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Up-resing SD material
hi,
a couple of questions about up-resing SD and output as HD video from FCP
to take advantage of the HD features in Vimeo the dimensions of your video have to be 1280×720 or above. this is great when you’ve shot on HD but i want some of the HD quality advantages on some of my SD source material.
I’ve gone through the process of scaling up some 4:3 material that was originally shot on super 8. when this is scaled up and pillarboxed in a 1280 x 720 canvas size it looks great in FCP. the problem happens when the video is output as a quicktime movie using the sequence settings – it looks pixellated (rather than soft) in QT player, almost as if it is being played at a multiple of the original size.
i expected more interpolation and a smoother softer image from this process. i attach screenshots from both FCP and the encoded .mov (and the sequence settings).
any help would be much appreciated
many thanks
sFCP:
Settings:
Quicktime Output:
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6 Replies
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Hardware uprez will always yield superior results over software conversion. Get your self a Aja Kona3 Card or a blackmagic.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta -
Compressor, Shake or After Effects will do a much better job of upscaling than FCP. If you use Compressor, be sure to turn on Frame Controls in the inspector tab and select Best for the Resize Filter.
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For web video, just keep it 16:9 standard def. It’s going to look better that way.
Kevin Monahan
60 Blu-ray Templates for Final Cut Studio 2009
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro -
[Kevin Monahan] “For web video, just keep it 16:9 standard def. It’s going to look better that way. “
I agree with Kevin. It will look better and play much more smoothly for most who may not have the latest up to date computers. Plus, Vimeo has become much more congested in recent months, making it’s HD playback not nearly as smooth as it once was.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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hi guys,
thanks for the input.
i’m going to have to stick with software solutions due to cost constraints for a while. compressor sounds like a good option.
i’m planning on embedding the vimeo content in a website that scales up the image to almost full screen, would you still recommend SD 16:9 in this case?
thanks
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Urezzing SD to HD to be heavily compressed for web use is kind of dubious at best. Since you have a film source, you could have that telecined to HD. Except that your source is super-8. Unless it’s shot on fine grained stock, super-8 will appear very grainy in HD, and doesn’t even resolve as much detail as 1080 HD formats do.
IOW, if you really want to show it in HD, telecine to HD. Don’t bother trying to uprezz SD if you can create an HD master from a film source. But don’t expect too much from super-8. The advantage of transferring even a fine-grained stock to HD will be marginal at best. Super-8 will probably look best in a standard def setting.
Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/
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