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SD to HD upconvert
I’ve just had somebody asking me about upconverting their edit on to HDCam. At present they’ve downconverted to DV for editing and then want to upconvert back to HD (I know, I know, its not going to be HD…. but there’s only so many times you can tell someone…).
Anyway, what I want to know is the following: I’m running an AJA IO with FCP and I’ll output via SDI. Can a Standard def SDI signal be fed into a Sony HDW-M2000P and upconvert to HD? Or do I need to upconvert in FCP and get an HD board put into the Mac?
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7 Replies
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A Kona 3 can do the upconvert in realtime on the way out.
[JamieWorsfold] “At present they’ve downconverted to DV for editing and then want to upconvert back to HD (I know, I know, its not going to be HD…. but there’s only so many times you can tell someone…).”
What does this mean? Is the original material HDCAM? If so, just re-capture the project with the original tapes. Is the original material BetaCam or DigiBeta? If so, again recapture the project using the original tapes. Up-convert works the best with the absolutely best SD material.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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From what the guy’s told me (in one rather vague email), they downconverted from HDCam to DV for the edit. They now have a final edit in DV which needs to be synced up with the audio on CD. They then want that played out on to HD.
Obviously they’d be much better off going back to the original HDCam tapes and doing an online from those. Even if they didn’t want to do that then I’d be more inclined to dump the final edit back on to Digibeta as a master. The HD upconvert isn’t going to really do much for them…
Thanks for the advice though, Walter!
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[JamieWorsfold] “From what the guy’s told me (in one rather vague email), they downconverted from HDCam to DV for the edit. They now have a final edit in DV which needs to be synced up with the audio on CD. They then want that played out on to HD.”
If that’s really the case, that’s the most insane workflow I’ve ever heard of. Shoot HDCAM, Downconvert to DV, then take that DV and Upconvert it back to HD? What was the point of shooting in HD?
The only way to do this correctly is to conform the project by re-capturing from the original HDCAM camera tapes.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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My thoughts exactly…. I’m still trying to get out of the guy exactly what it is he wants doing.
But if somebody wants to pay me for doing something as daft as this sounds then so be it…! -
[JamieWorsfold] “But if somebody wants to pay me for doing something as daft as this sounds then so be it…!”
If it was me, I think I’d get a sizable (and non-refundable0 deposit from this guy. Either he’s gonna complain about how crappy his HD looks, or he doesn’t have any money left for a proper online. Either way, you can easily wind up on the loosing end. Good luck!
Arnie
Now in preproduction: Peristroika (Cosmological Congress), a film by Slava Tsukerman
https://www.arniepix.com -
[Arniepix] “If it was me, I think I’d get a sizable (and non-refundable0 deposit from this guy. Either he’s gonna complain about how crappy his HD looks, or he doesn’t have any money left for a proper online. Either way, you can easily wind up on the loosing end. Good luck!”
That’s kind of what I was thinking too. Good point Arnie. I would definitely pass on the project if they came to me with this idea to upconvert DV when the original material is HD. I can’t imagine anything I’d do here at the shop would make him happy with the HD Upconvert.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Yeah, I’ve emailed the guy back to try and pin down exactly what it is he needs doing before committing to the job….
Cheers, guys!
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