Sharpening filter on x264 720/1080p

[cr4p]

Hey guys,

I've been a home theater enthusiast for many years and decided recently it was finally time to take a look at the HTPC solution, so I built one, i5 750, 4gig of ram...I've also have what you could consider a pretty high end system with a projector and 3.5m anamorphic screen.

Anyway I've been toying around with the usual suspects, MPC-HC, ffdshow, ac3filter, coreavc, reclock and avisynth. I read some tutorials and got everything working pretty much how I wanted.

Now comes the time of tweaking, I read as much as I could on the different sharpening filter out there but there's so many it's hard to say which work best.

So far I looked at seesaw, limitedsharpenfilter and also at the MPC-HD sharpen complex (2) shader and unsharp filter in ffdshow.

the amount of different option for sharpening is overwhelming, so I was wondering what do you use for x264, what's your secret settings, please share them, I want to try them all.

Any other *must* filter I should be using on x264 720/1080p, so far I use deband (1.10), resize (spline), levels and right now limitedsharpenfilter but maybe I'm missing something important.

:thanks: a lot

[rkalwaitis]

use Lato's LSFMod http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=142706&page=1 its one of the better ones.

[Nightshiver]

Secret settings? There are none. What YOU should do is experiment on your own, as that is the only way you will learn. Use some of the sharpeners you've found and try them out for yourself. There isn't a magical setting that any of us use; each source is different.

[Inspector.Gadget]

You may be overfiltering already. Why do you need deband and levels filtering? Is there something wrong with the way your source looks? And if the depth of field effect is already correct, as it is in the majority of (live-action) BDs I've seen, why do you need to sharpen?

[cr4p]

Hey guys,

Thanks for LSFMod, I will take a look.

About overfiltering, I don't think so, I can say I bought/sold at least 10 different standalone bluray player from the very first one in Summer 2006 to hit the market to the high-ends like the Denon 3800, Sony 5000-ES and the Pioneer 91 which were all +2'000$ players, my point is they're far from equal, so the theory that bluray disc look nice and all you need is a player to enjoy them isn't true, actually if you compare the image from a PS3 with the high-end player with an expensive processing chip ala Marvell Qedo or HQV Realta you will notice that PS3 is *significantly* softer.

Then you need to keep in mind that first it's a huge screen 350cm or 138inch, also I use an anamorphic lens for 2.35 movies, it's one of the best optics available but still loose a bit of Sharpness in the process and last but not least they are bluray rips, so compressed from BD-25/50 discs to few gb.

About debanding/levels that's settings I found on a guide online, there's a bunch of DVD tutorials but not many on x264 so I couldn't compare and I needed a starting point.

One thing I'm very interested in is frame doubling from 24hz to 48hz, anyone using it, is there a topic here on doom9? I couldn't find it.

Thx

[Audionut]

but not least they are bluray rips, so compressed from BD-25/50 discs to few gb.

http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm

6) No warez, cracks, serials or illegally obtained copyrighted content! Links to content of a questionable nature, asking for, offering, or asking for help/helping to process such content in any way or form is not tolerated.

[cr4p]

I don't see how it's illegal they are my bluray...

[Nightshiver]

I believe he thinks you hinted/sounded like your sources were BluRay Rips, not actual BD discs.

[cr4p]

they are bluray rips, but i own the bluray and rip them to store them on my NAS

[leeperry]

what's your secret settings, please share them
well, if we share them...it's not quite a secret anymore, innit?

[cr4p]

I'm not exactly sure why ppl contribute to this thread if they have nothing useful to say....

[Inspector.Gadget]

He's right. Nobody can authoritatively recommend a filter without seeing a sample of the source in question. Avisynth is a wonderful tool, but virtually nobody underfilters and plenty of people overfilter to the point that their live-action source looks like claymation. If you can pick out a particular problem with a particular source, and upload a sample for people to look at, then they can tell you how you might address it.

[Didée]

...overfilter to the point that their live-action source looks like claymation.w00t - the quote of the day! Love it! :D :D

And it's exactly like that. There are hundreds of possible ways. And when you ask hundreds of people what they use, you'll get hundreds of different answers. Glued to base one.

One thing you might try out: simple (double-) highpass sharpening:
# needs RemoveGrain.dll and mt_masktools-25.dll

function hipsharp(clip c) {
rg11D=mt_makediff(c,c.removegrain(11,-1))
rg11DD=mt_lutxy(rg11D,rg11D.removegrain(11,-1),"x y - x 128 - * 0 < 128 x y - abs x 128 - abs < x y - 128 + x ? ?")
c.mt_adddiff(rg11DD,U=2,V=2) }
This is a simple, not-fancy, generic sharpen operation, not safe against overshooting/haloing, nor against noise sharpening, nor anything.
The point behind is just "vivid-ness", by reducing/avoiding the usual "fatness-effect" of unsharp-masking operations (or similar methods, most 3x3 kernel sharpeners act similar to unsharp masking with radius of 1 pixel).
Viewed from another angle, it's a bit like supersampled sharpening, just without actually doing the supersampling. ;)

Just one more way out of the hundreds. Try it, like it, or like it not.

Oh ... yes, a strength parameter is missing. ;)

[cr4p]

Hey,

thanks Didiée.

I'm well aware of the hundreds of possibilities and this is precisely why I'm asking, I don't mind testing and adjusting to my taste/source but a lot of people have been discussing that and starting from zero would be plain stupid, I mean this is why there's a community forum so people can share their experience/knowledge, all I wanted was to be pointed in the right direction.

Here's what I use right, with bits and pieces I found here and avs,

MT("""
LSFmod(defaults="old",preblur="ON",ss_x=1.0,ss_y=1.0,secure=true,strength=40)
GrainFactory3(6,5,3,100,100,100,1,1,0.70,0,0,0,0,0,24,56,128,160)
ConvertToYUY2()
""",2,4)
t3dlut(lutfile="C:\Documents and Settings\me\cr3dlut\3dlut_ycbcr_BT709_0-255.txt",itypeU=2,b=1.0,c=0.0,threads=2)

Any comments?

I wanted to squeeze 1920x1080 spline resize but my CPU is too weak :(

[rkalwaitis]

seeing Didee's post for his hipsharp function, reminded me of two older Didee functions that may be of some help to you. Spresso and Seesaw, they are quick and do good jobs when you get them set the way you like them.

K