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View Full Version : Minimising flicker in a bad NTSC to PAL conversion

netmask
6th January 2011, 07:19
Back in the late 80's a couple of my US relatives visited armed with a NTSC camera and high quality monitor to make some family movies and a mini travelogue. A few scenes of 2 distant local relatives were transferred to PAL in the most primitive manner. ie A PAL camera set up in front of the NTSC monitor and the tape played..... awful flicker and depending on ones susceptibility to migraines unwatchable. I have tried dflicker in virtualdub but end up with half a frame and the bottom of the frame there are 4 upside black and white images. Sorry I can't post any images but they are just too personal and a cultural taboo of now deceased elderly relatives for the public domain. I have also tried msudeflick without it really doing anything - maybe it's the settings.

I would appreciate any assistance on this project
2Bdecided
6th January 2011, 12:34
No access to the NTSC originals then?

(I know the problem you mean, but couldn't begin to solve it - other than temporalsoften until there's not much left, which isn't a good solution!).

Cheers,
David.
netmask
8th January 2011, 02:38
I found an acceptable solution - I used "temporal smoother" in virtualdub and although it soften the image, which wasn't great to start with, it eliminated the flicker completely and is now watchable without reaching for the panadeine. I will see if I can sharpen it up a tad - should that be done pre or post temporal smoother?
Mug Funky
24th January 2011, 02:13
would it be possible to post a sample? the kind of flicker involved might be quite killable with a temporal median (rather than temporal average).

or some custom script-fu could help too.
netmask
24th January 2011, 02:19
would it be possible to post a sample? the kind of flicker involved might be quite killable with a temporal median (rather than temporal average).

or some custom script-fu could help too.

As I said in my original post
Sorry I can't post any images but they are just too personal and a cultural taboo of now deceased elderly relatives for the public domain.


The fix that I used was satisfactory and this post is solved from my point of view