Upscaling 480p vid to 720p without big quality loss.

[MousE0910]

Hello,

I have this one vid that's in 480p and I need to upscale it to 720p without looking like total s***.
I have some limited knowledge about AviSynth script but I have no idea what filters to use for the upscaling.
If anybody could tell me how to go about it, I'd be extremely grateful.

The vid was made in Flash, using vector graphics if that is of any help.
I downloaded it from YouTube and I can't get any higher quality (I even tried contacting the author of the vid).

MediaInfo:

General
Complete name                    : C:\Projects\Demonstration\Opening.flv
Format                           : Flash Video
File size                        : 7.16 MiB
Duration                         : 1mn 37s
Overall bit rate                 : 620 Kbps
httphostheader                   : o-o.preferred.ams03g05.v13.lscache7.c.youtube.com

Video
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Main@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 3 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@3.0
Duration                         : 1mn 37s
Bit rate                         : 484 Kbps
Width                            : 656 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.061
Stream size                      : 5.59 MiB (78%)

Audio
Format                           : AAC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version                   : Version 4
Format profile                   : LC
Format settings, SBR             : No
Duration                         : 1mn 37s
Bit rate                         : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 1.48 MiB (21%)

If you need the actual video to determine the best settings, I can upload it (It's only 7MB).

Thank you very much.

[Baldrick]

Upload the sample so we can see if it's worth it.

[MousE0910]

Okay, here it is.

[manono]

Are you planning on keeping or removing the black bars? Doing a decent upscale in AviSynth is trivial. A bigger problem is the fact that it was blend deinterlaced. And all that crap noise all over from the very low bitrate YouTube uses. And the fact that it's something my four year old granddaughter would enjoy.

[aedipuss]

Bit rate : 484 Kbps

pathetic bitrate, not enough data in there to watch, much less convert to anything else.

[poisondeathray]

The vid was made in Flash, using vector graphics if that is of any help.

Only helpful if the original vectors and project files are available

GIGO

[jagabo]

Maybe something like this to get you started:

ffVideoSource("Opening.flv")
DeBlock()
Crop(0,56,-0,-56)
Sharpen(0,1.0)
santiag(strh=2,strv=2)
Nnedi3_rpow2(rfactor=4, cshift="BiCubicResize", fwidth=1280, fheight=720)
AwarpSharp2(depth=20)
MergeChroma(awarpsharp2(depth=32))

I'd recommend reconstructing the opening fade in since it's a static shot otherwise.

[MousE0910]

Thanks for the help

I encoded it using the above script into an avi file.
The resulting vid looks pretty good unless there's a rapid movement. At those parts, it looks kinda smudged and blurred.
I know the original is shitty and there's not much to work with so it's still a pretty good improvement.
If you could go the extra trouble and try to change some settings to make the vid look less smudged in the fast parts (if it's even possibleú, I'd be extremely grateful
I myself know only some basic AviSynth filters and have no idea what filter to change/add/remove to improve it

[jagabo]

If you could go the extra trouble and try to change some settings to make the vid look less smudged in the fast parts

Ain't gonna happen. There are two many blended frames and not enough clean frames.

[MousE0910]

Ain't gonna happen. There are two many blended frames and not enough clean frames.

Okay then. I'll just use what I got

Thanks again!

[jagabo]

I recommend you play with the filters a bit and see if you can improve on the picture.

[MousE0910]

Alright, I'll do that. Hopefully, I'll be able to improve it a bit.