[Bernhard G.]

[Erik Lindahl] “After Effects uses non-Adobe tech for it’s optical-flow retiming.”

Really? Haven’t known that! As far as I now back in CS4 it was available in PP as well.

What about the Warp Stabilizer? Doesn’t it also use optical flow for analysis?

Interlaced scaling in AfterFX (bad field flickering) is sharper than FCP7 but suffers bad field flickering
interlaced scaling in FCPX is extreme blurred; FCP7 was definitely better.

Only talking about interlaced scaling here.

Best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

I do like more what I see in PP than what I see in AfterFX when it comes to scaling.
But what I see in Smoke2013 I like at most!

Dynamic Linking is great;
but I still do not understand why Pixel-Motion is only available in AfterFX.

Best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

FCP7 wasn’t all too bad at image processing!;
better than many other NLEs;
image processing is the weak point of nearly ALL NLEs out there.
Thats the bitter truth!

The very best software image processing in an NLE I’ve seen so far was in Smoke2013!
The Lanczos-scaling (Adaptive field processing turned on) produces sharp, clear images without unpleasant artifacts!

Scaling in PremierePro actually is better than in AfterFX, see here:
https://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2010/10/scaling-in-premiere-pro-cs5.html
AfterFX uses Bicubic (BAD), and PremierePro uses Lanczos2 (GOOD);
but only if You have GPU acceleration.

But for me it is still too blurred. I wished Premiere would let us choose and adjust the scaling method just like Smoke…

Best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

Hello,

while PremierePro in many regards is great;
but image processing (Scaling, De-Interlacing, etc.) is it’s weak point!

FCP-X let You do de-interlacing, framerate-adjustement and
general speed-changes with optical flow analysis.

If You nevertheless want to do a good speed changes in PP,
make your speed changes inside PP,
THEN send Your clip to AfterFX (don’t forget to set composition to 32bit float),
and set frame-blending to Pixel-Motion.
This is Adobe’s equivalent to optical flow.

BDW:
I don’t understand why Adobe don’t give us Pixel-Motion inside PP;
or implements a good de-interlacing with the same technology;
or super-resolution upscaling;
(increases resolution using details from surrounding frames);
or temporal noise filtering…

Best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

Hello,

The topic You should be interested here is scaling and file-based
standards conversion;
DVD-coding itself is not the problem, since You could
get the very best coder in the industry for an affordable price:
https://www.cinemacraft.com/en/ccemp.html

Scaling frequently comes up in the forums; the bad answer:
There is not a single good software standards converter out there.
Well, there is Amberfin, but their’s iCR standards converter costs $$.$$$.-
https://www.amberfin.com/products/icr-standards-converter
It offers the very best scaling because it’s based upon the Snell&Wilcox HW converters…

But for the rest of us there is no easy way for file-based standards conversion!
At least not with acceptable quality. It’s a shame!

So the fastest way would be:
– simply use Adobe ME for scaling and encoding
– put the MPEG2 quality specs to the max (two pass VBR)
– process in 32bit float precision and with maximum render quality
Do NOT de-interlace. AME’s de-interlacing is a catastrophe.

for the best affordable quality:
– use your Matrox or AJA I/O HW, better a BMD Teranex for scaling HD to SD

(requires 2nd capture/playout device like computer / deck / recorder;
We actually do have excellent scalers in our I/O-HWs but aren’t able to use them file-based!…)

– re-capture SD uncompressed 10bit
– encode in Apple Compressor using the CCEmp plugin

Best regards,
Bernhard

P.S.: Please does anyone have an idea why file-based high quality standards conversion
is still not available to the rest of us?

[Bernhard G.]

Thank You!

It is said that the Kepler architecture does not perform CUDA as well as Fermi
on comparable platforms… (Doesn’t mean GTX is better than Quadro.)

I think the GTX570 will do a good job.

Best regards,
Bernhard

(PS: sorry for the messed up thread title; network connection failed during update…)

[Bernhard G.]

Hello Walter,

since You are also a Smoke-user, did You had a chance to compare
Smoke’s down scaling (Lanczos with Adaptive field processing) with Kona3 ?

(Bdw: Kona3’s scaling seems to be better than KiPro’s scaling.)

My impression is that Smoke produces significantly sharper images
(with automate Lanczos settings) than Kona3, but with a little bit of field flickering
that is not too disturbing.

So Smoke’s scaling is the very best software scaling I have seen up to now.

Thank You and best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

Yes, and BMD also needs to take care that they don’t get
a negative corporate image as the ‘waste collectors’ of the industry,
sorry BMD 😉

The past acquisitions can be seen under the banner of democratization
which is a very positive corporate image; even the Cintel acquisition
could be understood this way. Past BMD acquisitions brought sovereign technologies,
that were only under bad management. So I don’t see this endangerment as of now.

With the BMCC, Thunderbolt enabled Teranex, and Resolve 9.0,
BMD has also very strong statements being innovative.

So it is important they start to acquire state of the art and future-proove technology
also for ‘under the hood’ now, and not stuff developed back in the 20th century.

I’m convinced TheFoundry would be a PERFECT FIT to them!

Best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

Hello,

I like BMD, so I hope they will not acquire Avid
since this adventure could easily become a financial disaster.
This risk for what – technology without synergies to expect?

At the other hand, TheFoundry does have anything required
(and much, much more) to make DaVinci a world-class finishing system.
TheFoundry would be a PERFECT fit to BMD!

Best regards,
Bernhard

[Bernhard G.]

+1 for the Teranex with PCI-E connection

this plus FILE BASED PROCESSING within a small app:
quicktime file IN – Teranex processed quicktime file OUT

Best regards