Processing the Image After intelligently combining a number of frames and discarding noise and bad data, the software is able to discern the license plate on the bottom left.   DoubleTake's techniques use every pixel available on a security tape or film to discover nuances and detail to reveal a wealth of additional information. This proprietary enhancement software combines two systems of frame analysis -- multiple frame averaging and a patent pending intelligent noise reduction.  Since both video and film involves the recording of many frames of the subject every second, information from successive frames can be accumulated and averaged to create a composite image of enormously improved resolution. While any one frame may not have all the information required to improve an image, this data usually exists in part on successive frames. By analyzing the information on a number of frames and eliminating noisy components an entirely new image is created. Next, traditional methods are applied to enhance the final image to reveal the startlingly clear license plate shown above. The process of averaging frames does in and of itself reduce the amount of noise in the final picture. A separate patent pending technique that removes intelligently removes noise without losing any data is the key to the DoubleTake process.

Noise One of the most common problems of the videotape analyst is the random noise that stems from a variety of  sources within the recording equipment. This is a simulated example of severe scratches on the original frames. Simply averaging out the pixels of each frame tends to obscure the license plate, but by processing the images through DoubleTakes'  intelligent noise reduction system, the scratches are removed without the elimination of valuable data. Note how the specular reflection (circled) on the license plate was left untouched. The software recognized the difference between noise caused by scratches and noise-like objects within the subject -- something that conventional techniques cannot replicate. While professional video equipment is designed  to suppress of snow and signal loss, amateur systems are rather noisy. Images captured on film rather than video do not display this characteristic nose, but at high magnifications, noise emanates from the silver halide grains in the film itself. These randomly positioned grains distort and hide fine details that are critical to the researcher.

Traditional methods of removing noise are destructive, because the process of removing unwanted information from the recording also destroys valuable data. Since most forensic recordings involve consumer quality devices with a great deal of noise, care must be taken to remove the noise from the original recording, without the loss of detail. This is an example of extreme noise that might be found in the enlargement of a film image or a particularly poor video recording. Note how traditional image enhancement (bottom left) is unable to resolve the writing in the image.  Processing the image through DoubleTake's proprietary software however, clearly reveals the writing.