Repair of 22min B&W TV Episode encoded to 600mb 3600Kbps Cinepack .avi @ 30fps

[newmy51]

I'm looking to fix this file in whatever way I can absent the original source. The MediaInfo is posted below.  Recommended approaches/programs/utilities?

General
Complete name : xxxx.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 601 MiB
Duration : 22mn 21s
Overall bit rate : 3 760 Kbps

Video
Format : Cinepack
Codec ID : cvid
Duration : 22mn 21s
Bit rate : 3 396 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.500
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Resolution : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.328
Stream size : 543 MiB (90%)

Audio
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Unsigned
Codec ID : 1
Codec ID/Hint : Microsoft
Duration : 22mn 21s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 352.8 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 22.05 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 56.4 MiB (9%)
Interleave, duration : 33 ms (1.00 video frame)


Thanks in advance,

-newmy51

[Temuthril]

fix

What's broken?

[hilander72]

Screenshots with "errors" would help...

[wizisi2k]

I'm curious as to the name of the series you are encoding from.  Also, we need details of what you mean by repair.  I have worked with a bad source before but need a idea of the age and condition of the material.
Generic fixes that MIGHT help (or might introduce more problems if you use all of them) are to use the avisynth scripts removegrain(), descratch(), undot(), and despot() to help restore the film. 

[newmy51]

The MediaInfo data really says it all.  Not knowing a great deal about how to seek out aberrations and abnormalities in digital audio/video, my concerns stem primarily from what I see in the description of the rip -- crazy high bitrate, file size and 30fps, etc. -- not from the rip itself.  I notice a lack of compatibility with certain players given the age and obscurity of the codec, but when it plays, it seems to do so smoothly.

Framerate:

The footage is from 1961 and is, as stated in black and white.  If I am to understand that 30fps is reserved for things recorded "direct-to-video", that would make this an incorrect choice of framerate for this rip as it was almost certainly recorded to film of some kind.

Codec:

From Wikipedia:

Cinepak is a video codec developed by Peter Barrett at SuperMac Technologies, and released in 1991 with the Video Spigot, and then in 1992 as part of Apple Computer's QuickTime video suite. It was designed to encode 320x240 resolution video at 1x (150 kbyte/s) CD-ROM transfer rates. The codec was ported to the Microsoft Windows platform in 1993. It was also used on first-generation and some second-generation CD-ROM game consoles, such as the Atari Jaguar CD, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, and 3DO.

It was the primary video codec of early versions of QuickTime and Microsoft Video for Windows, but was later superseded by Sorenson Video, Intel Indeo, and most recently MPEG-4 and H.264. However, movies compressed with Cinepak are generally still playable in most media players.

In short, there appear to be far better alternatives.

Bitrate:

Despite the apparent intended bitrate/resolution of 150kbps (that's kilobits) and 320x240, this file is at 3396Kbps and 720x480. Not knowing Cinepack from Captain Crunch, perhaps the codec has the ability of being used to encode outside of its originally conceived parameters, but regardless, it's an awfully high bitrate for such lo-fi footage.

File Size:

22 minutes of black and white video (and 352Kbps Mono PCM Audio, another head scratcher) and yet it's almost as big as as CD-R sized feature length film.  That number seems like it can come down a lot.


My question is to what extent I can change any of these things without the source material and thus the ability to make my own encode.

[Freedom Kira]

Codec:

From Wikipedia:

... It was designed to encode 320x240 resolution video at 1x (150 kbyte/s) CD-ROM transfer rates...

Bitrate:

Despite the apparent intended bitrate/resolution of 150kbps (that's kilobits) and 320x240...

I assume you were extracting your 150kbps from the article, in which case 150kbps to 1200kbps (150kBps) is a rather big difference. BTW it's b vs B that is the distinction, not k vs K.

Anyway, I don't have much encoding experience, but I'd expect not much quality loss if you were to just re-encode the video. It'd be nice to have the original source, but seeing as it's from 1961, it's more likely on VHS than on CD, meaning it'd be rather difficult to extract the video without some specialized equipment. And yes, use 15 fps or so - probably won't even be much of a difference. I'd probably go with 96kbps audio too, maybe 128kbps if the size difference isn't much, which it shouldn't be.

Since Cinepak is a rather old codec, you can probably expect support for it in most programs you use. I'll point you at Handbrake, but like I said I have very limited experience. Doesn't hurt to just give it a shot and see what the results give you, though.

[newmy51]

@FK:  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that were only one among many oversights in my analysis of this file and what's "wrong" with it.  I do intend to take a few what-the-hell style cracks at a re-encode.  I'll post back here with my findings unless some additional help/recommendations/lessons in units of digital information come my way first.  Thanks for your insights.

[wizisi2k]

it might be worth it to UL the source file somewhere for people to take a crack at seeing what can be done to improve it

[Freedom Kira]

Uh, download a 600MB file of 22min of B/W video just to see how to decrease the size? And asking the guy to upload this file? Really?
I think I'd rather use my bandwidth elsewhere. =P