Extremely Dark Video, Any 'Fix' ?

HighTekHillbilly · Post by **HighTekHillbilly** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:29 am

Hi,

I have a problem with video I recorded using a Sony DCR-HC65 digital camcorder. I normally read reviews on any sustantial purchases, but just bought this camera without checking it out first. The low-light capability is awful. I read the reviews afterwards, my bad. To be fair though, I'm just a very amateur, casual user and just use the automatic settings and not any manual settings. Although all the video shot outdoors is fine, most of the indoor stuff is pretty much useless. My kids birthdays and other events that are very valuable to me. I shot many hours before I even looked at it. I did use a low-lower (3 watt) camera-mounted light and the normal household lighting that always allowed my Sony HI-8 camera to record respectable, very usuable, although not fantastic footage. My question is...what can I do to try and lighten this footage, if anything ? I realize it will never be great, but some of it is just not even worth capturing and trying to do anything with it. I don't mind spending a little money if there is additional hardware or software that would help me out. Especially if it's something that I could use for more than these several hours of video. I've seen some 'Media Convertor' products that advertise 'Image Enhancement Technology.' I realise that's mainly for VHS to DV etc.

I'll be buying a High Def. camera this year, the Sony will be a backup for OUTDOOR use only!! I'll also be upgrading to MSP 8.

I'm using MSP 7.03, a fairly low power AMD 1.8 ghz., (1) gRAM...won't go into all the specifics as my setup is very stable and reliable, if not blazingly fast.

Thanks for any help.

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:34 am

You could try applying either the Auto Exposure or Auto Levels video flter. Auto Exposure is the most likely to help.

HighTekHillbilly · Post by **HighTekHillbilly** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:00 pm

Thanks Terry, I'll give those a try.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:09 pm

Prevention is better than cure, have you tried using the nightshot plus on the camcorder?

HighTekHillbilly · Post by **HighTekHillbilly** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:13 pm

No, I haven't tried the Nightshot Plus. I knew about it, but I never thought the video could be that bad with the light (though low) available. I'm going to experiment some and I will try it. Thanks for the suggestion and ditto on the prevention being better than the cure. I've learned my lesson on this one.

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:31 pm

If you have a analoge capture card use the s-video/audio connections. Almost all analoge catpure cards have a configuration section that allows you to change brightness, contrast, hue and color much like a television.

I've used my Hauppauge card with different settings to adjust everything listed.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:05 pm

tyamada

He is capturing from a digital camcorder so he should be using a firewire connection and capturing to AVI.

He can't go and film it again but Terry has suggested the Auto Exposure or Auto Levels video filters. He can also try adjusting the Brightness/Contract filter.

Regards
Steve J

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:32 pm

sjj1805:

I have the capability to do firrwire but choose to do analoge capture because I don't have to re render video and from the quality I get you can't see much difference in the output.

You have the same capability wih the PVR 350 Card and I see you use the mpeg capability of the card.

I don't like time it takes to render AVI files to mpeg. Plus when rendering to mpeg you can come up with errors and have to redo everything again. I have used my PVR-250 to capture to mpeg for a couple of years and am very happy with the quality of my DVDs.

I only use my firewire to capture HD Video, it is already mpeg when it is captured no converting.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:22 am

Depends upon whether the user wishes to do any editing or not.
The Hauppauge TV Card has a built in hardware encoder so no problem with dropped frames etc.

MPEG capture is OK if you are either going to do
1. No editing or
2. Simple straight cuts only - no transitions, no overlays, no brightness/colour corrections etc.
Otherwise you need to use Womble or some other like MPEG Editor.

Anything else and you need to capture to AVI, edit then convert.
It seems you have read some of my previous posts, remember my analogies to still pictures

AVI=BMP - Large file and editable
MPEG=JPG - smaller compressed file in a lossy format.

HighTekHillbilly · Post by **HighTekHillbilly** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:27 am

I still have a couple of old analog capture cards, a Matrox Rainbow Runner & a nearly-just-as-old Winnov. Neither are in use anymore, although I am going to get a system going for the kids to play around with. Thanks for the suggestion though 'tyamada'. I think the main thing is that I now know the limitation of this camera and will make sure I take steps before I shoot anymore indoor stuff to have better lighting, and/or use the Nightshot Plus. I also didn't know until I was recenty looking through the manual, that there is a software selectable 'Super Nightshot Plus.' I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing the quality of the video would suffer. Better lighting is my goal until I can afford an HD camera...hopefully later this year.

krwzmann · Post by **krwzmann** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:48 pm

I use the Video Filter 'auto exposure' and it works great.

Is there a Noise reduction filter out there that'll help when Auto Exposure adds a little more grain then desired?? One of my cams doesnt do well under low light and the auto exposure produced more grain than my other cam which looks pretty 'yucky' hehe.

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:22 pm

Fizick makes a freeware Dynamic Noise Reduction filter (DNR). Its pretty easy to use (levels 1-20 slider), works in MSP7 and seems stable in MSP8, but then I've only used it in MSP8 a few times.

Main problem with DNR in MSP8 seems to be that there is no Effects Manager UI, which is normal for MSP7 and earlier plugins. To use it you have to open the classic interface using either the context menu/Video Filters dialog or the "Customized Dialog" button in Effects Manager.

No biggie.

DNR: http://www.fizick.com/dnr-ulead/dnr.html

Home: http://www.fizick.com/

Helge · Post by **Helge** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 7:22 pm

There is a new product "neatvideo" from the same company as is "neatimage".
I have very good experiences with neatimage for enhancing digital images taken with low exposure.
Unfortunatly neatvideo is not yet available for use with msp, but I allready sent an email to the support and got the answer, that they might also offer a version for ulead, depending how many people will ask for it. So stay watching their website, perhaps there comes a solution for you.

The links are:
www.neatimage.com
www.neatvideo.com

As I just saw there is also a plugin for virtual dub available.

Please note: this tool is not cheap, also neatimage was not, but I think it could be worth its price.