HDR video processing more than twice as fast

[donjames150]

Sorry if this has been covered but I just have to share this as it may be as important to someone else as it is for me. I mostly loaded ML for the HDR video as I film real estate and those inside shots of the windows are just bright squares of light without HDR. With HDR they are much nicer. So I've been lamenting the slow process time using Vdub and Avisynth (1 minute for 1 second of filmed) and searched everywhere for faster alternatives. Yesterday I stumbled upon a script change on the ML forum:

http://vimeo.com/groups/magiclantern/forum/topic:250386

at the post about 1/3 down

Bart@RedKiteMedia 2 years ago
AOMBK made some improvements on the avisynth split script:

it's replacement code for hdr_split.avs

I film entirely in 720, so the first part isn't necessary, none of it
only change the part of the hdr_split.avs for 720

replace all of the code with the following and it will run twice as fast:

SetMemoryMax(1024)
LoadPlugin(ScriptDir()+"..\Avisynth-plugins\ffms2.dll")
LoadPlugin(ScriptDir()+"..\Avisynth-plugins\RemoveGrainSSE3.dll")
LoadPlugin(ScriptDir()+"..\Avisynth-plugins\mvtools2.dll")
Import(ScriptDir()+"..\Avisynth-plugins\InterFrame.avsi")
Import(ScriptDir()+"..\Avisynth-plugins\FFMS2.avsi")

A = FFVideoSource("..\RAW.MOV")
A = selecteven(A)
A = trim(A, 1, 0)
A = ConvertToRGB(A, matrix="PC.601", interlaced=false)
A = ImageWriter(A, "..\frames\A", type = "jpg")

B = FFVideoSource("..\RAW.MOV")
B = selectodd(B)
B = ConvertToRGB(B, matrix="PC.601", interlaced=false)
B = ImageWriter(B, "..\frames\B", type = "jpg")

return Interleave(A,B)


Edit: process time is less than ONE QUARTER of the time as i also realized that with my motorized panhead I could film at 2x the speed then slow it down to 1/2 in my editor :-)

[Deuxvan]

Thank you for this. Just got a 650d & am strictly using it for hdr video in real estate too.

[donjames150]

Thank you for this. Just got a 650d & am strictly using it for hdr video in real estate too.

Take a look at my latest post on HDR video. Using Malcolm's script and Photomatix version 4.0.2 is very fast at processing, so fast I'll probably shoot all interiors using HDR. You will have to do some post processing, especially for sharpness for a few reasons. One is the best setting for shooting HDR with the 650 is the 1280 x 720 because of the 60fps. Then you can slow it down in editing. I usually slow it down to 50% (I use a motorized panhead at slowest speed). But really slow is best for youtube for smoothness. I defocus my lens until there's no moire/noise (thus the post sharpening). For picture style, I just turn down sharpening to 0 and leave the rest at zero.  I found shooting 100/3200 iso gives the most realistic view out the windows. Setting aperture is trickier, what works for me is very dark, but not black and pretty bright, but just where the windows are fully blown out as far as what you see in the LCD. The motorized panhead is definitely the way to go, you can barely tell the difference from a slider when done at very slow speed.

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=11486.msg115618#msg115618

Here's a recent example:
http://youtu.be/JNGqnF2ukR8

Edit 10/12/14
Make sure you use Photomatix Pro 32-bit. I tested version 4.0.2 32 bit against the same version in 64 bit and the 32 bit is much faster without any sacrifice of quality.

Here is a test I did today pitting the fastest version of the scripts method that uses Virtualdub and Avisynth against the HDSLR Offloader/Photomatix method.

Time to process a 10 second clip is 4 minutes, 25 seconds for the scripts method,
47 seconds for the Offloader/Photomatix method. There is a slight loss of quality with the Offloader method, but can mostly be fixed in post. In this example the only thing I did in post was to add 20 sharpness (of 200) to the Offloader version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4psi-xWME0

EDIT 10/27/14: This is the latest and best HDR video process. Much faster than any of the scripts and equal in quality to the scripts results

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=13430.msg129867#msg129867

[Deuxvan]

I picked up a ProAm crane and did some test shots yesterday with the 10-22 sigma i got this week, and I am happy with the results so far, now I need mix em up and see what I have.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I checked out your vid, I'm going to shoot 24 fps. 60 seems a little too slow for me and I want to keep the workflow tight and short.

How often are you making vids for real estate?

[donjames150]

I picked up a ProAm crane and did some test shots yesterday with the 10-22 sigma i got this week, and I am happy with the results so far, now I need mix em up and see what I have.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I checked out your vid, I'm going to shoot 24 fps. 60 seems a little too slow for me and I want to keep the workflow tight and short.

How often are you making vids for real estate?

I haven't made any professional videos yet. I'm still at the practice phase. I'm still healing from an 8 level back fusion that apparently takes several years to heal. Maybe by next year I'll start having customers. 

Post an example to youtube when you get a chance !

I like this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DanAchatz1/videos?flow=grid&view=0

He uses a 4 foot jib
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-qPXfA7ABQ

Also good:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgjlRQjsdNIxqtuB4mGABsA/videos