Kodak's MOV right and bottom bars-how to force editors see right resolution

[abramq]

I found a lot of family movies in my old Kodak DX6340 digital camera. Unfortunately, none of the editors (Filmora, Davinci, Movavi, MovieMaker) or any player (except Apple QuickTime Player) can display them correctly - the bar always appears on the right and at the bottom:
[Attachment 81187 - Click to enlarge] I spent many hours looking for the reason and it seems to me that it is because:
- Kodak used H263 as the codec
- H263 codec has a native (one of many) resolution of 352x288 (does not support 320x240)
Kodak in its camera specifications: link 1 states that the videos are 320x240 and that is how they are played when I connect the camera to a TV with a cable or when I play them on my computer using QuickTime Player:
[Attachment 81188 - Click to enlarge]
- The MediaInfo application gives the same size:
[Attachment 81189 - Click to enlarge]
- And now the most important thing: MediaInfo gives the following data:
[Attachment 81190 - Click to enlarge] With/Height = 320/240, Original Width/Original height = 352/288, Display aspect Ratio = 4:3 So, when I try to open this MOV in movie editors or players - those applications look at the wrong parameters. They should look at 320/240 and 4:3. And they look at 352x288 (additionally - it is not 4:3!) so then they artificially draw this black bar on the right and at the bottom.
Is there any way to force the appropriate interpretation on the MOV header? For example, by modifying this header somehow? If anyone would like to see it on their own, I am attaching this MOV file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u77e-S2UZN7-2WAzSbkmo32EtkJ7Ikw4/view?usp=sharing

[Alwyn]

Those black bits are burned into the file. You can see this when playing it it VLC Player. While it's playing, drag the right side in; you'll see the video shrinking. That's because the black border on the right is part of the image.

You'll have to crop away the bottom and right-side bars and then re-encode as 4:3. Here's my attempt with VirtualDub2 into 640x480. Pretty jittery!

[Alwyn]

Hmmm, I just tried that file in my editor (Magix Movie Studio) and guess what... no bars.

It imports as a 320x240, 4:3 video.

[The_Doman]

It opens also correctly with Avidemux.
But with (all?) the later Nightly builds it crashes directly when opening.
The codec/resolution combination is confusing many programs it seems.

With Avidemux 2.8.1:

[Attachment 81237 - Click to enlarge]

[Alwyn]

My AVIDemux 2.8.2 (230710):


[Attachment 81238 - Click to enlarge]

[Sharc]

With temporal interpolation (video only for this demo):

LWLibavVideoSource("20030719_165926.MOV")
Crop(0, 0, -32, -48)
spline36resize(640,480)
QTGMC(InputType=3) #reduces jaggies, rainbows ...
assumefps(15.0)
v_RGB=z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="RGBPS", colorspace_op="709:709:709:l=>rgb:709:709:f")
v_RIFE=v_RGB.RIFE(gpu_thread=1, model=25, fps_num=30000, fps_den=1000, sc=true, sc_threshold=0.3) # motion interpolate to 30 fps
v_YV12=v_RIFE.z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="YUV420P8", colorspace_op="rgb:709:709:f=>709:709:709:l")

return v_YV12

Edit: 2nd attachment even a bit smoother to 60fps

[Alwyn]

And add VDub's Camcorder Colour Denoise (set on 240). Observe far pool deck around the ladder.


[Attachment 81242 - Click to enlarge]

[johnmeyer]

I had the same problem with the bars. I chose to convert it to an incompressed AVI using ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i "C:\Users\User\Downloads\temp\20030719_165926.MOV" -an -vcodec rawvideo -y "C:\Users\User\Downloads\temp\20030719_165926.avi"

You can then do anything you want, with pretty much any editor. You could also convert to HuffYUV:

ffmpeg -i "C:\Users\User\Downloads\temp\20030719_165926.MOV" -an -vcodec huffyuv -y output.avi

[abramq]

Dear forum members,
I am very impressed with how quickly and professionally you responded to my post. Respect!
Let me try your suggestions, and then eventually ask you a few more details (I am comfortable with computers, but I have no specialist knowledge in the field of video).

[abramq]

(...) You'll have to crop away the bottom and right-side bars and then re-encode as 4:3. Here's my attempt with VirtualDub2 into 640x480. Pretty jittery!

This is the crux of the matter, because the film is only 320x240, so by definition, it has very little detail (if we can say it has any detail at all ). That's why I would like to avoid re-encoding, you can't squeeze more out of a tube that's already squeezed

[abramq]

Hmmm, I just tried that file in my editor (Magix Movie Studio) and guess what... no bars.
It imports as a 320x240, 4:3 video.

Unfortunately, I had not tried this editor before, and invested in the Filmora editor because of its accessible (for an amateur) interface and... light theme to choose (I don't know why most video editors only have a dark theme - it makes it completely difficult to notice black bars like those in my video ).

[Sharc]

(...) You'll have to crop away the bottom and right-side bars and then re-encode as 4:3. Here's my attempt with VirtualDub2 into 640x480. Pretty jittery!

This is the crux of the matter, because the film is only 320x240, so by definition, it has very little detail (if we can say it has any detail at all ). That's why I would like to avoid re-encoding, you can't squeeze more out of a tube that's already squeezed

You really want to watch sports at 15fps? This video can only benefit from a bit of processing.

[abramq]

It opens also correctly with Avidemux.

[Attachment 81237 - Click to enlarge]

This is a milestone for me on the way to saving my family movies!
I opened my movie in AviDemux and set the "Copy" options and then saved it as AVI and - that's it! Thank you very much for this tip!
I assume that the "Copy" option does not recompress the movie (as I wrote earlier, I want not to add more detail losses to the movie).
I will also have to read up on whether AviDemux can work in batch mode because I have a lot of these family movies.

[abramq]

(...) You'll have to crop away the bottom and right-side bars and then re-encode as 4:3. Here's my attempt with VirtualDub2 into 640x480. Pretty jittery!

This is the crux of the matter, because the film is only 320x240, so by definition, it has very little detail (if we can say it has any detail at all ). That's why I would like to avoid re-encoding, you can't squeeze more out of a tube that's already squeezed

You really want to watch sports at 15fps? This video can only benefit from a bit of processing.

Well, at this stage I only want to prepare source files - with such many details as the original has. Just preparing the "base". Of course, then I will put it on time-line in the video editor to export the final movie. And of course, I will set for that final movie parameters something like 640x480/30fps. It let me make only one lossy compression of the original. (Hope I am right...?)

[abramq]

With temporal interpolation (video only for this demo):

LWLibavVideoSource("20030719_165926.MOV")
Crop(0, 0, -32, -48)
(...)

At this stage, this code is a mystery to me Are these parameters that are passed in some batch-processing application?
The attached movies are really nice!

[abramq]

And add VDub's Camcorder Colour Denoise (set on 240). Observe far pool deck around the ladder.

I can't open MOV file in VDub, so I guess it must be transformed before to the appropriate format. And I guess that the point of this post is to use that Camrorder Colour Denoise. Will try it!

[abramq]

I had the same problem with the bars. I chose to convert it to an incompressed AVI using ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i "C:\Users\User\Downloads\temp\20030719_165926.MOV" -an -vcodec rawvideo -y "C:\Users\User\Downloads\temp\20030719_165926.avi"

Unfortunately it doesn't remove the black bars on my side.
I did:

>ffmpeg -i "E:\20030719_165713.MOV" -an -vcodec rawvideo -y "E:\20030719_165713.avi" > E:\logs.txt

and black bars are still there.
Here I enclose the log of processing - I can see there are only 352x288, not 320x240.

[Sharc]

With temporal interpolation (video only for this demo):

LWLibavVideoSource("20030719_165926.MOV")
Crop(0, 0, -32, -48)
(...)

At this stage, this code is a mystery to me Are these parameters that are passed in some batch-processing application?
The attached movies are really nice!

It's Avisynth scripting. It is probably a bit intimidating at the beginning, but Avisynth is very powerful for video processing. Learning the basics is a good investment of your time if you want to process video.

The first line of the script reads and decodes the source. The crop(0,0,-32,-48) command crops the black borders off, 32 pixels from the right and 48 pixels from the bottom, which leaves you with the 320x240 video.
The rest of the code essentially does the upscaling to 640x480 and the motion interpolation from 15fps to 30 or 60fps, means it synthesizes the missing frames.

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

[Sharc]

If you just want to crop the borders off you may want to use the ffmpeg commandline:

ffmpeg -i "20030719_165926.MOV" -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf "crop=320:240:0:0,setdar=4/3" "cropped.mov"
pause

(You can set -crf 0 to produce a lossless output)

[johnmeyer]

First of all, to all those suggesting he crop the bars, there are no bars! As has been discussed, and as the OP figured out before he posted, those bars are an artifact of how certain video players and NLE treat the video.

The best solution is what the OP posted in #13. It is the equivalent to my ffmpeg suggestion, except it actually works for the OP. All he has to do is save as uncompressed or lossless (e.g., HuffYUV) and then edit the resulting videos.

Since they are only 15 fps, they will benefit from using some sort of motion estimation, although on fast motion like the swimming clip example, that may add too many artifacts. For low-res video from that era, the video actually looks pretty good and, assuming the sound is useful, you might just be able to edit them and then save as h.264 MP4 or perhaps h.265, depending on who is going to be looking at them.

No need to get too fancy, unless you run into something that really bugs you.

[Alwyn]

I can't open MOV file in VDub

Are you using Virtual Dub 2?

It opens also correctly with Avidemux

.
Could your post a screenshot of your Help>About box? And what version are you using: portable or installed?

Mine won't open that file and I'm curious as to why.

Thanks Doman.

Edit: The portable version works OK. The installed version crashes.

For low-res video from that era, the video actually looks pretty good

In that case, Sharc's version is outstanding!

[Sharc]

Not to argue about the "removal" of fake (=player created) borders, here a simple ffmpeg commandline which outputs lossless huffyuv directly.
(It could easily be arranged as a batch as well)

ffmpeg -i "20030719_165926.MOV" -c:a copy -c:v ffvhuff -coder 0 -context 0 -non_deterministic true -vf "crop=320:240:0:0,setdar=4/3" "huffy.avi"
pause

[ProWo]

It opens also correctly with Avidemux.

[Attachment 81237 - Click to enlarge]

This is a milestone for me on the way to saving my family movies!
I opened my movie in AviDemux and set the "Copy" options and then saved it as AVI and - that's it! Thank you very much for this tip!
I assume that the "Copy" option does not recompress the movie (as I wrote earlier, I want not to add more detail losses to the movie).
I will also have to read up on whether AviDemux can work in batch mode because I have a lot of these family movies.

With copy to AVI the right/bottom bars remain.
With the settings from your picture the videostream is cropped and reencoded to HuffYUV, and the audiostream to pcm.
So no milestone and no magic.
Many other video editors can do the same.

[The_Doman]

With the settings from your picture the videostream is cropped and reencoded to HuffYUV, and the audiostream to pcm.
So no milestone and no magic.
Many other video editors can do the same.

Those settings in the Avidemux screenshot were shown as an example.
It then will of course re-encode to HuffYUV but there was no cropping needed.

A direct copy to Avi will work, but most/all player/codecs still fill the resolution to the H263 352×288 (a.k.a. CIF) format it seems.
It is a really annoying codec format.

But with my older Virtualdub (1.10.4) and the ffdshow codec it opens the avi with the correct resolution, but with a warning about the audio codec.


[Attachment 81266 - Click to enlarge]

[Alwyn]

I agree with ProWo, AVI with AVIDemux isn't a viable option; for example, Magix now won't open that audio or the AVI video.

If the OP has a heap of them to convert into something editable, I think Sharc's method with batching would be the best; Handbrake will do batching but not to AVI+PCM. Placebo H264 could be used to edit.

[abramq]

With temporal interpolation (video only for this demo):

LWLibavVideoSource("20030719_165926.MOV")
Crop(0, 0, -32, -48)
(...)

At this stage, this code is a mystery to me Are these parameters that are passed in some batch-processing application?
The attached movies are really nice!

It's Avisynth scripting. It is probably a bit intimidating at the beginning, but Avisynth is very powerful for video processing. Learning the basics is a good investment of your time if you want to process video.

Thanks a lot, I will check it for sure.

[buzz1891]

Well, at this stage I only want to prepare source files - with such many details as the original has. Just preparing the "base". Of course, then I will put it on time-line in the video editor to export the final movie.

TBH, I don't see the reason to just do simple cropping. For such a material, to get any decent quality out of it you have to learn more powerful tools then Filmora/Premiere/etc. Naturally, cropping is available there too, as the simplest part of the process. Don't waste yr time for transcoding, better learn basics of Avisynth processing (how to open video/apply some simple filter/save result). Then return here for advice what restoration filters to use.

[abramq]

If you just want to crop the borders off you may want to use the ffmpeg commandline:

ffmpeg -i "20030719_165926.MOV" -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf "crop=320:240:0:0,setdar=4/3" "cropped.mov"

(You can set -crf 0 to produce a lossless output)

This works! So I have another solution for my movies. Thanks!
P.S.
With -crf 0 the target movie has no video, there is only audio played. Any -crf > 0 works well.
This worries me a bit, because -crf > 0 already implies compression, which I wanted to avoid at the stage of preparing the "raw" movie for editing.

[abramq]

It opens also correctly with Avidemux.

[Attachment 81237 - Click to enlarge]

This is a milestone for me on the way to saving my family movies!
I opened my movie in AviDemux and set the "Copy" options and then saved it as AVI and - that's it! Thank you very much for this tip!
I assume that the "Copy" option does not recompress the movie (as I wrote earlier, I want not to add more detail losses to the movie).
I will also have to read up on whether AviDemux can work in batch mode because I have a lot of these family movies.

With copy to AVI the right/bottom bars remain.
With the settings from your picture the videostream is cropped and reencoded to HuffYUV, and the audiostream to pcm.
So no milestone and no magic.
Many other video editors can do the same.

Right, mea culpa I wanted to test all the suggestions from this forum as soon as possible and I must have looked in the wrong place. I was also misled by AviDemux, which always showed the movie on preview without black frames.
Anyway, after setting HuffYUV, the black frames disappear However, while Filmora opens this file, media players show an error about an unknown codec)

[abramq]

I can't open MOV file in VDub

Are you using Virtual Dub 2?

Sorry, my fault, I was using ver 1. Now, in ver 2 I can open it. Thanks!