I shot this tornado in Tillman County, Oklahoma on November 7, 2011 using a Sony PMW-EX1 (HD 1080p). This is an upres to UHD 4K using Topaz Video Enhanced AI on a Mac Desktop Pro.
Before using the Topaz application, I tried a few other apps that we have.
In order of quality:
FCP UHD 4K timeline output to ProRres 422 HQ – Looks sharper than the HD, so it is an upres. Looks fair. Time to process: 20 seconds.
EditReady 2 – A tad better than FCP. This is a very good batch processing app, by the way. I use it mostly to create lower res preview clips. Time to process: 15 seconds.
Topaz .mov ProRes 422 HQ output – quite a bit better quality than EditReady. Time to process: Appx. 45 min.
Topaz 8-bit TIFF output – a little better quality than the basic .mov output. Time to process: Appx. 45 min.
Topaz 16-bit TIFF output – sharper than the 8-bit output, but not better because the HD clip noise is more pronounced. Time to process: Appx. 45 min.
Topaz Video Enhanced AI is probably worth getting if you want to do a lot of upscaling compared to the other apps I tested. The TIFF 8-bit output was the sweet spot for my source video. It sharpened the HD quite a bit without making the noise as pronounced as the 16-bit. DaVinci Resolve may or may not do a better job. If you ever do a Topaz Video Enhance AI vs DaVinci Resolve comparison, please post your findings in my comments section. I would love to read them.
Topaz offers a basic explanation on using their Video Enhance AI software at https://topazlabs.com/how-to-get-the-best-upscaling-results-from-video-enhance-ai/ It is simple to use and can do batch processing like EditReady.
If you like really high resolution video, check out my 16K production “Prairie Wind” https://vimeo.com/298755123
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