#1  
06-02-2021, 11:16 AM
duckey duckey is offline
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Hello everyone,

I've been searching a lot here but I'm lost with too much information. My needs are rather basic I think.

What I have : .avi files transfered from Digital8 camcorder to my computer with Firewire cable

Result I want : reduce the overall size, cut these files to separate each scene. These files will be read on computer only

If possible it would be easier for me to compress file first before cutting them, but I'll do what you suggest me as I don't know much. Note that I don't have very high expectation about quality, that's why i prefer to compress rather than keeping 13GB files
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  #2  
06-02-2021, 07:23 PM
dpalomaki dpalomaki is offline
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FWIW: DV AVI files are already compressed.

If all you want to do are some cut edits with no restoration, color correction,noise reduction, etc. There are a variety of products that can do that without re-encoding the retained potions of the video; available as both shareware and commercial software. I use my NLE and some Pegasus TMPGenc software for this but that is because I already use those tools for other work (these are not free tools).

Some software tools will have larger learning curves than others. Some even came included with operating systems at one time.

In general:
- Save the original captures - Firewire transfer of Digital8 recordings is lossless (save at least until you know you are done with them, the bug might bite you and you might want to do more with them,)
- Make your cuts edit (and you may want to save the result, use a tool that does not re-encode in case you want to revise your work or make different distribution versions).
- Transcode and burn the edited file to your distribution media format; e.g., DVD, BD, MP4, etc.
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  #3  
06-03-2021, 03:54 AM
duckey duckey is offline
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Thank you for your answer. Yes I do not intend to do any restoration for now. I will keep the original captures just in case but I want to re-encode it to reduce file size so it's easier to give files to everyone I want.

I've tried Shotcut and I achieve to do what I want quite easily. Then I encode using "H.264 main profile" to get .mp4 files. Visually the quality is great and the file size is much lower. Is there any downside I'm not aware of with this encoding? (for reading on computer)

Btw, the same would be true for captured VHS? I'm only talking about encoding, I know the capturing process is very different.
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  #4  
06-03-2021, 08:42 AM
dpalomaki dpalomaki is offline
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H.264 in MP4 is arguably the most popular format for distribution these days. J265 is gaining popularity due to increased compression for the same quality but is not as widely supported.

Capturing VHS is a horse of a different (and often poor) color compared to tape formats that are already digital such as MiniDV, Digntial8, and HDV. With the digital formats you are essentially copying a file from tape to your PC. The digitizing happened in the original recorder.

With VHS you are capturing analog video and audio streams by digitizing them. There are many variables and pitfalls in this process, not the least of which are the condition of the original tape, the playback VCR, and the gear in the capture chain that typically should/would/could include a TBC, ProcAmp, the capture (digitizing) device which could be an internal card, an external device that connects to the PC via USB, or other variations.

There are many threads that address capture of the legacy analog formats such as VHS, Video8 Beta, S-VHS, and Hi8, and discuss recommended equipment for best quality, and things to avoid.

Keys to high quality are having a good VCR (only a relatively few consumer VCRs were) with internal line TBC, usually an external full frame TBC, possibly a proc amp for color correction while still in the analog domain, a reliable and accurate capture device, and suitable software and codecs.

However, many people are satisfied with simpler setup, possibly as simple as a DVD recorder connected to a playback VCR, although that will delivers far from the best possible results in most cases.
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  #5  
06-03-2021, 01:50 PM
latreche34 latreche34 is offline
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I use Vdub2 for cutting unwanted scenes and save as HuffYUV to convert from 4:1:1 to 4:2:2. I then de-interlace using QTGMC and encode with ffmpeg to h.264, The results looks pretty darn good. I even tried upscaling some videos to 1440x1080 before encoding and they looked amazing too, It all depends on the original quality of the DV camcorder though.
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  #6  
06-03-2021, 04:10 PM
duckey duckey is offline
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dpalomaki: Yes I already read a lot about VHS capturing. Sadly I bought an ezcap before doing so. I have very low expectations about image quality though. So if there is no audio sync problem it could be enough for me. Otherwise I will have it done by a professional. I have less VHS than what I thought so it's not worth investing in VCR, TBC and capture.

latreche34: thanks for the advice, I will give it a try!

-- merged --

I'm back after a lot of trials to get what I want. I finally decided to do a batch quick and dirty encoding with VidCoder for all the files and then do a bit better process for the few videos I prefer.

My process : Transfer with Firewire to DV .avi --> Deinterlace and denoise with QTGMC (saving in lossless) --> Encode with x264

It does improve the quality significantly but I have a weird problem. The ratio is changed after using QTGMC. File information still shows "720x576" in both files but when I open the video the ratio is different. I measured it at around 1,26 (original is : 4:3 = 1,33).

Do any of you has an idea what I could be doing wrong?

Edit : Problem seem to be the "display aspect ratio". Media info show me this :

BEFORE
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits

AFTER
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 5:4
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Standard : PAL
Color space : RGB
Bit depth : 8 bits
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  #7  
06-07-2021, 08:35 PM
latreche34 latreche34 is offline
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You have to set the SAR "setsar=SAR=8/9" for NTSC DV/DVD, otherwise it defaults to a square pixel structure.
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  #8  
06-08-2021, 02:40 AM
duckey duckey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by latreche34 View Post
You have to set the SAR "setsar=SAR=8/9" for NTSC DV/DVD, otherwise it defaults to a square pixel structure.
Thank you, it does make the image closer to a 4:3 ratio when reading it. While searching where to use "setsar=SAR=8/9" I found a topic saying 10/11 is more accurate. It is but still not perfect. Because of my encoder maybe.

I've also seen that adding BilinearResize(720,540) in QTGMC script works. And I get perfect 4:3 ratio.
If I understand well I lose a bit of information but now I have square pixel so it should be compatible everywhere ? compared to setting SAR that may be ignored by some devices.
If yes then I think I will keep this workflow. It's far from perfect but I'm happy with it and I already spend much more time than I expected on this.

Sorry if my questions sounds dumb. I do spend a lot of time searching to try to understand on my own but I really struggle with all the informations. So I prefer to ask here, thank you again for your help!
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  #9  
06-08-2021, 10:43 AM
latreche34 latreche34 is offline
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I'm sorry I though you have NTSC tapes, Set SAR=16/15 for PAL D8/DV/DVD

Resizing from 576 to 540 is going to produce pretty nasty artifacts and that resolution is not very common anyway, Stick with 720x576 non square pixel, if you must resize, resize to a higher resolution for less artifacts.

SAR=10/11 is for capturing analog NTSC tapes after you crop to 704, see this post, You have D8 tapes right?

1440x1080 or 1920x1080 with black bands on the sides is a key resolution if done right the first time, It is a future proof resolution, Future displays (4k, 8k, 16k) display the contents by line multiplying only, No special scaling needed.

Last edited by latreche34; 06-08-2021 at 10:49 AM. Reason: Correction
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  #10  
06-08-2021, 10:50 AM
BW37 BW37 is offline
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Are we talking PAL or NTSC? I wish people would state that up front in all posts. Otherwise it can get very confusing.

This looks like PAL to me...

Edit:
OK. We're on track now.
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  #11  
06-08-2021, 10:57 AM
latreche34 latreche34 is offline
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Yes, I was confused too, I had to edit my post. He is in DV PAL land.
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  #12  
06-09-2021, 12:55 PM
duckey duckey is offline
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Perfect, it works as I want now. You are right, I should have made it more clear that I'm working with PAL videos. My bad.

I'm happy with whay I got now so I won't change anything more. Thank you everyone for your help and especially latreche34!
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