Advice on a VHS transfer

[LMotlow]

Yep, you're both right. It's Avisynth's builtin TemporalSoften, but toned down a little. It was used in the earlier scripts but was called twice. That looked like too much to me. I'm due back in Tennessee later today, will retrieve those scripts and mine as well. Sorry for misnaming. I type that filter's name incorrectly half the time myself, then wonder what happened, LOL.

[Cherbette]

Yeah the previous scripts really overfiltered the video in my opinion. It was like watching Cher anime.

[LMotlow]

Yeah the previous scripts really overfiltered the video in my opinion. It was like watching Cher anime.

I used about half the steps and filters. Meanwhile I'm still not home, stuck here in an airport. I can't tweak any more for now, but my sister emailed me a copy of the scripts I used for the posted mkv.

Frame 225 before and after. It's a toughie. Looks soft to begin with, probably on purpose. A soft image under an ocean of hard noise. The original already shows signs of blocky noise and banding that you'd get after encoding, so I used lots of dithering. There's still some rainbow leftovers, and top and right border stains. You can throw more plugins at it, but Cher would disappear. I noticed that some of those shiny specs were removed by the fsn filter.




The avs prep script uses elements of the dither plugin (Dither.avs, mt_xxpand_multi.avs, avstp.dll, dither.dll, and the special 16-bit version of mt_masktools-26.dll). The first line sets up up the FSN.vdf VirtualDub plugin.

LoadVirtualDubPlugin("C:\Program Files\VirtualDub\Plugins\fsn.vdf", "FSN",1)

 AViSource(path to Chershowretry1darker.avi)
ColorYUV(off_y=-8)
SmoothLevels(12, 0.95, 255,15,250,chroma=200,limiter=0,tvrange=true,dither=100,protect=6)
HQdering()
AssumeTFF().QTGMC(preset="fast",EZDenoise=2)
Cnr2("xxx",4,5,255)
MergeChroma(FFT3DFilter(bt=3,plane=3))
ChromaShift(c=2)
crop(20,0,-8,-4).AddBorders(14,0,14,4)
Spline16Resize(360,480)
TemporalSoften(3,3,8,15,2)
Spline64Resize(720,480)
DeBlock_QED()
MergeChroma(awarpSharp2(depth=30))
GradFun2dbmod(thr=1.8,mask=false)
grainfactory3(g1str=2, g2str=2, g3str=2).AddGrainC(1.5, 1.5)
Dither_convert_yuv_to_rgb(matrix="601",interlaced=false,tv_range=true,cplace="MPEG2",lsb_in=false,output="rgb32")
FSN(90,80,0,0,1)

Filters and settings I used in VirtualDub. I removed Camcorder Color Denoise -- did more harm than good:

NeatVideo:
- video scan type: progressive
- temporal filter: radius 2, threshold 20
- low-quality noise profile from deinterlaced frame 425 (yellow)
- noise reduction amounts: high 20, Mid 40, Low 40, Y 20, Cb 30, Cr 30
- Sharpen: High 60, Mid 5, Low 0

ColorMill:
levels = Dark -4, Middle +2, Light +5
Saturation: Dark 12, Mid 12, Light 12

Reinterlace and back to YV12, add anti-banding grain after all the previous smoothers, touch up some mild jaggies and add a light detail sharpener I picked up on Doom9:

AviSource(= RGB .avi output from VirtualDub)
Dither_convert_rgb_to_yuv(matrix="601",interlaced=false,tv_range=true,cplace="MPEG2",lsb=false,output="YV12")
GradFun3(thr=0.5,mask=0)
AssumeTFF().SeparateFields().SelectEvery(4,0,3).Weave()
Santiag()
FineSharp(sstr=0.02)
addgrainc(2.0,2.0)

And I bet there's another 50 ways to get the same thing. Hope these ideas help.

[Cherbette]

Where might I find dither.avs?

[Cherbette]

Nevermind I found it. Sometimes it's hard to search for these plugins lol

[LMotlow]

It's part of the dither plugin package, a big fav nowadays for ugly banding and block noise. I load a couple of its parts as "avs" scripts, but they come packaged as .avsi. I just don't like to load and search every plugin in sight every time Avisynth starts running. It's listed at http://avisynth.nl/index.php/External_filters, but that will lead you to the big doom9 thread on the filter at http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1386559&postcount=3. All the dither stuff I used in the script came out of the original scripts from earlier. All the parts needed were listed in post #93:

The avs prep script uses elements of the dither plugin (Dither.avs, mt_xxpand_multi.avs, avstp.dll, dither.dll, and the special 16-bit version of mt_masktools-26.dll).

GradFun3 and the colorspace converters are in Dither.avsi. The package also has its own cool version of dfttest.dll, but it's overkill here. I think it was used earlier. Has no effect on the herringbone, though.

EDIT: Oops, you beat me to it. They don't call me Slowpoke Rodriguez for nothin'.

[Cherbette]

I'm not sure why but when encoding this last script to DVD through avspmod I keep getting an error at the authoring of the DVD:

video = AVISource("C:\Users\User\Desktop\chershowretrysamp le.avi")
audio = WAVSource("C:\Users\User\Desktop\chershowretrysamp le2.wav")
#DelayAudio(last, 0.2)
AudioDub(video, audio)
Dither_convert_rgb_to_yuv(matrix="601",interlaced= false,tv_range=true,cplace="MPEG2",lsb=false,outpu t="YV12")
GradFun3(thr=0.5,mask=0)
AssumeTFF().SeparateFields().SelectEvery(4,0,3).We ave()
Santiag()
FineSharp(sstr=0.02)
addgrainc(2.0,2.0)

[LMotlow]

What's the error?

I'm not much help here. I don't use Avspmod, and I use standalone authors.

Don't know if your original code looks exactly like that in the above post, but there are unwanted spaces in the word "sample" in lines 1 and 2, and a space in the word "Weave" in line 7.

[Cherbette]

I think I may have found the issue but I'm not entirely sure how to fix it. There was a slight delay in the audio for whatever reason and rather than adding delayaudio to my script i just added 0.2 second silence before the audio starts. Which would intern make the audio clip end 0.2 seconds after the video has ended.

[poisondeathray]

I think I may have found the issue but I'm not entirely sure how to fix it. There was a slight delay in the audio for whatever reason and rather than adding delayaudio to my script i just added 0.2 second silence before the audio starts. Which would intern make the audio clip end 0.2 seconds after the video has ended.

If that was the reason why, then one option might be to add 0.2seconds of blank/black clip to the end of the video

What was the authoring error message ?

[jagabo]

Or Trim() to make the video and audio end at the same frame.

[Cherbette]

-- MuxMan version 0.16.8
-- Opened script file C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_MuxMan.mxp
-- Rejected sp r/fr C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v
-- Accepted audio C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_1.ac3
-- VTS01: Segment "Seg1" has no video.
-- Exiting due to errors, no multiplex performed.

[Cherbette]

I just reopened izotope and cut 0.2 seconds off the end of the audio.

[poisondeathray]

-

-- Rejected sp r/fr C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v

According to the log, the video is the problem

 
sp r/fr non-spec resolution / framerate combination.

Is the video 30000/1001 frame rate ? In your script, add info() at the end and preview in vdub, what does it say about the framerate?

What are you using to encode ?

[Cherbette]

I'm using avstodvd

[Cherbette]

Current script:

video = AVISource("C:\Users\User\Desktop\chershowretrysamp le.avi").FadeOut2(35)
audio = WAVSource("C:\Users\User\Desktop\chershowretrysamp le2.wav")
AudioDub(video, audio)
Dither_convert_rgb_to_yuv(last, matrix="601",interlaced=false,tv_range=true,cplace ="MPEG2",lsb=false,output="YV12")
GradFun3(thr=0.5,mask=0)
AssumeTFF().SeparateFields().SelectEvery(4,0,3).We ave()
Santiag()
FineSharp(sstr=0.02)
addgrainc(2.0,2.0)

[jagabo]

So change the frame rate to 30000/1001. Unlike AVI, MPEG 2 encoding is restricted to a handful of frame rates. It sounds like 29.9697 isn't close enough for your encoder.

[Cherbette]

I added AssumeFPS("ntsc_video") at the end. Hopefully this does the trick.

[Cherbette]

Still came back with the same error. Trying with Changefps

[poisondeathray]

If AssumeFPS didn't work, there is no reason why ChangeFPS would work

What is the framerate on the output file, the m2v ? Check with gspot/mediainfo . Could you have inadvertently set avstodvd for "PAL" settings ?

[Cherbette]

I don't think there is an m2v...it aborts during the authoring process. I don't think avstodvd is set to pal...let me look

[poisondeathray]

I don't think there is an m2v...it aborts during the authoring process. I don't think avstodvd is set to pal...let me look

aborts during authoring, not encoding

check here for the m2v file, according to the log

C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v

[Cherbette]

I think the problem may be a decoding issue...the avisource is lagarith and maybe avstodvd or muxman doesn't like this? lol

[Cherbette]

I just did a direct stream video and audio from virtual dub and did a short sample. Opening with MPC it gave an error. If I went back to "full processing" and compressed the clip with lagarith yv12 or uncompressed the resulting avi sample loaded right up in MPC and TMPGEnc

[poisondeathray]

I think the problem may be a decoding issue...the avisource is lagarith and maybe avstodvd or muxman doesn't like this? lol

Not a decoding issue. If you can preview the .avs in vdub, that means you have the lagarith codec installed and working properly

avstodvd doesn't even "see" the lagarith file. All it "sees" is the uncompressed data frameserved from the avs script

Did you check the m2v file ?

Post the avstodvd log file

I just did a direct stream video and audio from virtual dub and did a short sample. Opening with MPC it gave an error. If I went back to "full processing" and compressed the clip with lagarith yv12 or uncompressed the resulting avi sample loaded right up in MPC and TMPGEnc

That doesn't necesarily indicate much. That just means you don't have MPC set up to decode uncompressed YV12. In full processing mode, it will be converted to RGB, so uncompressed RGB

[Cherbette]

I deleted the m2v and the avstodvd logs. I'll try it again and post back.

[Cherbette]

General
Complete name : C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
File size : 355 MiB
Duration : 5mn 50s
Overall bit rate : 8 503 Kbps

Video
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Format settings, GOP : N=12
Duration : 5mn 50s
Bit rate : 8 500 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 59.940 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.410
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00
Stream size : 355 MiB (100%)

[poisondeathray]

Yeah, that's progressive 59.94. Not interlaced NTSC DVD

Post the log file

[Cherbette]

BatchMux version --> 1.3
Destination Folder --> C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0\VIDEO_TS
MuxMan Script File --> C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_MuxMan.mxp
MuxMan Log String --> -l "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_MuxMan.log "
Folder of the MuxMan executable --> C:\Program Files (x86)\AVStoDVD\MuxMan
Check presence of MuxMan.exe --> PASSED
Palette File --> C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_Palette.txt
Default Palette --> SUCCESSFULLY REDEFINED
Segment #1 - Video File #1 --> C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v
Checking asset for importing as --> M2V, M1V, MPV
Video Coding Mode --> MPEG-2
Video Resolution (Nominal) --> (720x480)
MPEG-2 Aspect Ratio (DAR) --> 4:3
WARNING - Frame Rate Code 7 not allowed for DVD.
Video Frame Rate can not be established.
Proceeding by setting it to 29,97 fps.
Video Bitrate (Nominal, Kbps) --> 8300
VBV Buffer Size (Kbyte) --> 246
Segment #1 - Video Display Mode --> 4:3
Segment #1 - Audio #1 File #1 --> C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_1.ac3
Segment #1 - Audio Lang Code #1 --> en
Segment #1 - Timeframe file --> C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_Chapters .txt
Segment #1 - Total Nr of Cells --> 2
Segment #1 - Timeframe file --> C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_Chapters .txt
Segment #1 - Total Nr of Programs --> 2
Segment #1 - Timeframe file --> C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_Chapters .txt
Segment #1 - Total Nr of Chapters --> 2
Started preparation of --> MUXMAN SCRIPT
Completed preparation of --> MUXMAN SCRIPT
MuxMan RunString --> -run
Strings (local stack - bytes) --> 921
Time Codes (local heap - bytes) --> 85
Static memory usage % --> 0.77
Starting MuxMan Authoring with --> LOW task priority
MuxMan Authoring --> COMPLETE
Printing out --> MUXMAN LOG

-- MuxMan version 0.16.8
-- Opened script file C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_MuxMan.mxp
-- Rejected sp r/fr C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v
-- Accepted audio C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_1.ac3
-- VTS01: Segment "Seg1" has no video.
-- Exiting due to errors, no multiplex performed.

Segment memory resources --> RELEASED
Local Stack memory --> RELEASED
File i/o structures --> DEALLOCATED

[Cherbette]

<8/11/2014 3:10:38 PM>
START PROCESS
<>

<8/11/2014 3:10:38 PM>
PROJECT SETTINGS

DVD Video Standard: NTSC
DVD Titles number: 1
DVD Size: 365/4450 MB (8%)
DVD Output Setup: DVD Folder
DVD Label: DVD
DVD Menu: No Menu
Output Folder: C:\Users\User\Videos
Delete Temp Assets Files: Yes
Delete Temp Working Files: Yes
Edit Command Parameters: No
Post Process Task: Show Progress Status window

PREFERENCES

MultiThread: 1
AVS Video Source Filter: A2DSource
AVS Audio Source Filter: A2DSource
AVS UpSize/DownSize Filter: Lanczos4Resize/Spline16Resize
Frame Adjust Strategy: 1
PAL SpeedUp: 0
NTSC SlowDown: 0
Video Resolution: 0
Video BitRate Min: 2500
Video BitRate Level 1: 6500
Video Profile Level 2: 4500
Video BitRate Max: 8500
Keep DVD Compliant Video: 1
AC3 Audio Encoder: 0
Force FFmpeg for Long Audio: 1
DVD Audio Format: 0
DVD Audio BitRate: 192
Keep DVD Compliant Audio: 1
Normalize Audio: 0
Auto Delay Audio: 1
DVD Audio Language (Primary): EN - English
DVD Audio Language (Secondary): EN - English
DVD Subs Language (Primary): EN - English
DVD Subs Language (Secondary): EN - English
DVD Subs Font: Tahoma 16pt (255,255,255)
Chapters Interval: 5
Use Source Chapters: 1
DVD Burning Drive: E:\
DVD Burning Speed: 4x
Auto Erase DVD RW: 1
Unload ActiveMovie library: 0
Adjust ffdshow at runtime: 1
Save General Settings: 0
<>

<8/11/2014 3:10:38 PM>
TITLE 1 SOURCE FILES
Video: C:\Users\User\Documents\chershowretry2.avs
Info: AviSynth - 0 kbps - 720x480 - DAR 1.5 - 29.97 fps (CFR) - 5:50 minutes - 10513 frames
Audio 1: C:\Users\User\Documents\chershowretry2.avs
Info: AviSynth - 0 kbps - CBR - 2 ch - 48000 Hz - 2 bit - 5:50 minutes (0 ms delay)
[AVSMeter.exe]
<>

<8/11/2014 3:10:38 PM>
AVISYNTH SCRIPT
Video = Import("C:\Users\User\Documents\chershowretry2.avs ")
Audio = Import("C:\Users\User\Documents\chershowretry2.avs ")

Video = Video.ConvertToYV12()
Video = Video.AddBorders(0,30,0,30)
Video = Video.Spline16Resize(720,480)

AudioDub(Video, Audio)
<>

<8/11/2014 3:10:38 PM>
START VIDEO ENCODING OPERATIONS
Encoding Profile: FFmpeg CBR 1-pass
Target Video FileSize: 355.7 MB
Encoding Parameters: -i "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_chershowre try2_1.avs" -threads 2 -aspect 4:3 -c:v mpeg2video -b:v 8500k -minrate 8500k -maxrate 8500k -bufsize 2000k -dc 10 -y "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v "
<>

<8/11/2014 3:29:58 PM>
END VIDEO ENCODING OPERATIONS
Created File: C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v (355.4 MB)
OUTPUT VIDEO INFO: MPEG-2 Video - 8500 kbps - 720x480 - DAR 1.333 - 59.94 fps (CFR) - Progressive - 5:50 minutes - 21016 frames
<>

<8/11/2014 3:29:58 PM>
START AUDIO ENCODING OPERATIONS (Track 1)
Wavi+Aften Parameters: "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_chershowre try2_1.avs" - | "C:\Program Files (x86)\AVStoDVD\Aften\aften.exe" -b 192 -pad 0 -dynrng 5 -bwfilter 0 - "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_1.a c3"
<>

<8/11/2014 3:30:09 PM>
END AUDIO ENCODING OPERATIONS (Track 1)
Created File: C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_1.ac3 (8 MB)
OUTPUT AUDIO INFO: AC3 - 192 kbps - CBR - 2 ch - 48000 Hz - 16 bit - 5:50 minutes (0 ms delay)
<>

<8/11/2014 3:30:09 PM>
START DVD AUTHORING OPERATIONS
BatchMux Parameters: -arglist "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_BatchMux.i ni"
BatchMux ini file:
-d "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0\VIDEO_TS"
-mxp "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_MuxMan.mxp "
-l "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_MuxMan.log "
-muxman "C:\Program Files (x86)\AVStoDVD\MuxMan"
-prio LOW
-palette "C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\DVD_0_Palette.tx t"
-v "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2.m2v "
-vidmode 4:3
-a1 "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_1.a c3"
-a1lang en
-cellfr "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_Chapter s.txt"
-progfr "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_Chapter s.txt"
-chapfr "C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_chershowretry2_Chapter s.txt"

<>

<8/11/2014 3:30:33 PM>
Process aborted during DVD AUTHORING operations!

Check following files for more details:

AVStoDVD log file <C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0.log>
BatchMux log file <C:\Users\User\Videos\DVD_0_BatchMux.log>

For more troubleshooting on Authoring issues, see Help/FAQ/Authoring.
<>

<8/11/2014 3:31:14 PM>
Log file created by AVStoDVD Release 2.7.4
<>