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How much may I scale my footage for broadcast?
Hi fellow cows!
As mentioned in the title, how much is considered OK to scale in post for broadcast TV?
Im currently editing a documentary that will be aired on a Swedish TV-channel next year. Most of the footage is recored with a Canon 5D mark 3 or a 7D (1080, 25p). I’ve always told my fellow editors that its OK as long as you dont cross 120. However, in the last shoot one of the photographers did a really bad frame on a shot we really want to use, therefore my question.
This TV-channel have a HD-channel aswell, so its highly possible that it will actually be broadcasted in 1080.
I appreciate your help!
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12 Replies
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20% is pushing the upper limit. Anything more will bring out the compression noise to a very viewable range.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Over 120 is pushing it, but it depends on the shot. There are some plugins that are supposed to do a little better job at scaling up footage.
Adding noise reduction might help, but it will also introduce some more fuzziness.
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Zaxwerks Invig -
I never like to push it above 20%, and even then, I’m more comfortable with 10 or 15%. That said, I have–at times–pushed it much further.
The biggest question is: Can you get away with it. That’s up to your eyes; none of us can tell you here. Each shot is its own beast.
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Hi Samuel,
What’s worked really well for me is to edit 1080p footage in a 720p sequence, then I have plenty of room to zoom without any quality loss. However, if you need a 1080p master, then this option is no good.
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Depends how much the director tells you 😉 I’ve done some insane scaling for national broadcast.
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Soon you may be able to try using this new effect in After Effects for upscaling – Detail-preserving Upscale
https://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-at-ibc-2013/after-effects-cc-detailpreserving-upscaleFilmmaker | Motion Graphic Artist
http://www.saltmedia.nethttp://www.TheDigitalSlice.com (beta)
What’s your weapon of choice… FCP7, FCPX, Premiere, Avid, Smoke, Edius, Vegas? Jump over and help gather some data. -
I have AE CC with the latest updates. Where is Detail-preserving Upscale ? I don’t see it listed under Effects.
Gary
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It’s coming in the next update, next month… if you can wait that long…
https://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2013/09/after-effects-cc-12-1-whats-new-and-changed.htmlFilmmaker | Motion Graphic Artist
http://www.saltmedia.nethttp://www.TheDigitalSlice.com (beta)
What’s your weapon of choice… FCP7, FCPX, Premiere, Avid, Smoke, Edius, Vegas? Jump over and help gather some data. -
Thank you so much for all of your replies. This will be aired 2014 but deadline is about december 1st so we have time to tried the scaling with next months update.
As I suspected, I should probably “take a bite in the sour apple” and realize that I shouldn’t go beyond 20%. What also worries me is that 5D and 7D is already highly compressed.
But once again, thank you for all of your replies!
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Oooh, that After Effects upscale looks nice. Is there a similar (free or cheaper) tool that’ll do the same thing for those of us on a low budget?
On this subject, though slightly off-topic, if I’d converted all my avchd footage to AIC or ProRes before putting it on the timeline (eg in Premiere Pro), would it scale better, having come from a less compressed source?
Paddy, CreativeMedia.org.uk
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