upconverting SD to HD with LHi

[Shane Ross]

The upconvert hardware in the LHi is exactly the same as the hardware in the Kona 3. And it does a darn good job.

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/aja_kona3.php

It does better than the HDCAM SR deck, IMHO, because the SR deck, when it converts, is too sharp. You might think that can’t be a bad thing, but it is. It shows off the upscaling artifacts more. The Kona 3/LHi slightly soften the image. Not too much, but just enough to mask the artifacting. I have ben very pleased with it, and have gotten many compliments from the networks on how good our shows look that have upscaled SD footage mixed with HD.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Erik Naso]

Thanks Shane.
Good to know the LHi is very capable.
The article you wrote is great! Learned a lot from it. I have a meeting today to find out what format the SD footage will be delivered to me is and then will tackle the conversions. As of now its all on finished DVD’s. Another editor ripped it to motion jpegA format at 640X480. I’m trying to get it on tape or digitized to an editable format so I can convert it.
I purchased the LHe card a few months before the new LHi card came out. Bummer for me.

https://www.mediaartproductions.com

[Larry Asbell]

Shane,

I’m wondering — when you upconvert SD to HD on capture how do you chose to frame it? I’m talking about when you plan to crop top and bottom to fit into 16:9. When I do this I’m always wanting to leave my options open to move the framing up or down later in the edit, but at the same time I want to do all the scaling at once for the best quality. It seems the choices are:

1) Capture pillar box and upscale it further during the edit to fill the full frame.

2) Up-convert with what AJA calls “Zoom Wide” which is like a reverse of the normal anamorphic. This requires that in the edit, you scale further vertically but you can control the centering.

3) Crop the top and bottom evenly which gets all the scaling done at once but locks in the cropping. If you need to adjust it, you can later recapture the clips one of the other ways.

I’m really curious what works out best for you as a default method, i.e. when you have to capture too much to decide shot by shot.

– Larry Asbell

[Shane Ross]

I either blow it up all the way center crop if the footage allows it (the more hardware upscaling I can do, and the less reliant on software, the better), or I 4:3 Pillarbox it so that I can pan and scan. Meaning 33% of the scaling is done via software.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Larry Asbell]

Good to know. Thanks.
– Larry