Leland Kovich

Thanks, had a busy week. But I will resume work shortly.

@oojason:

Thanks, that’s very kind of you to say.

Ok, here we go with DS9 season 1, episode 5 “Babel”.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/Mzg3MTIx

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

Have fun an let me know about the quality!

Ok, here we go with DS9 season 1, episode 4 “A Man Alone”.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/Mzg3MTE2

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

Have fun an let me know about the quality!

Ok, here we go with DS9 season 1, episode 3 “Past Prologue”.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/Mzg3MTEy

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

Have fun an let me know about the quality!

Thanks, and sorry again for being absent so long. Having a lot of family issues and battling depression. Not always easy, but I am getting better. In a ok spot right now and wanted to share again. More to follow.

Hello community - I am so sorry that I haven’t been around, but I am trying to make up for it.

I’ve got a new workflow and a few modifications, which will allow me to redo the episodes I had already done without much hassle.

So, here we go with DS9 season 1, episode 1/2 “Emissary”.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/Mzg0OTYz

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

Have fun an let me know about the quality!

@hktrooper:

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I appreciate the kind words.

Comparing the upscales with the streaming version is also a point of interest for me, since I do not use any streaming services, strictly comparing the upscales to DVDs.

I have heared, however, from several people, that streaming versions are more “challenged” when it comes to quality - one person even suggested that Paramount+/CBS perhaps simply “blew up” the screen size to service HD-displays but in consequence worsening already existing problems (interlacing, rainbowing, dot crawl and such).

Since I do not have the option to compare to streaming versions, I’d be happy to hear about your experiences.

Hello community - back from my vacation with new stuff:

Season 1, episode 5, “Babel” - is done.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/Mjk5ODg3

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

Have fun an let me know about the quality!

calisto said:

Watched the first episode last night & over all very impressed, there was a couple of weird instances, the first was when Sisko is talking to Jake on the holo deck, Sisko’s left side of his face has got weird lines on it & near the end when the worm hole opens up, there is a weird shot of Dax’s face just appears but overall very good & looking forward to rest of the episode’s.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, the thing about the “ghost face” on Dax happened because the model tried to interpret a face when in fact there was none (or in this case Dax’s face was not in focus), couldn’t be helped.

@vranir:

Thanks, as soon as I get around to season 4, I will have a look. Your help is appreciated.

@Baobab Archiver:

Yeah, close-ups are good, mid-range is still ok, but anything far away or in the background is kinda “hit-or-miss”, but it’s (so far) still the most “tolerable” workflow.

Hello there community, I will be on vacation for the next ten days, so I will not be posting anything during this time.

Please don’t be sad or discouraged, as soon as I am back, I will continue posting (remember: Season 1 & 2 of DS9 are completely done - season 3 has a new workflow that seems to be going well, the first two episodes are done as well).

So, see you soon - perhaps some of you will have had time to watch the already available episode and discuss about the quality.

I am looking forward to reading some stuff around here once I am back.

Regards,

Leland

zombiedog said:

I always mix Dax and Invasive Procedures up.

Well, they’re both centered around the character, so it’s understandable

vranir said:

Yes, in my own upscaling attempt I was shocked by how bad Dax was. I thought for sure that I must have done something wrong when I saw how blurred the end credits were.

I guess something went wrong during the transfer from the tapes to DVD … since it’s present in both the NTSC and PAL version.

Season 1, episode 4, “A Man Alone” - is done.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/MjkzNjg3

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

Have fun!

@zombiedog:

Yeah, the source material (PAL-DVD) had a “slight” quality increase as the episodes went on, unfortunately not much. The worst episode (visually speaking) is episode 8 titled “Dax” - the source (both PAL and NTSC) looks like a very badly recorded vhs-tape: It’s soft-focused, blurry and generally has a sort of “misty/gloomy” appearance.

Season 1, episode 3, “Past Prologue” - is done.

Image Gallery (with slider): https://imgsli.com/MjkzNDc2

Images also below (PAL-DVD):

Images also below (1080pHD-Upscale):

@zombiedog:

No worries, you didn’t sound disrespectful or dismissive - everything’s good.

And I totally understand what you meant - many times in the past I thought about stopping or investing in the project, but I am to stubborn to stop 😉

But I wouldn’t call it a “lost cause”, possible a “difficult task” - but I am persistent.

@zombiedog:

Well, it’s been a long time since I have been reading up about the way DS9 and Voyager were produced, worked on and stored on DVD - yeah, I think you are correct about the episodes all being composited on tape (post production was done on tape, adding the vfx and such).

I was also aware about the Grain option in Topaz, but for me it was kind of a mixed bag - I guess I’ll stick with my workflow so far. But I will have a look on season 3, possibly adjusting it, since the quality was slightly better there and would perhaps need “less aggressive work”. Season 4 onwards certainly will need modifications and I will have to do some trial and error again.

On a side note: Seasons 1 & 2 of DS9 are now finished and I am uploading - episodes will be available to those who ask and after each example post in the open topic is done.

zombiedog said:

Leland Kovich said:

Thanks for the advice. I have also noticed the upscaler still not being “consistent enough” - it can’t hold on to fine details, sometimes even in the close-ups. Still the best I could come up with so far.

I’ve not watched it yet but I have a feeling that seasons 1-3 are going to be harder to upscale than 4-7 because the source videos are lower quality on the 1-3 DVDs. I think they used higher quality tape to edit from season 4 on as there is a noticeable increase of quality from season 4 onwards.

Unfortunately that’s true. Watching the DVDs, you can see noticeable quality differences as follows: Seasons 1 & 2 are visually just bad (some more than others), season 3 is better, but still not good, a markable improvement is season 4 (image is sharper, more grain is present and details are clearer) and from season 5 onwoards it’s good DVD-quality.
I think the reason is that (if I remember correctly) they used tapes for seasons 1-2 and went digital around the time season 3 came along, switching over completely in season 4.
It’s similar with Voyager, the first digital models were used during season 3 (the first completely digitally rendered Voyager model was used in the episode “Unity” I believe).

Thanks for the advice. I have also noticed the upscaler still not being “consistent enough” - it can’t hold on to fine details, sometimes even in the close-ups. Still the best I could come up with so far.

Hello there community - Season 1, episodes 1&2 “Emissary” now available!

@rgstammer:

Just right click on my profile/name, then start a private topic.