Not-quite-interlacing in this old VHS capture

[bruno321]

I've this source which displays something similar to combing but not quite, as QTGMC().selecteven() doesn't really work well, it leaves a lot of it and creates weird patterns. I tried some of the methods from this thread https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1401538 namely, downsizing, deinterlacing, then upsizing again, but I'm not convinced by the result, they smooth the picture out too much.

How can I get a clean image here? Also note that for some reason LWlibavvideosource and ffvideosource are not having an easy time processing this -- in avspmod, LWlibav goes crazy with weird psychedelic colors; ffvideosource is better, but sometimes I'll see lots of repeated frames in a row (which doesn't happen during playback). I guess something's odd with the source file.

I attach an untouched snippet. Any other advice on how to make this look better is appreciated. The color is also weird, for example...

[jagabo]

Oops, duplicate.

[jagabo]

About the best simple solution in AviSynth is:

SeparateFields()
vInverse(amnt=2)
Weave()
vInverse()
Sharpen(0.2)

The first vInverse() gets rid of the horizontal stripes caused by brightness difference in the playback heads (visible in flat areas). The second gets rid of combing caused by minor horizontal time base errors. The final Sharpen() attempts to restore some of the sharpness lost in the process. Beyond that you can use a mask that applies those filters only to areas where there is "combing". Or maybe by protecting sharp edges with mt_edge().

[bruno321]

Wow, that works great, would never have thought of something like that. Thanks!