DVD Sources
All DVDs follow NTSC standards, however the visual quality is heavily dependent on the original source the disc was mastered from. DVDs can be authored from three different types of sources; analog videotapes, film, and digital media. Different filters will be required to clean the different video types, but most sources will also need cropped to remove any blank space from the edges. The order for the crop function variables in AviSynth is left, top, right, bottom; the right and bottom variables require negative values. In VapourSynth the order of the crop function variables is left, right, top, bottom; none of the variables will be negative.
(NOTE: Some quality issues in the sample images may not be as noticeable on small screens, viewing the sample images on a large screen is recommended.)
(IMPORTANT: Make sure to refer to an aspect ratio calculator when cropping to avoid distortion. The default color space for DVDs will require cropping by multiples of 2.)
A. Videotape Source
Analog videotape sources are typical for older DVDs and tend to have lower visual quality than other sources. The typical defects include crushed blacks, dot crawl, and rainbowing. TComb & Bifrost are recommended to repair dot crawl and rainbowing, but unfortunately crushed blacks cannot be fixed. Below is an example of these visual defects and representative AviSynth script for cleaning them up.
AviSynth Script Example
#Input videoMPEG2Source("DVD.d2v")#Remove dot-crawl artifactsTcomb(mode=2)#Remove rainbowingBifrost(interlaced=true)#Restores progressive framestfm()#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framestdecimate(mode=1)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratioCrop(8,4,-6,-4)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)Spline36Resize(640,480)VapourSynth Script Example
#Import VapourSynth Coreimport vapoursynth as vscore = vs.get_core()#Import Script for Anti-Aliasing Functionsimport havsfunc as haf#Import Videovideo = core.d2v.Source(r’DVD.d2v’)#Remove dot-crawl artifactsvideo = core.tcomb.TComb(video, mode=2)#Remove rainbowingvideo = core.bifrost.Bifrost(video, interlaced=True)#Restores Progressive Framesvideo = core.vivtc.VFM(video, cthresh=10)#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framesvideo = core.vivtc.VDecimate(video, mode=1)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratiovideo = core.std.CropRel(video, 8,6,4,4)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)video = video.resize.Spline36(640,480)#Sets Video Outputvideo.set_output()Many older DVDs have poor encoding and more artifacts that to filter out. One good filter pairing is FFT3DFilter to smooth out the image and Hysteria to resharpen edges and lines. Below is an example of these additional filters.
AviSynth Script Example
#Input videoMPEG2Source("DVD.d2v")#Remove dot-crawl artifactsTcomb(mode=2)#Remove rainbowingBifrost(interlaced=true)#Restores progressive framestfm()#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framestdecimate(mode=1)#Removes film grain and smooths the imagestrength = 2FFT3DFilter(bw=6, bh=6, ow=3, oh=3, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength)FFT3DFilter(bw=216, bh=216, ow=108, oh=108, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength/8, sigma2=strength/4, sigma3=strength/2, sigma4=strength)#Sharpens lines and edgesHysteria(video)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratioCrop(8,4,-6,-4)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)Spline36Resize(640,480)VapourSynth Script Example
#Import VapourSynth Coreimport vapoursynth as vscore = vs.get_core()#Import Sharpening Scriptimport hysteria as hys#Import Videovideo = core.d2v.Source(r’DVD.d2v’)#Remove dot-crawl artifactsvideo = core.tcomb.TComb(video, mode=2)#Remove rainbowingvideo = core.bifrost.Bifrost(video, interlaced=True)#Restores Progressive Framesvideo = core.vivtc.VFM(video, cthresh=10)#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framesvideo = core.vivtc.VDecimate(video, mode=1)#Removes film grain and smooths the imagestrength = 2video = core.fft3dfilter.FFT3DFilter(video, bw=6, bh=6, ow=3, oh=3, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength)video = core.fft3dfilter.FFT3DFilter(video, bw=216, bh=216, ow=108, oh=108, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength/8, sigma2=strength/4, sigma3=strength/2, sigma4=strength)#Sharpens lines and edgesvideo = hys.Hysteria(video)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratiovideo = core.std.CropRel(video, 8,6,4,4)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)video = video.resize.Spline36(640,480)#Sets Video Outputvideo.set_output()B. Film Source
These sources are digitally captured from the film and many are also remastered to remove visual defects. These sources will usually have very few defects aside from film grain and require minimal filtering to improve the visual quality. Using a Spatio-Temporal filter such as FFT3DFilter or FFT3DGPUis recommended to reduce noise. Below is an example of film grain and an AviSynth script cleaning it.
Before Filtering
AviSynth Script Example
#Input videoMPEG2Source("DVD.d2v")#Restores progressive framestfm()#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framestdecimate(mode=1)#Removes film grain and smooths the imagestrength = 2FFT3DFilter(bw=6, bh=6, ow=3, oh=3, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength)FFT3DFilter(bw=216, bh=216, ow=108, oh=108, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength/8, sigma2=strength/4, sigma3=strength/2, sigma4=strength)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratio Crop(4,2,-4,-2)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)Spline36Resize(640,480)VapourSynth Script Example
#Import VapourSynth Coreimport vapoursynth as vscore = vs.get_core()#Import Videovideo = core.d2v.Source(r’DVD.d2v’)#Restores Progressive Framesvideo = core.vivtc.VFM(video, cthresh=10)#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framesvideo = core.vivtc.VDecimate(video, mode=1)#Removes film grain and smooths the imagestrength = 2video = core.fft3dfilter.FFT3DFilter(video, bw=6, bh=6, ow=3, oh=3, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength)video = core.fft3dfilter.FFT3DFilter(video, bw=216, bh=216, ow=108, oh=108, plane=0, bt=1, sigma=strength/8, sigma2=strength/4, sigma3=strength/2, sigma4=strength)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratiovideo = core.std.CropRel(video, 4,4,2,2)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)video = video.resize.Spline36(640,480)#Sets Video Outputvideo.set_output()C. Digital Source
Digital sources typically have very few defects and only require minimal filtering to improve the visual quality. The artifacts you may encounter include mosquito noise, minor macroblocking, and color banding. Since these sources tend to have more detail it is recommended that you avoid deblocking and spatial smoothing filters as they will blur the image and degrade the overall quality. MDegrain, which is part of MVTools, can reduce mosquito noise and minor macroblocking artifacts while preserving details and Flash3kyuu Deband is recommended to handle any banding. Hysteria is suggested to resharpen the edges and lines that become blurred after applying these filters. Below is an example of these visual defects and an AviSynth script that addresses them.
AviSynth Script Example
#Input videoMPEG2Source("DVD.d2v")#Restores progressive framestfm()#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framestdecimate(mode=1)#Removes light noise and minor blocking by reading two frames back and aheadsuper = MSuper(pel=2, sharp=1)backward_vec2 = MAnalyse(super, isb = true, delta = 2, overlap=4)backward_vec1 = MAnalyse(super, isb = true, delta = 1, overlap=4)forward_vec1 = MAnalyse(super, isb = false, delta = 1, overlap=4)forward_vec2 = MAnalyse(super, isb = false, delta = 2, overlap=4)MDegrain2(super, backward_vec1,forward_vec1,backward_vec2,forward_vec2,thSAD=400)#Repairs banding and dithersflash3kyuu_deband()#Sharpens lines and edgesHysteria()#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratio Crop(4,2,-4,-2)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)Spline36Resize(640,480)VapourSynth Script Example
#Import VapourSynth Coreimport vapoursynth as vs#Import Sharpening Scriptimport hysteria as hyscore = vs.get_core()#Import Videovideo = core.d2v.Source(r’title#.d2v’)#Restores Progressive Framesvideo = core.vivtc.VFM(video, cthresh=10)#Restores framerate to 23.976fps by removing duplicate framesvideo = core.vivtc.VDecimate(video, mode=1)#Removes light noise and minor blocking by reading two frames back and aheadsuper = core.mv.Super(video, pel=2, sharp=1)backward_vec2 = core.mv.Analyse(super, isb = True, delta = 2, overlap=4)backward_vec1 = core.mv.Analyse(super, isb = True, delta = 1, overlap=4)forward_vec1 = core.mv.Analyse(super, isb = False, delta = 1, overlap=4)forward_vec2 = core.mv.Analyse(super, isb = False, delta = 2, overlap=4)video = core.mv.Degrain2(video, super, backward_vec1,forward_vec1,backward_vec2,forward_vec2,thsad=400)#Repairs banding and dithersvideo = core.f3kdb.Deband(video)#Sharpens lines and edgesvideo = hys.Hysteria(video)#Crops all sides to remove blank space yet maintain the aspect ratiovideo = core.std.CropRel(video, 4,4,2,2)#Changes the video to Fullscreen (4:3 Aspect Ratio)video = video.resize.Spline36(640,480)#Sets Video Outputvideo.set_output()