Upconverting from SD

Will not make the quality better.

Upconversion is a process of transferring a standard definition master onto a high definition videotape.

SD video can contain as little as 6 times less information than HD video. Upconverting from lower resolution to higher resolution does not create more detail. It merely interpolates the picture to create missing information from scratch. Upconverted may look acceptable but it will always lack sharpness and visual detail when compared to native HD material.

There are several considerations when doing upconversions.

Source and destination frame rates need to be taken into account. 29.97fps frame rate of North American video does not convert well to HD standards that run at 23.98fps. An exception is SD material that was originally shot at 24fps or 23.98fps and transferred to tape with 3:2 pulldown.

European SD which runs at 25fps generally converts better to HD.

Aspect ratio difference between 4×3 SD video and 16×9 HD video will cause the upconversion to irretrievably lose top and bottom parts of the frame. Pan and scan method can be used to adjust which part of the frame is cropped off so no important action is lost.