Upconverting to HD

[John Rofrano]

> … when rendering an 1080p HD format from a SD project. Is there a noticeable improvement when shown on an HD monitor? /i>

Improvement? No. In fact it will probably look worse. HD has 5x the resolution of SD so imagine zooming a picture 500% in Photoshop and think about what it looks like. You will also have the 4:3 to 16:9 aspect to deal with.

I would start by making a test render to see how bad it is. Try a little sharpening in Vegas. If that doesn’t look acceptable to your client you could try buying a program that specializes in uprezing SD to HD. They do a pretty good job but it doesn’t look as good as HD (but it looks better than regular SD would).

You could also convert your SD footage to HD by exporting all of the frames as PNG’s and batch converting in Photoshop and then reassembling into HD video. (this is essentially what the uprez plug-ins do). Very tedious but could work in a pinch.

Good Luck,

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Naiche Lujan]

Okay, this is sorta what I imagined. Having worked in photoshop, I figured there would be a parallel to this.

On HD TV channels, you can definitely tell when something has been upconverted rather than shot on HD, but sometimes, it can be somewhat convincing, such as when they show some 80s flick that couldn’t have been shot in HD, and the quality looks much better than on its SD cousin channel. Especially noticeable with the perceived color depth.

I’ve played some DV files directly into a plasma and an LCD, and if you stand back at the “appropriate distance,” it doesn’t look half bad.

But, since you brought up specialized programs, do you have any suggestions, any software you have worked with in particular that you like for uprezing?

Thanks

[John Rofrano]

I haven’t used any of these programs because I shoot HD. I’ve just seen the comparison pictures on their web sites. I know Boris makes one (Boris Continuum Unit UpRez). There are plug-ins for After Effects but you need AE to use them. Red Giant InstantHD comes to mind; also Topaz Enhance. Not sure of any pure stand-alone application; mostly plug-ins.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Steve Rhoden]

As John mentioned…
To me those three are the best SD TO HD
up-conversion plugins that are available.

I have tried all three, and get the best result using
Red Giant Instant HD Advanced in after effects, but
remember nothing really beats Just shooting HD.

Steve Rhoden
Creative Director
TNX EFFECTS STUDIOS.
sample bits at
http://www.youtube.com/hentys

[Danny Hays]

Hello, I’ve been researching this as we at Universal Orlando are replacing our queue line monitors with LCD HD TV’s and it’s not feasible to replace the source content with new HD footage. I’ve experimentened with Topaz Enhance $249.00 plugin for AF or FCP or Avid. Also with Video enhancer, a $29 stand alone program.
https://www.thedeemon.com/VideoEnhancer/
https://www.thedeemon.com/articles/video_upsize_methods_comparison.html
Check out these links. The second one shows comparisons between several of the plugins mentioned here.
I’ve found that the results really depends on the source footage and what problems it has. Like really fast moving visable interlacing, or compression artifacts like blocking can be improved fairly well. On the other hand, high quality SD footage is harder to improve in my opinion so far. I’ll post any new info on this subject as I find it. I’ll also be looking for all your opinions on this as well. Hope this helps. Danny Hays

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

We’re very impressed with Topaz as well. Very nice product. it seems to work best with DV being upscaled, but doesn’t do tremendously better when the source is Beta SP. Seems like you’re finding the same.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor

[Naiche Lujan]

That you all for the input.

Danny, I could not find the Topaz plugin for Avid. Only FCP and AE. Is is something where it’s not advertised, but works anyway with Avid?

We have an Avid MC 3.0 and Sony Vegas platform to work with.

Thanks again!

[Danny Hays]

You right, I was mistaken. Sorry, That was a different pluggin I was thinking of, Keylight. I would try the 30 free trial of Video Enhancer, don’t let it’s price fool you. I’ve been able to get better results with it over Topaz in some cases. Click on the bottom link of my post above and see the diffferences in the two.
Again sorry for the misquote.

[John Frey]

Danny,

From your link I see that Video Enhancer works on the PC with Premiere 2.0 and AE. Is there some type of standalone version?

John D. Frey
25 Year owner/operator of two California-based production studios.

Digital West Video Productions of San Luis Obispo and Inland Images of Lake Elsinore