Upscale Video

This article explains how to scale a 480p (854x480) video up to Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) video.

Source Video

For a source video we use the MP4 file from the TED talk video What’s the next window into our universe? by Andrew Connolly. The original video format is Wide 480p or 16:9, 854 x 480.

Code

This code takes an MP4 file with H.264 video and AAC audio, and scales the video stream up to Full HD 1920x1080 (1080p) using bicubic method for interpolation. The audio stream is copied from the source as is.

Windows

#include <primo/avblocks/avb.h>
#include <primo/platform/reference++.h>

// link with AVBlocks64.lib
#pragma comment(lib, "./avblocks/lib/x64/AVBlocks64.lib")

using namespace primo::codecs;
using namespace primo::avblocks;

int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
    Library::initialize();

    // start with two identical input and output configurations
    ref<MediaInfo> inputInfo (Library::createMediaInfo());
    inputInfo->setInputFile(L"AndrewConnolly_2014.mp4");

    ref<MediaInfo> outputInfo (Library::createMediaInfo());
    outputInfo->setInputFile(L"AndrewConnolly_2014.mp4");

    if (inputInfo->load() && outputInfo->load()) {
        using namespace Param::Video;

        // create input socket
        ref<MediaSocket> inputSocket (Library::createMediaSocket(inputInfo.get()));

        // create output socket
        ref<MediaSocket> outputSocket (Library::createMediaSocket(outputInfo.get())); 
        outputSocket->setFile(L"AndrewConnolly_2014_1080p.mp4");

        // get output video pin
        auto outVideoPin = outputSocket->pins()->at(0); 
        
        // set the new frame width and height to 1920 x 1080
        auto outVideoStream = static_cast<VideoStreamInfo*>(outVideoPin->streamInfo()); 
        outVideoStream->setFrameWidth(1920);
        outVideoStream->setFrameHeight(1080);
    
        // set the resize interpolation method:
        // InterpolationMethod::Cubic is best for upscaling (however, it is slow)
        ref<ParameterList> outVideoPinParams (Library::createParameterList()); 

        ref<IntParameter> interpolationMethod (Library::createIntParameter()); 
        interpolationMethod->setName(Resize::InterpolationMethod);
        interpolationMethod->setValue(InterpolationMethod::Cubic);

        outVideoPinParams->add(interpolationMethod.get());

        outVideoPin->setParams(outVideoPinParams.get());

        // create a Transcoder
        ref<Transcoder> transcoder (Library::createTranscoder()); 
        
        // add input and output sockets
        transcoder->inputs()->add(inputSocket.get());
        transcoder->outputs()->add(outputSocket.get());

        // process
        if (transcoder->open()) {
            transcoder->run();
            transcoder->close();
        }
    }

    Library::shutdown();

    return 0;
}

How to run

Follow the steps to create a C++ console application in Visual Studio, but use the code from this article.

Download the AndrewConnolly_2014.mp4 MPEG4 file from the Internet Archive and save it in the project directory.

Run the application in Visual Studio. Wait a few seconds for the Transcoder to finish. The converted file AndrewConnolly_2014_1080p.mp4 will be in the project directory.