take2visualmedia
Well-known member
HAs anyone used Red Giant's "Instant HD". Reviews look decent on it. I have a project where I have to mix some 16:9 SD footage into an HD timeline and this seemed a good fix to give it an HD "look".
Red Giant instant HD
- Thread starter take2visualmedia
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GageFX
Carbonite Member
Be clear on one thing: uprezzing SD footage does not give you HD footage. It doesnt give you anything that even looks like HD footage. What it does give you is bigger SD footage.
There is no uprezzing/interpolating algorithm that will give you the detail that was not captured at time of shooting.
Uprezzing will allow your SD and HD footage to be displayed at the same size, nothing more. There will still be a huge difference between the two types of footage, as a matter of fact, the difference will be magnified. Reduce HD to the size of SD and the differences are minimized, but still visible. Enlarge SD to HD size and the differences are magnified.
That said, I have tried every enlarging plugin and application out there and Instant HD not only gave the best results, it worked the fastest. Just know what you are doing (enlarging SD, not converting it to HD) and dont expect more than that.
There is no uprezzing/interpolating algorithm that will give you the detail that was not captured at time of shooting.
Uprezzing will allow your SD and HD footage to be displayed at the same size, nothing more. There will still be a huge difference between the two types of footage, as a matter of fact, the difference will be magnified. Reduce HD to the size of SD and the differences are minimized, but still visible. Enlarge SD to HD size and the differences are magnified.
That said, I have tried every enlarging plugin and application out there and Instant HD not only gave the best results, it worked the fastest. Just know what you are doing (enlarging SD, not converting it to HD) and dont expect more than that.
Shooter
Veteran
hmmmm....
Quote from Red Giant
Magic Bullet Instant HD Pro 1.0 Professional quality conversion from SD to HD videoInstant HD Pro delivers the highest possible quality conversion for SD to HD. Its advanced tool set offers sharp, motion-compensated de-interlacing and de-noising; advanced pan and scan; and a super-resolution algorithm for providing actual resolution enhancement in an editing application. All these features are combined into one plug-in with an easy-to-use preset menu for choosing the right HD and 2K output formats.
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/magic-bullet-instant-hd-pro/
Quote from Red Giant
Magic Bullet Instant HD Pro 1.0 Professional quality conversion from SD to HD videoInstant HD Pro delivers the highest possible quality conversion for SD to HD. Its advanced tool set offers sharp, motion-compensated de-interlacing and de-noising; advanced pan and scan; and a super-resolution algorithm for providing actual resolution enhancement in an editing application. All these features are combined into one plug-in with an easy-to-use preset menu for choosing the right HD and 2K output formats.
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/magic-bullet-instant-hd-pro/
triplej96
Veteran
That is for IHD Pro which isn't out yet.....we shall see if their claims are true. For Instant HD the first edition gage is right!
Shooter
Veteran
They made similar claims to current version (which I have).
Admit I was never able to quantify the quality difference or the method of achieving it but it worked o.k to a degree.
Hopefully the new version works because I have a need. (Legacy SD commercial footage
BTW - Non pro version appears to be available now.
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/store/all/magic-bullet-instant-hd/
Admit I was never able to quantify the quality difference or the method of achieving it but it worked o.k to a degree.
Hopefully the new version works because I have a need. (Legacy SD commercial footage
BTW - Non pro version appears to be available now.
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/store/all/magic-bullet-instant-hd/
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GageFX
Carbonite Member
I own 6 Red Giant products. Instant HD is one of them. Regardless of marketing hype, you cannot convert SD to HD. You can enlarge SD to the dimensions of HD. You can also do this to various degrees of quality. In my tests, using at least 6 different methods, Instant HD gave the best results. It did not, however, turn a single frame of SD footage into HD footage. It did enlarge it, though.
I'm sure it worked fine, but you may have been expecting HD results instead of just quality enlarging. If you want HD footage, you must use an HD camera. (Excepting, of course, an Andromeda which defies class.)
I'm sure it worked fine, but you may have been expecting HD results instead of just quality enlarging. If you want HD footage, you must use an HD camera. (Excepting, of course, an Andromeda which defies class.)
GageFX
Carbonite Member
HD is a capture format. It uses capture sensors with a higher pixel count which translates into more captured detail. (I know that is obvious and I'm not talking down to you, I'm just explaining in the most basic terms.)
That higher pixel count capture then translates into a higher pixel count image - a larger image.
Now, what you are doing is taking an image that was captured with fewer photosites, hence less detail. This native output is a smaller image. What you are doing is then taking that smaller image, with less captured data and are enlarging it to the output size of HD and you are expecting to somehow regain image detail that was never even captured. You cant do this. It is physically impossible.
Let's reduce it to it's most basic, obvious form. I'm sure you will agree that if you took a 16pixel by 9pixel sensor, took a picture, then enlarged that 16x9 image all the way to 1920x1080, that there is no way you could have just as much image detail as if you originally shot with a 1920x1080 camera. Correct? We're on the same page? Well, it is exactly the same as taking a 720x480 image and enlarging it to 1920x1080. You do not have any increased detail, you only have increased image size. The only difference here is that you will get better results enlarging the 720x480 image than you will with the 16x9 image.
Does that make sense?
How about this:
Do you think it would be possible to enlarge a picture from your 1MP camera phone up to 22mp and still have the same quality and definition as a Canon 1DsIII dslr? (The answer should be "no".)
That higher pixel count capture then translates into a higher pixel count image - a larger image.
Now, what you are doing is taking an image that was captured with fewer photosites, hence less detail. This native output is a smaller image. What you are doing is then taking that smaller image, with less captured data and are enlarging it to the output size of HD and you are expecting to somehow regain image detail that was never even captured. You cant do this. It is physically impossible.
Let's reduce it to it's most basic, obvious form. I'm sure you will agree that if you took a 16pixel by 9pixel sensor, took a picture, then enlarged that 16x9 image all the way to 1920x1080, that there is no way you could have just as much image detail as if you originally shot with a 1920x1080 camera. Correct? We're on the same page? Well, it is exactly the same as taking a 720x480 image and enlarging it to 1920x1080. You do not have any increased detail, you only have increased image size. The only difference here is that you will get better results enlarging the 720x480 image than you will with the 16x9 image.
Does that make sense?
How about this:
Do you think it would be possible to enlarge a picture from your 1MP camera phone up to 22mp and still have the same quality and definition as a Canon 1DsIII dslr? (The answer should be "no".)
Shooter
Veteran
Of course and the argument about the photographic capture end of the process is entirely correct and we all know that you can not make something out of nothing.
I guess in the Case of Instant HD they are saying their advanced super algorithms are the magic bullet in this process and goes someway to "making something more out of something less".
I did run some tests on some Instant HD frame grabs that I took into Photoshop for closer examination in comparison with un processed frames. There was an observable gain in "perceived resolution"
I guess in the Case of Instant HD they are saying their advanced super algorithms are the magic bullet in this process and goes someway to "making something more out of something less".
I did run some tests on some Instant HD frame grabs that I took into Photoshop for closer examination in comparison with un processed frames. There was an observable gain in "perceived resolution"
Shooter
Veteran
"perceived resolution" and not "extra detail" is the term I used but I guess you argue that these algorithms do not create anything extra in the frame at all.
must be just a "smoke and mirrors effect" and Red Giant should be ashamed of themselves for misleading us.
Makes me wonder how Twixtor and Image Stabilising plugins work.
must be just a "smoke and mirrors effect" and Red Giant should be ashamed of themselves for misleading us.
Makes me wonder how Twixtor and Image Stabilising plugins work.
adkimery
Veteran
I'm really not sure what the bickering is about. Best I can tell no one is saying that SD footage up-converted to HD looks as good as footage acquired natively at HD (or higher) quality. What some people are saying is that the Red Giant software results in a more aesthetically pleasing, a better looking, up-converted piece of media than some other software solutions. I've never done any comparisons but I'm not surprised that not all solutions provide equal quality results. If that was the case no one would drop a nice chunk of change on a Teranex hardware based solution.
-A
-A
Just to keep this going awhile longer. I am finishing a short film digitally. This is the first one I've ever submitted to festivals and such. My very limited understanding is that many festivals will take films on film or uprezzed to HD. Thus, I will have to uprezz my SD project to HD.
Of course I never thought it would become HD. All I'm hoping is that there is a product, Instant HD perhaps, that will take the ugliness out of blowing up SD and magnifying all those angular pixels and jagged lines. The proverbial vaseline on the camera lens. That's what I was hoping Instant HD could do for me, soften and blend all those new pixels to create something a little easier on the eyes, although admittedly not HD.
This brings me to one last question. Where does the uprezzing fit into the retouching, grading, colour correcting, etc... process. My intuition tells me it's better to uprez first. Correct?
Of course I never thought it would become HD. All I'm hoping is that there is a product, Instant HD perhaps, that will take the ugliness out of blowing up SD and magnifying all those angular pixels and jagged lines. The proverbial vaseline on the camera lens. That's what I was hoping Instant HD could do for me, soften and blend all those new pixels to create something a little easier on the eyes, although admittedly not HD.
This brings me to one last question. Where does the uprezzing fit into the retouching, grading, colour correcting, etc... process. My intuition tells me it's better to uprez first. Correct?
GageFX
Carbonite Member
Uprez last. And yes, I would recommend an uprez before a filmout or hirez digital projection. You uprez last because you want to perform all the manipulation on the purist pixels possible.
For a solid guide on Onlining a film, pick up the DV Rebel's Guide by Stu Maschwitz. He is the creator of Magic Bullet and the Founder of The Orphanage. The book is worth it's weight in gold and the extras that come with it are easily worth the price of the book.
For a solid guide on Onlining a film, pick up the DV Rebel's Guide by Stu Maschwitz. He is the creator of Magic Bullet and the Founder of The Orphanage. The book is worth it's weight in gold and the extras that come with it are easily worth the price of the book.