Scaling UP from SD to HDV

[tingsern]

I have footage in PAL SD (720 x 576). I want to scale that up to 720p (960 x 720). Stretch or crop it - either way is fine for me. I don't want black borders on the final output. Anyone is aware of any good software that does bilinear interpolation or better algorithm to achieve the results? After Effects filter, Edius 4 filter, or standalone application is fine for me.

[Rusty]

What's your output? If DVD stay in SD.

Edius will do what you want, but may not give the best results.

[tingsern]

Output is in HD (SD - normal DVD for now), but will be either HD-DVD or BLUERAY in a couple of months time.

Currently, I use Adobe After Effects to scale it up. But, was wondering if there are better software around (mainly to eliminate the artifacts of scaling).

[STORMDAVE]

It's going to look really bad and a waste of time, imo...I would leave it up to the Television set to do the upscaling in realtime...good TV's like the Bravia's do a wonderful job, cheapo ones like Westinghouse etc don't have good scalers...

But in the meanwhile, take a look at this:

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/instanthd.html

[Jerry]

I have footage in PAL SD (720 x 576). I want to scale that up to 720p (960 x 720). Stretch or crop it - either way is fine for me. I don't want black borders on the final output. Anyone is aware of any good software that does bilinear interpolation or better algorithm to achieve the results? After Effects filter, Edius 4 filter, or standalone application is fine for me.

You don't have your system specs up so....If you have access to a Kona or Decklink card, you can capture in 1280x720 and probably get pretty good results. That being said, if the original quality is well lit and of really good overall quality, it should look good. Poorly lit and unstable shots convert very poorly.
Either way, when your final product is Bluray, it is going to look like crap . If you have to have the image full screen and you are doing this for a client, I would get them to sign off on that right now.
It will look pretty good in SD, but when you blow that to 1920x1080 it is going to fall apart. You might want to consider pips. Put a background with the pip, add a frame, or try a variety of these. Basically, what you want to do is to distract the viewer from the quality. That way it will still look good when it is blown to 1920x1080.
Keep in mind you will also degrade the signal just by making an uprez and then to mpeg. So factor that into your final.

[tingsern]

I am not blowing up to 1920 x 1080 :-). Just a modest 960 x 720 from 720 x 576 (about 1.3 times). Surely, that's doable, right?

I don't have Kona or Decklink cards. I have only Edius NX - but the original footage originates from Canon XL2. Right now, I am combining that footage (PAL-sd) with Panasonic's HVX202 output in 720p mode. The Canon XL2 footage is progressive - so, most scaling software should work.

I downloaded Instant-HD to try. For some reasons, my Adobe AE keeps giving me an error whenever run Instant-HD. Something like "This machine does not support the requested parameters or there is an hardware problem". Strange?

TS

[Jerry]

I am not blowing up to 1920 x 1080 :-). Just a modest 960 x 720 from 720 x 576 (about 1.3 times). Surely, that's doable, right?

I don't have Kona or Decklink cards. I have only Edius NX - but the original footage originates from Canon XL2. Right now, I am combining that footage (PAL-sd) with Panasonic's HVX202 output in 720p mode. The Canon XL2 footage is progressive - so, most scaling software should work.

I downloaded Instant-HD to try. For some reasons, my Adobe AE keeps giving me an error whenever run Instant-HD. Something like "This machine does not support the requested parameters or there is an hardware problem". Strange?

TS

So your bluray will be 1280x720, right? It should be doable, but do not expect miracles. The software that Dave mentioned might work for you as a stand alone.
I tried it, but it is not as good as a hardware convertor. If the footage was from a betacam or digiabeta. I would say that it would look pretty good.