Upscaling DV-NTSC to HD?

What are the latest options in software and hardware? Is this a WIKI candidate or what?

Seriously... anybody employ upscaling for broadcast deliverables? 720 or 1080?


- Loren

Today's FCP keytip:
Set a motion effect keyframe instantly with Control-K!

Your Final Cut Studio KeyGuide™ Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Hi, Loren.

i dont know about hardware, but one of the latest software options is RESOLVE
(seriously, this is going to be the answer to a a lot of questions)

very good scaling, a fair few options, and free, to boot.

i haven't upscaled SD to HD, on it yet, though.



while i'm talking about it, a few other great things you can use Resolve for:


Speed changes: the optical flow is better than Motion's

Transcoding: in batches, with or without burn-ins & masks

AMAZING dirt & pixel repair with the paint option.
this is new in v10, not sure it's in the free version, but it might be...
also it only works with DPX files

oh, yes: convert to & from DPX, keep metadata as you go.


pretty amazing software, really

I'd mention the scaling in the coming version of AE as one to look out for. Up scaling in Premiere is quite fast, pretty good and can use the GPU for acceleration.

I'd also second Nick's recommendation of the Resolve for an inexpensive software based solution. The Resolve will use the GPU for scaling.

The thing about these modern software solutions is that you will need a modern GPU. Especially the Resolve which uses the GPU very heavily for many of its functions.



www.strypesinpost.com

I second Premiere, but also one of my workplaces recently got a Teranex for, I think, $1500. Or maybe it was $2k. In any case - it's an amazing price drop.

[www.blackmagicdesign.com]

Well, these suggestion definitely open the possibilities. Thank you!

Re- Gerard's caution- these might especially be possibilities in a New Mac Pro with two GPU's. Software upscaling on my 2009 8-core 2.26 Ghz Mac Pro is disheartening in terms of time and I can never be certain I'm getting best quality available in the discontinued Topaz Enhance.

For those in the know, what hardware solutions are available? I've heard Teranex, Miranda. These are usually offerings in a supersuite, yes? I'm going to visit a middle-size facility soon for pricing on longform.

Best, as always,
Loren S. Miller
www.neotrondesign.com
Home of KeyGuide Central

as Jude mentioned, teranex is world class, and now that it's cheaper to buy, probably more available, and in theory post houses should charge less for it.

on terms of quality you'd rank them like this:

Hardware (teranex, etc) at the top of the list.

Hardware assisted i/o (as in upscale through Aja or Decklink card)

Software other than FCP

FCP

and if you can source back to film, then a 2K or higher scan is best,
HD telecine OK.


are you talking about an entire show, or just some rushes?



nick

The Teranex is nice. Only issue is that it uses a baseband signal and that requires layoff and capture on 2 VTR devices. Would be nice if it allowed a file to file conversion.



www.strypesinpost.com

I'm pretty sure the system they have set up goes from a physical source to a 'recorded' file, but I'll have to check. I think it's real time too, since you have to play out the source, which we're getting quite unused to in the world of semi instant files. But yeah, excellent quality, and lots of on-the-fly adjustments available.

It's excellent quality, but I'm waiting for such systems to bypass a baseband signal, so we can convert multiple files while automatically preserving the file names.



www.strypesinpost.com