by Dolph_Fan on 03 Sep 2004, 00:20
When I talk about restoration using the original VHS source, I mean in order to get it looking better when viewed at VHS quality again, e.g. re-output to VHS or in DVD quality files, or very high MPEG quality files (which is DVD video anyway). But note it will never be restored TO DVD quality (usually) as DVD is better than VHS (most cases), I just meant DVD quality data FILES that keep all the detail including the distortions :
Analogue to Digital passthrough does compress to a LOSSY compressed AVI. unless you can read the manual etc..and make it NOT....find out.... or compress lossyly/lossless. Although the AVI quality maybe better than your 100MB MPEG. BEST thing I say is read the manual about this sort of capture and then capture with ALL the best auality settings includig highest resolution. THen compare the MPEG to the captured AVI.
Uncompresssed AVI ?. To be more technical, can be compressed and I do prefer compressed, but using a lossLESS not LosSY compression codec. Uncompresssed is like 2GB for a minute of VHS video, LossLESS compressen using the best codec is like 160MB.
You see any lossy compression will strip all the invisible/less visible data out, and cannot be returned, thats the Aim of the compression codec. Its the invisible data that is used to rejuvanate the quality. Yes some rejuvanation can still be done with compressed files that have been LOSsyly compressed (MPEG), if the bitrates/quality of the files is high enough....But you always head for the real thing, uncompresssed.
MPEG version you have, 100MB ?, approx 2 mins ?, thats 50MB per minute, That still contains a LOT of quality. e.g. VCD MPEG is like 10MB per minute. Whats the RESOLUTION of your MPEG, and the FRAME RATE (NTSC ?)
Dont have dazzle ?, dazzle does more than you need, It's more than video capture......you need a basic (competent though) video capture card.......Its not the card that drops frames (usually) its the PC hardware (BUS, CPU etc.) and also Hard disk not keeping up. A lot can be done to reduce dropped frames with only 2 minutes of capturing....e.g if you have 320MB (or more) of TOTAL system RAM memory then you can choose capture to RAM only (reserve a 200MB segment of ram via software), thus taking the speed of the hard disk out of the equation (the slowest factor). So if you have e.g. 512MB of ram and require only 2 mins of captureing and also fast CPU, then with the codec that would be used for lossless compression, I predict no dropped frames.
Restore video?, its basically an extention to my Image restoration skills(Photoshop, but anythign decent is Ok). I have not actually done any Video restoration, but the principles are the same, i.e. apply the same technique to all the video frames instead of a photoshop document, bit more than that actually..... I would probably use...Premiere or Vegas ?.....evaluate the feature for my needs at the time.
Premier (Adobe) is one of the #1 on the PC.
Image restoration is an 'art' its not an option you switch in a software. More like combining lots of functions of the software in various porportions to achieve the result of restoration.
I don't have a Mac.
Ever considered buying a cheap capture card... good cheap ones are about £40 in Uk.
I will get a card soon (many months though, I keep setting it back...). If you want to provide me with the footage on VHS (I cant remember if I can access a video that can play NTSC also, or maybe You can convert), maybe make a copy from your source (arrrhhhh another generation of degradation)......I could do it....but all this is very far in the future....
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Now....
For a smaller file size than 100MB, It is still possible to enhance the video from the MPEG version when converting to a smaller filesize. E.g. make sharpness, contrast, and colour enhancements so its looks better when in a smaller file COMPARED to what it would have looked if it was NOT enhanced and converted straight to smaller file size. Also use a good codec so you get more per filesize, e.g. DivX or MPEG-4.
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When you enhance from the original uncompressed (losslessly compressed) captures and go to a few MB filesize (compress to small file) compared to MPEG2 100MB file (usually) to a few MB filesize.. The quality of the enhancement at the few MB filesize will be rather undisinguishable from which source it was enhanced, as a lot of degradation would have happened to get it to a few MB, also the chosen resolution would also be e.g. 320x240 rather than video resolution, when resolution is cut down at least by 1/2 or more, then it gives an opprtunity to enhance the video even more due to averaging the original pixel values, thus eliminating noise.
I.e. not worth enhancing from original uncompressed VHS source if heading for a target file size of few megabytes (5, 10, 15 MB) if it is too much trouble (this hold stronger for same codec in smaller file as with original larger, but maybe also for different better smaller codec, depends case to case).......Good quality MPEG source (depending on resolution / bitrate) would be nearly as good. (But of course it depends, case to case)