Upscaling DV and VHS footage to match other content

[MadMax_911]

I've been handed the task of putting together a montage containing 10-20 minutes of footage from 1970's and forward from many different sources to be played back for an audience and a longer 30-45 minutes.

My sources (so far) are:
* 8mm or super 8mm film transferred to progressive DVD 576p
* VHS, video8 & Hi8 captured in lossless 576i
* DV footage 576i (some tapes were recorded as widescreen letterboxed using only 364 interlaced lines of resolution)
* miniDVD MPEG2 576i
* various handheld devices recording digital video all of them progressive between 640x480 and 1920x1080 most are 720p60

First of all, I have all the files on an external harddrive (or on their way there), so the transfer has already been done.
I don't expect a miracle and I'm not looking for a way to match the best source in quality, I only want to match it to a common format retaining as much detail as possible.

I'm currently trying to collect and sort all the clips so I know what clips need to be processed.

I'll be using premiere to edit the final project and I think my best bet is to do the project in 720p at 50fps.
My reasons for this is:
* Not many 1080p clips will be used so I think less than 30 seconds will be downscaled
* Most digital sources are 720p at 25, 30 or 60fps
* Most analogue sources contain 50 fields per second
* The main bulk of footage will be from VHS and DV (576i)

I've been looking around the forum and QTGMC seems to be the best choice for deinterlacing, is there a better option?

Does anyone have any suggestions on frame conversion, my best solution seems to be to add duplicates/remove unnecessary frames..

Does avisynth have a good stabilizer for shaky shots?

If the project will be in 16:9 does anyone have suggestions for filling the pillarboxes on either side of the 4:3 footage, blur and stretch?

[killerteengohan]

I've been looking around the forum and QTGMC seems to be the best choice for deinterlacing, is there a better option?

Does anyone have any suggestions on frame conversion, my best solution seems to be to add duplicates/remove unnecessary frames..

Does avisynth have a good stabilizer for shaky shots?

If the project will be in 16:9 does anyone have suggestions for filling the pillarboxes on either side of the 4:3 footage, blur and stretch?

Depends on your video source and how its interlaced. QTGMC is the best bob deinterlacer I know of, but it wouldn't be appropriate for something that's better off with TIVTC deinterlacing or something. You will have to decide what type of deinterlacing yours needs. If its a 25fps PAL source, QTGMC should be fine.

Only frame conversion I know of is Assumefps() Just set the framerate you want it to play back at in the parameters and your done. The entire clip will now play back at that framerate. If your changing the video framerate, the audio will more than likely go out of sync, unless you speed it up or slow it down to match the change.

Not sure what you mean by shaky shots so I cant answer that one.

Id leave the project in 16:9 and not mess with the 4:3 parts, just leave the black boxes on the sides or you will stretch and ruin it. It is a montage afterall and I would think retaining the footage as it was would be a priority anyways. It's not the same if you alter it like that. If you really want to stretch the 4:3 to 16:9 which I wouldn't recommend, I suppose you could try resizing only specific sets of frames, so that only the 4:3 parts are resized. Thats probly more work than its worth though because you will have to keep looking for specific frame numbers and adding more lines to the script for separate filters.
I'm not sure if there's a way to do this, but you can look into putting a 16:9 image in the background and putting the 4:3 video in the middle of it so the black parts are now an image on both sides. Can probly be done with software, but I doubt avisynth could do that, if it can I never heard of or seen it done before.

[MadMax_911]

Depends on your video source and how its interlaced. QTGMC is the best bob deinterlacer I know of, but it wouldn't be appropriate for something that's better off with TIVTC deinterlacing or something. You will have to decide what type of deinterlacing yours needs. If its a 25fps PAL source, QTGMC should be fine.

Then I will give it a shot. The footage that are interlaced is PAL 25i from DV or tapes..

Only frame conversion I know of is Assumefps() Just set the framerate you want it to play back at in the parameters and your done. The entire clip will now play back at that framerate. If your changing the video framerate, the audio will more than likely go out of sync, unless you speed it up or slow it down to match the change.

Assumefps() will only override the given framerate and doesnt convert meaning that sync will be off and is not what I want.
Changefps() seems to add subtract when needed but is there a better way please tell me

Not sure what you mean by shaky shots so I cant answer that one.

donald graft (i think) made a filter for VD a long time ago called deshaker or something like that and it could work magic on some handheld shaky footage..

Id leave the project in 16:9 and not mess with the 4:3 parts, just leave the black boxes on the sides or you will stretch and ruin it. It is a montage afterall and I would think retaining the footage as it was would be a priority anyways. It's not the same if you alter it like that. If you really want to stretch the 4:3 to 16:9 which I wouldn't recommend, I suppose you could try resizing only specific sets of frames, so that only the 4:3 parts are resized. Thats probly more work than its worth though because you will have to keep looking for specific frame numbers and adding more lines to the script for separate filters.
I'm not sure if there's a way to do this, but you can look into putting a 16:9 image in the background and putting the 4:3 video in the middle of it so the black parts are now an image on both sides. Can probly be done with software, but I doubt avisynth could do that, if it can I never heard of or seen it done before.

Avisynth can certainly open image files that can be placed behind a video file using overlay()
By blur and stretch I meant that I could use a script like this to overlay the clip on a severly blurred and stretched clip:
DirectShowSource("MY FILE")
main=last
BilinearResize(30,20)
LanczosResize(1280,720)
Overlay(main.LanczosResize(960,720), 160, 0)

[smrpix]

QTGMC will certainly give you the highest quality -- but keep your final goal in mind.

All of your sources can be loaded into Premiere as-is and combined on a single timeline. 720p 50 is pretty reasonable and handled properly in Premiere can eliminate the need for deinterlacing altogether. When you're finished editing you may find you have a lot less material that actually needs special processing, or that Premiere itself can handle it well enough for your needs.

Warp stabilizer, part of Premiere, may handle your shake adequately as well.

[LMotlow]

* Most digital sources are 720p at 25, 30 or 60fps
* Most analogue sources contain 50 fields per second

Good luck matching different frame rates. Let us know how you do it.
720p at 25 and 30 fps is not valid for BluRay/AVCHD.

If the project will be in 16:9 does anyone have suggestions for filling the pillarboxes on either side of the 4:3 footage, blur and stretch?

Try it. You won't like it.

[manono]

If the project will be in 16:9 does anyone have suggestions for filling the pillarboxes on either side of the 4:3 footage, blur and stretch?

Try it. You won't like it.

I don't think he means to stretch and blur the 1.33:1 video, but rather than adding pillarbars, take that same 1.33:1 video, stretch and blur it heavily and use it as a replacement for pillarbars with the 1.33:1 video in the middle (overlay the clear stuff on top of the blurred and stretched stuff). I don't think I'd do it with that downsizing/upsizing trick, but with a real blur filter, ones such as MedianBlur or AverageBlur.

I see that a lot these days in Nat Geo documentaries when mixing 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 footage and find it reasonably attractive. On our local news when using 1.33:1 footage, the pillarbars are replaced with geometric designs. I don't mind pillarbars at all, but blurred footage on the sides of the clear footage is a good alternative, I think.

Or did I misunderstand you completely and you really don't like that blurring on the sides?

[MadMax_911]

QTGMC will certainly give you the highest quality -- but keep your final goal in mind.

All of your sources can be loaded into Premiere as-is and combined on a single timeline. 720p 50 is pretty reasonable and handled properly in Premiere can eliminate the need for deinterlacing altogether. When you're finished editing you may find you have a lot less material that actually needs special processing, or that Premiere itself can handle it well enough for your needs.

Warp stabilizer, part of Premiere, may handle your shake adequately as well.

I'd like to be able to prepare the clips and use some filters like deinterlacing and such since I havent used premiere at all for the last two years or since my laptop died on me, but I'm more comfortable using filters in avisynth.
I'll definately check warp stabilizer out when I get to install it on this PC.

* Most digital sources are 720p at 25, 30 or 60fps
* Most analogue sources contain 50 fields per second

Good luck matching different frame rates. Let us know how you do it.
720p at 25 and 30 fps is not valid for BluRay/AVCHD.

I'm not making bluray, AVCHD or anything containing a framerate of 25 or 30fps. My goal is a file containing 720p at 50fps because SOME of my sources coming from different people and their digital cameras, DSLRs or digital videocameras contains video with framerates other than 25i or 50p I was asking if someone had a good script for converting them to 50fps.

If the project will be in 16:9 does anyone have suggestions for filling the pillarboxes on either side of the 4:3 footage, blur and stretch?

Try it. You won't like it.

I don't think he means to stretch and blur the 1.33:1 video, but rather than adding pillarbars, take that same 1.33:1 video, stretch and blur it heavily and use it as a replacement for pillarbars with the 1.33:1 video in the middle (overlay the clear stuff on top of the blurred and stretched stuff). I don't think I'd do it with that downsizing/upsizing trick, but with a real blur filter, ones such as MedianBlur or AverageBlur.

I see that a lot these days in Nat Geo documentaries when mixing 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 footage and find it reasonably attractive. On our local news when using 1.33:1 footage, the pillarbars are replaced with geometric designs. I don't mind pillarbars at all, but blurred footage on the sides of the clear footage is a good alternative, I think.

Or did I misunderstand you completely and you really don't like that blurring on the sides?

You got it completely right, I did a quick test after I wrote my last comment and I think it looks okay with the resizing method. I've used resizing before to blur since it renders quicker than any blur filter, but render speed is no concern this time.
I'll try to find some time this weekend to check out QTGMC, MedianBlur and AverageBlur I still have 10-15 hours of video to sort through.
Anyways here is a still with the blurred and stretched background.