Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Enhanced 4K & 1080p Edition (a WIP) — Page 2

Hello there guys. Just wanted to let you know my upgrades are nearly done, the workflow is set, things are moving along. With this post I wanted to provide you with a little christmas tease to show you the latest results.
The following snippet is from the DS9-Pilot (the first act including the opening/intro), but for size reasons I reduced from 4K to 1080p, which didn’t effect the quality much (after all, it’s just to give you an impression of what’s soon to come).
If all goes well, the pilot should be done some time this week.

Here are comparison images:
https://imgsli.com/ODc2Mzg
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NDA
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NDE
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NDI
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NDM
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NDQ
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NDU

Here the sample (no unpacking, no password required; about 135 MB):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vpe6z8pwoaej5vt/SciFi-Upscale - DS9 Sample (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0

Things that have been modified/improved upon (compared to what I did before):

• better sharpness handling
• more grain retention / adjusted grain addition
• better color management (specified input as SDR, output as Rec. 709 with Gamma 2.4)
• added contrast and texture pop
• reduced motion stutter (either through integration of NTSC-material or motion flow / frame interpolation)

Let me know what you think!

Hey guys, just found something sitting in a tiny corner of one of my backup-drives (can’t believe I actually forgot about that one).
When I first started to re-tune my workflow, I wanted to know if it could handle something that becomes more important as the seasons move on: Fast movement on multiple objects. Now I know neither DS9 or VOY do have many grand space battles with fast paced movements, but there are some scenes that I thought might become a problem.

So I went out looking for one or two scenes that may challenge the upscaler. Remember when DS9 took a little trip to the mirror universe late in season 4 and the mirror Defiant had to fight the Cardassians and the Klingons? Well, those are the scenes I have found.
Be advised: I did my upscaling and filtering, but I did no manual corrections on the CGI/VFX (usually I replace the scenes that are a bit wonky with the NTSC scenes, but this was just to take a “general look”.

So here are the two scenes (no unpacking, no password required) - I called them “Pattern Suicide”, because Smiley (Mirror O’Brien) was quite funny in this episode and that expression somehow stayed with me and always reminds me that the evil side can be hilarious as well):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6oryc444b16roj/Pattern Suicide - Scene 1 (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9448e0qaphnp4la/Pattern Suicide%2C Scene 2 (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0

Have Fun!

Black Alert said:

Be advised: …I did no manual corrections on the CGI/VFX (usually I replace the scenes that are a bit wonky with the NTSC scenes, but this was just to take a “general look”.

For me anyway, a slight irony is that the only fault I have is not with the VFX shots but with the shots of Sisko’s and O’Brien’s faces. There’s noticeable…delay? Lag? I don’t know what to call it. It’s like parts of their faces are lagging behind or frozen for a few frames, take a little while to catch up with the motion of the rest of their movements. It’s pretty subtle though, is from looking at things closely.

In general, as always with your work, very impressive results! The VFX shots look pretty darned good considering your starting points. I continue to be in general awe of your upscaling achievements.😃

@WXM:
Thanks for your attention to detail. I also noticed a slight “wabble” (I also don’t know what else to call it) when things are moving fast or explosions happen - it seems to be “shifting” the star pattern close-by for example.
The reason for the issue with the faces looking a bit “static” is actually unclear to me: It also appears with the original DVD, but I must admit, I found it strange that both O’Brien and Sisko look straight into one direction for a second or two and then react - perhaps it was the original camera angle or the intent of the director for them to look “focused/serious”, but yes, it looks kinda off.

2022 - First Image Set: Pilot Episode "1x01;02 - Emissary ; Der Abgesandte (Parts I & II)

ATTENTION: QUALITY UPDATE (01-2022)

Comparison Shots (with Slider; 10 image pairs per link):

https://imgsli.com/ODgzODY
https://imgsli.com/ODgzODg
https://imgsli.com/ODgzOTA
https://imgsli.com/ODgzOTE
https://imgsli.com/ODgzOTM
https://imgsli.com/ODgzOTU
https://imgsli.com/ODgzOTY
https://imgsli.com/ODgzOTg

If you want more, let me know. Happy New Year Everyone !!!

Black Alert said:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6oryc444b16roj/Pattern Suicide - Scene 1 (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9448e0qaphnp4la/Pattern Suicide%2C Scene 2 (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0

Have Fun!

Stunning - really impressive work there, Black Alert (and your choice of nicknames for them too!)

Those latest images look very good too.
 

@vranir:
Oh, I must admit I didn’t realize. But perhaps that’s my lucky star?

@oojason:
Thanks. Sometimes expressions just stay with you. I thought it would fit.

Hey guys, sorry I haven’t been as fast as I thought, had technical issues. But the next eps are almost done (currently including Voyager s01e03, DS9 s01e03 and B5 movie The Gathering).

Also, two more projects will be added to the three I already have up (I know, I am insane), but perhaps some of them would be of interest to you guys, so I thought I would announce them ahead of time so you can tell me if you want to be invited.

Upcoming new project: Earth - Final Conflict (Upscaled to 4K from DVD)

• This is one of those “forgotten” SciFi treasures of the 90’s by Roddenberrys widow, effects were certainly ahead of their time

Upcoming new project: Stargate SG-1 (Upscaled from the 1080p BluRay to 4K)

• I managed to get my hands of the BluRays which also suffered from problems (too much digital noise reduction and screwed up channel upmix in the audio from 2.0 to 5.1), so I tried a bit and will splice in the audio from the DVDs - here a little teaser image comparison: https://imgsli.com/OTI2MzY

So anyone who is interested let me know!

@Vranir:
Unfortunately I couldn’t get rid of it. With the original DVD the font seems to have some sort of shadow effects, perhaps it was interpreted during the upscale as additional line … Anyhow, happens with text/font in the early seasons, even during the second act after the opening/intro when members of the production crew or guest starts are mentioned.

Hello guys, sorry but I am still busy, many things to do at the moment. Still wanted to show you a little something I did in a quiet moment. Sorry if it’s a bit off topic, but perhaps some of you know (Star Trek) Enterprise.
The BluRays are not the best quality (similar to SG-1, but with waaayy more grain and artefacts).

Since someone saw me doing my SG-1 samples they asked if I could have a look at the Enterprise BluRays.
Perhaps this will be yet another addition for me.

Here’s what I can bring to that table, anyone who is interested let me know:

https://imgsli.com/OTQyMTc
https://imgsli.com/OTQzNzY

Back to work.

Black Alert said:
It’s a shame that Trek-sources always have quality-issues.

I’m going to ask in half silliness but half seriousness in response to that. The re-mastered of STTNG… I assume you’ve seen piles if not all of it. Do you find it to be all “amazing and perfect!” (as one would expect) or were there some things done by the restoration teams that aren’t as awesome as they could be in your opinion?

One interesting thing I saw/learned from my being into hobbyist sci-fi CG was for that STTNG HD remastering… They couldn’t find a couple of pieces of Enterprise-D footage (a real model used back then of course) and the restorers actually reached out to a (very talented Trek) FAN named Tobias Rickter to model the ship as accurately as possible so they could “film” (render) it to replace the lost footage. I guess Paramount/CBS couldn’t CG-model it themselves back then for some reason (cost/time surely).

What’s even neater (to me anyway) is that this fan — without having told anyone — worked on and was getting feedback in a regular ol’ hobbyist modeling forum he frequented (so as to milk everyone’s nitpicky expertise). He was making a model before their eyes that they didn’t know was destined to be in the official ST:TNG BD release! (But at least one of them had a suspicion.) The beans were spilled eventually, with Mike Okuda talking about it in at least one interview. EDIT: Found that modeling thread! Cool this (and its images) are all still up after over a decade. Wow, despite this work being “old” it still looks great. Page 4 here of what ended up being 13 for this thread…

https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/discussion/comment/527348#Comment_527348

@WXM:
Well, I probably was too general. The TNG remasters as well as TOS are great and I can’t find any fault with them. I was actually referring to the following physical media: DVDs on Star Trek DS9 and VOY as well as the BluRay on ENT - those are the ones that suffer quality related issues.
Also I have just tried my hand at new settings for the ENT - I had to admit, on the big screen it looked to artifical so I went back and checked and experimented and came up with a solution that may look more real.
Only goes to show I should probably avoid posting stuff that’s only “half-way-done” and wait until I checked on the big screen.

Anyway, back to work.

EDIT:
And thanks for the link, Tobias Richter is a real artist - saw examples of his work at conventions.

No, you weren’t too general. I was being a little silly there as… well, the remasters speak for themselves, and I knew you were referring to the DVDs being the bane. Just making a little conversation I guess. 😃

I’ll let you get back to your work then…after a last

Black Alert said:
thanks for the link, Tobias Richter is a real artist - saw examples of his work at conventions.

Neat! I’ve only seen his stuff via the web. I’ll sign off here with a short animation he posted way later in that thread if you didn’t see it, which again looks pretty great for just one person (to have done everything on his own)

https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/discussion/comment/537371#Comment_537371

@WXM:
The animated flyby of the Enterprise D … MIND-BLOWING!

Hello again. A bit off topic here, but still:
Since I realized my previous 2 tests on Enterprise were not exactly what I imagined, I refined the workflow to closer resemble the original and look less “artificial” and avoid oversharpening.
Here are the comparison images:

https://imgsli.com/OTQ1Njc

Here is the video sample:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ksnb76vxeu6nx4/ENT 2x16 Future - 1080pHD Sample Upscale.mkv?dl=0

Let me know what you think!

Hey guys, it’s me again.

I know it’s been a very long time, but I have been working on rather complicated updates and expanded my projects to include more series.
Don’t worry, the updates will also include those projects I had already put up.

So, the first new topic will Warp into our community with “Star Trek - Enterprise”:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/UPSCALE-X-WiP-Star-Trek-Enterprise-Warp-5-X-High-Definition-Upscale-in-4K-1080pHD/id/92982
(it’s an open topic, no episodes will be posted; PM me for further information, private topic will be created based on interest/request)

Just wanted to let you know a lot of new things are headed your way.

Next up:

• Star Trek - The Original Series (2 Versions: Original & Remastered)
• Star Trek - The Next Generation

Stay tuned!

Working on it.

This looks amazing! Looks like you’ve put a lot of hard work into this! DS9 is my favorite and would love to see your work!

Still on the upgrades. Not finished by far, unfortunately.