VHS >> DVD, "film look"

[joshbm]

Hello all,

I have to questions for ya:

1) I have a VHS of a home video. I want to put it on DVD-- these are the steps I do to put it on DVD.

a) Take VHS and play it to a DV Camcorder via S-Video.
b) Take the Camcorder and Capture it to the PC.
c) Make it DVD... (don't want to elaborate, takes too long)

Basically steps a and b are my thoughts. Is this the best way to transfer the VHS to the PC for DVD? I also was wondering what filters would be good to add to the VHS captured video to give it better quality for DVD?

2) I was wondering is there anything I could do to take my DV captured video and give it a "film look"? Obviously it won't be as good as the real-deal if I were to actually use film, but I have heard of filters that actually do look good. One thing I understand and think that I would do is reduce the NTSC 29.97 fps to 24 fps. Not to mention I put on 16:9 ratio and my wide-angle lens.

Film has a wider gray scale, but is there a way to immitate this "film look"?

Thanks!
-joshbm

[DDogg]

I've put this script up twice for comment and critique, although none of it is mine. I just cribbed parts from some smart people. No response so maybe it is dumb or folks don't care. Anyway, it worked well for me reducing NTSC DV to 23.976. As a byproduct it kinda/sorta gives that deinterlaced look that is just a small part of what people call the "film look". At least it is something you can try although you will need a strong machine and extra time because it is slow.

Pick one of these variations:

#Presents TFF
Import("G:\convert60ito24p.avs") # scharfis_brain (http://home.arcor.de/scharfis_brain/60ito24p.html)
avisource("D:\NTSCDV.avi").DoubleWeave.SelectOdd.ConvertToYUY2( interlaced=true).ReInterpolate411() (http://www.wideopenwest.com/~trbarry/ReInterpolate411.zip) # from Tom "TRBarry"
jdl_UnfoldFieldsVertical(flip=true)# Stickboy's jdl-util.avsi (http://www.avisynth.org/stickboy/)
PeachSmoother(NoiseReduction=50, Stability=30, Spatial=200, NoiseLevel=3.5, BaseLine=2.5)# Peachsmoother (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58674)
jdl_FoldFieldsVertical(flip=true)
DGBob (http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/files/dgbob_25_dll_2003.zip)(Order=1,mode=1).convert60ito24p(2,0)
#your resizing statements

#Presents BFF (At least I think so)
Import("G:\convert60ito24p.avs")
avisource("D:\NTSCDV.avi").ConvertToYUY2(interlaced=true).ReInterpolate411()
jdl_UnfoldFieldsVertical(flip=true)
PeachSmoother(NoiseReduction=50, Stability=30, Spatial=200, NoiseLevel=3.5, BaseLine=2.5)
jdl_FoldFieldsVertical(flip=true)
DGBob(Order=0,mode=1).convert60ito24p(2,0)
#your resizing statements

[joshbm]

Okay thanks, I'll give it a try...

Do I just copy all that and paste it in an .avs file?

What is #Presents TFF and BFF?

What about the wider range of gray scale? Is there a way to immitate that?

Thanks a lot for any help!
- joshbm

[scharfis_brain]

How do you define "wider greyscale"?
I cannot imaging what this could mean.

Do you want to desaturate your Video? (Colors less dominant)
Then just try

tweak(sat=xxx)

for xxx use a float value. 0 gives greyscale, 1 leaves the color untouched, >1 makes colors more colorful

[DDogg]

joshbm, you will need to download the convert60ito24p.avs from the link and put it somewhere you can remember when you type the path for the import statement. Once you get the script working you might want to try and rename to convert60ito24p.avsi and put it in your plugin directory for automatic loading in avisynth 2.5x

That's what you are doing when you download "jdl-util.avsi" from the link - you will put it into your plugin directory.

Use the "presents TFF" which means the vid is seen as "Top Field First" by encoding software. Obviously change all the paths and names and such. Assuming you are encoding to mpeg2, you will then run pulldown.exe on the finished encode to create the 29.97 flags. Good luck ! :)

I've learned a lot from scharfis_brain's posts. Maybe he/she can expand a little on any new changes to this script that I may not be aware of.

[joshbm]

Ok thanks, I'll try it... Thanks for the "tweak(sat..)" too, desaturation is kind of what I meant.

@DDog
Why is the code twice?
I mean #TFF then #BFF?

And what do you mean resizing statements?

PS- lol I appologize I am very new to this stuff.

-joshbm

[DDogg]

Just use one of them. As said, use the TFF script. BTW, if you are that new to this stuff, you have sure bit off a pretty fair bite to chew on :) I put the resizing statement there to indicate this is where in the script you would do any cropping or resizing. Sometimes you will need to crop off lines of crud from the bottom or right of the source video. That may cause you to need to resize in order to keep your aspect ratio correct. I'm not about to get in to that as I still have problems with it myself after all this time :) scharfis_brain seems to have it down very well for captures (which I don't normally do).

[joshbm]

Okay

[scharfis_brain]

me <= being a "he" :)

the function convert60ito24p(x,0) has 4 possible values for x. x can vary from 0 to 3. where motion gets smoother the higher the value of x is.
mode 0 returns very crips, but jerky motion
modes 1 or 2 result in film-like motion
and mode 3 gives a super-smooth-motion, that is not typical for Film-look, but maybe somtimes useful for effects

to get a closer look (with video examples), how this function works, go to http://home.arcor.de/scharfis_brain/60ito24p.html

[joshbm]

It worked, but it slowed the video down... I watched it in Windows Media and it appears to be in slow motion. How do I counter the reduction to 23.97 fps?

Thanks,
-joshbm

[DDogg]

"It worked, but it slowed the video down.." - Meaning you encoded and then viewed, or you played the script?

[joshbm]

I have encoded and viewed.

[scharfis_brain]

convert60ito24p does NOT slow down the video!

but it slows down processing speed a lot (and thus the preview with the player).

please don't use a mediaplayer to preview AVS-Scripts.
Use Virtualdub for this purpose.

just encode a small clip from your AVS and you'll see it in real speed.

[joshbm]

Hmmm....

It probably is my perception, since the audio was lost and the smooth motion.

[joshbm]

It worked nice after I made it an MPEG-2. The reason it was slow-mo is my computer was having a hard time after reading the XviD codec which is the format I saved it in.

Is there a way to save it in MPEG-2 straight from VirtualDubMod?

Thanks,
-joshbm

[scharfis_brain]

s there a way to save it in MPEG-2 straight from VirtualDubMod? No.

If your script is complete, just open it within an encoder of your choice (TMPGenc, CCE ...) do the settings (bitrate etc) and encode.

[DDogg]

Well not directly, but you could frameserve from VDub directly to CCE or TMPG If you have frame-serving set up in VDub. To do that go to the VDub directory and run the auxsetup and click on the install handler button. Then from VDub select start frameserver. Accept the first file name and name the second one whatever.VDR. You can load the VDR into CCE or TMPG. Since CCE and TMPG will load the AVS directly there is not much point in doing this unless you want to use a filter or other feature in VDub.

[joshbm]

Okay, thanks guys you've been a big help!

I have one last question for you though:

What is the script for blending Field A with Field B in the deinterlace process (in AviSynth)?

Thanks!
-joshbm

[joshbm]

One last question..lol...

I have been looking into deinterlacers and a nice one is KernelDeint. The only problem is it automatically reduces 60i to 30p... So if I tack on your 60i to 24p conversion it yields an 11p :-\.

Is there a good way to use KernelDeint and to reduce it to 24p?
(Now I may have to get something that does 30p to 24p) :-\.

Thanks!
-joshbm

[scharfis_brain]

got to the neuron2.net - Forum

and do a search for "Kernelbob"

[joshbm]

Nice! Thanks!