Should I convert to 16‑bit for internal filtering?

[taigi]

Restoring some DV footage.
Is it worth converting to 16‑bit for the internal filtering?
The inner chain is: QTGMC, FineDehalo, Santiag, SMDegrain, NNEDI3 3x up, 1x down, Spline.
I’ll be saving to a higher-quality format.
Don't care about the length of the process.
Which stages would benefit most?

Thanks!

[Selur]

I doubt that you can the outputs will differ much (not counting noise through dithering) between 8bit and 16bit processing with these filters.
(I could be wrong, but you can easily test it. )

NNEDI3 3x up, 1x down, Spline

Out of curiosity, what are you doing there?
Something like
a. 3x NNEDI3 + SplineResize

nnedi3_rpow2(2)
nnedi3_rpow2(2)
nnedi3_rpow2(2)
SplineResize(...)

b. NNEDI3 with factor 8 + SplineResize

nnedi3_rpow2(8)
SplineResize(...)

a. 3x NNEDI3 + SplineResize

width = last.Width()*2
height = last.Height()*2
nnedi3_rpow2(2, fwidth=width, fheight=height)
nnedi3_rpow2(2, fwidth=width, fheight=height)
nnedi3_rpow2(2, fwidth=width, fheight=height)
SplineResize(...)

or something different?

Cu Selur

[rgr]

I doubt that you can the outputs will differ much (not counting noise through dithering) between 8bit and 16bit processing with these filters.
(I could be wrong, but you can easily test it. )

I don't know where our previous discussion on this topic is, but this link shows that it's always worth operating at a higher bit depth.

https://imgsli.com/NDM5NTIw

[pandy]

It may have sense if those filter works natively in 16 bit space (quite mandatory if you are working with linear light). If not then probably you will not gain anything with way slower processing.