VirtualDub Mpeg handling?

[sumpm1]

Hi. Using Vdub 1.70 and 1.73. I have 640 x 480 mpeg files from my digital camera. They look great when I use MPC and ffdshow. Since the videos were shot with one light source indoors nighttime, I used levels in ffdshow to correct brightness, and noise reduction in ffdshow (first screenshot.) So to convert these mpegs to Xvid for Youtube, I used ffvdub plugin levels and noise reduct.

As you can see from the screenshots, the Virtualdub encoded video is washed out, particularly the details in the shirt. I had similar results when encoding to Xvid and Huffyuv. I even tried encoding to Huffyuv with no filters or resize, and then trying levels, but had the exact same results. I have similar results when changing the color depth.

What could be the problem here?


These screenshots are of:
1. Original mpeg in mpc with ffdshow levels.
2. Vdub encoded Huffyuv no filters, playing in MPC, with the same settings as 1.


http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/9305/vdub003po1.jpg (http://img76.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vdub003po1.jpg)
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/1121/vdub003xf5.jpg (http://img76.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vdub003xf5.jpg)
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/5632/vdub000ya1.png (http://img76.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vdub000ya1.png)

[neuron2]

Post clip of unmodified MPEG file.

[sumpm1]

can't host it, 640 x 480 and huge bitrate.

[neuron2]

That's why I said 'clip'. You don't have to post the whole thing.

[sumpm1]

I appreciate the help, but I know you meant a "clip." The 5 minute file is 600mb. A "clip" would most likely be 20mb-50mb. I'll try to find some hosting. Suggest any free hosting that you may know of. Or I may even use the search button ;)

[neuron2]

megaupload.com

10-20 Meg should be enough.

[sumpm1]

Hold on neuron, how can I CUT a clip of the original mpeg? I would normally use Vdub for this, and Vdub can't directly cut from mpeg-1, and the file will already be destroyed as in the second screenshot from Vdub. I need a program that can directly cut mpeg. I tried another program I have to convert the mpeg, but it has the same effect as Vdub.

[neuron2]

Open your file and set a range in DGIndex (use the [ and ] buttons to set your range; the help file is always helpful). Then do Save project and demux video. Upload the resulting M2V file. We don't need the audio.

DGIndex is part of DGMPGDec:

http://neuron2.net/dgmpgdec/dgmpgdec.html

[setarip_old]

Hi!I need a program that can directly cut mpegThere are several such programs. Here are a few:

1) MPEG2CUT.EXE
2) ChopperXP
3) TMPGEnc (NOT "TMPGEnc DVD Author", just plain "TMPGEnc")

[sumpm1]

Okay guys, I selected a range and saved the d2v file in DGIndex, but the file is only 10KB, so I'm quite sure there is no actual content, just settings. The audio gets demuxed, but no video. Hmm. Mpeg sucks!

[neuron2]

You need to do File/Save Project and Demux Video. Not just Save Project. You will get an M2V file.

Reading the Users Manual is often helpful.

[sumpm1]

Hey neuron, I did the "save and demux" option like you said, that's all I have tried. It gives me no video file. Maybe there is something weird with this mpeg file.

[neuron2]

After you set the range, hit the F5 key. Does video play?

[sumpm1]

The preview does work, but after 5 tries, there has been no video output. Oh well, this is not the issue anyways. I was able to cut the file with another software. Here it is.

And thanks alot for the help neuron, good man


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0J08F1DT

[setarip_old]

I was able to cut the file with another software.Just curious to know if you used one of the programs I recommended?

BTW, I downloaded your clip and, using VirtualDub, converted it to .AVI using HuffyUV at its default settings. Playing both your original MPEG and the .AVI under good ol' Windows Media Player v.6.4, the only observable difference was that the original MPEG appeared to have a slightly stronger overall reddish tone to it.

Under VLC, the two were virtually identical...

Perhaps you should check your settings under MPC?

[sumpm1]

Just curious to know if you used one of the programs I recommended?

BTW, I downloaded your clip and, using VirtualDub, converted it to .AVI using HuffyUV at its default settings. Playing both your original MPEG and the .AVI under good ol' Windows Media Player v.6.4, the only observable difference was that the original MPEG appeared to have a slightly stronger overall reddish tone to it.

Under VLC, the two were virtually identical...

Perhaps you should check your settings under MPC?

The files play fine, thats not the issue. You can't tell from the screenshots in the original post the difference in video? Those screenshots are in MPC using ffdshow and LEVELS to brighten the image because the light source was low. That's where the problem is, to get them to look acceptable, I NEED to apply levels. But Vdub (and Magix Movie Edit) make it look like the second screenshot when using levels, no good.

I don't even know how you could tell the difference between two videos that were so dark.

Here are the levels settings that I am using in ffdshow to view the files. Try these settings on both files and tell me there isn't a difference. I also see the difference in the preview window in Vdub.



http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5765/vdub004ik9.png (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vdub004ik9.png)

[sumpm1]

Help me out on this guys, I want to process these files for youtube.

BTW, neuron: The reason that the video wouldn't demux in DGIndex is because I was running DGIndex from inside the zip file, rather than extracting the zip to a folder and running.

[sumpm1]

http://hermitswilderness.com/images/blog/tumbleweed.jpg

[foxyshadis]

Obviously there's some kind of issue with the way levels are applied, but unfortunately, it's not obvious from the information what it is at all. None of my guesses ended up obtaining the same histogram. Without access to your machine it's probably not fixable, sorry.

[sumpm1]

Also, you might be able to use Mencoder to do what you want....wait what DO you want to do? When you say process do you mean convert? Filter?

I want to convert the mpeg files to XVID. But I need to apply filters in the process, specifically levels or ffvdub to brighten the dark image. Vdub converts the files fine, but the levels are all screwy, as can be seen from the screenshots. I get the same results on my other machines as well.

Edited by moderator: I have some good news. AviDemux handles the levels of these files correctly! I hadn't ever used AviDemux before, so thanks to them. Now I just need to find a "levels" filter in AviDemux.

[neuron2]

I think Merlin7777 was responding to the hijacker. I moved the hijack posts to another thread in Newbies.

[foxyshadis]

No levels filter, just a bunch of things that are sort of somewhat similar. The one you'll probably want is curves, it works the same way as photoshop curves.

[sumpm1]

If someone could make an external ffdshow filter for AviDemux, I would be in business. I got the curves to work for me though, just a little harder to use than levels. And I can just save the current filter settings, so the hard work is done. I will link the videos as soon as I post them. Thanks to everybody for helping me, we're lucky to have Doom9 forums.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

If someone could make an external ffdshow filter for AviDemux, I would be in business. I got the curves to work for me though, just a little harder to use than levels. And I can just save the current filter settings, so the hard work is done. I will link the videos as soon as I post them. Thanks to everybody for helping me, we're lucky to have Doom9 forums.

ffdshow is a DirectShow/VfW filter. Avidemux doesn't use those Windows-specific interfaces! All video filters available in Avidemux are built-in. There is an interface for "external filters" in Avidemux now, but I'm not aware of any plugins yet. Furthermore I doubt Avidemux' plugin interface would be suitable for ffdshow. If anybody wants to prove the opposite, I'd be interested ^^

[sumpm1]

ffdshow is a DirectShow/VfW filter. Avidemux doesn't use those Windows-specific interfaces! All video filters available in Avidemux are built-in. There is an interface for "external filters" in Avidemux now, but I'm not aware of any plugins yet. Furthermore I doubt Avidemux' plugin interface would be suitable for ffdshow. If anybody wants to prove the opposite, I'd be interested ^^

Yeah, if ffdshow could be implemented in AviDemux, ffdshow would be like a filter factory. I love ffdshow for use in MPC, it cleans up everything.