Scaling UP from SD to HDV

[TingSern Wong]

Almost all the talk on forums these days are scaling DOWN from HDV (720p or 1080i) to SD (PAL or NTSC).

I need a software solution to allow me to scale from SD (PAL - 720x576) upwards to HD (720p or 1080i) with as little artifacts as possible.

It can work with either Adobe After Effects or Edius 4.54 or even a standalone package (Windows platform).

Currently, I use Adobe AE to scale - but, I can see some artifacts due to scaling and also, it is not fast.

Anybody is aware of a good software to do that? Thanks.

[Carl Middleton]

I have heard good things of Magic Bullet's Instant HD software, a plugin for Premiere, might work with AE, too.

But keep in mind, this is a process of creating info where there once was none, and upscaling artifacts are to be expected, to an extent. Just the name of the game!

Carl

[Ray Bell]

I'm experimenting with this now with some footage.....

As you know you can scale in After Effects or Premiere, there maybe others but thats my setup....

Instant HD isn't bad, but it does not support CS3 yet....

Another option, is to use Cineform... it seems to work pretty good but
I have not put it to the test on a big screen yet....

also, its best when scaling to convert the footage to progressive first...

[Boyan Dob]

You can use free video application VirtualDub with rescalling filters. Some of them rescale even better than say Photosop's image rescalling alghorithm...

I use VirtualDub for a very good deinterlacing, deshaking and smoothing the video, it's really really great open/free application with its wonderful filters (and since both are Adobe's application then I doubt AE is any better than Photoshop in up-sampling images/video).

See VirtualDub's page: http://www.virtualdub.org/index.html

And "Smart Resize Filter for VirtualDub": http://neuron2.net/resize.html

See also "warp resize": http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=79

[Greg Boston]

I was using Resizer by Digital Anarchy after a local person tested it against Instant HD and found it to be somewhat better.

The best type of SD material to use these on is true progressive rather than interlaced. It also helps if the camera can shoot native widescreen ( I was using it on XL-2 footage).

What it does is allow SD to hold its own when blown up. It won't look like the razor sharp detail of true HD, but it won't look like it has been run through a meat grinder either.

-gb-

[Ervin Farkas]

Another vote for VirtualDub (free). Canopus Procoder also does a decent job ($500).

[Anmol Mishra]

Can someone confirm if Cineform does resizing ? though it was only a codec and a capture utility.

Originally Posted by Ray Bell

I'm experimenting with this now with some footage.....

As you know you can scale in After Effects or Premiere, there maybe others but thats my setup....

Instant HD isn't bad, but it does not support CS3 yet....

Another option, is to use Cineform... it seems to work pretty good but
I have not put it to the test on a big screen yet....

also, its best when scaling to convert the footage to progressive first...

[Ray Bell]

from Cineforms web site...

Spatial rescaling from various SD or HD resolutions to HD: 1280x720p, 1440x1080i/p, 1920x1080i/p (Prospect HD), or SD: 480i/p, 486i/p, 576i/p


and here is the web site... Cineform does alot more...

http://cineform.com/products/TechNot...ink/HDLink.htm

With this you can shoot 720p60 with the Sony EX1/EX3 and intermix the footage
with 1080i60. First use Cineform to convert the 1080i to 1080p then scale the 760p60
to 1080p and drop on the same time line.... the p60 is for smooth slow mo work.....

The new Cineform Prospect 4K takes it even further....

[Don Blish]

Originally Posted by Carl Middleton

I have heard good things of Magic Bullet's Instant HD software, a plugin for Premiere, might work with AE, too.

But keep in mind, this is a process of creating info where there once was none, and upscaling artifacts are to be expected, to an extent. Just the name of the game!

Carl

I tried doing an HD project (1080x1440 30i) in PPro2/Cineform Aspect HD 3.3 that had some consumer camera/standard definition material in it. The project looked OK in HD/BluRay, but on discs scaled back to SD for friends, the SD material looked worse than the same project redone as SD throughout.

[Anmol Mishra]

Any idea how well Cineform stacks up vs the competition for resizing ?

[Ray Bell]

The "Instant HD Pro" is due out any day now, so that would be a good one to compare to...

from my understanding it will be for Adobe AE...

[William Boehm]

several years have passed since the last entry, and i wanted to request any updates on converting 4:3 SD upscaling to 16:9 hdv that uses algorithms that might create improved sharpness retention, minimize artifacts etc. thankyou in advance. bill

[Robert M Wright]

I've tried various "super-resolution" upscaling software tools, and generally never found anything to be notably superior to upscaling with VirtualDub, using Lanczos resizing.

There are some fairly sophisticated algorithms out there (that require lots and lots of calculations - very taxing on CPUs), and some of them (not all) can perform upscaling of images sometimes slightly better than using less computationally intensive techniques, but there's simply no magic way to create more real detail (out of thin air) than is actually there in the data representing an image to start with - you just can't resolve 1080 lines of detail, when you only recorded 480.

Actually, there are ways of going about using sequences of images to create three dimensional representations of the objects originally shot by the camera, to create the two dimensional images making up a motion picture stream, as well as the lighting that illuminated those objects, and using that information effectively to enhance detail, but using that sort of methodology (with enough precision to make it notably effective) pretty much just blows way beyond realistic mainstream desktop computing capabilities.

Bottom line is, Lanczos resizing works very close to as well as the fancy stuff out there (that is also pretty dang slow - and often quite expensive), and is widely available with VirtualDub, AVISynth, and other freeware out there.

[Ervin Farkas]

Robert,

seems like you experiment a lot, and use VDub quite a bit... I use it too occasionally for downsizing. So I was wondering... have you used it for cleaning up old VHS video?

If so, what filters have you found most effective?

Thanks,

[Robert M Wright]

I haven't touched analog video in years now, but you might try this out:

Filters for VirtualDub -- flaXen's Filters

For general purpose denoising, both spatial and temporal, this is downright excellent:

MSU Denoiser Filter