Camera Labs

Hi folks,

vReveal popped up onto the radar this afternoon.

vReveal makes it easy to fix common video problems and offers enhancement features unavailable in any other video software.

Even though vReveal is video enhancement software (not video editing software), comparisons to video editors like Adobe Premiere Elements, Sony Vegas, and Apple iMovie are understandable. These applications allow you to do things like adjust sharpness and contrast, but only vReveal offers the super-resolution technology that increases resolution, significantly reduces noise, and provides sophisticated stabilization.

There are a lot of limitations with this product, not least that it's Windows only and that you

can enhance videos with a vertical resolution of 576 pixels (PAL resolution) or less. You can apply simple edits (rotate, trim) on all videos up to HD.

Apparently full HD support may come along in a subsequent version but, even so, it might be worth a look if you shoot standard def videos and there's a free trial so the price of trying it out is right! I have absolutely no experience with the software but I thought it interesting enough to be worth sharing.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Bob Andersson - You can't "increase resolution" adding image material that wasn't there in the first place. You can increase the apparent resolution by interpolating with material that IS there. Think of doing bicubic interpolation "upwards" on a *.psd file in Photoshop. It does anything-but improve the image quality.

Everything else vReveal claims to do - sharpening, de-noising, adjust colour and saturation, soften, resizing, adding black borders, etc, can be done with Avidemux - not US$50.00 - free, for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

What it's doing there is downsizing 1280 x 720 from camera to 720 x 576 to put onto MPEG2 DVDs in 720 x 576 PAL mode. The stage shown is adding black borders top and bottom to maintain the 16:9 AR.

See pix:





Regards, Dave.

Hello there, Thank you for great information.

I want Avidemux is free video editing software. It was easy user.

I need Avidemux download file.

Hi Dave,

Well, that's now two pieces of software (vReveal and Avidemux) I've no experience with. Any more, anyone?

I'm not at all sure you are right when you say that vReveal is "downsizing 1280 x 720 from camera to 720 x 576" as, if I read the blurb correctly, it doesn't do the fancy processing if fed anything having a vertical resolution of more than 576 pixels (PAL resolution). But, of course, you are right that they can't be adding information which wasn't there in the first place. Unfortunately I don't know enough to be able to judge whether they are employing algorithms which extract extra detail by using adjacent frames which, in the case of hand-held videos, probably won't be registered precisely with the one being processed and so may actually add extra information. Do you?

I'd be interested to hear a critique (good or bad) from someone who's actually used the program as, unfortunately, I haven't the time or the expertise to do the testing. It may be that vReveal actually successfully tricks the eye and brain into seeing more than is actually there. I do note that they say that vReveal features an adaptation of the CSI-style “super-resolution” video enhancement technology behind Ikena, MotionDSP’s high-powered forensic software used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. For more about Ikena visit MotionDSP's Ikena product page which has some videos showing how detail enhancement using that program actually can work in real life.

Again, I'm not endorsing any software here. Just flagging something interesting.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Bob Andersson - I didn't say that vReveal was downsizing 1280 x 720 from camera to 720 x 576....

I said ":..can be done with Avidemux - not US$50.00 - free, for Windows, Mac, and Linux..... What it's doing there is downsizing 1280 x 720 from camera to 720 x 576..."

> The Pix clearly show that it is Avidemux (that's the Linux version) - doing that conversion.


Lynn55 - You can get Avidemux from:

Ref: > http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/download.html < - it's a just under 13MB D/L

You don't say what operating system you have - but if it's Windows, that's in the page after Linux, before Mac. It's easiest to install if you get the > avidemux_2.4.4_win32.exe < - from SourceForge, though there is a zip option.

Avidemux has a pretty good Forum for finding out about it, at:

Ref: > http://avidemux.org/admForum/ <

Regards, Dave,

.
Sorry Dave. Can't say I understand your clarification either.

On the face of it you just seem to have dissed vReveal without any factual basis for doing so and then hijacked the thread into a discussion of how Avidemux downsizes videos. Rather rude of you, in my opinion.

I think I'll step out of this thread now. I've got better things to do with my life if that's the response I get when trying to be helpful. Bye.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Bob Andersson - If you think I was being rude, I apologise.

All I said about vReveal was that it can't create data - to raise resolution - that wasn't there in the first place.

The "factual basis" is that a conversion application can't create data that didn't exist before. If it seems to - it's interpolating.

I then said that the other things vReveal does, can be done with Avidenux, which is free - vReveal is a proprietary product - and gave an example of how Avidemux works.

> If trying to be helpful and explanatory - which did take some time and effort - is hijacking the topic - beg-pardon, and I'll remove the posts if required.

> I did read the Forum Rules carefully - I thought.

Regards, Dave.

Mate, don't do what most (all?) Linux advocates do which is jump in an just blindly advocate whatever pet software it is they're using. Have you used vReveal? Did you just look at the spec sheet and find that Avidemux ticks all those boxes too, therefore Avidemux must do equally well!

While that might be acceptable behaviour on a Linux forum, it's not too polite here. Imagine if my response to any camera announcement or problem is forget Canon/Nikon/Pentax/etc and buy Sony because they're cheaper and better!!11! That's been pretty much the content of all your posts thus far: Use Linux!

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PhilipGoh.com

Pgtips - Points taken, thanks. Where did I say that anyone should use Linux?

Avidemux is used on a lot more Windows PCs than on Linux.

All I said about vReveal is the technical fact that it - or anything else - including Avidemux - can't create data content that didn't exist in the original data.

I do have XP-Pro SP3 on another box - and I was a CompTIA qualified Windows / NT tech for 11 years - so I have a fair idea about both sides. I know nothing about Macs other than that their current O/S is BSD-related.

However - I'll take your hint - and not mention Linux or freeware again.

This box dual-boots with 98SE - I guess I could use that...

I beg the pardon of anyone, including yourself, offended in any way.

Regards, Dave.

So, it looks like it's a nice shell built around the free and open source Avidemux?

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Thanks for the info, Bob! Sounds interesting. I really appreciate informative news like this. After all, it's all about sharing. Keep up the good work. And just to make the atmosphere a little warmer, let me add some info about some similar stuff I stumbled upon... Topaz Enhance claims to actually increase the resolution of low-quality videos. To quote them:


I plan to try it out sometimes soon. Hope this won't be regarded as some lame ad or something. Folks can themselves try out whatever they want and figure out whether it's worth using or not. Nobody is forcing anybody to use anything.

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SX10IS
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Hi Roy,

Good catch. The technique mentioned - synthesizing video information from multiple adjacent frames - is the one I hypothesised in my second post in this thread.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Yes, Bob. I read all the comments in detail (not that I understood all of them tbh). You are quite a geek in all these techie fields, but what I don't understand is why on earth you reading video upscaling stuff with that holy-grail-mark-2 at your disposal...

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SX10IS
Flickr Picasa