improving old TV rips

[AlanHK]

I've got some TV episode rips, originally from the 1970s. They look a bit out of focus and slightly fuzzy.

What filters might I try to improve this?

I've done some scripting for logo removal, but nothing in this line before, so while I could just try all the filters with the word "sharpen" in them I'm hoping to take advantage of others' experience.

[AlanHK]

So 100 views but no replies.

Is this just a stupid question?

Is there a relevant FAQ?

[Pookie]

Impossible to recommend anything without seeing some images or a clip. :) Film or video? PAL or NTSC ?

[spanky123]

Post a few seconds of the video if you could.

[AlanHK]

Okay:

r-1000.avi (http://www.mytempdir.com/1194971)

6 MB NTSC

I know I can't turn this into widescreen hi-def, but I hope a little rejuvenation is possible.

[spanky123]

That looks pretty spot on to me - for an old video.

I was expecting something much worse. What exactly do you want to improve or remove in that video ?

[AlanHK]

That looks pretty spot on to me - for an old video.
I was expecting something much worse. What exactly do you want to improve or remove in that video ?


There aren't any obvious flaws, it just a generally looks dull, lacking colour and texture (particularly noticeable on the faces). So basically, I'd like to sharpen it without creating artefacts. I've tried a few filters but none so far do that.

[Pookie]

Looks great for 35 year old video tape. Better than a lot of of DV I've seen.
Maybe some white balancing? A few artifacts as demonstrated below, but not really noticeable.

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9883/outmlk0.th.png (http://img264.imageshack.us/my.php?image=outmlk0.png)

[spanky123]

Looks great for 35 year old video tape. Better than a lot of of DV I've seen.
Maybe some white balancing? A few artifacts as demonstrated below, but not really noticeable.

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9883/outmlk0.th.png (http://img264.imageshack.us/my.php?image=outmlk0.png)

Wow. How do you do that ?
I've never seen that before.

[Pookie]

Actually, a vdub plugin that has noise preview. There are similar functions for Avisynth, I just had VirtualDub open at the moment. DFN VHS is the filter name.

http://acobw.narod.ru/file/english_package.ZIP

[*.mp4 guy]

The overall quality is very good, not really anything to be improved on exactly, you can change the overall look, but you can't really make it better.

This script will add some contrast and make the image more temporally stable, but its really a matter of taste if it improves anything.

AVISource("r-1000.avi")

fluxsmooth = fluxsmoothST(5,5)
repair(fluxsmooth, last, mode=8)
ttempsmooth(maxr=7)

unsharp(vary=256, varc=256, strength=0.5)

[AlanHK]

AVISource("r-1000.avi")
fluxsmooth = fluxsmoothST(5,5)
repair(fluxsmooth, last, mode=8)
ttempsmooth(maxr=7)
unsharp(vary=256, varc=256, strength=0.5)

Thanks; I'll give them a whirl.

However, can you tell me where to find "repair" and "unsharp"? Googling for such generic names is a bit pointless, and neither seems to be at WarpEnterprises.

[Pookie]

Repair is part of the RemoveGrain package by Kassandro.

[*.mp4 guy]

unsharp is part of the variable blur plugin (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=88645&highlight=variable+blur).