*** Fix or Sharpen severe OUT OF FOCUS ***

Hi to me it looks like he shot on SD not HD...you can try photoshop but it would literally take you over a week to try a blur/sharpen edges layer technique...

What I think is the guy turned the focus off and was out of focus which is why you can't fix it...

Beyond that issue you can try Red Bullet instant HD that might do something, in photoshop you would create two layers (maybe you can try this in video I've never tried) you sharpen a lower layer not the original!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you then erase the edges on the upper layer so the middle of the skin is softish and the edges are sharp you do this with a soft brush on about 15-30% opacity so you brush the edges away so it's smooth from sharp to blurry... it creates an illusion of sharpness....

it was a sony HVR-VX2000 by mistake using a low sharp user preset, do you know any software, external plugin or hardware that could help to rescue, even a company in L.A. that can do the miracle, I have 4 tapes of this problem
Thanks a lot for your time !!

I use to own a vx2100
Does not look that out of focus to me.
You can try this:
Duplicate video track and superimpose.
Add sharpen effect (or unsharpen mask) set it to about 30-50 and lower opacity between 50-70.
Might work, might not.
I used to do this with analog video.

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[Rick Ag] "it was a sony HVR-VX2000 by mistake using a low sharp user preset"

This is not just an issue of low in-camera sharpening, which is a post-processed effect even in-camera (though this would be pre-compression, which admittedly makes quite a difference with DV). The operator is just a little bit off on focus.

It really doesn't bother me that much in the wide shots here. Just a touch of sharpening (Unsharp Mask) or a high-pass filter should make these more tolerable.

Here's a hint for sharpening close-ups: worry mainly about the eyes. A little softness across the rest of the face is usually tolerable (and sometimes even flattering), but most viewers will instinctively watch the eyes of the subject. Do your sharpening in a power window or feathered adjustment layer around the eyes for an instant improvement to the shot without exposing all kinds of nasty compression artifacts elsewhere in the image.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog - What I'm thinking when my workstation's thinking
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You could also try reducing the noise before sharpening.

Roger Hendrick
The Airship Factory
http://www.airshipfactory.com
HD Video Production - Blu-ray Authoring

From the screenshots, it's doesn't look *sooo* bad.

Do yourself a favor. Export the video to DVD, and play it on a plasma to see how it looks.

Could be it looks fine - for SD.

Neat Video has a sharpening tool in their noise reduction app that *may* help a little. Try the demo.

Good luck.

W