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Best SD to HD upscale solution? Trying to make 4:3 footage fit into a 16:9 film, seamlessly!
I have some old interview shot in 4:3, that needs to seamlessly into a 16:9 project. I figure the best way to do this on most of the shots is upscale into HD, and then I can pull the image out to fill the frame (or shrink it back, as the case may be with HD footage!).
But, there do seem to be a lot of upscaling plugins out there, so I’d like peoples opinions on what they’ve used. It’s only for about 6 shots in an hour long programme, so I don’t want to go to a big expense if possible.Alternatively, is there another option? Are there plugins that can draw in the missing data of a 4:3 shot to make it 16:9?
I’ve included an example of the IV footage, so you can see, I’ve done a little to the 16:9 one to try and clean it up, but it’s not good enough for me!
a href=’https://i1.creativecow.net/u/83998/43.jpg’>
Michael Lansdell
Online Editor,
Available Light Productions LtdMy system:
2 x 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
5GB DDR2 RAM
512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XT
OS X 10.4.11
Final Cut Pro 6.0.4
Blackmagic Design DeckLink HD Extreme (6.6.2) -
12 Replies
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Hi Michael,
Probably the best option in FCS is Compressor.
Frame Control ON.
Shane Ross have a tutorial about here in the COW.
You my try too in FC setting him to “High Precission YUV Rendering” and “Render Motion Effects:BEST”.
This together with setting your sequence to a 10b codec my work.
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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Hi,
I’m confused, how would I use compressor for upscaling?
I’ve tried the Red Giant Instant HD plugin and wasn’t impressed, also it gives a lot of colour artefacts in the image:
Boris’ UpRez filter is even worse, though:
!!!
Michael Lansdell
Online Editor,
Available Light Productions LtdMy system:
2 x 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
5GB DDR2 RAM
512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XT
OS X 10.4.11
Final Cut Pro 6.0.4
Blackmagic Design DeckLink HD Extreme (6.6.2) -
I would use my Kona 3 to upscale it during ingest as that’s the cleanest way to do it. But then you’re blowing it up another 50% which is not going to be “seamless” by any means because you’re really going to degrade the image even further. SD generally does not scale up that well at all when you try to fill the 16:9 space.
We never try to fill 16:9 with a 4:3 image. We do one of two things.
Put a blown up / blurred version of the same image behind the 4:3 image and knock down the brightness by 50%. This gives the same motion and colors as the primary video in the 16:9 space.
We do nothing at all to the pillar box around the 4:3. It’s not as distracting as you might think. PBS requires that we leave that space blank and we’ve delivered 5 episodes to them doing just that. Now that same client wants us to do the same for everything else as it’s really clean.
If I were you, I would use my hardware upconvert to convert it to HD on the way in and then manipulate it from there. Hardware conversion is always better than software conversion.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Hi Michael,
Sure if you have a Kona or so is the best way to go, as Walter points out.
In Compressor you may apply one of the presets in Other Worflows> Advanced Format Cnversion> High definition. Use the one according with your HD sequence.
You need to set the Frame Control: ON.
Resize Filter: Better or Best.
Deinterlacing the footage in case is not Progressive will improve the results up to Shane’s experience.
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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Michael…that is the Instant HD DEMO, isn’t it? Because those little dots are the way they “watermark” the demo so you can’t use it. VERY DUMB…I know. How can you tell if you want to buy it if you can’t tell what it looks like. Their other products have an ACTUAL watermark with their logo. Instant HD does this.
You want GOOD upscaling, use a Kona card, or send the tape out to a dub house with a Terranex. Want OK scaling, then use Instant HD or Compressor.
Compressor workflow…sorta dated:
https://pistolerapost2.com/shaneross/DV_to_DVCPRO_HD.movShane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Heh, I realised after posting that it was the limitation of the demo. Even so, I don’t think there is any jump in image quality, and certainly not one you notice when the video is playing. Will try that compressor workflow, thank you!
Michael Lansdell
Online Editor,
Available Light Productions LtdMy system:
2 x 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
5GB DDR2 RAM
512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XT
OS X 10.4.11
Final Cut Pro 6.0.4
Blackmagic Design DeckLink HD Extreme (6.6.2) -
Compressor wins:
But if any of you visit Bristol I’ll get you a drink :o)
Thanks again, guys!
Michael Lansdell
Online Editor,
Available Light Productions LtdMy system:
2 x 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
5GB DDR2 RAM
512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XT
OS X 10.4.11
Final Cut Pro 6.0.4
Blackmagic Design DeckLink HD Extreme (6.6.2) -
I just made a test with Video Purifier from Innobits (BitVice).
Basically is a cleaning/denoising tool. They claim to have a very good filter for re-scaling.
I’ve just tried it and I think that the result is really, really good and works very fast.
I’ll make a test upscaling some DV footage to 1920×1080 with Compressor, FC and Video purifier.
i’ll post the results.
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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I’ve gone through the post!
some nice solutions! i use Black Magic multibridge to upscale any footage, sometimes i use MPEG Streamclip to do this for me! its a free solution and give reasonable upscaling for FREE thing! you must try it..
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Isn’t the widening of the image a problem?
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