Blow It Up!

MichaelS wrote on 4/29/2006, 7:37 PM

Have you ever had to use a low resolution digital picture that looked really crappy when blown up to full screen size?

I've just finished demoing a program called BenVista's PhotoZoom Professional. According to its own description...

"It is able to render true to life image magnifications without the serrated edges - yet perfectly focused - without visible loss of quality."

Although pricey ($129 US), the demo does a pretty amazing job of making low res stills look a lot better! It's worth a look.

Are there other programs that will accomplish the same result, perhaps cheaper?

http://www.benvista.com/main/content/content.php?page=ourproducts§ion=photozoompro_1

Comments

Laurence wrote on 4/29/2006, 10:26 PM

Well Vegas will uprezz. So will Virtualdub and Avisynth. I must say however that the non-video version of PhotoZoom Pro does an amazing job of uprezzing stills, and if the video version is anywhere near as good, it might be the best thing out there.

kentwolf wrote on 4/30/2006, 11:06 AM

>>Are there other programs that will accomplish the same result, perhaps cheaper?

"Genuine Fracturals" does, but it's not cheaper. It would be nice to compare GF to something else.

The company name escapes me right now, but they make several Photoshp plug-ins. I KNOW the name, but I can't remember it... :)

I am not at home, so I can't check Photoshop. I use several of thier other plug-ins. Mask Pro, etc.

I will remember it after I post...

Laurence wrote on 4/30/2006, 12:57 PM

When I first got Photozoom pro, I remember uprezzing some shots with Vegas and capturing some stills from this and comparing them to SD stills uprezzed with Photozoom Pro. There was quite a bit of difference (with Photozoom Pro doing the better job). At the time some people were raving about how good uprezzed SD looked run through Photozoom Pro, but it was quite a complicated and heavy disc storage proposition because you had to export a series of stills from Vegas, batch uprez them from Photozoom Pro, and then reassemble the stills into video within Vegas. This was way too much trouble for me to even attempt. I'll bet the After Effects plug is pretty good, but I don't have After Effects, so buying both programs just to do this would be pretty pricey.

DrLumen wrote on 4/30/2006, 3:57 PM

I tried it out for grins and it did ok - nothing spectacular. IMO, it's certainly not worth $129! Maybe $29 but not much more. When you can get a complete graphic app, like Paintshop, for less $$$, why are they trying to get that for 1 "effect".

Maybe I just don't have a real need or want.

DelCallo wrote on 8/19/2006, 6:33 AM

Just DL'd the demo of Photozoom. I rendered one of my grabs - doen's look any better than the results I obtained without using it. What must I be doing wrong?
Del