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Upscale + deinterlace 60i SD to 720p: Compressor vs. AFX vs. other?
I’m doing the awful task of converting a 60i SD documentary to 720p.
The graphics and title files have been redesigned in AFX and rendered out as true 720p footage. They look great.
The interviews that fill the documentary were originally shot in 4:3 60i SD, however, and I’m upscaling the footage to 720p and adding a graphic-based border to the sides to fill in the 16:9 frame when the interview footage is onscreen.
I’ve been looking at video purifier, fieldskit, magic bullet and of course hardware-based options for the uprezzing, but the client doesn’t want to spend a nickel unless needed so I’m preparing a report of the options available with the software on hand in the editing suite.
Namely, the best two options appear to be:
1. Upscale/deinterlace in Compressor in one step
2. Mess with fields and blurs and such in After Effects and render out as a progressive file
3. Upscale with FCP’s lovely built-in scaler, apply FCP’s deinterlacer, and then dry heave in the corner while I watch the footage playbackNone of these sounds appealing, but my guess is that Compressor has a much more sophisticated scaling/deinterlacing engine than AFX or plain FCP. Can anyone confirm this or provide any salient advice?
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12 Replies
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Recapture the footage, and use a proper video card to upscale the footage. Kona 3, Kona LHi, Matrox MXO2.
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/aja_kona3.php
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Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
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I’ve gotten some surprisingly good results using Compressor. Be sure to turn on the Frame Controls and set the resize and deinterlace to Best.
Do a test and see for yourself.
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You’re right. Just wanted to suggested the best way. But with your methods…test and see for yourself works best. That’s what I do when I need to see what works best.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Garrett Gibbons] “but the client doesn’t want to spend a nickel unless needed”
So are you doing that for free, or is he/she doing it themselves?
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Thanks for the input, people.
The client is paying my day rate and won’t pay an extra fee for software/hardware that I don’t have in my workflow. I’d love a Kona or Matrox card but haven’t needed one in years until now. The client’s mandate is to do the best possible with what I have available.
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More advice:
Forget AE. It soften things.
My best way to do so was using Avisynth.
(You have a lot of options to choose scaling algorithms then)
However, for that you need a PC.Bouke
https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pros -
I’ve always heard great reviews of Avisynth. Anyone willing to vouch for Magic Bullet? “Crystal clear HD with one click!” (I wish that could happen)
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Hi Garret,
After comparing most of the usual software (FC, Compressor, Motion, AE and VideoPurifier) I’m back to SHAKE for every single re-sizing.
Motion has a very good filter (Lanczos Scale Tranform), that works very well for downscaling (comes from SHAKE), but I don’t know how its works for upscaling.
AE7 used to have different choices for up/donscaling. I don’t know in recent versions.
Rafael -
If you have a PC….Another vote for Avisnyth. Will match any hardware converter in quality with a little know how. And its free
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