FineSharp converted to shaders, for MPC-HC + madVR, or MPDN - V1.11

[-Vit-]

This is the FineSharp avisynth script by Didée converted to MPC-HC shaders. It was written for madVR (need the 16-bit accuracy in the shader chain), but also works in MPDN.

FineSharp is designed to sharpen clean HD sources. I find it gives a nice clarity boost to clean 720p material when upscaling to 1080p, and gives a modest boost to native 1080p material too. When upscaling it is very effective used together with NNEDI3 luma doubling, if your GPU has the power for that.
The sharpener makes no attempt to filter noise or source artefacts and will sharpen those too. So denoise/clean your source first if necessary. Probably won't work very well on a really old GPU, the weakest I have tried is a GTX 560 at 1080p 60fps with no problems.


Installation

Get zip from attachment below or download here (V1.11)

There are a collection of shaders in the attached zip file, import them all into MPC-HC. How to do that depends on the version of MPC-HC. In the older versions you paste the code into the shader editor, type a name and select ps_3_0. In the recent versions you can save all the shaders in a folder and add them all at once (Play->Shaders->Select Shaders...). Search the web for detailed instructions.

When you have imported the shaders they must be selected in the correct order (again check the web for details if you don't know how):

ToYUV
RemoveGrain11
RemoveGrain4
FineSharpA
FineSharpB
FineSharpC
ToRGB

You can select them as "pre-resize shaders" or "post-resize shaders", or both if you wish. In newer versions of MPC-HC, when you have selected your shaders type a preset name (e.g. "FineSharp - Pre-Resize") in the "Shader Presets" box and press "Save".

Pre-resize shaders have a stronger effect when upscaling (e.g. showing 720p on 1080p monitor), post-resize shaders are stronger when downscaling. Sharpening in both stages is too strong for my liking, but you could do this if you find the sharpening too delicate - this works best when NNEDI3 luma doubling is enabled.


Controls

In newer versions of MPC-HC, right click, and select Shaders>>Your Shader Preset to enable. You can also go to Options>>Player>>Keys, scroll down to find Next and Prev Shader Preset and assign a key there (a key combination that isn't used, like Ctrl+P or Ctrl+Y). In MPC-HC 1.70 and below, toggle pre-resize shaders with Ctrl-P and post-resize shaders with Ctrl+Alt+P.

The script settings are in the FineSharpA and FineSharpC files. They mirror the original script settings exactly.
The main sharpness control is "sstr" in FineSharpA, use it to control the sharpness more precisely than just toggling pre or post shaders. When you change sstr, you should also change cstr - suggested values are in the script.
I also added an extra feature of my own "xrep", which helps reduce artefacts from the second pass of sharpening.


Notes

The shaders are not compatible with the MadVR setting: "run custom pixel shaders in video levels instead of PC levels".

V1.12 - Color conversion improvement by Shaindow
V1.11 - Bug fix
V1.1 - Optimised sorts and medians for a good speed-up. Fixed a bug in the second sharpening pass & tweaked xrep range. Removed a couple of unnecessary files.
v1.0 - First release

-Vit-