How can i improve image quality of very old bw silent film clips (cheaply!)

[MaxManLA]

I've been "renovating" some classic silent films by adding synchronized music tracks, recreating inter-titles (for readability ease) etc. but I have yet to find a really good method of enhancing the image quality sufficiently. I don't expect to accompli9sh the high-level quality of professional restorations of old black-and-white classic films but would like to find ways to enhance image quality as much as possible for my own amateur restorations. For the majority of my work I use VirtualDub and all the videos are interlaced AVI files. With some VD filters such as Warpsharp and IntelligentBrightness I can sometimes achieve an acceptable improvement but not often enough. I tried Topaz AI enhancer which now has preset models for interlaced video but most often I fail to see any improvement in the processed video clips. I suspect Topaz and other such enhanceers work much better with progressive and de-interlaced videos but I have yet to find a way to de-interllace videos without an enormous loss of quality. I have only a low to medium video tech knowledge and usually can not understand the guides and instrucvtions regarding working with video (lots of capitalized initials which when googled for translation-explanation leave me even more befuddled). I'm desperate for reccomendations, advice and tips on software, filters, codecs, settings, methods, processes, etc. but ANY and all suggestions and advice (no matter how low or high tech) will be MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

[Sharc]

If you didn't succeed with VirtualDub(2) and Topaz I would suggest you learn to use Avisynth. It offers a lot of filters, including excellent deinterlacers etc. There are tutorials in the "New to AviSynth - Start here" section. I don't think there is a simple "one click solution" for your restoration.
http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Main_Page

Your description of the deficiencies of your videos are vague though. You may want to upload a short sample (few seconds) here and someone might come up with proposals.

[jagabo]

Attached is n AviSynth example with the original on the left, enhanced on the right. Mild levels adjustment, reduced flicker, film bounce stabilized, noise reduction, dirt/scratch removal, slightly sharpened.

[johnmeyer]

AVISynth is the way to go.

Your video must be progressive, and there should be no pulldown added (i.e., duplicate fields or frames added to make 15, 16, 18, or 24 fps film play at 30 fps video speeds). If your video does contain pulldown, you can remove it used the inverse telecine functions of IVTC (i.e., TFM and TDecimate).

For discussions and examples of how to do this, I suggest you skim through these long threads:

The power of Avisynth: restoring old 8mm films

The power of Avisynth: new 8mm film restoring examples

Capturing and restoring old 8mm films

[MaxManLA]

To all who replied to my post, THANK YOU and sorry for not responding sooner but the day after posting my computer crashed and ended up having to wipe hard drive and reinstall windows. Just now getting back to check forum replies. I'll be responding individually to each reply as I go--just didn't want anyone to think I wasn't appreciative. Thanks for your replies and look forward to furthert input and feedback with everyone.

[MaxManLA]

Thanks Sharc, I've used AVISync thus far just for simple effects (fades, dissolves) but keep encountering awesome evidence and reviews of its capabilities. My ignorance and fear of its script language/syntax intimidated me and kept me away but I agree with you that if everything I've tried thus far didn't help much, I should learn to use Synth. I checked out the link you provided (thanks) and was glad to see the "New? Start Here" heading. I will definitely begin there and hopefully get the knack of it soon, so I can try out the various filters and processing options available. Thanks for Tyler good advice and for opening my eyes to what I need to try now. Also appreciate letting me know the description of problems with quality of videos I want to improve was vague--true--and suggesting I post short clip as an example. I just have to check the what's and how's of uploading clips before getting a good sample clip and putting it here for everyone to check out (I assume adding it to this post is the right thing rather than starting a new thread because of it).

[MaxManLA]

Thanks Jagabo, the sample video was VERY encouraging and if I can clean up my vidfeos to that extent I'll be satisfied. AVISynth is looking like the best of options for me and I've just got to get familiar with the scripting before trying out the various filters and processing possibilities. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be uploading a sample of the video I'm currently working on. I'm so glad I posted the thread and very eager to make full use of the excellent advice everyone's offered!

[MaxManLA]

Here are 2 short sample clips from what I'm currently working on (The Sea Hawk, 1923). Clip 1 shows both interior and exterior scernes, and represents the low-end of the quality scale. Clip 3 is the high-end of the scale. Quality varies throughout the entire video. These clips are from the video I downloaded and have not been altered by any filters. I can provide a few samples of what I've been able to achieve with VirtualDub filters should anyone wish to compare and to give me their opinion of the results, and the likelihood of further improving the quality by whatever means available to me. All comments and advice welcome and appreciated.

[Sharc]

Do you by chance have better "originals" (from a DVD release for example), means before it was badly butchered by poor framreate conversion causing blended frames, and blocky XviD re-encoding?
Is it from downloads?

Edit: Oh I see, reading your post, it's from downloaded material. Never mind.

[Selur]

Here's what happen if you use Vapoursynth with BasicVSR++ (<- requires NVIDIA card) + DeSpot + CAS.


Cu Selur

[jagabo]

Avisynth:

v1 = LWLibavVideoSource("CLIP 1 - Sea Hawk.avi", cache=false, prefer_hw=2) 
v2 = LWLibavVideoSource("CLIP 2 - Sea Hawk.avi", cache=false, prefer_hw=2) 
v1+v2

src = last

deblock_qed(quant1=35, quant2=40)
GradFun3(smode=1, thr=2.5, mode=0)
ConvertBits(10)
SMDegrain (tr=3, thSAD=300, refinemotion=false, contrasharp=false, PreFilter=4, mode=0, truemotion=true, plane=4, chroma=true)
BilinearResize(400, 300).CAS(0.95).nnedi3_rpow2(2, cshift="Spline36Resize", fwidth=src.width, fheight=src.height)
ConvertBits(8)
aWarpSharp2(depth=5)
Sharpen(0.5)

StackHorizontal(src, last)

[Attachment 63067 - Click to enlarge]

Was that downloaded from archive.org?