Better filtering options for VirtualDub?
 

Hey Guys -

Despite not having the best equipment (know it makes a difference), I went ahead and started capturing VHS tapes to see what quality I could achieve. I am capturing everything lossless. Some tapes are good - other really bad. Biggest factor so far seems the speed it was recorded at and if it was a previously used tape (many were.)

After reading numerous posts, I decided to use a specific set of filters which I adjust per video. As with the tapes, some work well and others not a huge difference. Below is a frame with the original on the left and filters applied on the right. You can tell a difference, but not all changes are positive ones. Any suggestions for what I could do differently to improve the image a bit more?

Filters with settings & order are in 2nd screenshot below...

Note: Not using super temporary cleaner simply because when enabled the preview frame wasn't the same as the original - it would always skip ahead. Don't know if by design, so using an alternative.

Thanks!

Don't use VirtualDub for deinterlacing. It's vastly inferior, Yadif is best available. You need QTGMC, either via Avisynth or Hybrid. VirtualDub is for capturing, and many other restoration needs. Just not deinterlace, not anymore.

CNR is vastly inferior to CCD (Camcorder Color Denoise).

Some of that other stuff you've done isn't really helping quality, and just padding out the encoding time.

Temporal Cleaner can be good, as can Temporal Smoother, but Avisynth can sometimes offer superior methods for temporal NR. It really depends on the source, I'd nee to see an actual clip sample, 10 secs max.

Your current before/after doesn't have a large difference.

Sample clip needed. Before/after clips, what you've done, would also help show what you mean by "not all changes are positive". But knowing the filters in use, not surprising.

I appreciate the response! My father recently passed, so am trying to get these restored for the family soon so your expert input really helps!

I attached 3 sample videos captured in VirtualDub2. Never used AVISynth, but installed it and hopefully have time to test a few scripts this afternoon. Any suggestions for filters to use with the samples would be well appreciated.

Thank you SO much!

Flaxen's VHS Filter will reduce that purple bleed on the Sample 2 left leg. Use the Chroma Shifting section. I set Horizontal to minus 8, with both I and Q ticked. It brought the bleed back in to the leg noticeably. I've found it is especially good for moving reds.

If you're prepared to spend some money, I recommend you check out the Neat Video Noise Reduction plugin. It does wonders for noisy video. With a few clicks, in most cases you really can make your video look better than the original. There is a demo.