Clean signal output from an old and venerable Canon XL1?

[JimGao]

I just looked upnthe Ki Pro mini specs again and not seeing analog video input, so i just wanted to correct myself and say do research on the product if interested.

I’m guess the camera was digital that i used the kipro on then. maybe i just assumed SD was analog at that time. My apologies!

[Doug Jensen]

Iso i just wanted to correct myself and say do research on the product if interested.

Good advice. Just another example of posting wrong information. You know, there's no reason you need to post on every thread whether you have anything useful to say or not. Nobody is waiting for your post on every topic. Maybe just consider listening a little more instead of jumping in and muddying the waters of nearly every thread with false, incorrect, incomplete, and dumb stuff that has be corrected.

[Doug Jensen]

Hmmm, you've got the most recent post in 7 of the 6 last threads . . . and not a worthwhile contribution (in my opinion) among them. Show some discretion and please give it rest. Maybe you could go over to a medical website and tell heart surgeons how to do their jobs. I'm sure your insight will be appreciated.

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[norvan5]

That is indeed the case, as mentioned earlier! It is very hard to find a modern recorder that will accept composite SD signals any more. But it would be worth it if you went that route because I imagine your Powerplay recorder is much more compressed, probably records to MP4's? If you really want to capture all the goodness of that analog signal and grade it etc, you'll be much better off with the Blackmagic.

Yes, the Powerplay is a 60fps h. 264 video recorder. The Blackmagic route, I could well imagine, would yield superior results.

[JimGao]

Yes, the Powerplay is a 60fps h. 264 video recorder. The Blackmagic route, I could well imagine, would yield superior results.

What might be interesting is finding a way to upres the analog signal to HD before it becomes digital. One of the aspects of SD footage these days is the blockiness on big LCD screens. takes away from the old analog appeal.

[CharlesPapert]

You can uprez to HD any number of ways: a mini converter at the camera (Decimator, Blackmagic, AJA etc) or a more sophisticated studio device like a Teranex, all of which will do a real-time upconvert with limited results. You can also process through an NLE or delivery software which will deliver a more pronounced uprez. Or use an AI based app like Topaz Video Enhance which will actually fill in the gaps, although the results are not always preferable (faces can take on an uncanny valley type appearance). Video Enhance seems to work best with late-model SD footage so XL1 material would probably work very nicely.

[JimGao]

You can uprez to HD any number of ways: a mini converter at the camera (Decimator, Blackmagic, AJA etc) or a more sophisticated studio device like a Teranex, all of which will do a real-time upconvert with limited results. You can also process through an NLE or delivery software which will deliver a more pronounced uprez. Or use an AI based app like Topaz Video Enhance which will actually fill in the gaps, although the results are not always preferable (faces can take on an uncanny valley type appearance). Video Enhance seems to work best with late-model SD footage so XL1 material would probably work very nicely.

Thanks!

Most upres options are digitizing first, rather than directly trying to resolve 1080p detail of the 480p analog signal. A bit of a low priority i’m sure (also, no pun intended).

AI could be interesting for some things, but i'll have to test it out. most of what i’ve seen is really clean and digital looking.

[CharlesPapert]

Since uprezzing is a purely digital process, I don't see a scenario where digitizing wouldn't happen first...?!

[JimGao]

Since uprezzing is a purely digital process, I don't see a scenario where digitizing wouldn't happen first...?!

One interesting technique i’ve seen is playing the analog to a Standard def CRT and then pointing an HD camera at it and recording that way.


But i guess when i am saying digital, i just mean that it is digitized as 480 first, and then upressing the digital blocks, so it looks digital. As opposed to trying to capture the 480 analog signal with 1080 resolution

[JimGao]

for now, i have been transferring miniDV and then adding film effects to it to smooth out any macroblocking or digital artifacting. for ease of use, Filmconvert Nitrate works well enough. But i don’t recommend them

[norvan5]

Update - I took your advice and sourced a BM analog to sdi convertor locally and guess what? It works! So far, I’ve tried it successfully with the Sony and found that it also works with a Canon XM2 (gl2) equipped with the ma300 adapter. Happy days!

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[CharlesPapert]

Norvan5, glad to hear it is working for you!

[norvan5]

Norvan5, glad to hear it is working for you!

Thanks Charles for all the help!

[JimGao]

Are you able to post any samples from this camera? Thanks!