Working on project of a lifetime, need FCP Video Filtering advice

[Richard Sanchez]

My first question is how are you monitoring your video? Are you using an external interlaced monitor? I only ask because the trade off with anti-aliasing is that you could be softening your picture. The old adage, “Garbage in, garbage out” applies, but if you all you have is VHS sources, then there’s nothing you can do about it. The one thing you could do, is rather than fight your sources which may be fairly difficult without being it into a program more designed for this type of work (like After Effects), is you could treat it to make the imperfections look more like a stylistic choice. Add a touch of the Bad TV effect and desaturate the colors a bit. Sometimes, you can salvage damaged footage by making it look intentional.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Jason Nedrich]

Thank you for your reply. I have tried saturating the colors and I’ve seen good and bad with it. Sometimes saturating it makes it look too grainy. If the picture is too bright, I use the broadcast safe method and adjust the blacks, whites, and mids until the viewer shows a check mark.

I’m not so much as concerned with the color as I am the clearness of the picture. Slight ghosting and slight picture lines. And you are right, with anti alias it’s a trade off. Is there a way to compensate?

I’m using a formac studio for input/output. I’m using a basic 20″ TV with S-Video. Don’t have the funds to invest a high dollar editing monitor. I have a Sony but it needs a little TLC.

[Richard Sanchez]

If you were using after effects, it’d be easier to mask of the area that needed anti-aliasing, and track it to reduce the total amount of anti-aliasing. Did you use the Formac to capture your VHS footage? I only ask, because you could have artifacting as a result of not using a time base corrector. One trick that has worked for me, is to dub your VHS to mini DV (which will generally have a built in TBC, albeit a cheap one) and then capture the mini DV tape via firewire. That might help you get rid of some of those artifacts.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Jason Nedrich]

That sounds like something to consider. So there is no loss in quality going from VHS to Mini DV? I have the best (or one of) vcr that money can buy in my Sony SLV-R1000. I use monster cable S-Video. So I would need a Mini-DV Camcorder to transfer to?

[Jason Nedrich]

To answer your question yes I used the Formac. But the “artifacting” would be on the original tape as we’re talking tapes from the 80’s recorded from tv. Would recording to Mini DV get rid of that?

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I once did DVD authoring of hundreds of hours of VHS footage from the eighties of musical concerts. I first transferred all the tapes to DV. Most small DV camcorders and decks have a built in ‘TBC sort of’ which irons out many of VHS’s time base irregularities.

Then if your stuff is grainy or noisy, use Video Purifier. It does a good job of cleaning video noise.

And finally, crop out a few lines top and bottom where VHS have many defects like skew and random picture breakup, which can be annoying.

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Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Todd Reid]

not sure if you thought about this, but regardless of your quality problem, you may have copyright issues with what you are planning.
I know the NFL is pretty serious about protecting its copyrights, which anything with Rice catching a football is going to have several NFL logos and such.

Is your ONLY purpose to show Jerry and his family and for your own viewing pleasure?
Then your probably ok. Anything more than that, I would tread very lightly, and see if Jerry can help you get permission from the NFL to use those clips.

Todd Reid
Senior Editor
Digitized Media, Inc.

[Walter Biscardi]

[todd reid] “I know the NFL is pretty serious about protecting its copyrights, which anything with Rice catching a football is going to have several NFL logos and such. “

That’s an understatement. Actually by recording the games and now editing a highlight reel he is already violating the copyright which is clearly spoken during every game. Even as a “gift” to Jerry Rice, it’s pretty explicit that “all other uses of this broadcast are strictly prohibited” by the NFL. So this video is illegal right off the bat and Jerry Rice will not be able to “get permission” from NFL Films to release the clips. If he needed a highlight reel of his work, he would go directly to NFL Films to either get the footage required or have them do the edit.

If this is not an officially sanctioned project from the NFL, I would definitely stay clear of this.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Owner, Biscardi Creative Media featuring HD Post
Biscardi Creative Media

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[Jason Nedrich]

This is strictly for viewing pleasure. I’ve contacted NFL Films in the past regarding a missing play that I need and they did remind me that it’s illegal to rebroadcast or reproduce etc, etc, when I explained what it was for it was ok.

[Jason Nedrich]

Richard,

Would a dedicated capture card be much better than the Formac or Canopus ADVC-100?

And as far as converting the VHS to Mini-DV, if the flaws are on the tape itself and not cause by the Formac, would converting to Mini-DV still be a possible improvement?

Thanks.