Is converting dv 4:2:0 footage to 4:4:4 worth it for restoration?

[taigi]

I’m working on restoring old DV footage (8-bit, YUV 4:2:0) that needs a lot of correction, noise reduction, and etc.
I’ve read that converting early on to a higher sampling format like YUV 4:4:4 can help preserve quality.

For those with experience in video restoration:

Is it really worth converting to 4:4:4 as an intermediate for this kind of work, or is 4:2:2 enough? Does converting to 4:4:4 actually help with quality when the original footage is only 4:2:0? At what stage in the workflow do you recommend doing this conversion, if at all?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Sharc]

I’m working on restoring old DV footage (8-bit, YUV 4:2:0) that needs a lot of correction, noise reduction, and etc.
I’ve read that converting early on to a higher sampling format like YUV 4:4:4 can help preserve quality.

For those with experience in video restoration:

Is it really worth converting to 4:4:4 as an intermediate for this kind of work, or is 4:2:2 enough? Does converting to 4:4:4 actually help with quality when the original footage is only 4:2:0? At what stage in the workflow do you recommend doing this conversion, if at all?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

No. Upsampling to 4:4:4 is a waste of storage space in your case, IMO.

Your PAL DV footage is interlaced 4:2:0. Most filters work perfectly in YV12 (4:2:0) colorspace, so no need to upsample the chroma from this point of view. More important is the deinterlacing, as many filters have no interlace-aware option and work properly on progressive footage only. If you want to keep it interlaced make sure to apply the filters correctly (on fields or grouped fields, depending on the filter).

I assume you transferred the PAL DV to PC digitally (via firewire) as 4:2:0. If for some reason you have to capture it analog, capture it lossless 4:2:2 interlaced, revisit the levels and proceed from there with post processing. In general, avoid conversions (especially any YUV<->RGB) unless a filter requests a particular format. If you do the processing in 4:2:2 you may want to convert it to 4:2:0 at the end (for distribution), for best player compatibility.