHS tape to lossless AVI that required hardly any work, except encoding to higher bitrates. The stand-alone encoders that you can get in our tools section or buy online are better than those in today's DVD recorders.

Don't even try to understand the script; the only part that counts are the comments, which describe why certain steps were taken. It's nothing more than a demonstration of the work required to clean up a poor capture. Better captures are far, far easier than this! If you browse the restoration section you'll see projects using steps that are far more complicated than this.

[Oldretiredguy]

There is something strange going on here. I have had two posts that just evaporated and never showed up in this thread. I have no idea where they went but they were both in answer to other posts where questions were asked. I will have to try to re-enter them. I have no idea where they went.

Ray

[Oldretiredguy]

Hello, Oldretiredguy
I'll try to help you in the best possible way from the beginning,to you understand how the process works so you can use the codes in your videos, ok
But honestly, if I had a good financial situation like your, and the video has great value to you, I would send a copy of the video source for someone like sanlyn or Jagabo, and let them work quietly for obtain the best possible result, and pay generously reward the work.
While I spend my time with things more accessible for the moment, as a simple video editing
But also know that this has become a personal challenge for you,do not think you are a fool,if you do not get everything you want immediately, requires a lot of patience.

STEP 1

You need VirtualDub
Take this: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-conversion/1727-virtualdub-filters-pre.html

Let me know when you already have it, and can open

Then go to step 2

Thanks for your help. I will get started right away but I have some other "honey-do's" that must be attended to first.

Ray

[sanlyn]

Lord, I hate those honey-do's. I just had 4 days worth! I guess it's better than many alternative life-styles. If you're like me, you announce that you're "retired" and then comes the horde of people who think you have nothing to do. It's all downhill from there.

I've spent a lot of time on heavy-duty posts (and some quickies), but forgot to hit "Submit". Happens to everyone. Multi-tasking is not my forte.

[Oldretiredguy]

Is this a second generation VHS tape? Ie, not the original tape recorded by the camcorder?

Good conversion of VHS to DVD (or other digital format) starts with a good VHS deck. The first thing to look for is a deck with with a line time base corrector. That stabilizes the horizontal sync, mostly eliminating horizontal jitter:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/306272-Computer-video-capture-vs-vcr-to-dvd-combo?p...=1#post1882662
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319420-Who-uses-a-DVD-recorder-as-a-line-TBC-and-wh...=1#post1983288

Jitter eats up bitrate when encoding for DVD (or other high compression codecs). Jitter reduction has to be done before the video is captured. You can get it with a good S-VHS deck or some DVD recorders used in pass through mode (running the video signal through the recorder, not recording onto DVD). Unfortunately, good S-VHS decks haven't been manufactured in many years. Getting a used one in good working condition is an expensive crap shoot. Your best bet is to find a professional that has the proper equipment and have him do the digitization for you. If you want to play with the video yourself have them deliver it in a lossless compressed format, not a DVD or some other lossy compressed format. Don't let them use the noise reduction or sharpening circuits built in the S-VHS deck or video capture device. That will create ghosting and halo artifacts which are hard to remove later. You can get better noise reduction and sharpening in software -- with a lot of work, and knowing what you're doing.

Regarding the sharpness of your video, the biggest problem is there isn't much detail in the MPEG 2 source (a consequence of MPEG 2 compression, maybe noise reduction in the VHS deck or capture device, and maybe because this is a second generation tape) especially after reducing the blocky artifacts caused by MPEG 2 compression. After deblocking and sharpening you end up with flat shaded areas between sharpened edges. That makes it look very cartoonish.

Thanks for your kind help jagabo, this is a first generation vhs tape. It was all shot with a state of the art (for it's time) portable camera/shoulder pack recorder. It spans a time period from 1985 to 1990. I won't bore you with the details but it is a very valuable record of a time in my wife's and my life. There are people in it that are no longer with us. Anyway, if it wasn't for that I would probably not be doing all this to save it. Back in 07 I had a LiteOn dvd copy machine. I ran the vhs tape into the machine and made the dvd that I tried to view the other day. That was the first time I had tried view the whole thing. About half way through it the screen went all blue and there was no picture or sound lines. I figured that the copy just wasn't there. So, now that I have found the original vhs tape, I hope to be able to save it to dvd. If there was another better medium I would go that direction. I no longer have that dvd copy machine but I have access to a vcr and I have enough computer skills that I figured I could capture the vhs tape to my laptop. I bought online from Amazon yesterday a
Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device


and I am hoping that using that I can get what I need in the simplest way. If you think I have made a mistake, please don't be afraid to tell me. It is returnable.


Ray

[sanlyn]

What VCR?

The Diamond unit isn't well regarded. In particular, it captures to lossy MPEG and is no better than what you used before. This sort of device is late-generation stuff, and sad to say the really good capture cards (for which you need a PC) aren't around these days. Other members who are more familiar with today's capture devices can advise here, as I'm still using All-In-Wonders from a few years ago. Those can be had from sources like auction sites, but you can't use them on a laptop. In fact, working video on laptop other than top of the line models is a tough row to hoe. Not that it's impossible.

Another major point: old, faded, noisy, damaged tape should not be recorded to lossy formats. There is a vast difference between direct recording and capturing to lossless media. "Lossless" means exactly that: what you see is what you get. Cleaning it up and encoding with a better encoder makes a world of difference. It is almost a waste of time with lesser methods, unless your tape sources are really pristine.

I believe this very subject is covered in the digitalfaq capture guide referenced earlier.

[Oldretiredguy]

QUOTED------
At the risk of scaring the hell out of you, I'm attaching a copy of the Avisynth script I used for the mkv. The text file has comments on lines that begin with "# -----". These lines are comments, not executable code. Avisynth ignores them. But I want to caution: the amount of filtering used in this script SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY with a better capture. Filters are destructive to some extent. I have made captures from VHS tape to lossless AVI that required hardly any work, except encoding to higher bitrates. The stand-alone encoders that you can get in our tools section or buy online are better than those in today's DVD recorders.

Don't even try to understand the script; the only part that counts are the comments, which describe why certain steps were taken. It's nothing more than a demonstration of the work required to clean up a poor capture. Better captures are far, far easier than this! If you browse the restoration section you'll see projects using steps that are far more complicated than this. Attached Files

• VTS01_script.txt (3.1 KB, 0 views)

Thanks for taking so much time to try to explain all the mumbo jumbo. I did read through that text file and some of it makes sense but most doesn't. It's mostly because I don't know what all the jargon is about. When anybody uses a 3 or 4 letter (can't remember the word) name for something there should be an explanation as to what it means. Like RAM. Back in the day, I had no idea of what that meant until someone told me it's random access memory. And so on. Anyway, the more I hang out here and read your posts I am starting to maybe see the light. But I have a long way to go. Now if we were talking about tools or cars or mechanical stuff I would be in my realm. But this is all new so I have to start all over in the learning curve. Please bear with me.


Thanks again,


Ray

[sanlyn]

Hey, no one would expect a newcomer to grasp all of that script. It's just an example. People who have used this stuff for a while can rattle it off helter-skelter. I think you need to consult one of the guides mentioned earlier -- you have to start somewhere, after all. You should have seen me scratching my head the first time I saw a script or making a fist at my monitor the first time I tried using VirtualDub ("easy to navigate, user-friendly interface". Yeah, right. Took me a week, and my wife sitting there making jokes).

I like to tell the story of my very first DVD. A full 15-minute extravaganza recorded off cable TV to my computer. Ran through all the steps with Pinnacle software, took me two days to finally burn it to DVD disc. I put it in my player and closed the front drawer, eagerly awaiting revelation. The player thought about it for a few seconds, then spit it right back out at me. I finally figured it out. I joined the forum at about that time.

[Oldretiredguy]

What VCR?

The Diamond unit isn't well regarded. In particular, it captures to lossy MPEG and is no better than what you used before. This sort of device is late-generation stuff, and sad to say the really good capture cards (for which you need a PC) aren't around these days. Other members who are more familiar with today's capture devices can advise here, as I'm still using All-In-Wonders from a few years ago. Those can be had from sources like auction sites, but you can't use them on a laptop. In fact, working video on laptop other than top of the line models is a tough row to hoe. Not that it's impossible.

Another major point: old, faded, noisy, damaged tape should not be recorded to lossy formats. There is a vast difference between direct recording and capturing to lossless media. "Lossless" means exactly that: what you see is what you get. Cleaning it up and encoding with a better encoder makes a world of difference. It is almost a waste of time with lesser methods, unless your tape sources are really pristine.

I believe this very subject is covered in the digitalfaq capture guide referenced earlier.

As to the VCR, I can't remember what it was now. I think it might have been a RCA or Zenith but that part of my memory is blank. At the time it was considered one of the better ones but who knows? That might have just been the Consumers Guide opinion.

Now the Diamond gadget is just that? I will return it. I was just looking for some way to capture the video to my laptop and bring it home to work with. I do have a PC but it is an older one that I built. Nothing fancy and about 6 years old. Running XP Home svc pak 3. I have a LiteOn dvd burner in it. The processor is a bit on the slow side. I have been thinking about building a better machine but since I do most of what I do on my laptop it has been put on the back burner. Maybe now it will come to the front.

R

[sanlyn]

I still use XP, and so do a great many people. My capture PC is home-made from 2007, with some 2004 parts. I can process video on it as well; it's pretty slow for that, so I've built a new one. Yet, I still do a lot of work on the old one. It would be better than a laptop. You never know how slow a laptop can be until you try to run VirtualDub and some filters on it...then you'll find out what "slow" means.

A note on new PC"s: Win7/8, etc. Many preferred capture devices won't work with it. Almost all of them will work with XP.

[Oldretiredguy]

Hello, Oldretiredguy
I'll try to help you in the best possible way from the beginning,to you understand how the process works so you can use the codes in your videos, ok
But honestly, if I had a good financial situation like your, and the video has great value to you, I would send a copy of the video source for someone like sanlyn or Jagabo, and let them work quietly for obtain the best possible result, and pay generously reward the work.
While I spend my time with things more accessible for the moment, as a simple video editing
But also know that this has become a personal challenge for you,do not think you are a fool,if you do not get everything you want immediately, requires a lot of patience.

STEP 1

You need VirtualDub
Take this: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-conversion/1727-virtualdub-filters-pre.html

Let me know when you already have it, and can open

Then go to step 2

Ok, I have put VirtuaDub on my computer and it can be opened. So, I guess we need to go to step 2.

R

[sanlyn]

If you want to quote directly from a post, go that post and hit the "Quote" button just to lower-right of the post. You can also edit that "quote" in the reply window rather than copy the whole thing. Just make sure you leave the

and

markers as-is. It will make your replies easier to read.

Today's VCR's are real crappo units. The best of them were made 1995-1998, and few just before 2001. After 2000, forget it. Those in working order are not easy to get nowadays. I got a prtty good 1998 Panasonic from a charity store for $15. It really looked like a disaster on the outside but it did have its remote and it was priced right if I had to ditch it. It actually played slow EP tapes like dynamite and I've used it ever since. Finding a good VCR from those years is a bit tricky, but I saw about 10 of them on eBay last week (yep, I keep looking!).

Jagabo's idea of having someone make a lossless master is also good. For one thing, that would be the highest-qiality permanent archive you could get. The tech in charge at digitalfaq.com might be able to do that for you, or he could recommend someone who can. The members name is lordsmurf. You can contact him at the digitalfaq site.

[Oldretiredguy]

Thanks Sanlyn, I knew that but for some reason I tried to do a copy/paste to make the entry shorter. I will use the quote feature.

R

[sanlyn]

You can shorten the quote by deleting the lines you don't want, the same way you edit your own text in the Reply window. For example, here's part of a "quote" from your last post with some of the words deleted:

I knew that but for some reason I tried to do a

[Oldretiredguy]

Got it. Won't happen again. By the way, I just registered on the Digitalfaq forum site and posed a question as to who to use in my area that might be able to correctly give me either a copy of my vhs or even do a copy to dvd. I take that if I get a good lossless copy of the tape, I will have something to work with as far as fixing the quality. Is that correct?

Ray

[sanlyn]

You will be miles ahead of where you are now. Definitely. You'll need to learn a bit about processing, but very likely you won't have to throw 50-plus lines of code and 6 VirtualDub filters at every piece you work with. You can also make it look however you want, make multiple versions, make shorties so you won't put relatives to sleep watching long videos. And so forth.

[Caiosouza]

Ok, I have put VirtuaDub on my computer and it can be opened. So, I guess we need to go to step 2.

R

STEP 2:
Nice, now you have to have avisynth, which can be downloaded here and install (in step 3 we put the necessary Plugins):
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Avisynth

Do not be alarmed, it will not appear as an executable program.

Tell me when you're done, you'll also need DGIndex and AvsPmod (download and install)

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AvsP (This here will serve to create the script with the codes)

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/DGMPGDec (This here will serve to separate the audio from the video (demux)

[Oldretiredguy]

Ok, I have put VirtuaDub on my computer and it can be opened. So, I guess we need to go to step 2.

R

STEP 2:
Nice, now you have to have avisynth, which can be downloaded here and install (in step 3 we put the necessary Plugins):
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Avisynth

Do not be alarmed, it will not appear as an executable program.

Tell me when you're done, you'll also need DGIndex and AvsPmod (download and install)

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AvsP (This here will serve to create the script with the codes)

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/DGMPGDec (This here will serve to separate the audio from the video (demux)

Done.

R

[sanlyn]

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AvsP (This here will serve to create the script with the codes)

I think perhaps oldretiredguy might want to hold off on AvspMod for a while. It's rather buggy, doesn't sit well with many plugins, is useless overhead for some, the viewer is rather inflexible compared with Virtualdub's, adding VDub filters to output gets tricky, and unless you're accustomed to AvspMod's foibles it can really get in a newcomer's way.

oldretiredguy, you might first want to get accustomed to VirtualDub and to running scripts with it. VDub is more intuitive, and there are many things you'll be doing in VDub anyway whether or not you ever use Avisynth. You should start with brief video clips such as the sample you posted. Trying to decode and work with 2 hours of video at a stretch makes for a difficult life. And everyone makes a dozen changes as tests, anyway.

Now that you have the basic software downloaded, it might be helpful to be able to make quick looks at your MPEG videos without having to write scripts. You can do that directly with VirtualDub. But you'll need a couple of decoders for VirtualDub to read your VOB's and m2v's. Keep on mind that these VOBs' and m2v's are really MPEG2 in disguise (MPEG2 is the standard encoder/decoder codec for DVD). Why do they use different file endings for the same thing? Ya got me, but internally the different file ending types do have different header info that the players see but you don't.

The two VDub plugins from FccHandler's site that you'll need to look at MPEG2:
MPEG1/MPEG2 video plugin: http://gral.y0.pl/~fcchandler/Plugins/MPEG2/MPEG2.zip
Dolby Ac3 audio plugin: http://gral.y0.pl/~fcchandler/Plugins/AC3/AC3.zip

Do yourself a quick favor. You will be collecting VDub and Avisynth free filters and utilities. They always come as .zip or .rar downloads that contain several files with the plugins themselves. Make a folder called VDub downloads, and another called Avisynth downloads. Or just add those folder names to an existing VirtualDub or Avisynth folder. Download new stuff into those folders, and make a subfolder for each filter that you download. I think you will see the reason for this immediately. Some of these zip packages come with multiple versions of the plugin and another load of text and ini and html files. All you want to have in your real VirtualDub "plugins" folder or your real AviSynth "plugins" folder are the plugins. Nothing else.

FccHandler's plugins are easy: Downlaod the zip, unzip it, and copy the Vdub plugin (a ".vdf" file) into the VirtualDub/plugins32 folder. If your VirtualDub folder doesn't have a "plugins32" subfolder, just create one in the main VirtualDub folder.

FccHandler has a bunch of VDub plugins for some other video and audio formats. You could probably use everything on his main page, including the AAC and AC-3 general audio codecs (which can be used by VDub and other players). The one thing you won't ever need is the "VirtualDub-MPEG2 1.6.9" program, which is another (obsolete) version of VirtualDub. Just skip that one. The other plugins are on this page: http://gral.y0.pl/~fcchandler/

Once you have the VirtualDub plugins copied, you can open your m2v sample directly in VDub, or even open your VOB files directly from disc and see (and hear) what's there. If Vdub skips a bit when "playing" these files now and then., remember that it's an editor and filter loader, not a media player. You can't have everything, especially at these prices. If you load a big video such as a whole VOB file, give VDub a minute or two to decode it for display, after which you can browse and skip to your heart's content.

Now to get a brief revelation, load your m2v sample file into VirtualDub and play it, one frame at a time with the frame-by-frame cursor keys. If you think you see noise and disturbance when it plays normally, wait until you see it frame by frame.

Next, you will need a quick guide to VirtualDub and one for Avisynth. I'll see if I can find the most recent ones.

[Caiosouza]

Done.

R

STEP 3:

Put filters in avisynth

I do not know what filters sanlyn applying in your project, but certainly these filters are useful:

All of the support plugins required by QTGMC are in a package that you can download here: http://www.spirton.com/uploads/QTGMC/QTGMC%2032-bit%20Plugins%20%5BVit-Mod%5D.zip That package to a separate folder,Instructions are inside.


The package of plugins (MCT_required.zip) can be downloaded here (https://forum.videohelp.com/attachments/19036-1374867528/MCT_Required.zip). Download it to a new folder and unzip. Inside you'll see an "Avisynth plugins" folder. Copy those plugins into your Avisynth plugins folder. NOTE: There is some duplication in the MCTD plugins; QTGMC uses many of the same filters. Copy and transfer only the plugins that you don't have already for QTGMC.

If necessary do this also:

MPEG2Source is a function in the DGMPGDec utility. Download the package here (https://www.videohelp.com/tools/DGMPGDec) and unzip into a folder for its files. When it's unzipped, look in its folder for a file called DGDecode.dll. Make a copy of that dll and paste it in your Avisynth plugins folder.

And install this codec:Lagarith

[sanlyn]

[QUOTE=Caiosouza;2285372]

I do not know what filters sanlyn applying in your project, but certainly these filters are useful:

Those aren't filters. They are codec plugins for viewing MPEG video and AC3 audio in VirtualDub. The page linked also has VirtualDub plugins for other formats.

If you are thinking of using the same script and plugins that were used in your video, they won't be suitable for the samples we've seen so far in this thread. You can't us the same filters and the same settings for everything. The script that I used for the sample video is attached to post #34.

[Oldretiredguy]

Sanlyn, I am going to send my tape to be cleaned and copied to dvd through Digitalfaq. Would I be smart to also have them send me a lossless copy of the tape so I can do some of the stuff that we have been talking about?

R

[sanlyn]

Good choice. The people at digitalfaq do nice work. Yes, a lossless AVI would be indispensible. And as a side note, as mentioned earlier, a lossless capture in Lagarith or huffyuv compression would be among the best permanent archives you could get. A big file, of course, but most people here have archives on eternal hard drives. I have a handful of 2.5" drives for that purpose (thank goodness for Black Friday prices!).

You could probably get a new caapture setup and use your old XP PC for that, and not a great cost. The problem is getting good used stuff. It's out thre, but you have to hunt for it. Getting it captured by digitalfaq is a better idea for starters.

[Oldretiredguy]

Can any of you give me any feedback on a JVC HR-S 7500U tape player? That is what my neighbor has and I want to play my tape on it one time before I send it off to Digitalfaq.

R

[Caiosouza]

Those aren't filters. They are codec plugins for viewing MPEG video and AC3 audio in VirtualDub. The page linked also has VirtualDub decoders for other formats.

If you are thinking of using the same script and plugins that were used in your video, they won't be suitable for the samples we've seen so far in this thread. You can't use the same filters and the same settings for everything. The script that I used for the sample video is attached to post #34. In fact that script could be tweaked some more (I think I set MCTD too high. WIll re-try it later).

Ok, but I'm not telling him to apply these filters in your project, I know that every case and a case, but can be useful in some instance, and so he already has the, either way it'll be already equipped with some well necessary things
My goal was not derail your design line, but rather answer a specific request by john on how to become familiar with everything, regarding AvspMod he was useful only to open the location of the source video and add the command lines and save as .avs (not run anything through it)

I hope that somehow I've helped he,
hug

[jagabo]

Remember, two hours of losslessly compressed VHS is going to run around 70 GB. Find yourself a good deal on a USB drive to send to them.

[Oldretiredguy]

Remember, two hours of losslessly compressed VHS is going to run around 70 GB. Find yourself a good deal on a USB drive to send to them.

Thanks Jagabo, I didn't know that they would need a h/d to copy to. I just figure that they would put it on tape. Goes to show what I know. Anyway, I'll get a drive and send it with the tape. I have purchased a couple of laptop drives from Buy.com which is now Rakuten.com. Do you have any other suggestions on a place to buy drives? And should I try to stay under 100 gig? Just wondering.......


Ray