Avisynth Use on Intel Macs

[nevrozel]

Hello,

Looks like your guide is exactly what I have been looking for. This is my situation: I have some old tape based movies that have been converted into digital format (QuickTime format). They are pretty old (1995) and the image is low quality. I am interested in restoring the image as much as I can using Avisynth.

I'm running OS X 10.6.1 on a MacBook Pro so Windows is not an option. I am editing all my movies in Final Cut Express 4.0.1. My question is if the Avysinth script that you described above will help improve the quality of the video.

As I have never used Avisynth, I kindly ask you to tell me how can I run it on my movies? So I just take one movie (which is .m4v) and then what exactly? Sorry if it sound a bit stupid but as far as I can see Avisynth is a script based tool with no GUI; that's why I am a bit confused.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[nevrozel]

I installed Crossover 8 and AMVapp. I open DGIndex but it will only let me select .vob files which I don't have. All my clips are in QuickTime format. I don't understand the step with MacTheRipper and the .vob files. If I already have the mpeg files on my Mac, can I use them?

Thanks.

[Kionon]

Hello,

Looks like your guide is exactly what I have been looking for. This is my situation: I have some old tape based movies that have been converted into digital format (QuickTime format). They are pretty old (1995) and the image is low quality. I am interested in restoring the image as much as I can using Avisynth.

I'm running OS X 10.6.1 on a MacBook Pro so Windows is not an option. I am editing all my movies in Final Cut Express 4.0.1. My question is if the Avysinth script that you described above will help improve the quality of the video.

As I have never used Avisynth, I kindly ask you to tell me how can I run it on my movies? So I just take one movie (which is .m4v) and then what exactly? Sorry if it sound a bit stupid but as far as I can see Avisynth is a script based tool with no GUI; that's why I am a bit confused.

Thanks a lot for your help.

I installed Crossover 8 and AMVapp. I open DGIndex but it will only let me select .vob files which I don't have. All my clips are in QuickTime format. I don't understand the step with MacTheRipper and the .vob files. If I already have the mpeg files on my Mac, can I use them?

Okay first and foremost it is important to note here that you are definitely not the target audience of this guide. The target audience, of course, is made up of mac-based anime music video editors who start with DVDs. You're not starting with DVDs, so the process will be a bit different.

Taking your questions in a slightly different order than you have put them as above:

1) Can I use Avisynth to clean up my own live action footage?

Certainly. Avisynth works on any type of footage, and indeed, is used by a large number of people who do all sorts of video editing work. Avisynth is a very versatile application.

2) If I already have MPEG files on my Mac, can I use them?

Yes. However, be careful with what you mean when you say MPEG. Typically when working with DGIndex we are talking about MPEG-2 files, which are on DVDs as .VOB but may well be MPG or MPEG elsewhere, depending on the encoding software. You mention M4V above, which is MP4. That's an extension, a container, but what is important to us is to know the codec you are working with. Is it Apple h.264? If so, this is something I need to know.Once we establish just what you're starting off with, I can find a way for you to move your footage to lossless (honestly, you should have done this while you were ripping it from tape, and if you still have the tape, I would suggest we begin again), and then use avisynth to filter it.

3) How do I use avisynth?

It's a lot simpler than it first appears. It is command line, but let's put that whole concept aside. Thinking of it terms of terminal or what have you makes it seem more complicated than it is. What you do is simply create a text file where you input a series of commands that call filters. You save that file as a .AVS file instead of a .TXT file and open it up in VirtualDubMod which is included in AMVapp. You can then preview how your filters work on the original footage. If you like it, you will want to go out via HUFFYUV into an .AVI file. You can then use other programs to encode into your final distributable copy. DO NOT USE LAGARITH, ONLY USE HUFFYUV. The former does not work with Mac, and so your Mac programs outside of the Crossover environment will not be able to read a lagarith file. Do not even consider the other options, and there should be a few. Only those two are lossless, and only HUFFYUV is what you need.

Once I know what you're starting off with, codec and container both (example, h264 is a codec, .M4V is a container) and what your goals are for the footage, we can get more detailed.

[nevrozel]

First of all, that was a huge and very detailed response. Greatly appreciated!

Secondly, my movies have the following characteristics:
- encoded in H.264
- 720*540
- extension is .m4v

My final goal is to clean up the image and have them saved in digital format on my HDD (as they are now).

Thank you again for your time.

[Kionon]

First of all, that was a huge and very detailed response. Greatly appreciated!

Not a problem. We only get pissy when someone completely ignores the stickies and guides (or general common sense). I would also have cut you additional slack because you're not an AMV editor, and so I wouldn't presume you start with the same body of knowledge. However, no slack needed to be cut since you posted your questions in the appropriate thread after having thoroughly studied it.

Now if only newbie amv editors followed your example...

Secondly, my movies have the following characteristics:
- encoded in H.264
- 720*540
- extension is .m4v

Well, resolution is a minor concern at this point. Does it look right at 720x540? As long as it does, we can keep that.

DirectShowSource does not work via Crossover, as discussed earlier, so merely pulling from your .M4Vs directly isn't an option. However, converting to a lossless HUFFYUV .AVI and using VirtualDubMod to Open File Via Avisynth and then editing the .AVS file vdubmod makes will work because I just tested AVISource and it works just fine. For the initial conversion to lossless HUFFYUV .AVI you need another program, avidemux. Link for it can be found in the Pre-processing on PPC Macs sticky. This is a useful program regardless, one I use regularly, even on my intel macs. Aforementioned sticky will walk you through its use. In fact, it has several Avisynth filters ported already, and just playing around with it might solve your issues, but of course, it does not begin to have to versatility of Avisynth which you can add more filters to as you find them. You can't add more filters to avidemux, nor are there as many options even to begin with. You may need to change the extension from .M4V to .MP4 in order for avidemux to read it.

My final goal is to clean up the image and have them saved in digital format on my HDD (as they are now).

I was looking for specifics. You say you need to clean up the footage, I want to know how. Before I can suggest filters, I need to know what you need to do with the filters. Deinterlacing? Noise-reduction? Sharpening? Temporal smoothing? This is what I mean when I say goals.

[Qyot27]

DO NOT USE LAGARITH, ONLY USE HUFFYUV. The former does not work with Mac, and so your Mac programs outside of the Crossover environment will not be able to read a lagarith file. Do not even consider the other options, and there should be a few. Only those two are lossless, and only HUFFYUV is what you need.

As kind of a heads-up on this front, there is actually a Lagarith decoding patch (and possibly even Lagarith encoding, if I'm interpreting the references to lagarith-rangecoder correctly) being run through its trials on the FFmpeg mailing list. No idea when it'll be completed and committed, nor when or if that addition would make its way into Perian, though.

My own attempts to patch and compile FFmpeg with that in there failed, so I can't tell you how well it works, unfortunately. But after it's committed that'll be resolved anyway.

[Kionon]

I want to confirm here that AVS files work in windows Premiere 6.5 run under crossover. Normal AVIs don't. Why, I haven't got a clue. MPG files also crash the program, but mp3 and wav audio work. If you want to make AVISource AVS files for your clips, or just edit with AVS files, this is good news.

I can finally go back to Iron Cheffing. It's a lot easier and faster if I can do it with AVS files.

Scintilla, I'll look into Pro 1.0 and see if this runs. What clipping method do you usually use?

[Scintilla]

Scintilla, I'll look into Pro 1.0 and see if this runs. What clipping method do you usually use?

Thanks! And none -- I nearly always edit with scripts.

(Only exception so far is the three-years-unfinished multi-anime video I've got where I only needed very specific clips from certain series; in that case I saved them as HuffYUV.)

[Kionon]

I'll get to it after the AAC deadline.

I gotsta finish the goddamn Minmay.

[Kionon]

Additional info on the Premiere 6.5 front. PSD files also work.

However, once you render, because rendering is pulling from an actual AVI file, you can no longer watch it. I had to physically replace the clips on this timeline with copies of the rendered preview files to continue the editing process. This seriously negates the convenience of using even the so far allowed AVS files.

There must be something that Premiere is using to display avi files that does not display properly through the monitor window that does not affect its ability to properly render, nor affects other programs that use avi files, such as vdubmod or avisynth itself.

I is confuzzled.