I created my own branch of Fred's script and posted it many years ago. However, like Fred, I haven't tried to post all my changes and updates because I don't have time to support it when people ask questions.
With that as preface, here is what I am using. It is not really fit for publication (i.e., not many comments on the new stuff), and there are probably bugs all over the place. However, it works for me.
It will take two posts to get it all.
Code:
/*
Film restoration script by videoFred.
Denoising, resizing, stabilising, sharpening, auto-levels and auto-white balance.
Modified by John Meyer, October 7, 2012
Modified by John Meyer, July 7, 2015 (remove errors)
Modified by John Meyer, September 13, 2017
Changes made by Meyer (June 8, 2010):
1. Replaced the MVDegrainMulti function, which was part of the original MVTools
with the equivalent function using the newer and faster MVTools2.
2. Added RemoveDirt function prior to Degrain in order to eliminate large dust spots. This
substantially improves the dirt removal capabilities of this script. The user will need to
download this plugin at:
http://www.removedirt.de.tf/
3. Eliminated a great deal of sharpening. The original script did sharpening in at least four places.
With grainy film stock, this sometimes created objectionable grain. Also, the limitedSharpenFaster
function, while excellent for video, is uncessarily slow, and isn't really needed for this low
resolution source. Too much sharpening can make the film look too much like video.
4. Added multithreading. I was able to roughly triple the script performance. It may be possible to
substantially increase this, perhaps as much as 12x instead of 3x. However, the autolevels function
would have to be replaced.
5. Fixed several things I found. The result3 option didn't have the manual color correction code, so I
added that back in. All the numbered "stab" variables (stab1, stab2, etc.) aren't needed except
for providing a test function for stabilization. I eliminated all of this to streamline the script.
6. Deflicker seemed redundant, given all the averaging that takes place with MDegrain, and also the averaging
that is done when the autolevels outputs are selected.
7. I reduced the number of frames used for averaging autolevels from the default (which is 5) to 2.
I probably should add a variable in the header so the user can change this. Something else to do
in the future ...
8. I added yet another set of crop parameters. I did this because both my capture and my output are
done using NTSC DV AVI which is 720x480. However, 8mm film is almost exactly square, so the captured
720x480 video has black bars on the side. These need to be cropped off prior to doing motion
stabilization, but then added back prior to the final output, which must still be 720x480 with the
black bars on the side.
9. I reduced the default depan settings to 20, which is what was recommended in the original script. I
also reduced the post-depan cropping. I did this so I could keep as much of the original frame
as possible.
10. I removed the second denoising and sharpening function. It just seemed to be too much, and made the
result too artificial
11. I removed the MVFLowFPS interpolation. I did this during one of dozens and dozens of attempts
to improve the speed of the script. I should probably add this back, but if I do so, I also
need to make it work correctly for interlaced output. If the goal is to show this on an NTSC or PAL
television set, then it is not correct to convert from the film fps to 25 fps progressive (PAL) or
29.97 fps progressive (NTSC). Instead, this should be done as follows (example given is NTSC):
MFlowFPS(source,super,backward_vec, forward_vec, num=60000, den=1001,ml=200)
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4, 0, 3)
Weave()
This yields interlaced 29.97, which has twice the temporal resolution as 29.97 progressive, and will
therefore look correct on a TV set. I have done a lot of this as part of my Kinescope to video
conversion scripts. For those scripts, the goal is to make the filmed version of a TV show look
like it was actually videotaped. However, for something that originated on film, this "does violence"
to the original feel of the media. It is true that it can make horizontal pans less "juddery," but
it won't feel like film anymore. Also, this technique does break down, espcially with fast motion
in the foreground.
12. Removed the unecessary "coloryuv(off_U=blue,off_V=red)" statement from the denoising section.
13. Added killaudio() statement to prevent lockups when using SetMTMode().
Changes made on October 7, 2012
1. Modified RemoveDirtMC function to do estimation in two steps. This improves performance and quality.
2. Modified MDegrain to do estimation in two steps. This provides roughly the same quality with blocksize=8
as what I was getting with blocksize=4, but with virtually no performance penalty
3. Updated to use special build of MVTools2 that works with SVP.
4. Moved Autolevels inside special multi-threading section in order to improve performance with autolevels.
5. Removed all trim commands because I do all editing outside the script (in Vegas).
6. Included two alternative ways to do frame interpolation: SVP and InterFrame. The InterFrame script is probably better
but I included the SVP code because it may provide a starting point for more customized approaches. Neither is enabled by default.
Changes made on September 13, 2017
1. Replaced old useless color correction with GamMac.
2. Removed never-used manual controls.
3. Moved deflicker to end of chain because GamMac introduces flicker.
4. Moved RemoveDirtMC to happen AFTER denoising.
*/
#====================================================================================
#VIDEO FILE
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Change the following line to point to your video file
film="e:\fs.avi"
#GENERAL PARAMETERS
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
result="result2" #specify the wanted output here
play_speed=17.98201798 #play speed (8mm=16; Super8=18; 16mm sound=24)
#COLOR AND LEVELS PARAMATERS
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
saturation = 1.0 #for all outputs
gamma = 1.0 #for all outputs
#GamMac Parameters
LockChan = 1 #(0=red channel)
LockVal = 128.0 #default 128 -- Used when LockChan = -1 (for flicker)
Scale = 2 #Fred recommended 2 instead of 1
RedMul = 1.0
GrnMul = 1.0
BluMul = 1.0
Th = 0.1
GMx = 0
GMy = 0
GMw = 0
GMh = 0
LOTH = 0.2
HITH = 0.2
OMIN = 0 #limiting the output a little bit makes it a little 'softer' to look at
OMAX = 255
Al2 = 20
autolev_bord1 = 50
borderV=10 borderH=10
#SIZE, CROP AND BORDERS PARAMETERS
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLeft=8 CTop=8 CRight=8 CBottom=8 #crop values after Depan and before final resizing
W=720 H=480 #final size after cropping
bord_left=0 bord_top=0 bord_right=0 bord_bot=0 #720p= borders 150
in_bord_left=0 in_bord_top=0 in_bord_right=0 in_bord_bot=0 #Borders around input that must be removed
#STABILISING PARAMETERS
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
maxstabH=10 #maximum values for the stabiliser (in pixels) 20 is a good start value
maxstabV=10
est_left=40 est_top=40 est_right=40 est_bottom=40 #crop and contast values for special Estimate clip
est_cont=1.1 #Too large a value defeats stabilization
#DENOISING PARAMETERS
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#denoising_strength=600 #denoising level of first denoiser: MVDegrain()
#block_size= 16 #block size of MVDegrain
#block_size_v= 16
#block_over= 8 #block overlapping of MVDegrainMulti()
#Alternate denoising using smaller block size
#denoising_strength= 600 #denoising level of first denoiser: MDegrain()
#block_size= 8 #block size of MVDegrain
#block_size_v= 8
#block_over= 4 #block overlapping of MVDegrainMulti()
#Alternate denoising using smalles block size
denoising_strength= 300 #denoising level of first denoiser: MDegrain()
block_size= 4 #block size of MVDegrain
block_size_v= 4
block_over= 2 #block overlapping of MVDegrainMulti()
dirt_strength=18 #sets amount of dirt removal (big spots)
#FOUR STEP SHARPENING PARAMETERS
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#120 is pretty aggressive; 85 seems more subtle
#PRE_sharp_ness= 120 PRE_radi_us= 3 #presharpening (UnsharpMask) just after first denoising
PRE_sharp_ness= 85 PRE_radi_us= 3 #presharpening (UnsharpMask) just after first denoising
Sharp_Strength = 0.05 #0.05 is often better (avoid too much sharpening)
#AUTO LEVELS PARAMETER
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
X=4 #X parameter for reducing the autolevels effect on the whites
X2=4 #X2 parameter for reducing the autolevels effect on the blacks
#NUMBER OF THREADS
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
threads=3
# END VARIABLES, BEGIN SCRIPT
#=================================================================================================================================