Convert 480i DVD to 480p h264?

[mocarob]

Thought I'd ask advice about this idea.. See if it will be advantageous.
I have mpeg2 480i video captured from a laserdisc I'm thinking about converting to h264 480p.

I sometimes use Canopus ProCoder 3 or Rhozet Carbon Coder for Color Correction on old mpeg2 video. I like the results.
Since I'm recoding anyway, I'm thinking about exporting 480p H264 instead of 480i mpg2. Good or bad idea??
The end result will be mkv or avchd disc not an authored DVD... File size & bit rate is not a constraint.

Furthermore, I might be able to capture a H264 version of the LD if that would give better results. But color correction would still be needed.
Thanks..

[manono]

Good or bad idea??

Depends, I suppose, on why you're doing it. Anyway, if it's a film you'll have to IVTC it. If it's pure video you'll have to deinterlace it. The best filters for both are found in AviSynth.

[mocarob]

It's a Concert. I'm going to color correct recode it anyway - I didn't know if it was beneficial to convert it at the same time or leave it mpg2.

[mocarob]

Is there a way to remove the scan line on the edge of the capture.? it's on the left.

[jagabo]

Yes you can easily fix the black bar at the edge of the frame by cropping it away. Whether you want to IVTC to 24p, or smart bob to 60p, depends on whether it was shot on film or video. Going back and capturing the original laserdisc, losslessly compressed, and filtering from there will get you the best quality.

You should upload a short sample (without re-encoding). Use DgIndex or Mpg2Cut2 to extract 10 seconds of the main video (not the intro as that is often different than the body of the work) with moderate motion.

[LMotlow]

Since I'm recoding anyway, I'm thinking about exporting 480p H264 instead of 480i mpg2. Good or bad idea??
The end result will be mkv or avchd disc not an authored DVD... File size & bit rate is not a constraint.

480p at 24fps and 480p at double frame rate are not valid for AVCHD.

[mocarob]

Yes you can easily fix the black bar at the edge of the frame by cropping it away. Whether you want to IVTC to 24p, or smart bob to 60p, depends on whether it was shot on film or video. Going back and capturing the original laserdisc, losslessly compressed, and filtering from there will get you the best quality.
You should upload a short sample (without re-encoding). Use DgIndex or Mpg2Cut2 to extract 10 seconds of the main video (not the intro as that is often different than the body of the work) with moderate motion.

Thanks for all the input on this topic. I really haven't had a chance to get back to this project til now. I assume it was shot on video. It's an old concert from 1982.
I decided to re-capture it again in mpeg2 in 1hr dvd mode and I will just apply contrast,hue & saturation correction to it with Procoder. And be done with it.. 480i

Here's an example of the difference it can make. (not final settings)

[mocarob]

Yes you can easily fix the black bar at the edge of the frame by cropping it away. Whether you want to IVTC to 24p, or smart bob to 60p, depends on whether it was shot on film or video. Going back and capturing the original laserdisc, losslessly compressed, and filtering from there will get you the best quality.

I went back to work on this project again.. I took your advice & streamed the LD thru my Dig8 Camera into my laptop via firewire & captured 24.4Mb DVCPRO avi with WinDV.
I captured both composite & Svid feeds.. (Svid seems to have better blacks) I haven't decided which one to use yet.. I have read that LD is natively composite..
WinDV reported no dropped frames but is there a way to check the file for any errors? Like TSdoctor is for H264?
What tools are available to trim the file without quality loss/compression? avidemux? virtualdub? I usually use videoredo for mpg2 & H264. I dont know much about DV formats.

In the LD credits, It says 'Film to Tape' transfer.. So what would be my next step before working with the color correction filters? Do I need IVTC?
The end result will probably be 1.DVD version & 2. a digital file for my Pi/Kodi.. So I might be experimenting with upscaling to 1280x960p 4x3. (or something like that)
Thanks for any advice.. This forum is a wealth of information..

[jagabo]

DV AVI can be cut/paste edited losslessly with many programs. VirtualDub, AviDemux, Vegas...

If it's film based you should IVTC. Then encode for DVD at 23.976 fps with pulldown flags. For computers, standalone media players, youtube, etc. you can leave the video at 23.976 fps. A sample (not reencoded and from the body of the work, not the intro or credits -- which are often different) with moderate motion would get you more specific advice.

[manono]

Do I need IVTC?

Have you posted a sample yet?

What tools are available to trim the file without quality loss/compression?

You have an all I-frame AVI so you can use DirectStreamCopy in VDub.

WinDV reported no dropped frames but is there a way to check the file for any errors?

What kinds of errors are you talking about? I've never used TSDoctor. You could always just watch it.

[mocarob]

I've uploaded a 13sec sample here. (50mb)
https://mega.nz/#!wxoDjDjB!ZdSW6lnWKg-zZOvoFX9nx6Pp_gxPz4qxTYxKnJO8wII

I'm using Canopus ProCoder 3 for filtering. I found Video Inverse Telecine & Pulldown in the video filters.

Tsdoctor examines h264 video & shows if there are any corrupt frames.

[jagabo]

That's definitely from film. There's a lot of dot crawl noise. Does the composite capture have less? It's easier to adjust levels than eliminate dot crawl. You'll probably have to adjust levels/colors anyway.

[mocarob]

Here's the same clip via Composite..
https://mega.nz/#!c8o00aIZ!1pr02QUOfHNONyz62LBJil-dIa3leJeNII3BFedNXUE

[mocarob]

When choosing a target mpeg2 file in Procoder it has these 3 choices on framerate...
23.976p->29.97i (2-3 pulldown)
24p -> 29.97i (2-3 pulldown)
29.970 (NTSC)
Are those what you're referring to?

[jagabo]

I don't know Procoder but the first one sounds right.

[mocarob]

What app do you use for changing framerate, pulldown, IVTC & color correction?

[jagabo]

I use AviSynth for the IVTC. I usually encode with the x264 command line encoder. But when I need MPEG 2 for DVD I use HC GUI. Sample with just IVTC attached (no audio). AviSynth script:

AviSource("windv comp sample.avi", pixel_type="YUY2") 
ConvertToYV12(interlaced=true)
TFM()
TDecimate()

[mocarob]

Thanks. I'll see what I can do with this..

[mocarob]

I installed avisynth & virtualdubmod & wrote a script using your code but theres a fourcc DVSD codec error when trying to open the .avs file.
I've already spent almost an hour looking for one that works - can somebody point me to one? I've tried the panasonic & canopus versions. no go. thanks

Edit.. Alright. Cedocida works. Now I need YV12 & TFM
edit 2.. Installed Lagarith. Now it makes it past line 2 of the script. (YV12) Looking for tfm now.

[mocarob]

When trying to run this script:
AviSource("windv comp sample.avi", pixel_type="YUY2")
ConvertToYV12(interlaced=true)
TFM()
TDecimate()

Virtualdubmod was getting stuck on YV12 then I installed Lagarith. Then I installed TIVTC for TFM & TDecimate. But now it has a YV12 issue again.
'couldnt locate dekompressor for format yv12'.. Any ideas what I need now? I tried installing MLC codec. & re-installing lagarith. no go

[manono]

You can get YV12 by installing the XviD codec.

[mocarob]

You can get YV12 by installing the XviD codec.

Thank you it worked.. I was able to load the video via the script. A few more questions.
Are any parameters need to be added to the TFM & Tdecimate commands? Leave the () empty? It seemed to work ok on the file I processed. It ended up 23.976 fps..
Are these the only commands I need in the in the script to finish the IVTC job? Nothing else needed? I can move on to the next step?
The next step: I will apply color correction filters with Procoder 3 when encoding to mpeg2 ~ Which one of these should I compress to while doing IVTC?
First I used uncompressed RGB and my test file grew from 500mb to 3gb. Keep it DV with one of the 1st 2 Cedocida codecs or Lagarith since it's the only one that says lossless?


[Attachment 45189 - Click to enlarge]

[manono]

Are any parameters need to be added to the TFM & Tdecimate commands?

Often, no. It kind of depends on the video and how tough it is to IVTC.

Which one of these should I compress to while doing IVTC?

I didn't really understand, but if you're doing a series of encodes, then the intermediate files should be lossless, not uncompressed. I use Lagarith, others use UTVideo Codec, others use others. I don't filter in Procoder but use AviSynth in VDub. Only when ready for the final output format do I use something else - HC-Enc or RipBot264, usually. You certainly don't want to use uncompressed RGB. Avoid colorspace conversions whenever possible, although they might be unavoidable when doing 'color correction'. Then, minimize colorspace conversions.

[mocarob]

Thanks for the help. IVTC isn't considered an encode is it? I thought this was just to remove the proper frames down to 23.976...
I just need to know which one of the codecs are good to use during IVTC so I can then encode it to mpeg2 using procoder.
1 IVTC then 1 encode. I will use Lagarith.

[manono]

Doesn't Procoder accept AviSynth scripts? If all you're doing is an IVTC, then do that in the script, open that script in Procoder and encode to whatever you like (DVD?). Or do the IVTC and the color correction (depending on exactly what you're doing) both in the script and then open that script in Procoder for encoding. I'm not sure why you insist of splitting up the filtering.

If you have any questions on what to do and how to do it, provide a small piece from the source.

[jagabo]

AviSynth has lots of built in filters for adjusting colors: ColorYUV, Tweak, Levels, RGBAdjust, etc. In addition there are several filters from third parties: SmoothAdjust, HDRAGC, ColorMatrix, etc.

I didn't suggest any color/contrast adjustments for your sample clip since it appears to be lit with different colored stage lights -- so the colors aren't supposed to be "natural". The black level was too high (typical with DV) but it could be just that shot.

[mocarob]

I finally had some time to look at this again. I ran the script with virtualdubmod using Lagarith compression. The file ended up at 23.976 but with a DAR of 3:2.. (not 4:3)
Is that correct & is this another square vs non-square pixels thing? I didn't see an adjustment available under the configuration tab of Lagarith.

[poisondeathray]

You cannot adjust the PAR for lagarith , you would normally do that in your final encoder . I guess procoder for mpeg2 for you

[jagabo]

Yes, Lagarith and AVI don't support aspect ratio flagging. So you set the aspect ratio when you encode your final output, MPEG 2, h.264, etc.

[mocarob]

Thanks. Is this what the mpeg2 output should look like for dvd?

Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Scan order : 2:3 Pulldown