Non-destructive post-capture workflow? (JVC HR-S6700, ES10)

FinnTape79 · #1 05-26-2023, 09:11 AM

I have received a lot of good instructions and reviews for my VHS transfers here.
I got a very little used JVC upper class JVC HR-S6700 VHS from a professional guy in the film industry. I correct some image errors with Panasonic DMR-ES10.

If it is now assumed that I have received a proper change to digital format, how to proceed in the next steps in the least quality-destructive way?

My capture is divided to 3 different HUFFYUV files because the tape got destroyed from first 20 secs and the capture halted in the latter part... So I have ancient "poor capture" done with LG RC388 (known to destroy the S-Video signal with digital garbage) 20 seconds without complete comets (that time the tape wasn't eaten)

I tell here my workflow:
0. JVC + DMR ES10 + Conexant 2xxxx capture card and VirtualDub HuffYUV 422 capture
1. HuffYUV Avisynth encode (all 3 files) with basic fixes and QTGMC deinterlace, TemporalDegrain2, Double Frame rate etc
2. Shotcut video editor program used to combine of all these 3 HuffYUV files seamlessly together and White Balance correction / slight sharpen
3. Shotcut export to HuffYUV as a one file with all the basic "overall" corrections
4. What free editor I should use for actual edit the video, adding texts, transitions etc? Shotcut is clumsy but it handles HuffYUV.

The goal is to have a workflow where the quality is lossless for as long as possible, until we go to the final MPEG4 HD and SD copies to be distributed to the viewers. I know that Avisynth and FFMPEG can combine files, but I like to have some UI and ease of use in the latter part of the process. Avisynth scripting is enough for me.

I apologize if this is a lot of repetition from previous posts. It would be interesting to be able to work with open source tools here. IF the work could be done at pinnacle studio, for example, it won't take in (import) any lossless format or even the best PRO MPEG4 level AVCHD PRO or similar formats. So not possible to edit there (got legit Studio 19 copy for use).

I post some samples in 4 hours. Now busy with the damn garden (you know the wives)

-- merged --

Here is Youtube version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhTN-rNCBnE

Interesting is the detail on the house wall at 0:02 and 0:03. How the vertical wooden upright timber lines are visible or not on the red surface. In my previous captures there was no vertical lines visible so it was over processed. JVC reveals more detail.

Unprocessed/Processed HuffYUV samples (two .avi files):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oZ...V&usp=drive_fs

Let me know if the links are dead/unreachable for some reason.

The purpose for these posts is to verify the best way to edit and process captured videos and work lossless as long it is possible.

cbehr91 · #2 05-26-2023, 03:23 PM

I'll leave your workflow critiques to others. Speaking for myself I don't deinterlace unless it's absolutely necessary. You can export interlaced H.264 files. Although it's true certain Avisynth filters require progressive input, but you'd only use those for very nuanced filtering. VirtualDub can joint files together without re-coding (if you use direct stream copy).

I don't know of a free editor that works with HuffYUV. Premiere used to, but since Premiere went to the rental monthly payment model I stopped using it. As much as I dislike most Blackmagic products I do use Davinci Resolve for editing when necessary, but it's very specific about what codecs and containers it likes. When I've had to edit digitized footage I've encoded to high quality (but not usually lossless) intermediate codecs it accepts such as Grass Valley Lossless, HQX, Cineform, or H.264 Lossless. I would imagine most mainstream NLEs accept footage in those formats. I get most purists will howl at this workflow, but I only do this in limited circumstances.

FinnTape79 · #3 05-26-2023, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbehr91

I'll leave your workflow critiques to others. Speaking for myself I don't deinterlace unless it's absolutely necessary. You can export interlaced H.264 files. Although it's true certain Avisynth filters require progressive input, but you'd only use those for very nuanced filtering. VirtualDub can joint files together without re-coding (if you use direct stream copy).

This whole video restoration project has dragged on longer than I would have thought. The quality of digitization's is starting to reach such a level that it makes sense to further refine the fabrications. A large part of material is archived as is, and there is no need for actual editing for presentation purposes. VHS quality is so limited that you would like editing to reduce it as little as possible.

Such an intermediate format is a good idea to get compatibility with so-called normal video editors. Thank you for those ideas. It has been difficult to think of what would be a good format as a compromise between completely lossless and lossy

mbassiouny · #4 06-05-2023, 05:13 AM

>2. Shotcut video editor program used to combine of all these 3 HuffYUV files seamlessly together and White Balance correction / slight sharpen

Why do you need another program for that, I see you already use avisynth in step 1, so it is not like you are trying to avoid it.
a=ffvideosource("your file1") #or whatever video source you use
b=ffvideosource("your file2")
a++b

You can merge your videos with avisynth and there are great filters for color correction.
If you want to add 1 line of text or two, avisynth can do this as well, if you want more complicated transitions and fonts etc I understand you will want to switch to nicer gui.

If you want a friendly GUI for editing, if shortcut works for you why are you looking for an alternative? is there anything missing there that you need? You may also want to consider Clipchamp video editor.

FinnTape79 · #5 06-27-2023, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbassiouny

>2. Shotcut video editor program used to combine of all these 3 HuffYUV files seamlessly together and White Balance correction / slight sharpen

Why do you need another program for that, I see you already use avisynth in step 1, so it is not like you are trying to avoid it.
a=ffvideosource("your file1") #or whatever video source you use
b=ffvideosource("your file2")
a++b

You can merge your videos with avisynth and there are great filters for color correction.
If you want to add 1 line of text or two, avisynth can do this as well, if you want more complicated transitions and fonts etc I understand you will want to switch to nicer gui.

If you want a friendly GUI for editing, if shortcut works for you why are you looking for an alternative? is there anything missing there that you need? You may also want to consider Clipchamp video editor.

Hello, I will test Clipchamp. Replying to this old by letting U all know my latest gear purchase: This week I'm getting JVC HR-S8960 in good condition. So my first device with line TBC. Most of the videos have a steady signal. The vast majority of the videos I digitize have a stable signal. At least the image capture has not been interrupted many times. Synchronizing the video and audio would require a full frame corrector. Most of the time need to set the audio/video track alignment (milliseconds) manually.

So again going to re-capture my good quality tapes. This time only JVC HR-S8960 and capture card (Conexant S-Video/w 3D comb filter). No extra devices in the chain. Let see how the color palette etc stays compared to DMR-ES10 with my non TBC JVC...

This seems to be eternal mission. Maybe get my hands to a decent full frame TBC if I keep searching and making contacts with film industry freaks...