Downsizing 2160 ProRes 4444 XQ to 1080 - Best option?

I need to add some footage that is 1080p, so I figured the best way is to downsize the master from 4k to 1080p to match.

If I use compressor, there are various re-size filters. I've read that Lanczos is best for down sizing. Can anyone offer any suggestions in order to retain the best quality?

Why not just edit with the native 4K in a 1080 Project timeline? FCP handles it just fine.

I need to edit some 1080p footage into the 4k feature. This would mean upscaling the inserted footage, and then downsizing the edited feature. Would this affect the quality of the 1080 footage, if upscaled and then downscaled?

Actually, the other master I have says it is 1020 x 1080 (1888 x 1062). How do I work with this footage, it is displaying in FCP with black borders. I believe it is displaying in Clean Aperture mode? Is there a way to disabale this?

If I understand you correctly, you want to cut the 1020 x 1080 (anamorphic?) footage into your 4K feature. Then down-rez the whole feature to 1080. While FCP and Compressor do a good job of scaling. However, Resolve and After Effects are much better. There's also the Topaz plug-in. I would suggest up-rezzing the footage (and resizing the anamorphic aspect) in Resolve. Use the Super Scale function under Clip Attributes. Set it to fit the correct 4K frame and export as a new clip. Then cut that footage into your 4K sequence in FCP. Export your final 4K master. Then use FCP, Compressor, After Effects, or Resolve to generate the 1080 version.

Do I also need to crop the borders off the 1020 x 1080 (1888 x 1062) footage and resize to 1080p in Compressor?

I don't really know the exact answer without seeing the footage. But if it is anamorphic, then you'll need to make sure you have the correct pixel aspect ratio and then scale to fit either the top or sides (whichever gets rid of the black bars). I think (just guessing) that you'll end up cropping the sides a bit.

But if this footage is also supposed to fit into the 4K (2160) master, then the match would be into the 4K timeline and not the converted 1080 version. Or am I not understanding this correctly?

Here's what MediaInfo says:

Post a sample frame

1920 x 1080 (1888 x 1062) footage, on a 1080p timeline:

O If I open the same clip in Quicktime, the borders are not displayed.

I think you need to ignore the clean aperture info. Your file is 1920 x 1080, which is standard 16:9 HD. What is your timeline sequence setting?

If I edit onto the 4k timeline, the extra border info is displayed. Same in a 1080p timeline.

This Clean Aperture option is very confusing.

Ignore the clean aperture info. Post a sample of the original footage, not in the timeline. What is the width of your sequence setting? 2160 is only the vertical dimension. Do you see these black borders when viewing the footage in QT Player?

Sample Clip here

I looked at the clip. The black bars appear to be baked into the image. This is not camera original. It looks like it was a film transfer or converted/copied/transcoded from other footage, which preserved the sides and resulted in a slight letterbox. For example, there are other aspect ratios, like true DCI specs for feature films, that are not 16:9. It looks like this is something like that. So whatever you do, you will need to blow the shot up slightly to get rid of the black on top and bottom and that will crop the sides slightly.

The black bars top and bottom should be there, as it's a 1.85:1 ratio movie from the negatives, but there is additional black around the edges, which is tagged as "clean aperture" in MediaInfo etc.

Whatever you see is baked into your source image. It has nothing to do with clean aperture. That's irrelevant information. This is a 1920x x 1080 clip, but you simply don't have content that fills out to the edges. You will have to blow it up slightly. 

Just to clarify the Clean Aperture thing...

This is something built into QuickTime as a way to deal with old analog media converted to digital files. It's common in these cases to display some black edges. The Clean Aperture size is the size of the image to be displayed within the frame size, IF an application utilizes the Clean Aperture info.

If it does, then the 1888 x 1062 image is being scaled larger by the player app to fit into the 1920 x 1080 presentation area. AFAIK, NLEs do not use Clean Aperture. They only use the actual frame size. So 1920 x 1080 and NOT 1888 x 1062. When you see black edges in FCP, simply scale the image larger by a few percent until the image fills the frame completely.

Also to add to Oliver's excellent advice:

If you need to deliver a 4k master than you have to upscale your 1920x1080 (HD) clip. Upscaling is probably best done in Resolve or After Effects though FCP does a great job too. Downscaling is fine in FCP and does produces the same quality as other software.

If you need to deliver an HD 1920x1080 master than you should work in that project (timeline) format and the clip you're describing matches that resolution and you only have to increase the size slightly to get rid of the 1.85 black bars top and bottom. FCP can do that just fine.

If you need to deliver both 4K and HD I would suggest you make 2 copies of your edit one in each resolution. Upscaling your HD clip to your 4k timeline and then downscaling again for delivery in HD really reduces the quality (no upscaling is lossless) of your problem clip unnecessarily. If you do the 2 versions in FCP, FCP automatically upscales or downscales the footage to the project (timeline) resolution.

Hope that makes sense

BeatGirl wrote:

The black bars top and bottom should be there, as it's a 1.85:1 ratio movie from the negatives, but there is additional black around the edges, which is tagged as "clean aperture" in MediaInfo etc.

Just out of curiosity, if you select the clip in the timeline and look at "spatial conform" in the video inspector - I'm guessing that will be set to "Fit".  If you choose "Fill" it will likely eliminate the edge borders and keep your 1.85:1 aspect.