Search the Community

Aloha everyone, I couldn't figure out where to put this, maybe someone can recommend the right category and I can repost. Anyway, I have a question about making a digital transfer from old source media. I have a client requesting the digital transfer of a film to enable him to upload onto a streaming service. Ordinarily this would be fine, but the best available source material is from a D2 digital video tape. The target resolution is 1080p. My understanding of resolution and scaling is mainly in graphic design and print, so jumping from 486p (SD) to 1080p (Full HD) seems like a pretty significant jump. I've already attempted to up-res the file in DaVanci Resolve (free version) and unsurprisingly the image isn't that great, not terrible, but most likely not what the filmmakers intended. In addition, interlacing lines are also noticeable and deinterlacing the image just makes the image muddy and blocky. The current plan of action is to have a transfer house rescan the D2 as a Pro Res 422, 486p with an SDI cable, and attempt to up res the file from a new scan. As a note, I have an existing file that is Pro Res 422, 486p but do not know what was used to scan it. I was told by the transfer house that this was doable even as the new scan would still be 486p. Is attempting to upgrade the resolution from a D2 digital tape to a 1080p digital file, without a significant loss of quality even possible? Could there be an alternate affordable process I'm missing? Thanks in advance to anyone that answers this.

1988...from the VHS & Betamax Archive