Can I convert XL2 16:9 SD footage to HD?
 

I have heard some people mention that it is possible to convert XL2 footage shot on 16:9 Anamorphic to HD (if I need to shoot in another size, let me know). I realize there is a substantial pixel increase, and pixels may be lost, but I am curious if this is possible?

When I try in Final Cut Pro, I see black edges where the film I captured doesn't get expanded to. So with that said, why doesn't the film try to fit/stretch to the size of the canvas? Is there a way to force it?

The reason I am asking, is in future I plan to buy a HD camcorder, and I want to find out if I can use both cameras, or whether this XL2 I just bought will be at the next auction once I decide to go to HD.

Right now, I can't see too many reasons for actually needing my XL2 footage to be HD, but if there has been anyone needing this, would be excellent to hear about your experience and need for this as well.

You would need to purchase a plug-in that upscales your SD footage to HD resolution. The two that come to mind are Instant HD and Resizer. I bought Resizer to use on my XL2 footage. I have tried it on a couple clips and it looks good. Does it look crisp like HD? No. What it does look like is low resolution at HD dimensions. If you just try to expand your footage without a plug-in, the picture quality will be horrible. So I would say that you can get your footage up to HD without losing the existing look and quality.

That's my take. The individual plug-ins I mentioned will have their own exact method for you to follow inside FCP.

-gb-

I know a few people who use a somewhat novel approach that produces good resluts, although it is a slow, render intensive process.

There is a program called PhotoZoom Pro and can be found at http://www.benvista.com. The program is made for single photos, but if you export your video as TIFF, TARGA or PNG you can batch process it in the program. You can tweak a lot of the settings and the program uses some type of proprietary algorithm to uprez the individual frames. Best I've seen and I think when I purchased it about 6 months ago, it was only like $75.

Again, it is slow and not actually meant for video, but it works.

You may be able to mix widescreen SD and HD footage for SD-only delivery, but if you're planning to do HD output you'll be better off planning to upgrade to HD cameras. As someone else noted, SD uprezzed to HD still looks soft, so if you intercut that with HD source material and output at HD resolution it won't look right.

FCP does it quite well by just resizing... you can also get InstanHD for $99. The key to it looking good is shoot progressive!


ash =o)

Ash - I know that you mainly use the NTSC models, but I was wandering if you'd also tried the Pal versions.

Has anyone tried converting Pal XL2 footage to HD and seen a difference in performance and final on-screen resolution between the 50i and 25p?

Tony, I have seen some PAL footage upressed from the XL2. It was an Italian wedding and it looked wonderful. Of course, going from PAL to 720 isn't quite the leap of going 480 to 720 vertical resolution. I don't remember what the original poster used.

Check back about a year ago in the XL2 forum for the original thread.

-gb-

Thanks for the information, Greg. I've tried looking for that particular thread, but the Search Engine just brings me back each time to todays thread (even though I place 1 year in the achive box).

Can you remember if he was using interlaced 50i or 25p?

I just found the original thread.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ght=matrimonio

Don't know if the files are still there or not but I still have them on my hard drive. They are WMV at 1280X720 with about a 9K data rate. Maybe you can contact the original poster for more information.

-gb-

I found the original Prematrimoniale footage headings on this home web page, but the links (clicca qui) don't seem to work;

http://www.eurocomputer.org/index_file/Page455.htm

Definately don't knock the Instant HD program 'til you have tried it. I have had amazing results with footage from my XL2...

If one has Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop, then a progressive footage can be upscaled quite nicely by the following procedure:

1) Export the footage in PPro to tif frames
2) Create a droplet to Photshop which automatically resizes (image size) all the frames (preferable using Genuine fractals, if it is available).
3) Import the frames back to PPro

As near as I can tell Brian, no one did. I bought Resizer because a reviewer at our local FCP meeting had tried both and liked this plug-in a little bit better. But that was not a knock against Instant HD.

-gb-

Thank you!
 

Thank you guys very much. The feedback is most excellent :)

One thing I would like to find out a bit more about is why people may choose to upscale to HD? Sounds like you guys have some experience doing such, so what was the purpose if I may ask?

Sorry, Greg. Didn't mean to incinuate you personally were knocking Instant HD.