Fix Bad Frame Script

johnmeyer wrote on 6/23/2006, 12:08 PM
I have posted a script in the scripting forum that lets you "fix" a bad frame of video (like a DV dropout, or strobe flash) by copying the frame immediately preceding the bad frame. Here's the link to that post:

Fix Bad Frame Script

If you have a lot of strobe flashes, or if you have a capture that contains those little DV dropouts, this can really speed up the fix. Of course, there are better ways to fix a bad frame, including exporting the frame to a photo editor and manually fixing the problem, or synthesizing an intermediate frame using MotionPerfect or similar tool. However, this is quick and unless the video involves fast motion, the duplicated frame is often difficult to detect, and is definitely less obtrusive than the bad frame which it replaces.

[Edit] This is also available at VASST:

Fix Bad Frame Script at VASST


Comments

farss wrote on 6/23/2006, 5:52 PM
So John, what was the outcome of your previous problem with the Ghost frame?

Edit:

Ooops sorry, it was Jay having that problem.
johnmeyer wrote on 6/23/2006, 6:42 PM
Glad to hear someone else was having the problem. Sounds rather frightening to me.
Grazie wrote on 6/24/2006, 12:23 AM
. . . including exporting the frame to a photo editor and manually fixing the problem, or synthesizing an intermediate frame using MotionPerfect or similar tool.

Ah!! John, do you have a fix for personal leaky "brain" memory? I knew all this .. . but used another way. I could have either of your two approaches - I just forgot I could!

Grazie

DJPadre wrote on 6/24/2006, 7:11 AM
"including exporting the frame to a photo editor and manually fixing the problem, or synthesizing an intermediate frame using MotionPerfect or similar tool."

Interesting.. I have motion perfect and actually tried to use it to fix up a bad .05 second of DV dropout,

thing is in Vegas, when u render out the section to be "fixed" even if u delete the frame or leave it as is, it will interpolate the frames to fit with teh render settings... and im yet to decipher how motionperfect can detect these defective frames..

id like to know how u use motionperfect to fix these broken frames... any info appreciated greatly
farss wrote on 6/24/2006, 7:17 AM
One way I've used to fix many bad bits of stuff is pretty simple although you cannot always use it.

But if you've got a static shot, apply as much motion blur as it takes to average out whatever is going wrong and render that out.
Bring that back in on track 2, remove the MB and mask betweeen tracks 1 and 2 on any bits that have motion using whatever masking tools you need / prefer.

I've restored a talking head from damaged VHS this way, fortunately the camera was static and all that moved of the head were the lips and eyes, the head did move but so slowly I could apply 12 frames of MB and it still looked OK but the noise bands were averaged out.

Bob.
TeetimeNC wrote on 8/12/2006, 9:31 AM
Hi John,

I was very excited to see your Fix Bad Frame script - this is definitely useful for strobe flashes, etc. Thanks very much for contributing this!

I ran into one problem probably no one else will encounter but I'll alert you in case this comes up sometime. I have a clip that is 720x800. It is footage I stabilized in After Effects, and I increased the vertical dimension to give headroom for centering the image vertically in Vegas. When I run your script on this footage two things happen:
1. The copied frame is offset vertically.
2. The clip is trimmed immediately following the "fixed" frame and the remainder of the clip is not retained on the track.

Again, thanks for contributing such a useful script.

Jerry
johnmeyer wrote on 8/12/2006, 9:41 AM
Try setting your project properties to 720x800.