new technique-cap to anamorphic quality (updated)

[jmac698]

I discovered a new technique for producing caps with 33% better resolution than ever before! Also the benefit of mixing two versions where one is better quality.
It's simple, take a fullscreen, 4:3 version, and place it on top a scaled, letterbox version.

Situations where useful:
-Poor letterbox version, fullscreen ok. Combine to high quality anamorphic.
-Videotapes: their resolution is so poor, it will look better when combined.
-With higher quality movies, you still get better rez in the central area.
-TV caps, one channel letterbox the other fullscreen. Reduce the bad reception and ensure two logos instead of one! :)

Some conditions apply:
-To get better rez, the fullscreen version must be true; not just scaled up from a letterbox itself.
-There is only a point to this if it's widescreen material.
-You don't have access to an anamorphic version.
-Maybe your letterbox version is poor quality.

Remember, there's import DVDs of various quality, take the best fullscreen version and add the missing sides from another version (Chinese Connection), also DVD's where there's no anamorphic version so combine both sides to your own better one (Bladrunner). Also enhance material not on DVD, like the changed scenes and missing documentaries from Star Wars.

Technique
Make your two caps, trim them to correspond. The numbers will have to be tweaked for your situation.


LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll")
clip1=MPEG2Source("C:\MyVideos\capture.d2v").trim(389,0).BilinearResize(720,480,0,58,0,360)

clip2=MPEG2Source("C:\MyVideos\capture-full.d2v").trim(105,0).BilinearResize(540,480,4,0,710,480)

overlay(clip1,clip2,x=92,y=2,opacity=1.0,mode="blend")

A note about anamorphic. This only applies to 4:3 display devices:
-Better quality if you have a projector with a horizontally stretching lens, to expand the skinny anamorphic to widescreen.
-Better if your tube TV physically draws lines in the vertically smaller area.
-Otherwise, not really better. Compare: anamorphic, that your DVD player scales from 480 lines to 360 lines, or the studio prescales this for you. The DVD player may not do such a good job as the studio, so letterbox DVD can actually be better!

[edit: much rambling removed]

[Wolfman]

:goodpost:

I am truly in awe of a quality freak. However not many others really want the extra quality??:)

[jmac698]

I think that's the first time freak has been used as a complement :)
Actually I've only done this once as a test, to see if it could be done. It was just an idea that inspired me at the time, and I had a chance to learn some scripting. Since then I've had much better ideas, please see the topic Component4All. That one is worth it sometimes for me, because I hate the bleeding colors of svideo.
There are cases where it's still useful however, for example one of my favorite movies is in pretty poor quality, and I have a chance to use this technique.
I have even more crazy ideas brewing, but the world is not ready yet :)

[Mug Funky]

so you're getting a 4:3 pan-scan, pillarboxing it, and sticking it on top of a stretched 4:3 letterbox? that's not a bad idea actually. i can see it coming in useful if i ever get a crap master in 4:3LB and a better one in 4:3P&S. would have to pray there's no actual panning and scanning though, or things could get messy :)

I think the argument for anamorphic before widescreen TV's was misinformed and theoretically, it always sounds better to have 33% more resolution. Maybe that's why studios always ignored it.
There is one other possibility: you have a tube TV which scales by itself, standard frame, and physically draws all 480 lines closer together on the tube. Did such models exist? They are probably old, as this is a simple analog electronics way of scaling.

anamorphic was a filming/projecting technique long before widescreen capable TVs were thought up. use a lens that squishes a wider image onto a 4:3 frame of film, then put a similar lens on the projector when playing back. consider it a form of image compression... when LD and DVD came in and there was talk of "home theatre", it wasn't long before some bright sparks invented squishing TVs and home projectors so boffins could watch their expensive LDs in widescreen. it's more a DVD thing though - there were hardly any widescreen LDs released.

there are many CRTs that have a 16:9 mode that scans a smaller area. likewise there are widescreen CRTs that have a 4:3 mode that scans a smaller horizontal area. anamorphic video looks very nice on these TVs :). of course my home TV is cheap and quite nasty - it's component input has such a chroma delay that it actually looks better to watch in s-video, and it's 16:9 squish mode only squishes to 14:9... this is usually enough, but i'd be damned if i can find a 14:9 DVD to play on this thing. it was only AUD 300 bux though and it's huge... can't complain about that. my CRT monitor at work however, is very good and i want to take it home :)

i agree that scaling on DVD players is pretty ugly, especially with a sharp source, and circular forms. but IMHO it'd be worse to release DVDs in 4:3 letterboxed... all the people with 16:9 capable equipment would be up in arms :)

[jmac698]

Thanks, that was really interesting...
these TV's, why does it look better? I don't think it's resolution, but...
I've noticed, tube's are pushed bright. This makes pixels fuzzy. Turning down brightness gives better detail.
Closer lines look brighter, so reduce brightness and retain detail. Is that your experience?
I had a 16:9 tube, but I didn't notice this effect. It seemed to scan 960x540 always, from computer experiments.
I didn't like the overscan, poor geometry and resolution.
Then I tried LCD, it's beautiful :)

Yes, you understand my technique, and that's exactly where you use it, especially for old videotapes.

Something I forgot about scaling is you have to deinterlace first, that can be a big problem.

There's some filters for your chroma problem, Dscaler can do it live (but pointless unless you have computer component out, and capcard component in), otherwise you'd have to preprocess your movie just for that TV. Look up the service menu codes to get into your TV, maybe it can be fixed!