Software to improve VHS video?

[Dana Cline - MVP]

A coworker wants to scan in, improve, and burn to DVD some old home movies
on VHS before the tapes self-destruct. I assume I can send the composite
video from the VHS deck into my Hauppauge PVR-250, and the stereo sound into
my mic jack. Once I can get it in, I can burn to DVD with no problem. That
only leaves the "improve" step...

At least 4 years ago, there was software designed to clean up audio, in
particular to remove the sounds associated with albums (skip/pop/hiss/etc).
The intent was to let you move your LP collection onto CD. Does anyone know
of a similar package that could clean up old VHS video and make it better?
If there is no such beast, hopefully someone will recognize the need and
create one.

Dana Cline - MVP

 

[Rich]

Dana, I've been playing with AviSynth and VirtualDub and will attempt some
filters some day when I find the time. They are both pretty extensive
programs, not the easiest to use for me.

There's what appears to be a good article "Digital Video Cleaning without
the Elbow Grease" at:
http://arstechnica.com/guide/audio-visual/video-cleanup/cleaning-1.html

Rich

 

[Bob [MVP]]

Hi Dana,

First, you should use the audio inputs on the PVR-250,
instead of your microphone jack.

I haven't used any audio restoration software myself,
but this one looks like it might be pretty good for
the money. http://www.tracertek.com/diamond2.htm

If the MPEG video needs to be cleaned up, I've found
that TMPGEnc Plus works pretty well. It includes
easy-to-use noise-reduction, edge-sharpening, and
color-correction filters.

--
-Bob
____________________________
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Media Center Edition
www.microsoft.com/ehome

 

[Graham Hughes, MVP Digital Media]

I use adobe audition as my audio cleaner, depends on how much you want to
spend, as this aint cheap!!

--
Graham Hughes
MVP
www.simplydv.co.uk
www.dvds2treasure.com

 

[Dana Cline - MVP]

Rich,

Thanks for the feedback. I've downloaded Virtual Dub but haven't installed
it yet. I'll have to look for the other one and read that article.

Dana Cline - MVP

 

[Dana Cline - MVP]

Bob,

Now that's just weird. When I follow the Diamond link, I get just the page
header (yellow and dark blue stuff). I chopped it down to www.tracertek.com
and got the main page. When I search there for Diamond, the link it gives
sends me to the same mostly-blank page. Looks like it's been replaced with
this: http://www.tracertek.com/diamondcutmillennium.htm. Looks interesting,
but more than I can spend right now.

I've downloaded the free TMPGenc but haven't done much with it yet.

Thanks!

Dana Cline - MVP