Horisontal lines in high contrast areas on Video8 transfers?
 

Hello everyone,

I've been transfering some Video8 tapes shot on a Samsung VP-M50, and transfered with a Sony DVR-TRV330E > Firewire > Virtual Dub.

When I'm deinterlacing the footage I still se visible horisontal lines in high contrast areas. I have a DVD copy made about 20 years ago on a Pioneer DVR 520-H which doesn't exhibit them, or at least not as clearly. The DVD copy is not as sharp as my recent transfer, so that might be the reason? I've attached screenshots of both.

I've tried to transfer the Video8 tape through my Panasonic DMR-ES10 with the comb filter turned on as a passthrough, but that didn't make any difference.

I have transfered other Video8 tapes shot on other camers which didn't have this issue. Not sure where to go from here so any help is appreciated!

A sample of the avi file: https://mega.nz/file/zU5kxZZb#DYEa5R...SEWISWkXCtfk5M

Which de-interlacing method are you using?

I guess from your .avi that your samples are PAL. I have observed the same horizontal lines on a PAL Sony CCD-TRV65E on high brightness regions such as lamp shades and also on a bright colored t-shirt illuminated by the sun in a dark interior scene. These defects appear on much smaller regions, I guess your sample is an extreme case where a large region is overblown. It only happens on tapes made on a Video8 XR camera, the standard Video8 tapes made with an older camera do not show these lines on this same playback camera. I think it could be related to a faulty design of the digital processing that Sony implemented in these cameras around 1998, whereas the previous models (roughly 1985-1998) had a full analog processing stage at the cost of not having in-built line TBC. I do not have any solution to this issue with these cameras. Perhaps you made the old DVD transfer with an older, full analog camera?

QTGMC through AviSynth.

Yes, I think it was shot in some automatic mode, hence the overexposed highlights. And you're absolutely right regarding the DVD transfer. The camera used then was the Samsung Video8 camera (which I don't have access to) it was shot on. So the only solution then seems to try to hunt down an older camera with full analog processing If I understand you correctly?

The problem with the analog Sony cameras is that they are plagued with bad capacitors, and they do not have a line TBC. I've read they already started to fail at 10-15 years after the manufacture date, so the odds of finding a fully working one are frankly low. The youtube user 12voltvids has several videos where he replaces some capacitors in these models, and even then only some cameras work again. Then, depending on the capture card and tapes conditions, you would need to add some form of line TBC in the middle, such as the Panasonic DMR-ES10 or ES15, which also introduces its own defects, mainly overblowing the highlights. As you see there are several tradeoffs with these older cameras, if you want a more in-depth discussion about the differences in playback between the older and newer camera generations see the following link (https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...e-color-issues).
Answering to your question, if you're happy with the picture quality your current camera delivers except for these bars, perhaps you could try to find some Avisynth filter or a combination of them that can get rid of these horizontal bars before trying to find a working older camera.

Just a thought,..
Here is:
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif
what Grayworld (Avisynth/Vapoursnyth filter)
does.
Only applying Grayworld to Luma 200+:
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif
So, with some targeted color grading and 'fiddling around' one might be able to hide/fix this,...

Cu Selur