Deshaker - Color Shift?

jsteehl wrote on 11/10/2004, 6:15 PM
Hello,

First off thanks for the tut John M! Once again I stand on your shoulders (hope you are not getting tired) :)

I was a steadyhand user and although I had VD and Deshaker I could never quite get the recipe just right. Now, using your guidance, I was able to get some execelant results.

One thing and I don't know if you have seen this but I get a slight but noticeable color shift. Almost a blue tint. Have you seen this or is it just me? BTW my source was MiniDV.

Thanks,

-Jason

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 11/10/2004, 6:38 PM
One thing and I don't know if you have seen this but I get a slight but noticeable color shift.

Deshaker itself will not cause the color shift. This is due to the codec you are using in VirtualDub. I have been using the Mainconcept codec, but the version I use does alter the video somewhat.

To completely eliminate the problem (if you have enough disk space), don't choose any video compression (Video -> Compression in VirtualDub) and instead render to Uncompressed (RGB). This takes up a whopping 90 GBytes per hour of video, but you won't get any color shift.
jsteehl wrote on 11/10/2004, 6:46 PM
Stupid questoin but do you have to purchase the MC codec seperately or can you use the one installed by vegas (I'm thinking no because I don't see it in the list)?

-Jason
johnmeyer wrote on 11/10/2004, 8:05 PM
As the guide says, you cannot use the Vegas codec outside of Vegas. That is why I supplied links to the Panasonic, Mainconcept, and Huffyuv codec. The Huffyuv codec should provide the best results of the three, although I found it a little tricky to set up. It has the advantage of being free, whereas you have to pay for the Mainconcept codec.

What codec are you using?? Knowing that would help me to know whether this is the problem. It sounds like you are using the Panasonic codec. It is, unfortunately, the worst quality of the three.

The simplest thing to do is render to uncompressed, unless your video is extremely long, or unless you have very small hard disks. I usually only "deshake" a few minutes at a time. You could render this out to uncompressed, then bring it into Vegas and immediately render back out to DV AVI. You can then erase the uncompressed AVI file. The Vegas DV codec is so good that you should not be able to spot any difference between the uncompressed and the Vegas DV version.

OdieInAz wrote on 11/10/2004, 8:22 PM
I was just investigating this myself. The Panasonic DV codec doing a little waveforming at IRE (?) below 15 and above 235. You can see the effect if you just run a small section of video through the Panasonic codec and compare with the original.

Turn on Video Scopes, select Histogram. If you put the original small section next to the PDVC, you'll see the difference, using left and right arrow to toggle 1 frame at a time. .

I tried to undo the effect with color curves, but haven't been successful.
jsteehl wrote on 11/11/2004, 1:14 PM
Thanks for the follow-up guys.

JM: Yes I was using the Panasonic DV codec (hey it was free). I do have the space so I will try Huffy.

BTW, did a treatment for some video that was shot at a Nascar event (imagine a handheld shot panning L-R of moving cars zoomed in on a windy day). They were blown away! Was almost like they had it locked own on a TP with sandbags :)

Thanks agina!

-jason