How to sharpen old video clips with ShortCut

Help/How To
1

I have old video ripped from VHS on DVD by a profession shop. Part of the video is unsharp/blurry/noisy. Please advise how to run ShortCut on Ubuntu 20.04 Linux to sharpen the video

Thanks

Regards

2

Download and run the AppImage version of Shotcut for the easiest experience on Ubuntu. Set the file to Executable permissions first.

Noise can be fixed with a Denoise filter.

Unsharp can be somewhat fixed with a Sharpen filter set above 30%.

Blurry (out of focus) can’t be fixed at all since original scene detail is physically missing. An AI engine could attempt to fabricate some believable details, but Shotcut doesn’t have this tool.

Filter usage is described in numerous tutorials.

3

Thanks for your advice.

Can I on Ubuntu 20.04 Terminal run;
$ sudo snap install shotcut --classic

to install Shortcut ?

Alos can I run ShortCut on Ubuntu 20.04 of Oracle VirtualBox VM ?

AI Engines
Deep Learning For Java (Deeplearning4j) ?
Apache Mahout ?
etc.

4

I don’t use snap, so I can’t speak to how well it works these days. I specifically use AppImage because all the dependencies are self-contained. Snap does not offer this perfect sandbox. Just remember, I tried to save you some headaches. :wink:

Shotcut should work in a VM provided the VM offers OpenGL emulation.

5

Whether download Linux AppImage here ?
https://shotcut.org/download/

Site 1 (FossHub)?
or
Site 2 (GitHub) ?

I’ll check whether Oracle VirtualBox VM offers OpenGL emulation.
and also KVM/QEMU

I prefer performing tests on VM/Guest. Should I make any mistake I just delete the VM/Guest and clone a new one. It is quite convenient.

Thanks

6

Either is fine. They are the same file.

7

Thanks.

I’ll start the test after having clarified whether OpenGL emulation works on VM

8

Hi Austin,

Re: “Shotcut should work in a VM provided the VM offers OpenGL emulation.”

I have posted your question on Oracle VirtualBox Forum.
Their reply;
If you mean that your software requires OpenGL then VirtualBox provides OpenGL hardware accelerated 2.1. But it isn’t an emulation. I’m not even sure what an emulated API would consist of.

If you mean that you want a software rendered OpenGL then yes you can do that, but it has nothing to do with VirtualBox

9

They’re being pedantic lol. In this context, emulation just means virtualizing the OpenGL interface so it’s accessible inside a VM, as opposed to granting raw access to hardware which could lead to VM escape attacks and be an obvious security hole.

Software OpenGL is definitely not the goal.

Shotcut requires OpenGL 2.0, so it looks like you’re good to go.

You can also make a Linux Mint Live USB stick and copy the AppImage onto it, then boot the Live USB and run Shotcut on bare metal. This will give a better indication of export performance than a VM will. A virtual machine can easily lose up to 20% from overhead.

10

In the VirtualBox machine’s Display settings there is an option “Enable 3D Acceleration.” If you leave that off (default) then it uses software-based OpenGL, which on Linux is usually Mesa llvmpipe. If you turn it on, then I assume it tries to use your hardware. A lot of people have problems with that turned on though and leave it off. On my system with AMD graphics, when I turn it on, inside the Linux guest glxinfo | grep OpenGL says it is using Mesa SVGA3D driver and appears to be working fine with only basic testing

11

Actually, Snap offers a confinement sandbox that Shotcut is not using. However, even without it, for Shotcut it does offer the same amount of bundling as the AppImage. Both AppImage and Snap are the portable archive build of Linux simply repackaged into another format (AppImage) or a different delivery system (Snap). The Flatpak is a completely different build in a confinement container.

12

Thanks, that fills in my knowledge gaps on Snap. I remembered many Snap problems in the past, and a forum search for “snap error” shows several missing dependencies in 2017 and 2018. I guess I didn’t realize those were packaging problems as opposed to a confinement problem. Otherwise, I figured the tar file would have broken too.

I do recall Flatpak being a dependency nightmare, so I avoided that.

I love AppImage because I can copy it to a Live USB stick and run Shotcut even when air-gapped. If I’m at a lame social gathering, then I ask to borrow somebody’s computer, boot it to my keyring USB drive, and edit some video without disturbing the internal hard drives. This is better for everyone involved. It also keeps me occupied enough that I don’t light up Kali and start scanning everyone’s cell phones for security holes.

1 Like
13

Hi Austin,
What will be the size of USB stick? I have SIM card of 64G capacity. I can insert it on an USB adaptor using it as USB stick

Regards

14

I’m now considering to run bare-metal HD for test. It is inconvenient each time to open the computer case to change a new SSD HD. I’m now digging around whether is there a solution to connect SSD HD to SATA3 port externally, not via USB port which speed is not fast.

15

Linux Mint is barely over 2 GB. The rest of the drive can be used as a data partition.

The drive has to be formatted and made bootable. The SIM would get wiped if using Rufus to burn the ISO.

Depends on context. For booting up and read operations, USB is plenty fast enough. I do production artwork on the road with a Live USB stick running GIMP, ART (RawTherapee fork), and Shotcut. When most of the executable code hits RAM cache, then USB speed doesn’t matter at all. The only time USB speed is an issue is for writing large files, and even then it is bearable. It is plenty good for your performance tests, assuming the computer has enough RAM to never need a swap file. Swapping would be very bad, but it doesn’t happen with plenty of RAM.

I also say this under the assumption that the video files will be on a separate drive, not the Live USB drive. While editing on the live drive is possible (using low-bitrate MPEG-4.2 proxies), the more traditional workflow would be for the live drive to recognize the attached SSDs and HDDs, and edit video from those drives just like normal. The only thing that would have changed is the operating system drive.

EDIT: Oh, I realize now you were probably referring to the data drives, not the OS drive. Sorry, ignore my reply above.

16

Hi all,

Lot of thanks for your advice and your time spent to help me.

Just bought a Crucial MX500 SSD, 500G storage and 6GB/s speed. I’ll start my adventure soon instead of on an USB stick. I have long SATA connector and power extension cable. I’ll connect Crucial MX500 SSD outside the computer. If this arrangement works, I’ll carry all future tests on bare-metal SSD, not on VM/Guest. The price of SSD is not expensive. My only problem is needing to install OS on each SSD. It is not so convenient compared to cloning a VM/Guest.

USB-C stick is fast and its price is not cheap for the time being. My problem is none all my desktop computers having USB-C port.

I have 3 desktop computers. Now it is time for me to build a new AMD Ryzen 7 desktop computer, if having spare time. My AMD Ryzen 5 desktop computer is already 4 years old. I’m now fully focused in enhancing the quality of my old video clips.

Edit

I have another thought.

Would it be possible to get a large storage SSD, say for example 2TB
Partition the SSD into 4 partitions
Install OS on the 4 partitions at the same, simultaneously.

Then I’ll have 4 bare-metal 500G SSDs, ready for future test.

If this arrangement works;

The only disadvantage compared to VM/Guest is unable to run 4 OS on 4 partitions at the same time. But it is possible running several VMs/Guests at the same time

Regards

17

Just ordered this yesterday for my Apple Watch

USB C Female to USB A Male Adapter 3 Pack,Type C Charger Plug Power Converter for Apple Watch Series 7,iPhone 11 12 13 Max,iPad Pro 2020 Mini 6 6th Generation 2021,Samsung Galaxy S20 S21 FE Plus Ultra https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Z662186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_7CMW4MP4PEZSGC2PFV4Y

Edit: this actually seems to primarily be for charging purposes

18

Hi PaulusMaximus,

Thanks for your advice.

Regards

19

Hi Austin and others.

Now I have Linux Mint up running on the new Crucial 500G SSD

Version:
cat /etc/issue
Linux Mint 20.2 Uma \n \l

Turning to install ShortCut

They still suggest

Enable snaps on Linux Mint and install ShotCut

Advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Regards

20

Hi PaulusMaximus,

HOW TO ADD USB-C PORTS TO YOUR COMPUTER

But it needs a PCIe slot on your computer

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