alternates to virtualdub/virtualdub2 that actually work right?

[lollo]

One of those weird things here on the forum is, that term lossless becomes a topic here all the time, and everyone recommends it etc.

It is not weird at all, we recommend lossless for capture and archive of Analog video, because is the best choice for the advantages we mentioned many times.

For processing and distribution other options are available.

[_Al_]

Well, those who ask questions think that almost lossless like Prores is somehow "worse" and bad because it is not lossless.

Instead, for NLE, it is basically a choice if using as an intermediate format.
The main concern is have proper levels and avoiding mistakes, if that is controlled, than other things like lossless vs. prores are negligible.

[armyofquad]

If only the major issues of professional video editing were what lossless/near lossless codec to use for transport files.

My most recent project I finished up went like this:

I wanted to watch the Christmas episode of Mr. Bean.
I went to my 3 DVD sources, original US set, 2010 UK set, 2015 US set.
All 3 have the episode without the turkey weighing scene (which was originally cut in the original airing, but inserted in US versions aired on PBS).
The 2015 US set includes the scene as an extra, not as part of the episode.
There was a DVD version that included the episode with this scene - not sure which one though. So I go online to look for something.
I find a mystery file claimed to be a bluray rip. Perhaps a BD-R of some source, or perhaps just a name. Whatever it is, it includes the scene, with proper crossfade from scene before. It's formatted in stretched widescreen, and 25p.

So, best starting point is the episode as is off the 2010 UK DVD - as it is 25i, which best I can figure is how the episode was originally shot, which can be deinterlaced to 50p, giving me the bulk of the episode in a decent quality.

I align this source with my bootleg bluray download (oh - had to extract the dolby digital soundtrack, convert it to .wav, and find that it had blank c/lfe/surround channels. But hey, you can label it as dolby digital 5.1 to impress downloaders).

Scene before the crossfade to the turkey weighing scene has a straight cut, making for an easy transition. Most people probably will never notice that the episode goes from 50p of unique frames to 50p of doubled frames from a 25p source.

The scene after the turkey weighing scene that has a straight cut gives me a perfect transition back. A little crossfading in the audio. Perfect. For most people.

But I'm not most people.

A very minor issue with the Mr. Bean catalog is many sources trimmed the act breaks (end of part one. part two) when preparing for home media, and over the years many of these mangled prepped versions have been pulled for DVD reissues, rather than taking care to go back to the original masters and prepare a high quality transfer. However, the 2015 US set went to the trouble of doing new transfers, and including the act breaks in every episode. It's a shame that it's a piece of garbage product, because it's the only set that tried to be complete - new transfers, all extra scenes added as extra features - which is a bit inconvenient that they can't be viewed inserted into the original episodes, but at least they're actually there somewhere. The problem - some idiot decided the best option for a 25i source to a US DVD would be to convert it to 23.976p, by slowing down the playback speed, and throwing away half the fields, and time expanding the audio.

The artifacts on the audio are noticeable.

So - converting the 24p to playback at 25p gives a video source for the missing act breaks. But then the audio for those seconds will be time compressed and time expanded, so not ideal.

But - another source emerged in the search for the Christmas episode that includes the turkey weighing scene, a rip from a streaming service.

The rip includes the act breaks (at least on this episode, haven't checked them all). However, it is also 25p (half fields thrown away). And another major sin - they cropped it to widescreen!

I could write a lot of angry words about what I think about cropping, but I'll sum it up with an image:

[Attachment 90432 - Click to enlarge]

But - it gave me an audio source that I can align with my fixed 2015 DVD video for the act breaks, to restore these seconds back to the episode.

A bit over the top - but these things matter to me.

So all in all, it took 4 sources to undo the damage done by countless idiots to a TV episode. These things that I keep discovering all the time when I try to enjoy my purchases are why my opinions of the professionals in the video industry continue to drop lower, and lower, and lower.

We have people snipping out content. We have people pulling sources that happen to be available, that may not be best suited for their delivery format, that are shoved on there for simplicity. We have people giving not a care in the world about comedic timing of physical comedy, mangling the playback speed and audio quality. And we have people that are so worried about black lines on the sides of the screen, they'll decapitate people over it.

These things matter! If you're working in this field, please, for the love of God, do better!

[lollo]

Well, those who ask questions think that almost lossless like Prores is somehow "worse" and bad because it is not lossless.

Technically it is worse, especially if you go through several iterations of decoding/coding. As I wrote, capture lossless, and stay lossless as long as you can in the flow. Encode just for final delivery.

Instead, for NLE, it is basically a choice if using as an intermediate format.

A NLE is rarely/not always necessary for the restoration of analog captured video.

The main concern is have proper levels and avoiding mistakes,

Yes (examples are Resolve and Vegas).

if that is controlled, than other things like lossless vs. prores are negligible.

No.

[rgr]

One of those weird things here on the forum is, that term lossless becomes a topic here all the time, and everyone recommends it etc. But professionals use ProRes, NLE software use it with ease, they are easy to edit, those gui's just are waiting to import those videos.

Prores is just fine as almost lossless. For editing in Vegs. Why to avoid it. Difference in quality will be noticed by no one, in a final delivery option.

For editing in Vegas, you have no choice but Prores And it still does it with errors.