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How can I restore the "Bram Stoker's Dracula" deleted scenes?

hbenthow

hbenthow

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I have been working on a fanedit of the 1992 "Bram Stokers Dracula" for quite a while. I am using the two-disc special edition, which has some deleted scenes on disc two, some of which I would like to use. The problem is that they are in horrible shape. I was wondering if anyone knows how I could restore them to look something resembling decent? I'm making a DVD of the fanedit, so I want the video to be in MPEG2. I've heard that Avisynth can be used for video restoration, but doesn't it only accept AVI? I think restoration is possible in After Effects, but I can't afford After Effects.

So, does anyone have any advice?
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of Avisynth. A good place to start is to download the latest version of avisynth, read the introductory documentation included, and check out the page that avisynth links to for filters to download.

Via plugins you can also feed it most any video format you want, though a good starting point might be to first convert your media into a lossless Lagarith AVI. This is easily done with a simple avisynth scrip that can be opened into a program called VirtualDub, and then avisynth frame-serves your media into virtual dub which outputs it using the lagarith codec as a lossless avi file.

Searching keywords on this site and on the doom9 forums will hopefully answer many of your questions. There is going to be some time and learning involved, though, so get ready and strap in.
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of Avisynth. A good place to start is to download the latest version of avisynth, read the introductory documentation included, and check out the page that avisynth links to for filters to download.

Via plugins you can also feed it most any video format you want, though a good starting point might be to first convert your media into a lossless Lagarith AVI.
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Would converting it to lossless AVI have any benefits? Of any detrimental effects?
This is easily done with a simple avisynth scrip that can be opened into a program called VirtualDub, and then avisynth frame-serves your media into virtual dub which outputs it using the lagarith codec as a lossless avi file.
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I've tried using Virtualdub for a few things, but whenever I import an MPEG2 file, it says that the audio is incompatible or something or something like that.
 
hbenthow said:
Would converting it to lossless AVI have any benefits?
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Yes, hence the word "lossless". You will invariably need to encode this video at least one or two more times. Lossy formats such as your mpeg2 file will degrade each time. This is called transcoding. Lossless formats such as lagarith will not. It also has the benefit of becoming a nice avi file that will be easier to work with in most any program.

Keep your audio separate from your video at all times until you mux your two streams together at the end. TsMuxer can help with muxing and demuxing these streams.

Stuff you need for starters:
TsMuxer
avisynth
virtual dub
lagarith codec
megui.

You don't really need MeGui unless you are encoding HD content but it is just easier to advise you with its built-in tools. open Megui and go to the file indexer tool. Open your mpeg2 video. This will use a good indexer to index your video and write a script line that will automatically get plugged into an avs scripting tool. If you need to do any resizing, cropping, or denoising, (which you probably do) this can help you get started with that as well. Then save this script and exit out of megui. Voila . You now have your first script started for you to get you started and can use for future reference. Open the script up with virtual dub, process the video there, and save as a lagarith avi file in the compression settings. Import into your editing program.
 
What are you using for an editing program? advanced applications of avisynth and filters can be daunting when just starting out. You don't need to be a genius to figure all of this out, but unless you are, it will probably take some time. You might first want to see what you can accomplish with the plugins that came with your editing software.

Also, don't underestimate the power of searching keywords on this forum, google, and doom9 forum.
 
What are you using for an editing program?
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Womble, which only accepts the MPG family of file types. I have Sony Vegas, but havent learned how to use it yet. Also, Vegas doesn't have smart encoding (the ability to only encode the parts you edit, and leave the rest untouched), so it probably causes a lot of quality loss.
advanced applications of avisynth and filters can be daunting when just starting out. You don't need to be a genius to figure all of this out, but unless you are, it will probably take some time.
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Yes, it will probably take quite some while to figure all that out.
 
For the record Wombles encoding engine is absolute shite, anything it reencodes it reencodes very badly. much better off using vegas for any effects work and then splicing the edited scenes back into the main project and frameserving into avisynth or CCE.
 
For the record Wombles encoding engine is absolute shite, anything it reencodes it reencodes very badly.
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I've heard that several times before. Oddly enough, in all my time using it, I've noticed only one encoding problem, and I found a way to work around that. Pretty much the only effects I use Womble for are fading, dissolving, cutting, and audio editing, with the occasional slow-mo effect. Is that likely to be problematic?

What problem does it usually cause, pixelation?

much better off using vegas for any effects work and then splicing the edited scenes back into the main project and frameserving into avisynth or CCE.
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What's frameseverving?
 
fading and dissolves are fine, try using any othe reffects and you'll see what I mean.

as for frameserving that's a whole kettle of fish on it's own but essentially it's the process of feeding video data (usually with filters applied) from one editing application ie Virtualdub or Womble (although that's a little problematic) to an external encoder eg CCE, TMPGenc, AVISynth etc. etc.

you're best off googling it.
 
fading and dissolves are fine, try using any other effects and you'll see what I mean.
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Good. Fading and dissolving is what most of my editing consists of.
as for frameserving that's a whole kettle of fish on it's own but essentially it's the process of feeding video data (usually with filters applied) from one editing application ie Virtualdub or Womble (although that's a little problematic) to an external encoder eg CCE, TMPGenc, AVISynth etc. etc.
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Im not sure if doing that would be a good idea. In another thread, I asked:

"I have heard that there is a way to encode in Womble using an external codec. Is this true? And if so, how can it be done?".

A member named Captain Khajiit said:

"The method was found to be unsound, so I would not recommend it."
 
A workflow in which you are transcoding to lossy formats and thus degrading your video quality, as you were implying with Vegas. Whoever told you that though just doesn't know how to use it properly.
 
The better question is "what is a Good workflow." The guide I wrote for you above may sound like giberish, but if you download the programs you were told and try to follow what I wrote, hopefully it will start to make sense as you go, or at least you will be able to research and ask more specific questions as you go. But again, I have never used womble. From the earlier post by somebody else, it sounds like this may not be ideal if you have Vegas to use instead. What version of vegas? What is your source material? What is your end objective?

This might be a good starting point for you, too. Watch some edits from other people, and look at the technology section about what they used for software. This might give you some thoughts about what the experts are using and how good the results looked in your opinion.

But I will say this. If womble doesn't accept lagarith avi files (I'm guessing it does), you shouldn't use it. Geeks can debate this format over other lossless formats all day long, but the bottom line in my opinion (having experimented with a few) is you can't beat it when one factors quality and speed. If you allow your source material to degrade, everything else you do from that point on is nothing more than a training exercise. If you want people to one day watch your edit. First master this concept.
 
"I have heard that there is a way to encode in Womble using an external codec. Is this true? And if so, how can it be done?".

A member named Captain Khajiit said:

"The method was found to be unsound, so I would not recommend it."
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I have found Captain Khajiit to be one of the most knowledgeable people on this site whose knowledge without a doubt surpasses my own, but I think you are misinterpreting what he said. We are not talking about encoding out of womble right now. We are talking about getting good source video into womble to work with. The issue of whether or not womble has problems encoding out is another matter. Based on his and nomarch's statements regarding this, though, it sounds like I wouldn't touch womble with a 10' pole. Do some google searches regarding womble and encoding and see what various forums have to say on the subject. If you are too far into your project and are committed to womble, then you will just have to do the best you can. If you can, though, I highly recommend learning Vegas if you have a newer version (it isn't hard) and switching to that. Start over with the work I described at the beginning of this thread and rock & roll.
 
A workflow in which you are transcoding to lossy formats and thus degrading your video quality, as you were implying with Vegas. Whoever told you that though just doesn't know how to use it properly.
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I was under the impression that unless you have smart rendering, every time you render the video, you lose quality in the whole video. With smart rendering, the only parts that lose quality are those you edit. After all, doesn't rendering cause a loss in quality?
From the earlier post by somebody else, it sounds like this may not be ideal if you have Vegas to use instead. What version of vegas? What is your source material? What is your end objective?
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I have Vegas 9.

My source material is the Special Edition DVD of "Bram Stoker's Dracula". I ripped the main movie into a single VOB file, and each of the deleted scenes into separate VOB files, using DVDshrink. VOB is a form of MPEG2. I ripped it without shrinking,. In other words, the VOB files are exactly the same quality as they were on the DVD. When I use the VOB files in Womble, only the parts I edit are encoded. The rest is copied directly from theoriginal VOB files, with no change or loss of quality. The output file is MPEG2, which is only different from VOB in name, ie, there was no re-encoding.

My end objective is to edit the movie, make it into one big MPEG2 file, and convert that the Video TS DVD file structure, with added menus, etc. Womble had a built-in DVD-building wizard. As the source file is MPEG2, there conversion to Video TS file structure only takes about ten seconds, as no actual re-encoding is done.
But I will say this. If womble doesn't accept lagarith avi files (I'm guessing it does), you shouldn't use it.
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Womble is made specifically for DVD editing, so it only accepts the MPEG family of file types:

MPG
MPEG (1 and 2)
MP4
VOB
mp3
mp2

It does support a few other formats, such as AVI, if you install the ffmpeg and ffdshow codecs, but only renders them into MPEG1 or MPEG2.

The point of Womble is to be able to rip a DVD, edit it, and make a DVD out of the edited version, without re-encoding or changing anything except those parts you edit.

If you allow your source material to degrade, everything else you do from that point on is nothing more than a training exercise.
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How can the source material degrade? The source isn't edited. It just stays, untouched, on the hard drive.
Based on his and nomarch's statements regarding this, though, it sounds like I wouldn't touch womble with a 10' pole. Do some google searches regarding womble and encoding and see what various forums have to say on the subject. If you are too far into your project and are committed to womble, then you will just have to do the best you can. If you can, though, I highly recommend learning Vegas if you have a newer version (it isn't hard) and switching to that. Start over with the work I described at the beginning of this thread and rock & roll.
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Well, I would find it very hard to switch to Vegas. If necessary, I would still do it, of course, but it's something I'd like to avoid if it is possible. Vegas has a very complicated interface, and I can't figure out how to do even many of the simplest tasks. On the other hand, I've mastered Womble. I know it like the back of my hand.

By the way, is there any way I could upload the part of the edit I have completed (well, somewhat completed, I'm not done tweaking it yet) thus far, (about 2 minutes long, and 97 mb in size) so you could look at it and tell me if its quality has been damaged?
 
hbenthow said:
"A member named Captain Khajiit said:"The method was found to be unsound, so I would not recommend it."
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Hbenthow, I was specifically referring to the method that I linked to in that thread, which involves frameserving from Womble direct. I took it that this is what you meant by "encoding in Womble using an external codec". This does not mean, for example, that you cannot smart render from Womble and then re-encode with an external encoder. You might do this to compress an edit to a DVD-5, or to convert PAL to NTSC, or whatever.

One thing that you do have to consider if you export from Womble and let it encode sections of your video (e.g. where transitions are applied) and then re-encode your exported file with an external encoder, some sections of your video will have suffered two lossy compressions. You might still find the result acceptable though.
 
This does not mean, for example, that you cannot smart render from Womble and then re-encode with an external encoder. You might do this to compress an edit to a DVD-5, or to convert PAL to NTSC, or whatever.
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Ah, I see.
One thing that you do have to consider if you export from Womble and let it encode sections of your video (e.g. where transitions are applied) and then re-encode your exported file with an external encoder, some sections of your video will have suffered two lossy compressions. You might still find the result acceptable though.
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I doubt that I would want to re-encode it. I want to put it on either a DVD5 or DVD9, depending how big the finished Video TS folder is.

By the way, would you recommend using Womble for DVD authoring, or should I use something else?
 
By the way, would you recommend using Womble for DVD authoring, or should I use something else?
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I would not recommend Womble for DVD authoring. I would recommend DVD Lab Pro, which has a fully functional thirty-day trial. Wait till you have finished your edit, and then download the trial. Thirty days will be more than enough time to become used to the program and author your disc.
 
I have never had a problem frameserving in Wobble.

That said, beyond the learning curve, Vegas is a superior tool.
 
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