When do I up-res / up-scale?

[Gary Milligan]

[Layne Russell] “I have started setting up my “new project” and would like to know more about upping the resolution.”

[Layne Russell] “The up-res needed is because the file is 740×480 16:9.”

What do you intend to do with the finished product?

[Layne Russell] “Wouldn’t having it in one file make it easier to edit (I am definitely going to have to increase brightness and color, for example)? “

There’s no benefit to having one source file. That’s what the end result of editing is… taking a number of separate picture and audio files, arranging them into a sequence(s), and then outputting that as one file. Yes, you can export the finished video out of Premiere Pro at a higher resolution but don’t expect the results to look like high definition.

Gary

[Layne Russell]

Thanks for your response, Gary.

This video will be on Kickstarter, and I need to get it done as quickly as possible. 🙂

I’ve been reading and watching tutorials, and I see that there are ways to upscale at the beginning of working on the video, not just at the point of exporting. This is what I would like to know more about.

One source says to open a new project, select your sequence settings, and then you should be able to get to general settings where you can select “Desktop” and in that window be able to change the frame size from 720×480 to 1440×1080. Everything else stays the same. The only thing is when I start a new project I’m not getting the option for “Desktop” but “Custom” is available. If Custom is selected, I am able to change to 1440×1080. Under the sequence settings I am choosing “DV NTSC” and then “Widescreen 32kHz”.

Will this do it?

Regarding using MPEG Streamclip and creating multiple files to work with in PPro, one of my reservations (again, not really knowing anything!) is that I don’t want to be going back and forth between the two programs and bringing more clips in to work with. It seems if it’s all here in PPro it would be more efficient. But, again, I am totally inexperienced, so the question is then, are there ways to use them together effectively?

[Ann Bens]

I spoke with a pro videographer on the phone and he said it would be good to up-res my project

Is it not more likely this videographer said: would not be good.

When upscaling SD to in this case HDV resolution the result will be very disappointing. You will have to use AE CC14 with this new upscale feature or Red Giant’s HD Instant.

For 1440×1080 you need a HDV sequence.

———————————————–
Adobe Certified Expert Premiere Pro CC
Adobe Community Professional

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Layne,

Is the DV source widescreen?

I’ve used MPEG StreamcClip and have no idea how this has anything to do with the workflow. Just import the DV clips using Premiere capture.

Is your DV source really 32k? That is very rare, is usually 48k.

What resolution do you really need to deliver? And how?

HDV is the last thing I would upconvert to – it is anamorphic using non-square pixels. People viewing this on computers will most likely see a 4:3-looking image since many players assume square pixels. Not a good choice.

If you really need to go “HD”, then I would use 720p, which is 1280×720, 1.0 pixel aspect. Assuming the source is 16:9.

But again, how is the video being delivered/viewed?

Unless there is some really pressing reason to “upres”, I would not do it! The video is going to look softer – you can’t make pixels up out of thin air. SD is not HD. A properly prepped SD clip will look great played back on the computer/online.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Richard Herd]

Jeff is right on the money!

After your video is edited, you will be back asking how to compress it for the web and asking why it looks wonky.

Edit in SD. Upload the SD finished file. It will look awesome.

[Daniel Waldron]

This will echo a lot of the other comments, but you have no need for MPEG Streamclip. Edit your project at the native resolution. Once the footage is imported into Premiere, if you drop a clip into a new sequence, it will ask you to if you want to match the sequence settings to your clip. Select yes. When the editing is done, export a H.264 MP4. I would select a SD Vimeo preset, which will work fine on Kickstarter.

If it’s for Kickstarter, I don’t see why you need to up-res. They should still accept SD video and if people watch online or on a smartphone, the lesser quality won’t be too noticeable unless they go full-screen. You don’t really gain anything by making it “HD.” If you absolutely need to for some reason, just export a HD Vimeo preset from Premiere. It will appear fuzzy at full resolution, but it’s up to you to decide if it is acceptable. If you have the time or resources, Ann mentioned some software that would actually improve the quality a little, but it seems like they could be beyond the scope of this project.

[Layne Russell]

Thank you so much to all of you for these valuable responses! I’m feeling better about having my Kickstarter video in SD, and will go with just making it as good as I can. Yes, it is 16:9 with a frame rate 29.97. At the time of shooting, I thought I had the Panasonic camera set to HD since I had it set at 16:9. That shows you how much I knew about the camera. I should have gone deeper at the time. But that is how the talking head jump cuts were done, and there is no way I’m going through that again! That was one of the hardest tasks I have ever done.

I will be adding stills and probably three music files into the video. I had thought I needed the video to be higher res to accommodate all this – and look good, and was told it could be upscaled, as I said above. But I’m seeing it’s not so easily (or well) done. So, fine! I’ll go with what I have.

Yes, the audio is 32,000 Hz, PCM audio, 1024 kb/s 2 channels. I’m hoping the snippets of my songs I will be adding will make it into the mix okay.

I’m actually happy to hear that MPEG Streamclip doesn’t need to be used. I’ve already got the project and sequence set up, and I have started making color corrections. I’m thinking I will need to use After Effects to get it right – another program I have never used! I suppose there will be other questions on those kind of adjustments. I do have a manual for Premiere Pro, and I’m finding the farther I get in this project, the more the book is making sense to me. 🙂

MP4 is on the list of acceptable file formats for Kickstarter, along with .avi (WMV encoding) and .mov and four others. Why do you suggest MP4 over the other two?

Thanks again so much. I am swimming in pretty deep water here.

[Daniel Waldron]

I find H.264 MP4s to be a great delivery codec and format. It can be highly compressed and still look good, and it is playable on pretty much any computer or operating system if you ever have to deliver the file to a client.

As far as color correction, I would stick in Premiere. After Effects has a steep learning curve and unless you are doing some serious color grading or masking, Premiere should be able to handle all your needs. If you are looking to give the video an overall stylized look, I would check out DV Shades’ EasyLooks plugin. It’s cheap and has some great presets.

[Rosie Walunas]

I agree with keeping this project as is SD. I think when you do you export, you can do it as 640×360 and deinterlace. This will look better than than the 30i comp.

I’m curious to know

[Rosie Walunas]

I agree with keeping this project as is SD. I think when you do you export, you can do it as 640×360 and deinterlace. This will look better than than the 30i comp. or even 1280×720.

I’m curious to know, if anyone has any info, if this goes into another project at 1280x720p, if that footage could be interpreted as progressive in any way?