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Am I out of luck with HDTVs using miniDV footage?
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A few questions about software like the “instant HD”…. after you have upscaled your project, does it appear overly stretched? can you convert the upscaled files to MPEG-2 for dvd? Do you have to first use a progressive field scan on your project before using the instantHD? How much time would it take for a 5minute video? And overall, i guess do you think the output is worth it, or does it just give you an overblurred/still too fuzzy picture?
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To Graeme, or anyone that has used his plugins. do you think it’s worth it to pick up the Film Effects bundle for the G Chroma sharpening OVER something like InstantHD? They are both priced the same, and you guys said they both worked. Before we spend the money on both, I was wondering if anyone had a better experience with one over the other?
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Well, there are free demos of both!
Really they’re solving different problems. I’ve had good luck with DVX100 footage, where the reds tend to spill over, chroma-fixing them. I’ve also had good results with the FCP built in scaling.
I tried the demo of InstantHD, and found it tricky to use, and produced results so mildly different to FCP that I didn’t see the point. YMMV. It was also rather slow. I thought the Digital Anarchy one was better, but still, not the worlds greatest difference. Also, you need progressive footage for them to work. FCP will scale interlaced footage just fine.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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I think you can download a demo to try Instant HD out.
“Stetching” your video is a different issue. Your original material is 4:3, yes? Search aspect ratio, center crop, pillar box, 16:9 etc here and elsewhere and you will get an earful on displaying 4:3 material in a 16:9 space, HD or not.
If you are going to an SD DVD, do not upconvert first. It will hurt your final product on a standard definition DVD.
My suggestions above assumed you would play back HD, not down convert to mpeg 2 then play it back.
HD DVD and Blu-Ray are becoming more mainstream, but you need the equipment all the way along the pipe line to make this viable. If you clients have an HD DVD player or a Blu-Ray player, or you can provide one to them, this might be a worth exploring.
Or not. More money!
Be well,
Tom M
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To Graeme, or anyone that has used his plugins. do you think it’s worth it to pick up the Film Effects bundle for the G Chroma sharpening OVER something like InstantHD? They are both priced the same, and you guys said they both worked. Before we spend the money on both, I was wondering if anyone had a better experience with one over the other?
Also, do i have to convert my 4:1:1 project to 8bit uncompressed before using the G Nicer effect? If so, how do I import the file into a 4:2:2 timeline?
Sorry that was a lot of questions, i’d appreciate any input!
-Mike
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[tyshpix] “Also, do i have to convert my 4:1:1 project to 8bit uncompressed before using the G Nicer effect? If so, how do I import the file into a 4:2:2 timeline?
I got an ‘FXScript Error: Out of Range’ when using the demo G Nicer filter. Is itbecause I am not using a 4:2:2 timeline?
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Sorry, there’s a bug in the demo code on that. Use G Chroma Sharpen instead! It’s all about what the timeline is set to – set it to 4:2:2, and that’s what the end result of the render will be.
As soon as I can get the Color plugins out, I’ll put out a new demo of Film Effects and new release with a new plugin and some small fixes.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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Graeme, Walter and everyone else, thanks for your help in responding. I used the ‘G Chroma Sharpen interlaced’ effect. I tried several different settings for the Sharpen and Anti-Alias amounts. Mode is on ‘just sharpen’ and diognostics are set to ‘final’.
I created a new sequence and set the sequence preset to ‘DV50 NTSC 48khz’.
The picture is not looking any different in the Canvas after the effect has been applied. Is this something that will only be noticeable once it is playing on an HDTV? Also, I am confused on the compression to DVD and the effect that will have on the picture.Forgive my ignorance on this issue, i figure this is a good way to learn about the HD world.. we will soon be upgrading, but for now we just want to make the best picture possible.
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Some footage you’ll never see the difference, but some footage it’s night and day. I mean, the reason chroma sub-sampling works is because you’re not meant to see it, but, if you do, like, shoot red objects on black backgrounds, chroma subsampling fixing can really help.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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Progress is going slowly but surely.. after downloading a demo of the Digital Anarchy resizer, I found that resizing of the clips just made them too blurry for the most part… BUT upping the smoothness/sharpness/fine-tuning of each clip made it look a lot less fuzzy, the only side effect being SLIGHT discoloration. So now I have to carefully look at all of my clips, take off certain effects, and add the digital anarchy smoothing etc. to optimize the look for HD/Progressive scan viewing.
To preserve all the previous effects I had keyed in that looked good on a 4:3 interlaced TV, we are thinking about making a dual-sided DVD, one side being optimized for 4:3 CRTs, other side optimized for HD Progressive viewing (with certain effects: namely strobe and sharpen taken away, Digital Anarchy effect added).
I am going to look into optimizing for progessive/HD even further, by looking for stronger effects than what digital anarchy provides, for a similar cost.
I’d like to thank everyone for their input and continued support!
-Mike
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