Enhancing video quality from online videos

[Freelife2345]

I downloaded this video from a site similar to YouTube in MP4. The picture quality is somewhat medicore and has a lot of pixels. I am just wondering is there any free software where I can enhance the video quality to something better or close to high definition.

[hech54]

enhance the video quality to something better or close to high definition.

Absolutely not.

[gregalan]

While you can't enhance "quality" that is not there, you can make it look subjectively better with post processing filters.
For playback on PC install ffdshow and use its postprocessing filters, spp is my personal favorite, although the decoder spp filter doesn't work with h264, wmv and maybe other formats you can still use it through the ffdshow raw video processing filter.
You have to use a player that supports adding external filters like MPC-HC, or MPC-BE to use ffdshow raw video processing filter, plus you can use madVR with those players for better upscaling.

For re-encoding you can use ffmpeg and its post processing filters, it also has the spp filter, and other filters that can help improve watchability.

As a side note use only the 32 bit ffdshow with 32 bit players, 64 bit ffdshow doesn't work very well, the spp filter is not optimized in the 64 bit version so it takes lots more cpu power to run it, other filters in the 64 bit version are buggy or don't work at all such as awarpsharp.

[Freelife2345]

I downloaded ffsshow. Is there some tutorial on how to use it? Somehow i can't add it as an external filter in media player classic

[gregalan]

I don't know if the raw filter will work correctly with plain MPC, I only use it with MPC-BE.

For MPC-BE

Go to "View -> Options -> External Filters"
Click on "Add Filter"
A list box should pop up, scroll until you find "ffdshow raw video filter" double click to add it.
While still in "External Filters" options tick the "Prefer" option, make sure there is a check mark in the box next to "ffdshow raw video filter", then click OK on the options
dialog.

The next time you play a video right click anywhere in the player window to bring up the context menu, go to "Filters" you should have the raw filter listed there.

Edit: I just down loaded plain MPC and the same setup worked with it also.

[AllisOne]

Make sure the version of ffdshow is the same as the version of MPC-HC/BE - both have to be x32 or x64.

What program/browser addon did you use to download the video? I'm asking, cos for example yesterday I downloaded something from Vimeo and Video DownloadHelper found only one stream of the video, but JDownloader (just in case - be very careful when installing this program - potentially a lot of crapware) found two - good quality for broadband and poor quality for mobile device.

[Freelife2345]

I don't know if the raw filter will work correctly with plain MPC, I only use it with MPC-BE.

For MPC-BE

Go to "View -> Options -> External Filters"
Click on "Add Filter"
A list box should pop up, scroll until you find "ffdshow raw video filter" double click to add it.
While still in "External Filters" options tick the "Prefer" option, make sure there is a check mark in the box next to "ffdshow raw video filter", then click OK on the options
dialog.

The next time you play a video right click anywhere in the player window to bring up the context menu, go to "Filters" you should have the raw filter listed there.

Edit: I just down loaded plain MPC and the same setup worked with it also.

I was able to add the filter in successfully based on your instructions. What is really the next step after this to make the picture quality better? Is there any setting I need to do or tweak afterwards on mpc or on ffdshow ? I was browsing for some instructions and I found the below site but the instructions there are a bit outdated

http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?/topic/4629-better-videos-with-ffdshow-and-media...layer-classic/

[Freelife2345]

Make sure the version of ffdshow is the same as the version of MPC-HC/BE - both have to be x32 or x64.

What program/browser addon did you use to download the video? I'm asking, cos for example yesterday I downloaded something from Vimeo and Video DownloadHelper found only one stream of the video, but JDownloader (just in case - be very careful when installing this program - potentially a lot of crapware) found two - good quality for broadband and poor quality for mobile device.

I didn't use any software. It is one of those sites where I was told to just do right click and save as a mp4

[Freelife2345]

Is there anyone who can help or give me a bit more guidance? I did add ffsshow as filter like above but I'm too sure what I need to do next to make the picture better. Any help will be great. Thanks.

[manono]

Is there anyone who can help or give me a bit more guidance?

Have you provided a video sample or a link or anything at all besides, "The picture quality is somewhat medicore and has a lot of pixels."? Are we supposed to guess what needs doing? Do you think there's a "Fix Everything" filter that works for all videos? I mean, c'mon now.

[Freelife2345]

Is there anyone who can help or give me a bit more guidance?

Have you provided a video sample or a link or anything at all besides, "The picture quality is somewhat medicore and has a lot of pixels."? Are we supposed to guess what needs doing? Do you think there's a "Fix Everything" filter that works for all videos? I mean, c'mon now.

Hi there, by all means, im not expecting that anyone can guess what needs to be done on my video. What I'm asking is just some general tutorial that I can possibly follow on what to do next after downloading mpc and ffsshow since I didn't find any helpful sites from Google. I didn't post my video sample right away thinking maybe there can be more I can try on my own before getting further help like reading different successful scenarios that might be similar to my case. Perhaps, I just think there are some settings and configurations that I can tweak or I can play around that I might not be aware. I know that there are some guidelines for certain application to get different scenarios to work out. I never really played with ffdshow before so If I have asked the wrong question or some stupid questions, please excuse me and bear with me. Thank you for your response and time. Greatly appreciated.

[Freelife2345]

While you can't enhance "quality" that is not there, you can make it look subjectively better with post processing filters.
For playback on PC install ffdshow and use its postprocessing filters, spp is my personal favorite, although the decoder spp filter doesn't work with h264, wmv and maybe other formats you can still use it through the ffdshow raw video processing filter.
You have to use a player that supports adding external filters like MPC-HC, or MPC-BE to use ffdshow raw video processing filter, plus you can use madVR with those players for better upscaling.

For re-encoding you can use ffmpeg and its post processing filters, it also has the spp filter, and other filters that can help improve watchability.

As a side note use only the 32 bit ffdshow with 32 bit players, 64 bit ffdshow doesn't work very well, the spp filter is not optimized in the 64 bit version so it takes lots more cpu power to run it, other filters in the 64 bit version are buggy or don't work at all such as awarpsharp.

Hi there is there somewhere I can read up on the post processing filter you mention and how to use it? That could maybe be what I need

[jagabo]

https://imouto.my/ffdshow-post-processing-high-resolution-soft-subs-for-anime-materials/