dark video

Originally Posted by natty

is there anyway to brighten up a dark movie some places are ok but alot of movie is very dark

Assuming you have properly authored DVD files, it's easy.

You need DVDRebuilder for this (if you don't have it already, get the Rocka's installer). If you don't wish to use one of the freeware encoders included, install the one of your choice first (i.e. CCE or Procoder). Run the Configuration Tool so DVDRB knows where everything is.

Open DVDRebuilder, set the encoder mode, Quenc, HC, or one of the above. Click Options -> AVS Options -> Advanced (Expert) Options -> Filter Editor.

Type this in the window exactly:

Levels(0,1.3,255,0,255)

Save and exit. Encode the movie. This does gamma correction, when the video is intended for display in a brighter environment. It will noticeably increase brightness without washing out the brighter scenes. (You'll need to clear the filter editor when done, or it will use that entry again).

Good luck.

:P Click on DVDRB. Go to the main download site. I see it's no longer called the "Rocka"s" installer, just DVDRebuilder installer. It has everything you need. Run the configuration tool if using an encoder other than one included in the installer. Specify a working path and an output path, on a hard drive other than the one with your OS, if possible, and with, oh, at least 15 Gigs free space.

Other than that, it should be fairly easy to figure out. But there's probably a guide or two for DVDRB over there <--, or at the main site.

Say you don't have an MPEG encoder but want to use Quenc. First set Mode to Quenc. Then put the entry in the filter editor, save and exit filter editor. Find the source path of your movie, the VIDEO_TS folder within the parent (movie) folder.

You can do one-click mode or not. If not, it'll have "prepare", "encode" and "rebuild" After prepare, you can go to the working path and open one of the AVS scripts in notepad and see that the line
Levels(0,1.3,255,0,255)
is in there. Then encode, then rebuild. I only do it that way if I want to check the script, otherwise one-click mode.

This IS a DVD rip, right? Or a DVD you authored yourself? Gotta be DVD files. Good luck, you'll do alright, it's easy.

Originally Posted by natty

ok will give this a go but will all this brighten up movies which i have that are dark

You seem unconvinced. Try it, what can you lose? I can assure you that you'll be able to see a difference.

What I suggested you enter into the filter editor is an Avisynth command, the DVDRB installer also installs Avisynth, an advanced video tool. Please post back and tell us how it went.

That's your encoder running, evidently you chose HC encoder. (I should have explicitly suggested Quenc, it's slightly faster and no need to change defaults). Let it run, I guess you didn't do anything to the settings? It's gunna take a good while, no way around it...

I use CCE, just about the fastest encoder around, and it takes sometimes almost 2x realtime for two passes if I've added any filters. I only tried HC a couple times, IIRC it took over 4x, so....8 hours and up for a two hour movie. YMMV. Next time you could cut that down by using Quenc, single-pass encode. This is the sort of thing many people here let run overnight. You need patience for this hobby.

Do you know how to reauthor with DVDShrink? How to set start/end frames? If you can't stand the suspense, reauthor a short clip from the movie. Then run it through DVDRB. Compare to original. :P

You weren't kidding about being new to this. Sorry, you'll be better off reading a guide or two. They have screenshots, etc., no need for me to re-invent the wheel. Here are some good DVDShrink guides:

http://www.dvdshrink.info/fulldisk_basic.php
http://www.dvdshrink.info/reauthor_basic.php

Specifically how to set start/end frames:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=77120

For now, what say you just let DVDRebuilder finish re-encoding?

[EDIT] There are good DVDRB guides at the main DVDRebuilder site. C'mon, read some. You should save your questions for when you're really REALLY stuck. :P

To clarify, get the help files at the DVDRebuilder site. (They're zip files). Good as any other guide I've seen, very clear and concise.

Originally Posted by celtic_druid

There is a modified version of MPEG2Requant that can adjust the brightness of MPEG-2. No need to re-encode.

Can't seem to find that anywhere, although Dmitry Vergheles has posted numerous links to the demo version on various video forums. The demo looks to be a good transcoder, with the ability to selectively requantize I, P, and B pictures. I tried the demo, input is Mpeg2 or VOB, the output is elementary streams, in case anyone's interested.

@Natty: So, making any progress?

Any decent encoder or video editor can do so. But easier? Not that I can think of. If you can use DVDShrink, you can certainly learn DVDRebuilder, it's not any harder. And all you need to do is to add one line of script in the filter editor. You're overthinking this.

Go any higher and you're gunna bugger the picture. There are other scripts that would be better, cuz now you'll need to adjust hue, saturation and contrast as well. Burn to RW and look carefully at the original and the corrected video on your TV. See if that isn't good enough.

Anyway, you got a reply to your PM.


[EDIT] Try what I suggested in the PM. Without seeing your video myself, it's hard to suggest anything better. Although you definitely CAN do better. We can continue via PM. Oh, and well done.

Originally Posted by celtic_druid

I still have the source code somewhere.

I'd be interested in trying it, if you'd be so kind...