5 Replies Latest reply: Oct 13, 2010 2:09 PM by Jon Geddes Branched from an earlier discussion. RSS

    scaling

    Jon Geddes Community Member

      I just wrote an article that goes in depth on the downscaling quality of Adobe Media Encoder CS5:

       

      http://www.precomposed.com/blog/2010/10/hd-to-sd-dvd-cs5-revisited/

       

      I originally wrote an article that demonstrated the poor quality downscaling algorithms that Adobe was using in CS4, and provided a tutorial for using a free open source alternative that achieves studio quality results. The original article can be found here:

       

      http://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/07/hd-to-sd-dvd-best-methods/

       

      The algorithms don't appear to have changed with CS5, as I show many comparisons. The original article shows what happens to interlaced footage when downscaled with AME, and the results are awful when Maximum Render Quality is not enabled. Unfortunately the maximum render quality makes it take FOREVER to render, and the results are still sub-par with the open source alternative looking much better and taking far less time to process.

       

      Believe it or not, all the other major NLE competitors, such as Final Cut Studio, Vegas, Avid, etc., are also using poor quality algorithms for downscaling. So if Adobe could just fix this serious fundamental issue, they would really have the upper hand on all the other NLE's.

       

      Most video production companies are shooting HD now. Most of them are still delivering SD versions to their clients. With so many people needing to provide professional quality down-conversions of their videos, it would seem that Adobe would have made sure this was working well when HD started becoming standard 5 years ago.

       

      Thankfully Adobe added the "Maximum Render Quality" in CS4 as a small attempt to address these issues. Unfortunately the quality is not nearly as good as it could easily be, and it takes horribly long to process.

       

      I'm looking forward to the day when this issue is finally resolved, as I still love Adobe software. It is still the best... and with a few minor fixes could be so much better.

        • 1. Re: scaling
          JSS1138 CommunityMVP

          What baffles me is that the algorithms in a sub-$200 consumer Blu-ray player can deliver such decent results (in realtime, no less), yet those same algorithms aren't included in professional level software.

          • 2. Re: scaling
            Jon Geddes Community Member

            Whats even more baffling is the fact that there are free open source software algorithms available that Adobe can easily analyze and implement. And its not like these have just become recently available. They have been available for at least 5 years. The sad part is, the open source alternatives are not even optimized for multithreading or 64bit processing, and they are blazing fast compared to the Adobe Media Encoder. Imagine if Adobe rewrote the open source algorithms to take advantage of multiprocessors and 64bit... their competitors would be left in the dust.

             

            Dan Isaacs, who posts here on the Adobe forums, has created an easy plugin for the open source utility AVI Synth, called HD2SD, which basically combines a handful of already existing plugins for resizing, deinterlacing, etc., and made an easy way to downscale or upscale footage with studio quality results.

            • 3. Re: scaling
              tclark513 Community Member
              function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}

               

              made an easy way to downscale or upscale footage with studio quality results.

               

              Easy???  I would have to disagree.

              • 4. Re: scaling
                tclark513 Community Member
                function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}

                function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}

                 

                made an easy way to downscale or upscale footage with studio quality results.
                • 5. Re: scaling
                  Jon Geddes Community Member

                  Sorry. Relatively easy. If you've tried using AVI Synth without the HD2SD script, it is way more complicated.

                   

                  If you are comparing it to the ease of exporting out of the Adobe Media Encoder... then its only slightly more complex, as all you really have to do is create a text document with a small script, such as hd2sd("filename.mov") then load with Virtual Dub or directly into HC Encoder.

                   

                  Easy? Maybe not for someone who has never done it before. Complicated? I think not.