need filter recommendation for processing vid cap from VHS

[geniv]

I capture video from VHS to highbitrate (2.5 or 3 meg) MPEG1 stream. I plan to reencode the

video to to VCD using TmpEnc and or DivX using VirtualDub

The problem is the VHS is not so great quality with flickers and noise (general defects from old/

over played VHS tapes)

What filters do you guys recommend for cleaning up the video during the reencoding process?
I need filters for VIRTUALDUB and TMPENC. Link would also be great.

Thanks in advance for your help

[BJ_M]

just a note on the bitrate .. 3meg/s is not very high bit rate ....

[geniv]

true, but I figure 3 meg bitrate will get rid off macroblocks.

I"m apping in 352x240 resoultion so I figure it don't need more than that.

[vhelp]

geniv,

Too bad you don't list your PC specs as most of use do here.
Just go into your PROFILE (see top of YOUR post) and click PROFILE.
Anyways...

You're not giving yourself enough video real-estate to work with.
Your final capture source is 352x240.

Why don't you capture to 352x480 and raise your bitrate to maybe
6000, and then use DVD2AVI to *.d2v it and then re-encode it to VCD
so that you can increase your chance of obtaining better quality?
At least give it a shot. If framedrops are an issue at this level,
then, continue keeping capture size at 352x480, but reduce the bitrate
by 100k and bumping it down 100k notch till you see no more framedrops
or minimum at very least?
Also (tip) if you decide to go this route, then, in MMC or whatever
you are capturing wiht software'wise, increate your Saturation by approx
10 to 15, so that when you *.d2v it, you can cut the saturation back
down a little or so. This is help in the color washout that you all
experience when you re-encode a capture to MPEG1 or MPEG2.
Remember, you are re-encoding an encode!!

If you continue to capture at 352x240, you're only cheating yourself,
as the video is blurry as it is, and applying filters will only make
it worse. You don't want to add to the blurryness at that resolution,
Even if most of your issues ie, noise, is gone. You'll go cross-eyed!!

Give the above a shot.

-vhelp

[rendalunit]

The smart deinterlace and smart smoother filters work very good- http://shelob.mordor.net/dgraft/
Also flaXen vhs filter is excellent.

You'll have much better reselts capturing compressed avi with the Huffy codec and resolution at 352x480.

[geniv]

should have been more clear.

athlon xp 1800 +
512 ddr ram
KT333 mobo
WinXP Pro
SB Live
WD 120 gig Special Ed HD
PV233 mpeg1 encoder (use included proprietory cap software)

anyway my cap card have highest cap resoultion of 352x240 (VCD)
and it only cap into MPEG1 format not anything else.

[vhelp]

geniv,

so, you're saying then, that you CAN'T even raise your bitrate? ? ?
If that IS the case, and you are not striped for cash, (well, at least
not more than $50) then you might want to invest in a newer card,
like the following:
* ATW (I believe it's no longer avail, but is sold as the VE now)***
* ATWVE $49 (I'm working on right now, for testing for **)
* PCPVR***
* WTVGO***

But, IMO, the DC10+ is THE card for VHS!! But, it costs $129, cause
they made some changes to it. Well, to the software, that is. The
card itself, is the same!! I got mine for $59 about 2 years ago.
I believe it's now called the Studio 7 or Studio 8, and in a prettier
box, he, he...
I'm working w/ it in reference to VHS captures, etc. You can see my
thread discussion at:
Line Noise - mostly from VCR sources...
...in reference to my **Line Noise which started with the ATW and
WTVGO cards. And, yes, the DC10+ wins hand-down -- is clear like
a bell.
*** the above link also has a listing of my test cards and ranks them
as highest to lowest in NOISE. so, you may want to check it out anyways
FYI.

Oh, now stick that in your PROFILE - - your PC specs.
-vhelp

[Thorn]

Too bad your cap card limits you to mpeg. If there's no way to use other software (or a wrapper to the driver so that virtualdub can cap) you might want to get another cheap cap card (if you're capturing a lot of stuff).

Anyway, back to the question you asked... Rendalunit is right about the smart smoother (you don't need to deinterlace if you cap 3xx by 240). The flaxen filter is great too but I usually just use a temporal filter (first) at about 2-4 and then the smart smoother with a smaller radius -- do tests to see what works best for the particular source. Too much temporal filtering makes the video look funny, but a setting of 2 does wonders in getting rid of that moving static. I try not to overuse the smart smoother, but can't really say what the best settings are.

Do NOT filter in TMPGenc if you can help it. It takes many times longer than virtualdub. You can open the file in virtualdub, filter it, and then frameserve to TMPGenc all in one encode session. There should be some guides to that here, sorry I don't have the link.

[geniv]

thanks for your help, I don't know too much about avisyth. I'll probably encode with filters in tmpenc. couldn't care less about the time since I have a dedicated Athlon 1800+ machine for that and I can just leave it on all night.