Fixing original wobbling effect in digitized VHS-C video?

[taigi]

Hello everyone,

I have a video recorded with a VHS-C camcorder that I'm trying to digitize. I've attached a sample of the video to this post (with reduced bitrate to keep the file size small).

The main issue I'm facing is a wobbling effect that occurs in almost every frame of the video.

Can anyone suggest ways to fix this wobbling effect? I'd appreciate any advice on software tools or techniques that might help stabilize the video. AviSynth is appreciated the most.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Sharc]

- Use a VHS player (VCR) with TBC (TimeBaseCorrector) functionality
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-restore/1567-vcr-buying-guide.html
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/286055-VCR-buying-guide-%28S-VHS-D-VHS-Professional%29
or
- Use a recommended DVD Recorder (e.g. Panasonic DMR-ES10, DMR-ES15 .....) in passthrough
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/200398-Panasonic-DMR-E55-TBC-more-than-a-simple-li...BC#post2715240

Search the forum for recommendations and examples. There are plenty of threads/posts related to the subject.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/403635-Panasonic-DVD-recorder-passthrough-settings...15-DMR-ES25%29

[taigi]

Thank you for info. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the original VHS tape. Is there any software that can correct the problem?

[johnmeyer]

Thank you for info. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the original VHS tape. Is there any software that can correct the problem?

I don't think so. You have to use equipment with a time base corrector when doing the transfer.

There was an attempt many years ago over in the doom9.org forum to create a software time base corrector to fix videos like yours. It started out as a promising project, but fizzled, partly because the author didn't have the programming chops, but also because it is a difficult problem to solve programatically. It definitely required that the capture show the left-hand border of the video.

Software TBC - I finally made one

[edit]

Here is the later thread. This is the one I was looking for:

New Script: Software TBC 0.6 & Sample (was Fast Line Shifter 0.53)

[Sharc]

Here another attempt:
http://www.avisynth.nl/users/vcmohan/DeJitter/DeJitter.htm

Try (requires Avisynth+):

ffms2("VHS-CFilmQTGMC.avi")
dejitter(32,0.05,10)

[johnmeyer]

Here is an idea you might try.

There are different types of time base errors. Your type somewhat resembles CMOS wobble rather than TBC line errors which show off as "teeth."

There is software which can fix CMOS wobble. You might download and try the ProDad Mercalli software and see if it can fix your problem. I think they have a free trial (click on my link above).

[poisondeathray]

Another options is vhs-deshaker
https://github.com/rsnitsch/vhs-deshaker

The only setting I changed was the pure black threshold, because you uploaded a full range file where the black borders are > Y=16. I used --pure-black-threshold 8 , everything else default

This is otherwise unfiltered - you might consider filtering the noise/ rainbow noise , dropouts, and clean the borders afterwards

One negative of vhs-deshaker is it converts to RGB, exports huffyuv. You can pipe to ffmpeg (there is an example in the documentation), but it's still RGB data

[Selur]

With Avisynth or Vapoursynth I vote for DeJitter, too.

[Sharc]

Here a proposal using dejitter:
http://www.avisynth.nl/users/vcmohan/DeJitter/DeJitter.htm

ffms2("D:\Temp\taigi\VHS-CFilmQTGMC.avi")
dejitter(32,0.05,10)
crop(0,0,-32,-12)
QTGMC(InputType=2)
addborders(16,6,16,6)

[johnmeyer]

Sharc & Poisondeathray: amazing results!

There seemed to be slightly less residual with dejitter, but that might just be a function of tuning. Both create a result which should be quite acceptable.

[poisondeathray]

Yes dejitter is clearly the better option on this - and you don't have convert to RGB /YUV back/forth