Animated DVD encoding?

[nekrosoft13]

What would be a good way to encode an animated TV show (family guy) to h264 or some other decent codec.

Can't get good results, not sure how to explain it but most common problem looks like shimmering. Where the outline lines shake and break constantly.

any recommendations how to get a good encode?

[Guest]

Post your entire script and tell us how you did the encoding.

[Lyris]

And tell us about the source material. My first guess re "outlines shaking and breaking constantly" would be the encoder not being able to keep up with Composite video cross-colouration and/or dot crawl.

[Nightshiver]

A video sample would also be nice.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Depending on what season you're encoding, Family Guy may have really horrible aliasing (stair-step look) on lines; when I encoded some episodes, I resolved this and removed the undesirable softening using SAA() followed by MSharpen and Toon. In any event, take the advice above.

[Adub]

Yeah it's a royal shame that such an awesome show had such a horrible encoding job. It's gotten better, but it's still not fantastic. It had some really bad ivtc issues from time to time as well. Pain in the butt to fix.

[LUCHOO]

Depending on what season you're encoding, Family Guy may have really horrible aliasing (stair-step look) on lines; when I encoded some episodes, I resolved this and removed the undesirable softening using SAA() followed by MSharpen and Toon. In any event, take the advice above.

@ Inspector.Gadget
Hi, ...please I need help ..............
I wish to apply an antialiasing filter a video with Avisynth,
I wish a simple script please..
Thanks

[Inspector.Gadget]

Try SAA() followed by MSharpen and then Toon. I left SAA() and Toon at the defaults, but cut MSharpen's default sharpening in half. Again, aliasing varies tremendously by season, so this will not necessarily help you. Test it and see how it goes.

[LUCHOO]

Test it and see how it goes.

Ok, Thanks.

[nekrosoft13]

And tell us about the source material.

Ok, still having issues with getting a decent encode.

Source Material is Family Guy NTSC DVDs

some files are progresive with pulldown.

General
Complete name : \\NEKROSERV\Share\L Drive\Need_Convertion\FAMILY_GUY_DISC1\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 991 MiB
Duration : 22mn 32s
Overall bit rate : 6 149 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 349ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 521 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Standard : Component
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Scan order : 2:3 Pulldown
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.666
Stream size : 235 KiB (0%)

Audio #1
ID : 128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format profile : Dolby Digital
Duration : 22mn 32s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 31.0 MiB (3%)

Audio #2
ID : 131 (0x83)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format profile : Dolby Digital
Duration : 22mn 32s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 31.0 MiB (3%)

Text
ID : 32 (0x20)
Format : RLE
Format/Info : Run-length encoding

Menu


Some are interlaced

General
Complete name : \\NEKROSERV\Share\L Drive\Need_Convertion\FAMILYGUY_VOL3_D3\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1 024 MiB
Duration : 21mn 16s
Overall bit rate : 6 731 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 21mn 16s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 376 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : Component
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.519
Stream size : 818 MiB (80%)

Audio #1
ID : 128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 21mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 68.1 MiB (7%)

Audio #2
ID : 129 (0x81)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 21mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 68.1 MiB (7%)

Audio #3
ID : 130 (0x82)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format profile : Dolby Digital
Duration : 21mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 29.2 MiB (3%)

Text #1
ID : 32 (0x20)
Format : RLE
Format/Info : Run-length encoding

Text #2
ID : 33 (0x21)
Format : RLE
Format/Info : Run-length encoding

Text #3
ID : 34 (0x22)
Format : RLE
Format/Info : Run-length encoding

Text #4
ID : 224 (0xE0)-DVD-1
Format : EIA-608
MuxingMode : MPEG Video / DVD-Video
MuxingMode_MoreInfo : Muxed in Video #1

Menu


I appologize, but I i'm not sure about scripts.

[Inspector.Gadget]

MediaInfo posts are not all that helpful for testing Avisynth scripts. We'll need a video sample, which you can cut and extract using DGIndex.

[CWR03]

A lot of animated shows like Family Guy are hybrid and difficult to impossible to get a perfect encode. Try AutoGK, it's not the best for output quality but usually detects fields correctly.

[nekrosoft13]

MediaInfo posts are not all that helpful for testing Avisynth scripts. We'll need a video sample, which you can cut and extract using DGIndex.

here is one of the progressive samples
pay close attention, you will see parts of the scene shake.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fzy0zdntmdy

[Inspector.Gadget]

I'm not sure how to deal with the aliasing on the windowframe in the living room scene. The jaggies are wide enough that SAA() doesn't do much against them. I think you'll need definitive advice from a more experienced anti-aliaser user, maybe one of the anime guys that's been dealing with bad blends for years.

[thewebchat]

You can't fix this because there isn't enough resolution remaining to antialias it out (AA = blurring). In the living room scene, the best solution seems to be to freezeframe the jittering lines. If you really want to try cleaning it up, try repeating the same antialiaser (without edge masks) about 5 times. If the edges get too light, try adding a FastLineDarken at the end.

[setarip_old]

@necrosoft13

Hi!

No one's asked you yet, so I will:

Does your original commercial DVD exhibit the same problem(s)?

[nekrosoft13]

@necrosoft13

Hi!

No one's asked you yet, so I will:

Does your original commercial DVD exhibit the same problem(s)?

well yes, in some episodes. check post 13

but in other episodes this problem is not visible when played in dvd player, but after conversion problem shows up.

[Lyris]

Nekrosoft: this may or may not be what you want to hear, but the problem you have is inherent in the source. The jitter effect you see happens when Interlaced video is retimed after the animation has been returned from overseas.

This often happens in animated shows if a line of dialogue is changed or altered just before going to air; the animation has to be retimed to fit the new time. It happens often on early episodes of Family Guy and also The Simpsons. There's an episode where Seth McFarlane actually mentions the problem on one of the audio commentaries :)

As for how to remove it, though...