Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

[quote author=davidblumenfeld link=board=Events;num=1097870435;start=90#98 date=11/01/04 at 14:11:06]So, is it safe to say that letterbox: uprezzed via photozoom is SUPERIOR in quality (I know that's subjective) to SQUEEZE, if 16:9 is the final outcome? What if we want to go to film??[/quote]

In my tests, the results have proven to me that using the Photozoom Pro method is superior. And I think it's this difference that will make it look better if you transfer to film.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Should one do color correction to the footage before or after the photozoom uprezzing? Will it make a difference (less artifacts or lost detail, etc.)?
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Very good question! It depends on your workflow and time.

With my laptop @1.6ghz, I was able to uprez at about 6 seconds per frame but I recently upgraded to a desktop with a 3.4ghz multiprocessor and the frame render rate has now been reduced to about 2 seconds...a significant savings.

The reason I say this is that when you shoot a bunch of footage, chances are you are only going to use a portion of that footage in your final edit, so you won't want to be uprezzing all of your footage and then doing an edit at that point, mainly because you would need an outrageous amount of disk space to accomodate all of the files (not to mention the time it would take to render all of that).

On the other hand, if you have color corrected and added a whole bunch of effects on your 4x3 timeline with your original letterbox footage you will not want to have to undo all of that over again if you export your edit without the effects with the intention of adding them again in a 16x9 timeline.

Having said that, I have had more success working with raw footage and then applying effects after the footage has been uprezzed.

Here's an example. Let's say that you wanted to soften something in a particular shot, maybe a diffusion effect. Photozoom is going to resharpen this footage and you can lose some of the subtleties of the diffusion effect (even though diffusion is not necessarily blurring per se).

My own basic rule is this; if you are not making any sharpening or blurring changes to the original footage and just applying some basic color correction, then by all means do all that first and have Photozoom uprez it and you won't have any problems.

Be careful when you color correct. If you are trying to bring up the levels signficantly of a shot that was too dark to begin with, the video noise you introduce will be enhanced in the uprez process. If you uprez first with a shot like this, and then apply a levels adjustment on the new anamorphic version of the shot, there will be less noise produced....this may not make total sense from a theoretical standpoint but this is what I have seen through practical usage.

If this explanation doesn't make sense, please say so and I'll try to clarify...
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Can you help me out how to do step 5. How do you create a "movie file?

"When the batch processing is finished, import the newly created TIFFs into a 16x9 project in your NLE as a sequence so that a movie file is created."
 
Thanks.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

David, what program are you using? Most NLEs when they see a numbered sequence of files will have a checkbox that enables you to import all of the "pieces" as one file, something like "import as numbered sequence"... Having one file makes it easier to work with on the timeline.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

[quote author=disjecta link=board=Events;num=1097870435;start=90#102 date=11/02/04 at 16:20:07]Here's an example. Let's say that you wanted to soften something in a particular shot, maybe a diffusion effect. Photozoom is going to resharpen this footage and you can lose some of the subtleties of the diffusion effect (even though diffusion is not necessarily blurring per se).

My own basic rule is this; if you are not making any sharpening or blurring changes to the original footage and just applying some basic color correction, then by all means do all that first and have Photozoom uprez it and you won't have any problems.

Be careful when you color correct. If you are trying to bring up the levels signficantly of a shot that was too dark to begin with, the video noise you introduce will be enhanced in the uprez process. If you uprez first with a shot like this, and then apply a levels adjustment on the new anamorphic version of the shot, there will be less noise produced....[/quote]

Thanks. That makes total sense. I'm not going to do color correcting on anything until I've edited the whole thing (it's a 90 minute feature) because there's no point working on footage I'm not going to use.

I'll finish the editing in the next few weeks, then do an up-rez, and then color-correct. I'll post some grabs as soon as I can.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

[quote author=disjecta link=board=Events;num=1097870435;start=90#100 date=11/01/04 at 17:16:13]

In my tests, the results have proven to me that using the Photozoom Pro method is superior. And I think it's this difference that will make it look better if you transfer to film.
[/quote]
Wow Disjecta, I missed this whole thread. This is really interesting, I can't wait to get into this more hands on.
Just a quick question, You seem to know a lot about this, how long have you been working with PhotoZoom now?
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

I've been working with it solidly for about a month but that's been intensive, trying out every little detail of it to see what happens. It's a pretty simple program (although powerful under the hood) so it doesn't take that long to master.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Forgive me if this is covered somewhere in the last ten pages…

Why isn’t there a standalone program or plug-in that can do this? The results are phenomenal.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

What do you mean? This is a standalone program... If you are asking why there isn't one specifically for video, that's a good question. I guess the majority of people just wouldn't be bothered with this level of perfectionism at a consumer level so a company that has the ability to build an app like this for video probably doesn't think it would be a lucrative idea.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Ya I meant for video. Red Giant does ok with film look stuff - Why not something like this?

I'd buy it

Anyway - Slick work Dis 8)
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

I wonder if I could find a programmer to toy around with software and come up with something... I'll have to ask some friends. That would be really cool.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

forgive me if this has already been explained but I don't have time to read the whole thread. How do I get a .tiff image made from a file in vegas?
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Don't think you can, unfortunately. Seems like it's the only NLE that can't do that.
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

I forgot to mention that Vegas users (or any users for that matter) can also use Virtual Dub to render an image sequence by either frameserving it from Vegas using the free Frame server plugin provided by Satish at http://www.debugmode.com or simply by opening the Vegas rendereed video in Virtual Dub.

-Anthony
 
Re: Procedure for uprezzing 4x3 letterbox to 16x9

Thanks for the contribution, Anthony. A lot of people have contacted me about Vegas' ability (or inability, as the case may be) to export frames.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top