Currently, all we have to work with is Iris LQ and MQ, and while LQ can be effective on mid shots and close ups, once the shot zooms out to a wide shot, faces start to get distroted bad. And using the MQ setting has little to no effect when working with VHS settings as far as upscaling 2x goes. There really needs to be something in the middle of these two.
Or better yet, a better AI model that will act more aggressively when face recognition is strong with a lot of pixels to work with, but then loosen up once the shot zooms out and it has less pixels to work with, a smarter model I guess is what I am asking for.
VHS footage is the toughest to deal with because it has the least amout to work with, which is why it needs more attention.
ur basically asking for a quick fix, i agree but
thats lowkey a lazy request, idk if ure only talking about upscalling or also fixing analog bugs cuz u said it was the most time consuming restoration work
topaz is designed for upscaling good sources so if I were to enhance a vhs source with topaz I would first do a clean vhs scan, idk why im getting into this but im just showing u a workflow around if were not getting a analog vhs model, first I record the vhs using a hdmi vcr output player, then import the footage onto avisynth and start tweaking it using qtgmc turn off the additional sharpening, crop the black bars if there are any, finedehalo it, covert it to yuv 444, then downscale it to 333x240 thats the vhs resolution and then export with a lossless codec with a dar that resizes it to 320x240 under playback, use topaz at lq up to 640x480 and then use mq iris at 100%, this should be good enough for vhs footage
Oh my gosh…where to begin. First of all you are making a lot of assumptions here. This isn’t my first time at the rodeo, I am not just using some random component output vcr and capturing to some compressed file thats full of artifacting. And some of what you are suggestioning (hdmi output vcr) is NOT what you would want to do. Even if they made one that has that, VHS is an analog signal that would need to be converted to digital using the cheap capacitors within the vcr, and that is all not good for signal preservation. And as far as those HDMI signal converters and upscalers, BELIEVE ME when I tell you those are all garbage as far as giving you the best capture. Those converters use the same tech as the older HDMI TVs that provided component inputs, and unless you like the fuzzy and muddy look after it converts it, then to each there own. Been there, done that. The best way to capture VHS is first and foremost, you need a high end decent VCR deck, both JVC and Panasonic made the best you could get, but in either case you are looking at $1000 deck minimum. I use arguably one of the best you can get, a Panasonic AG-1980 which has a built in Line TBC, and I use S-Video output which is what you want to use for the cleanest signal when capturing VHS, and I run that through an external TBC, then to my capture device. I capture at a CBR that I control which is, again, what you want to do. For VHS, 5-6 Mbps is more than good enough to give you clean and near lossless footage with no artifacting from compression, at least at the native VHS resolutions that is. I then do my first pass of deinterlacing with Handbrake, but DO NOT try to double the framerate in handbrake, you will end up with multiple repeated frames, so I always set the framerate to match the same as the video. Then I bring it in to Topaz and use the Topaz deinterlace preset, only now I change it to progressive and at this point I double my framerate. It will take a while, but you will end up with super silky smooth and clean footage at the native VHS resolution, again maintain the same 5-6 Mbps and don’t do any upscaling yet, you are just deinterlacing still. The end result will be as clean of VHS footage as you can get, trust me. What is missing here is like I said in my original post, we need a better and smarter AI model that can address the native VHS resolution in the changing conditions of the camera shot. Topaz does AMAZING with closeups on VHS, and I do mean AMAZING!!! Even some mid shots look good. But it really struggles with the wide and zoomed out shots on VHS. Look no offense to you sir, but there is nothing “lazy” about my approach. I have been at this a LONG time when it comes to VHS.
