Help me save some DARK home movies!

December 30, 2006 10:10 PM

I have some home movies that I need to brighten up.

I took them with a crappy HP Digital Camera (something like this, but a slightly different model: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?product_code=L1891AR%23ABA&aoid=15537&cs=I-search%20(Froogle)), in poor light. I need some software that will brighten them up without TOO much quality loss. Is there any such (free, preferably) thing out there? The file extension is MPG, so I'm assuming they're just baseline MPG1 files, but I don't know that for sure.

posted by TrueVox to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Best answer: this will be rather tough. software that could do this would include final cut, after effects and the likes but they're certainly not free, though there used to be a student program where you would provide your college id and would get a full final cut license for 99 bucks. perhaps imovie can do this but I haven't worked with it myself and can't vouch.

the problem here though is bigger: if you shot in seriously low light, there simply won't be a lot of the information you would like to enhance. a lot of your colors are probably washed out in bluish tones, sort of like being outside in the early morning hours, and there simply is no hope for them to magically turn red, yellow or whatever else it would take to produce a "normal" daylight picture. you can expect about 5-10% improvement but anything beyond isn't really going to happen without you seeing it.
posted by krautland at 12:34 AM on December 31, 2006

Response by poster: Well, that's honestly a good start. Final Cut, eh? I'll have to look in to that. I think I might have a friend who may have it.

Now, as for it being "Normal", it was shot inside, and I'm not expecting it to be perfect, but will I at least be able to see what's going on?
posted by TrueVox at 5:55 AM on December 31, 2006

Response by poster: Oh, crap. Final Cut. That's Mac only isn't it? I guess I don't have that accessible. Is there a windows side program with similar functionality?
posted by TrueVox at 6:05 AM on December 31, 2006

Before you download any software...

Use VLC player as a test. You can go to the preferences and adjust the brightness, gamma and contrast.

See how it looks before fooling around with editing software.
posted by filmgeek at 12:32 PM on December 31, 2006

Response by poster: Ok, found a solution: Adobe Premiere. I THINK I can afford the elements version, and even if I can't, I think I can find someone who has the full to use for a one time thing.

THANKS SO MUCH!
posted by TrueVox at 12:34 PM on December 31, 2006

Response by poster: Oh, and to test it out, I put them on my Wii (which has a brightness feature) and brightened them up pretty well, and it looked fine for my uses.

So, anyway, score one more for Nintendo!
posted by TrueVox at 12:35 PM on December 31, 2006

Response by poster: Oh! I didn't see your post, Filmgeek. That would have saved me just a Wii bit of trouble. :D
posted by TrueVox at 12:36 PM on December 31, 2006

VirtualDub can handle this, I'm sure. It's free.
posted by whatisish at 2:54 PM on December 31, 2006

Best answer: Yeah, so with VirtualDub-MPEG2, do the following:

File, Open Video File, (navigate to your file, open), Video, Filters, Add, Brightness/Contrast, move the Brightness slider - click Ok. Video, Compression, Choose a codec to control file size and platform compatibility - click Ok. File, Save as AVI, Save.

Feel free to email me (profile) if you have questions or problems.
posted by whatisish at 3:12 PM on December 31, 2006