how to sharpen movie

[avinewbie]

am new to FM and avi conversion.
FM works well for me with CCE 2.70 but the movies images are soft.
How can I sharpen them?
I have heard of matrix in CCE --is this the way? oor is it with avisynth filters?

any advise appreciated.

[jorgeluispena]

What did you convert (I mean quality)? Can you post the log files?

[avinewbie]

Here are the log files.
May be it will give clue?
--------------------------------------------------------------
- 30/08/2006 21:32:01
- AVI to DVD conversion
- The FilmMachine version 1.5.0.18 beta
--------------------------------------------------------------
Initializing.

Computer Info
CPU name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Available memory: 504 MB
Windows version : Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
Initializing finished.

Saving Project File

DirectX Version = 9.0c

Saving Avi-Info files
--------------------------------------------------------------
- 30/08/2006 21:32:11
- Free on drive G: 124.14 GB
- Audio Conversion
--------------------------------------------------------------
Executing BeSweet DLL. Commandline:
-ota( -fs 48000 ) -soundtouch( -r 29970 25000 ) -ac3enc( -b 224 )

Converting audiostream 1 of AVI file no 1 of 1


DirectShow Filters used:
NullRenderer1
NullRenderer
SampleGrabber
ffDshowFilter
AVI Splitter
Avisynth Source Filter



Audiostream 1 conversion finished.

Starting CCE 2.70 for getting the CCE title.
--------------------------------------------------------------
- 30/08/2006 21:43:43
- Free on drive G: 123.98 GB
- Video Encoding using Cinema Craft Encoder SP 2.70
--------------------------------------------------------------
Executing Cinema Craft Encoder.

TFM_Project_File.ecl found
TFM_Project_File.ecl encoding started at 21:43:43
TFM_Project_File.ecl encoded at 04:16:32
Encoding finished

--------------------------------------------------------------
- 31/08/2006 04:16:35
- Free on drive G: 119.12 GB
- Creating DVD compliant files
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mplex is multiplexing the video and audio stream.....
mplex version 2.0.0 (2.2.3 $Date: 2004/01/13 20:45:26 $)
File G:\FMWHAT~1\TFM_EN~1.MPV looks like an MPEG Video stream.
File G:\FMWHAT~1\TFM_EN~1.AC3 looks like an AC3 Audio stream.
Video stream 0: profile 8 selected - ignoring non-standard options!
Found 1 audio streams and 1 video streams
Selecting dvdauthor DVD output profile
Multiplexing video program stream!
Scanning for header info: Video stream e0 (G:\FMWHAT~1\TFM_EN~1.MPV)
VIDEO STREAM: e0
Frame width : 720
Frame height : 576
Aspect ratio : 4:3 display
Picture rate : 25.000 frames/sec
Bit rate : 6844800 bits/sec
Vbv buffer size : 229376 bytes
CSPF : 0
Scanning for header info: AC3 Audio stream 00 (G:\FMWHAT~1\TFM_EN~1.AC3)
AC3 frame size = 896
AC3 AUDIO STREAM:
Bit rate : 28672 bytes/sec (224 kbit/sec)
Frequency : 48000 Hz
SYSTEMS/PROGRAM stream:
rough-guess multiplexed stream data rate : 7220400
target data-rate specified : 12000000
Setting specified specified data rate: 12000000
Run-in Sectors = 89 Video delay = 10936 Audio delay = 0
New sequence commences...
Video e0: buf= 237568 frame=000000 sector=00000000
Audio bd: buf= 16384 frame=000000 sector=00000000
Scanned to end AU 156196
STREAM e0 completed @ frame 156196.
STREAM bd completed @ frame 195244.
Multiplex completion at SCR=562268528.
Video e0: buf= 197036 frame=156196 sector=02564818
Audio bd: buf= 1152 frame=195244 sector=00086776
VIDEO_STATISTICS: e0
Video Stream length: 888197488 bytes
Sequence headers: 10486
Sequence ends : 1
No. Pictures : 156196
No. Groups : 10486
No. I Frames : 10486 avg. size 78567 bytes
No. P Frames : 42263 avg. size 50296 bytes
No. B Frames : 103448 avg. size 21591 bytes
Average bit-rate : 6636400 bits/sec
Peak bit-rate : 6900000 bits/sec
BUFFERING min 15 Buf max 218116
AUDIO_STATISTICS: bd
Audio stream length 174939520 bytes.
Frames : 1630999866
BUFFERING min 35 Buf max 4291
MUX STATUS: no under-runs detected.
Multiplexing finished.

DVDAuthor is writing the VOB files.....

DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.11.
Build options: gnugetopt magick iconv freetype fribidi
Send bugs to <dvdauthor-users@lists.sourceforge.net>

INFO: Locale=C
INFO: Converting filenames to US-ASCII
INFO: dvdauthor creating VTS


INFO: Video pts = 0.161 .. 6248.041
INFO: Audio[0] pts = 0.161 .. 6248.001

INFO: Generating VTS with the following video attributes:
INFO: MPEG version: mpeg2
INFO: TV standard: pal
INFO: Aspect ratio: 4:3
INFO: Resolution: 720x576
INFO: Audio ch 0 format: ac3/2ch, 48khz drc, 'en'

INFO: dvdauthor creating table of contents
INFO: Scanning G:\FMWHAT~1\DVD/VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_0.IFO
Writing VOB files finished.

Finished authoring DVD

--------------------------------------------------------------
- 31/08/2006 04:36:13
- Free on drive G: 119.03 GB
- Transcode result to fit on DVD-5
--------------------------------------------------------------
Transcoding started.
TRANSFER DONE. MB: 4107, State: No error

Transcoding finished.

--------------------------------------------------------------
- 31/08/2006 05:15:04
- Free on drive G: 120.10 GB
- DVD creation finished!
--------------------------------------------------------------

[avinewbie]

Also the Pre transcoded movies is "soft" so I do not think it is due to the transcoding.

[The_Mask]

You can try the Avisynth Sharpen filter. You have to edit the avisynth script file.

Look at: http://neuron2.net/msharpen/msharpen.html

[avinewbie]

thank you for that --I will try. Is editing done via the edit AVIsynth check box?

Can these "matrix" in CCE help with sharpening? If so, how to activate in Filmmachine?
By the way the new version of FM works beautifully --have only used it once so far--many thanks for it.

[The_Mask]

thank you for that --I will try. Is editing done via the edit AVIsynth check box?

That is correct.

Can these "matrix" in CCE help with sharpening? If so, how to activate in Filmmachine?
By the way the new version of FM works beautifully --have only used it once so far--many thanks for it.

I don't know. They are not implemented in TFM.

[j4gg3r]

If your really set on getting the best sharpest quality simply load TFM's AVS script into TMPGEnc and use TMPGEnc's sharpen filter.
You would have to edit the AVS script befoehand and change ConvertToYUY2() to ConvertToRGB24() for TMPGEnc to get the best results.
Takes alot longer to encode but it's well worth it.

Procoder2 also has a good sharpen filter but not as good as TMPGEnc's IMO.

Doing it via AVISynth only sharpens the input and dosn't give the same quality as sharpening the MPG output.

[avinewbie]

I had not realissed that avisynth filters and TMPGEnc filters work on input VS output respectively.
That is usseeful to know may thnaks for the tip.

[j4gg3r]

Using Procoder it's possible to sharpen both the input and output seperatly which allows sharpening upto 3 times during the encode.
1. ffdshow's sharpen filter(msharpen is best) or AVISynth sharpen filter while decoding
2. Procoder input sharpen filter
3. Procoder output sharpen filter

Overkill but it is possible!

Most AVI sources don't really require sharpening but there are always exceptions. For these try tweaking ffdshow's msharpen(tip, start with strength 50/threshold 25) with Media Player Classic till your happy that your serving up the best looking input to encode with.

[spudman]

Here is a how to add filters into avisynth.
First download your filters add save them in to avisynth folder under The Film Machine. Now when you add your video files into The Film Machine click edit avisynth box.
When you click make dvd you will see a txt box open up. In here is where you need to put the commands to load the filters etc.... Your txt should read something like this.

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\The FilmMachine\Avisynth\MSharpen.dll")
# 16:9 encoding
AviSource("NAME AND DIRECTORY OF AVI FILE", false)
ConvertToYUY2()
MSharpen(threshold=15,strength=100,highq=true)
FadeIn(50)
Lanczos4Resize(720,436,0.0,0.6)
AddBorders(0,70,0,70)

Note :
1. The line "LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\The FilmMachine\Avisynth\MSharpen.dll")" You must make sure that the right path of the filter you wish to use is stated in here for avisynth to load it.

2.The line "MSharpen(threshold=15,strength=100,highq=true )" these are values that you need to set for the quality of the avi file. There is no "real" quality/best setting you need to experiment first. I would recommend using a sample of the avi first and see how that comes out.

Hope this helps anyone

Spudman

[geezer42]

Thanks spudman for your brief explanation .
I have done a 10min 35sec sample avi to svcd encoding using the MSharpen
plugin. The whole procedure took about 35 minutes with lower CCE speed.
I put only MSharpen.dll file in to avisynth folder - is this enough?
Any tutorial about this topic would be helpful.

[spudman]

Yes thats fine. You can put the filter anywhere as long as you set the full correct path to load it into the edit avisynth box. I did find that a conversion did take slightly longer to do as your self did so nothing is unusual there. What i also did find is that the output file seemed to be a lot lower so you will need to adjust the bit rate manually. eg... say the the bitrate is 6124 increrase this to about 7124 then if it is slightly to large chuck it into dvdshrink.

[avinewbie]

Many thanks for all the help.
j4gg3r, about using Procoder sharpening tip: can this be done within FM ?
Or only by using Procoder alone?

[damiandimitri]

would
Undot()

help some?