Need help correcting whites in video

[abyss616]

I have a VHS copy of a hockey game I'm trying to convert to MKV using x264. The white in this game is really off and overpowering.

https://i.imgur.com/hPtSnnQ.jpg

Script below:
v=DSS2("E:\TV\2003G5-VanStL.track_4113.mkv", fps=29.970)
a=NicAC3Source("E:\TV\2003G5-VanStL.track_4352.ac3")
AudioDub(v,a)
AssumeTFF()
Trim(xxx,xxx )
ConvertToYV12(interlaced=true)
QTGMC(Preset="Slower", SourceMatch=3, Lossless=2, EdiThreads=2)
Spline64Resize(960,720)
AddBorders(160, 0, 160, 0, color=$000000)
Prefetch(threads=16)

What adjustments can I make so there's more color definition?

[LemMotlow]

Your bright levels are completely blown out. There's nothing you can do to improve them as they are pictured. You understand about legal luminancend chroma levels, right? Like, YUV values 16 to 235? Like, adjusting input levels using a histogram before starting capture or recording? You've heard of these things? Or maybe this isn't a tape capture? How was this video made? What equipment was used? What software was used? Is this a direct recording to lossy digital formats such as DVD or h.264?

[hello_hello]

You can't uncrush the whites but maybe you can make it less painful to watch.

Levels(0,1.0,255,0,180, coring=false)

Or whatever looks good to you.
Not that I ever add borders when encoding myself, but if I did I couldn't add them without at least cropping the sides clean first, and I'd crop the top & bottom too. :)

Someone else may have a better idea.

https://s22.postimg.cc/4zgepbmtt/h_Pt_Snn_Qzzz.jpg

[magiblot]

I suggest you share a sample of the original video. I have found many VHS captures to exceed the TV range (16 - 235) for brightness.

Anyway, try adding the following just after AudioDub:
Levels(0,1.000,255,16,235,coring=false)
And tell us if any more detail becomes visible.

If the above works but the picture looks too washed out, try with this instead:

Levels(0,1.000,255,0,235,coring=false)

[abyss616]

Thanks for the advice. Adding Levels() helped a little - I got a little more definition and color on the ice. I'm also going to try to recapture after adjusting some of the settings on the capture device. I messed around with it a little but nothing seemed to make it all that much better. I'll see when it's done. Below are what I have to work with - those are the default settings. I lowered the contrast and brightness slightly - didn't want to make it too dark.

https://i.imgur.com/nm73yjh.jpg

[johnmeyer]

Using Colormill in VirtualDub is a more interactive way to fix this. For me, I'd do it in my NLE (Vegas).

[LemMotlow]

You guys are hilarious.
You use a histogram, and adjust proc amp controls (as shown in post #5) during capture to adjust levels and prevent clipping brights or crushing blacks. If you clip during capture, you have no recourse -- clipped data is destroyed data. Period. It won't come back from the dead during post processing.

ColorMill? For the capture pictured in post #1? Seriously? LOL !!!!!!!!

[Mounir]

Thanks for the advice. Adding Levels() helped a little - I got a little more definition and color on the ice. I'm also going to try to recapture after adjusting some of the settings on the capture device. I messed around with it a little but nothing seemed to make it all that much better. I'll see when it's done. Below are what I have to work with - those are the default settings. I lowered the contrast and brightness slightly - didn't want to make it too dark.

https://i.imgur.com/nm73yjh.jpg

Are you using windows7 or latter. I know on my card agc is activated automatically (and that's bad for whites) unlike on Xp. Food for thought

[abyss616]

Are you using windows7 or latter. I know on my card agc is activated automatically (and that's bad for whites) unlike on Xp. Food for thought
I'm using Windows 10. This is specific just to this particular recording - I have others where the white balance is just fine. Appreciate the feedback.

[johnmeyer]

Does the original, when played on your TV set, look blown out? I've been a hockey fan since the Black Hawks (as they were known then) won the Stanley Cup on 1961, and I know that local broadcasters often had a tough time keeping the ice in legal range, because they didn't want the players to get too dark. With digital cameras and HD broadcasts, it became a lot easier to adjust levels properly.

So, is this a problem in the original broadcast or on the tape, or does this only show up when you capture it?

[abyss616]

Does the original, when played on your TV set, look blown out? I've been a hockey fan since the Black Hawks (as they were known then) won the Stanley Cup on 1961, and I know that local broadcasters often had a tough time keeping the ice in legal range, because they didn't want the players to get too dark. With digital cameras and HD broadcasts, it became a lot easier to adjust levels properly.

So, is this a problem in the original broadcast or on the tape, or does this only show up when you capture it?
Yes it does. I have other hockey games that don't look like that - just this one.

[johnmeyer]

Yes it does. I have other hockey games that don't look like that - just this one.OK, so it is NOT the proc amp or error in your capture chain, as several people have incorrectly assumed.

Your best bet then is to simply diminish the highlight intensity, but only by a little bit. As you can see by one of the examples already given, if you go down from either 255 or 235 (whichever is maximum in your system) by more than 5-8 points, you'll end up with a "white" that looks really weird and is more distracting than the original "too-white white".

[hello_hello]

As you can see by one of the examples already given, if you go down from either 255 or 235 (whichever is maximum in your system) by more than 5-8 points, you'll end up with a "white" that looks really weird and is more distracting than the original "too-white white".

I may have gotten a little carried away. It's hard to judge from a single still shot, but 5-8 points off maximum white is still way too white for me.

[johnmeyer]

I may have gotten a little carried away. It's hard to judge from a single still shot, but 5-8 points off maximum white is still way too white for me.I wasn't trying to criticize your work. The result from correcting a blown out white is, after all, an aesthetic decision. I just wanted to point out that clipping the white too much will definitely start to make the video look unnatural.