View Full Version : Ntsc insert on a PAL hdv 1059i project


Marcus Martell
March 28th, 2011, 02:44 PM
Hi,
question: if i wanna insert a couple of NTSC VHSimages from 1970s on my doc HDV108050i shot with FX1 Pal what's the best thing to do?
Render the vhs clips in HDV 1080 50i §(so i'll match the output project)?
Or should i open a new projects matching the NTSC clips and rendering output in ntsc 1080 60p then add those parts that interest me on my 1080 50 i timeline?

gracias

Mike Kujbida
March 28th, 2011, 03:40 PM
Marcus, you can try to up-sample your VHS clips but I think you're going to be disappointed with the result.
VHS is far less resolution than your current project.
What I would do is drop it on your timeline and leave it at it's originate size.
Put a blurred background of some kind behind it to try and hide the fact that it's no where close to HD quality.
Don't take my word for it though.
Try a short test with your second option and see what you think.

Marcus Martell
March 28th, 2011, 04:04 PM
Mike, as usual very useful suggestions but it would be cool to find a plugin for vegas to upscale the VHS footage to HDV...I remeber AE has Instant HD, who knows if somedy will find something good for my job!

Thx

Leslie Wand
March 28th, 2011, 05:02 PM
dream on ;-)

would love to see what you come up with! even tbc'd vhs the best i could do was as mike suggested. don't see what's the problem with it - nearly all broadcasts of 4:3 in 16:9 use a similar method (my preferred is using same shot blurred full screen as bkg.)

Mike Kujbida
March 28th, 2011, 05:05 PM
my preferred is using same shot blurred full screen as bkg.

Nice to see that great minds think alike !!
Save your comeback for the sheep :)

Marcus Martell
March 29th, 2011, 03:32 AM
Leslie could you post a frame of your blurried bkgd ?
gracias

Mike Kujbida
March 29th, 2011, 03:46 AM
Marcus, place your VHS video on two tracks.
On track 1, leave it at its original small size.
On track 2, open Pan/Crop, right-click and select Match Output Aspect (to make the video fill the frame) and then apply a Gaussian blur to the event.
Adjust the blur as desired so that it doesn't detract from the original video.

Marcus Martell
March 29th, 2011, 04:13 AM
Mike i get what you mean, but the idea of stock footage with the background blurried is acceptable for you?
Mike what are foor you acceptable amount of blur to not detract from original video?
Thx

Mike Kujbida
March 29th, 2011, 04:28 AM
Marcus, I'm talking about using the identical clip as the background/blurred clip.
I do this a lot, especially with stills that were shot in portrait mode.
There's no hard and fast rule as to how much blur to use.
Try various amounts (start with the medium setting) and see what works best with the source video.

Marcus Martell
March 29th, 2011, 04:33 AM
Mike sorry if i sounded "slow", i perfectly got what you explained, i was just not sure that a similar effect could be used on historical documentaries ( i'm trying to find a similar effect on history channel doc)
I ve reached what you suggested me! Just guessing if it's appropriate for the stock footage on a doc!
Thx a lot

Mike Kujbida
March 29th, 2011, 04:55 AM
No problem Marcus.
I have to confess that I watch very little TV these days so I have no idea whether history docs use this kind of effect or not.

Leslie Wand
March 29th, 2011, 05:47 AM
depending on their budget (;-)) doco's use anything from a simple 4:3 in 16:9 with NO background, through to split screen with two 4:3 frames in them.

it's all a matter of what suits the content, and the general feel / treatment of the subject.

you will be the best judge of that, from assessing the right amount of blur through to split screen, whatever.

just don't try to disguise that it's vhs footage, a IT IS vhs footage, and if you try to make it look something else people will think it's just poorly shot 'modern' material....

Marcus Martell
March 30th, 2011, 01:56 PM
Thank you guys, i ve just deinterlaced the footage to fit in a interlaced project but......
I wish Vegas could use some kind of interpolator like INSTANT HD from Red giant that could maximize the quality of Sd. You don't know anything out there?

Mike Kujbida
March 30th, 2011, 04:08 PM
i ve just deinterlaced the footage to fit in a interlaced project

I have to ask you why you did that.
You do realize that you just threw out 1/2 your resolution by doing that and VHS wasn't that good to start with.

Marcus Martell
March 30th, 2011, 04:34 PM
Cause there were those ugly artifacts with the horizontal lines on the VHS clips on my hdv 108050i project.
Mike what would you do to get rid of those bands to conform the footage to HD?
Thx

Mike Kujbida
March 30th, 2011, 04:37 PM
Can you post a screenshot of these "ugly artifacts with the horizontal lines" so that we can see what they look like?

Marcus Martell
March 31st, 2011, 02:59 AM
I guess it's what you call Horizontal Banding

Marcus Martell
April 3rd, 2011, 01:59 AM
So guys i tryed your suggestions:
i made a couple of renders to test.
-The original 4:3 clip with the blurred background is ok, i added the border blurred @ size 0,159
And it's not bad.....
-I threw the original footage on the timeline and i matched the 16:9 ratio, even added MAgic Bullet to emphasize OLD SCHOOL footage :)
Maybe the second would be my best bet

Dale Guthormsen
April 3rd, 2011, 05:30 PM
Marcus,

A while back I found a freeware hd converter online, it was surprisingly good. Unfortunately I do not have it on the computer anymore so I can't send you a link for it, but you might do a search for it. I have the Boris Red program and it is acceptable for what it does. If you have a long section of the sd video then I would do what Mike is recomending, However if you are dubbing in short clips the a converting program will do you service.

why not just make a colored background and have it above a lower third or something like that, do not try to make it look recent as suggested!!!

Instant Hd is a pretty reasonably priced package and I have found I use it more often thatn I thought I would.

Interested in how you make out with this, perhaps post a short clip when you get it how you like it!!

Adam Stanislav
April 3rd, 2011, 08:24 PM
A while back I found a freeware hd converter online, it was surprisingly good.

Was it eRightSoft SUPER (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) by any chance?

Marcus Martell
April 4th, 2011, 01:05 PM
I didn't know that Famous super was able to do similar stuff...

Marcus Martell
April 9th, 2011, 09:13 AM
Dale was it Super? We r very curious
have a good week end