How can I repair a cartoon video with "ghosting" issue?

[simos_sigma]

Hello VideoHelp(ers)!!!

As the title says, I am trying to repair a cartoon video that suffers from "ghosting" issue.

More specifically, using the "DVD Shrink" I have ripped all the episodes from my 80s Thundercats DVD to "ISO" files intending to retouch their audio and video. Using the "Shutter Encoder" I separate audio and video to "WAV" and "H.264" respectively so to de-interlace their video etc. One of those episodes and more specifically the episode 103, suffers from this "ghosting" issue. The whole episode!!!


[Attachment 72175 - Click to enlarge]

Video example with the issue:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OnmbKLQkpC8pb3GSos_CPL0FMgdaVnLA/view?usp=sharing

Video example without the issue:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cO0biolwr5bOe6ASOYSrJHoGUdlzNFbB/view?usp=sharing

Is there any program that can fix this?

Thank you for your time!!!

[SaurusX]

This clip already has intentional blending in it. It would be hard to choose a worse example.

[Selur]

Maybe something like ExBlend can help,...

[flashandpan007]

Use MakeMKV to create an MKV of the episode from the DVD and upload here. Not reencoded. We need your original source. So not the used deinterlacer created this issue while converting it into h.264 in mp4-container.

[simos_sigma]

This clip already has intentional blending in it. It would be hard to choose a worse example.

What do you mean by "intentional"? The blending you see is the same as what is seen in the source file!

Maybe something like ExBlend can help,...

Thank you for the link! The images in this post look like what I need, but as far as I understand, this is a plug-in for "Avisynth" and I have never used it. So, I’ll have to study all of this first...

Use MakeMKV to create an MKV of the episode from the DVD and upload here. Not reencoded. We need your original source. So not the used deinterlacer created this issue while converting it into h.264 in mp4-container.

If I have to upload the original source, I think it would be better to give you the "ISO" file exported by "DVD Shrink" which includes everything as it comes from DVD with no compression, re-encodes, etc. So, here it is! However, if you still want me to upload the source file as an MKV, I will do so, no problem. As you will see when you load the episode, the "ghosting" issue appears there too.

[october262]

This clip already has intentional blending in it. It would be hard to choose a worse example.

What do you mean by "intentional"? The blending you see is the same as what is seen in the source file!

Maybe something like ExBlend can help,...

Thank you for the link! The images in this post look like what I need, but as far as I understand, this is a plug-in for "Avisynth" and I have never used it. So, I’ll have to study all of this first...

Use MakeMKV to create an MKV of the episode from the DVD and upload here. Not reencoded. We need your original source. So not the used deinterlacer created this issue while converting it into h.264 in mp4-container.

If I have to upload the original source, I think it would be better to give you the "ISO" file exported by "DVD Shrink" which includes everything as it comes from DVD with no compression, re-encodes, etc. So, here it is! However, if you still want me to upload the source file as an MKV, I will do so, no problem. As you will see when you load the episode, the "ghosting" issue appears there too.

see this thread - https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/396210-Yet-another-ghosting-problem
and this thread - https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/408004-Fix-Inverse-Telecined-DVD-color-ghosting#post2676424

[jagabo]

There's too much blending to remove it all. I think something like this is about the best you'll get without manual touchups:

Mpeg2Source("Title_1.d2v", CPU2="ooooxx", Info=3) 
Trim(6263, 7409)

nnedi3(field=-2)
QTGMC(InputType=2)
MCTemporalDenoise()
SRestore()

Motion is pretty smooth but there's still a fair amount of blending.

[TubeBar]

Haven't watched that series since it originally aired. I do recall since it was 80's Japanese Animation Studio who did it, they would use that ghosting effect on purpose usually w/ a slow down so emphasize movement. Without seeing the whole video it may not be ghosting at all.

Regardless you can buy the proper progressives series from iTunes or Amazon (not interlaced DVD) or grab it from Hulu.

[simos_sigma]

There's too much blending to remove it all. I think something like this is about the best you'll get without manual touchups:

Mpeg2Source("Title_1.d2v", CPU2="ooooxx", Info=3) 
Trim(6263, 7409)

nnedi3(field=-2)
QTGMC(InputType=2)
MCTemporalDenoise()
SRestore()

Motion is pretty smooth but there's still a fair amount of blending.

Hmm, it looks much better… I will set up Avisynth+, test your script, and write here about the result. Thank you!

Haven't watched that series since it originally aired. I do recall since it was 80's Japanese Animation Studio who did it, they would use that ghosting effect on purpose usually w/ a slow down so emphasize movement.

I have bought the complete Thundercats DVD collection (130 episodes) and this is the only episode which suffers from this ‘ghosting’ issue. I don’t think it happens on purpose generally.

Without seeing the whole video it may not be ghosting at all.

I have added a link with the full video as it comes from the source.

Regardless you can buy the proper progressives series from iTunes or Amazon (not interlaced DVD).

When I bought this DVD, at around €60, it was the only available release on the market, and that was through ebay! I am not sure if now there is any proper progressive release.

...or grab it from Hulu.

How can I grab it from there?

[TubeBar]

Yea the progressive releases on iTunes, Amazon and Hulu are all proper. There are ways to download those and remove DRM that's what I would do rather then spending countless hours on dodgy interlaced DVDs

I should mention I only know of them in the US, so if you're not in the US they may not be available in your region? Have to check.

[simos_sigma]

There's too much blending to remove it all. I think something like this is about the best you'll get without manual touchups:

Mpeg2Source("Title_1.d2v", CPU2="ooooxx", Info=3) 
Trim(6263, 7409)

nnedi3(field=-2)
QTGMC(InputType=2)
MCTemporalDenoise()
SRestore()

Motion is pretty smooth but there's still a fair amount of blending.

I installed "Avisynth+ 3.7.2 (20220317)" and based on your script I made this...

Mpeg2Source("THUNDERCATS 80s [E103].ISO", CPU2="oooo", Info=3)

nnedi3(field=-2)
QTGMC(InputType=2)
MCTemporalDenoise()
SRestore()

"AvsPmod" gives me this script error "There is no function named 'Mpeg2Source'"

I tried to find "Mpeg2Source" into "AviSynth+ External filters" but with no luck.
So I changed:

Mpeg2Source("THUNDERCATS 80s [E103].ISO", CPU2="oooo", Info=3)

to:

FFmpegSource2("THUNDERCATS 80s [E103].ISO")

Now I get this script error "There is no function named 'GScriptClip' (C:\Program Files (x86)\AviSynth+\plugins64+\srestore.avsi, line 405)" and I don't know what to do...

[jagabo]

Mpeg2Source is not included in AviSynth, it is part of the DgDecode package. It must be added.

http://www.avisynth.nl/index.php/DGDecode

Also MPEG2Source can't open ISO files. You must extract the video as an MPG file (MPEG 2 Program Stream). I mounted the ISO image as a virtual drive (using Win10's built in function) then used VOB2MPG to make the MPG file. Then you must build an index file using Dgindex. Finally, you should be able to use Mpg2Source to open the video via the index (.D2V) file (as in the script I posted).

As you noticed, FFmpegSource2 is able to open the ISO file directly in this case. It's not always frame accurate but since you have it working use it instead.

QTGMC also doesn't come with AviSynth and must be added. It is one of the hardest packages to install because it requires several other packages that also must be installed.

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/QTGMC#Core_Plugins_and_Scripts

But you didn't get an error message about QTGMC so maybe you already have it (and it's requirements) installed.

SRestore must also be installed separately:

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Srestore

The error message you got indicates you have not installed GRunT (required by SRestore)

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Srestore#Required_Plugins

Note the other requirements too.

[simos_sigma]

I installed "GRunT" and everything is okay now (regarding the script). Question... The result I see when I click the play button on "Video Preview", will be the final result based on this script? If yes, as you said, there's still blending...

[jagabo]

As I mentioned earlier, ffmpegsource2 isn't always frame accurate. It often screws up on random seeks. And SRestore usually takes many frames before it can lock into a pattern. So if you seek to a random position, then play forward frame by frame it may be a dozen frames or more before you start getting the clean results.

That said, SRestore doesn't remove blending from individual frames, it works by preferentially discarding blended frames. It was designed to work with the type of blending that is caused by field-blended PAL-to-NTSC or NTSC-to-PAL conversions of film sources. Those usually have clear frames (after a bob deinterlace) of all the original film frames at 25p or 24p, mixed in with the blended frames. Once you remove the blended frames what's left is all the original clear film frames. But your source has way too many blended frames for that to work. Many blended frames will remain after SRestore.

[SaurusX]

Srestore's perfomance also varies greatly depending on which version you're using. I've found that older v27h and a few others around that perform best on animation. It will remove more blends than other new versions.

[simos_sigma]

As I mentioned earlier, ffmpegsource2 isn't always frame accurate...

• I wouldn't mind installing and use "DGDecode" instead of "FFmpegSource2" but opening its contents, I can't figure out what to drop where...
• What is your opinion about the rest "Fieldblending and Frameblending removal" filters?

Srestore's perfomance also varies greatly depending on which version you're using. I've found that older v27h and a few others around that perform best on animation. It will remove more blends than other new versions.

How older? Did you find any discussion or something?

[SaurusX]

Srestore's perfomance also varies greatly depending on which version you're using. I've found that older v27h and a few others around that perform best on animation. It will remove more blends than other new versions.

How older? Did you find any discussion or something?

No discussion that I'm aware of. Just my own testing experience.