ffdshow postprocessing help

[VCSkier]

i'm very new to digital video. i have a medeocre laptop. its an ibm w/ a 1.6ghz pentium m processor, 512mb or ram, and a modest ati mobility radeon 7500 (32mb). i just started using mpc and ffdshow to watch some relatively high quality xvid movies, and have been very pleased w/ the results, but have become interested in how i could improve them with ffdshow's postprocessing features. i have heard good things about these tools, but little guidance as to their use. when im playing a movie, i am willing to close all other apps to devote as much processor power and ram to the movie as possible, but dont know what to do w/ the postprocessor settings.

i currently have the preset slider all the way up, with automatic quality control on, but i dont know what the processing strength slider should be set to or even what it does for that matter.

also, i understand that the processing method is very subjective and preferential, but what are some advantatages of the defferent methods? i had heard that spp deblocking was very good, but when i use it, i get a very low frame rate.

obviously in this situation, there is no single "best" configuration, but im interested in seeing what you guys like, some general suggestions, and also hopefully some information on some of these features. thanks

edit: formatting

[QQ]

Actually, I'd like to know more about configuring ffdshow too..

[Wildfire]

As I understand it, postprocessing is mostly used on low bitrate movies. As you generally play high bitrate movies, postprocessing should not be necessary although it, of course, remains a matter of opinion.

[*.mp4 guy]

With the right post processing you can make allmost any compressed (or raw if you really want to) source look better. spp Deblocking is *very* good and should only be used at post processing lvl 2 for all but very low resolutions. Oh btw pentium M's get a lot more done per hert then P-4's do, I've heard there comparably efficient to athlon XP's therefore your processor is more or less as fast as a ~2.3ghz p4 (thats a really rough guess btw).

[VCSkier]

what do you mean by spp deblocking "should only be used at post processing lvl 2?" also, do you have any other recommendations/advice/info for processing strength or processing method?

[*.mp4 guy]

this is lvl 2, I recomend this becuase spp deblocking is really processor intesive.

http://i149.exs.cx/img149/377/ffdshowsettings7pu.gif

for the rest just have fun experimenting.

[VCSkier]

what about processing strength? why is that set to 64? is that for processor limitations too?

[Blue_MiSfit]

Not that this really has anything to do with XviD per se... :)

[*.mp4 guy]

Meh just figure it out for yourself, its set to 64 because I like that strength for spp, higher strength=more smoothing, for Nics 256 is good for strength because it isn't so aggresive as spp.

[Daijoubu]

Here's what I usualy use for 1CD rip, turn it off for 2CDs
http://ptprophecy.com/daij/ffdshow_pp.png

[TheCreamCrackerBoy]

Hello!

IMHO, the best settings I've found (so far) were the following:

Postprocessing - Click on "process whole image" and move the tab to the right-end position. Is you got a low-bitrate encoding, increase the processing strength (I always use it at maximum).

I don't use processing method (mplayer, accurate deblocking) because I think that it washes somehow the image.

Try using also "noise", because it can "hide" the blockings or artifacts left.

[]'s

The Cream Cracker Boy.

A

[Daijoubu]

huh...isn't there no postprocessing if you don't check one of these 2...
What have you been smoking :D

[TheCreamCrackerBoy]

Hahahahahahahahaha I didn't know about that! Let me try it...

[]'s

The (N00bish) Cream Cracker Boy

[ExtraEye]

I use the same settings as .mp4 guy except without "soft threshold".
I find it blurs the image too much.
Except from that I really like the spp deblocking.
The deblocking on mplayer isn't felt while spp makes a big difference.
I feel though that I don't completely understand the processing strength feature.
Does it take more cpu if it's used?
For me it's on 256

[SpAwN_gUy]

Well, in My Country.. there LOTS of Pirate RiPs.. so... the quality remains.. constantly... BAD :) .. thats why i RiP by MySELF :)..

But,.. I do love Anime,.. and some times FanSubs... so...
OK.
Postprocessing: MAX(if the Picture is too high - AUTO-MAX)
mplayer: if not XviD(decoder is - XviD, libmpeg has tlails problem with Cartoon mode) simetime Accurate deblock. if Screener or Scan or I Use TV-Out - Luminance+ Full LumaRange.
thats All for this Page
Blur & NR(sometime): denoise3d+HQ(with a bit higher quality of HQ).. and sometime i add swscaler(def. settings).
and do use Overlay Output.. these are my current Settings

recently used "Level" at 1.13 with full range, Sharpen/asharp(+hqbf/2.29/4.28/0.84 [may vary on different sources.. ANiME is Preferred])

[Video Dude]

Does the "processing strength" option have anything to do with SPP?

I ask because I set it to "0" and then I tried "512". The results looked exactly the same and the frame rate was the same.

However, when I tried mplayer deblocker with the 0 and 512 tests the difference was very clear. 0 was weak and 512 was very strong.

Does anybody else notice this about SPP?

[Yong]

Originally posted by Video Dude
Does the "processing strength" option have anything to do with SPP?

I ask because I set it to "0" and then I tried "512". The results looked exactly the same and the frame rate was the same.

However, when I tried mplayer deblocker with the 0 and 512 tests the difference was very clear. 0 was weak and 512 was very strong.

Does anybody else notice this about SPP?
It's worked here:) ,if you don't trust me, try to use "level" filter:
1. select mode: Didee's YlevelsS, Modify only luminance, full range.
2. Drag the "input" slider to 157, "gamma correction" set to 0.50,
(not need to set exact settings same a above ,of cource you need to active the Postprocessing filter at the same time)
3. try to adjust the postprocessing streng and you will see the difference.

the frame rate is dependeing how much deblock/dering option you used, the max. i can go is only level 2(preset), in Pentium 4 2.4GHz...

[obieobieobie]

Has anyone noticed that SPP at level 1 looks REALLY bad? It introduces blocks and stuff for me. This is with milan's latest ffdshow.

Btw, milan should start bringing us new daily builds now since gcc4 has been released. I hope he starts soon. :)