RedRust1987

Any ideas on getting this onto digital MKV whatever or Blu ray?

Black Alert said:

With this project I want to showcase to fans of DS9 what can be possible in the universe of (AI-based) upscaling.

Those of you who have watched Deep Space Nine recently on modern/bigger screens know what the quality of the DVDs, streaming services and WEB-files look like: Most of the episodes (especially during earlier seasons) display problems like blurriness, areas out of focus, issues with grain (luma and chroma), washed out colors, a non-HD-conforming color palette (which makes sense given the technology back then), compression or block artefacts, interlacing issues and problems with motion fluidity originating from variable frame rates.

The approach of this project (in a nutshell) is to do the following steps to assure that the visual quality improves and the result is better “watchable” on a 4K screen:

1. Take the source material and extract the raw data (working from PAL sources here)
2. Adjust the audio track so it will fit with the new constant frame rate of 23,976 FPS (finished video)
3. Re-Encode and filter the source material to get rid of several issues, like:
   • Rainbowing, Interlacing, Artefacts, Block Compression, Haloing, Ringing, Aliasing, Softness, Banding
4. AI-based image enhancements and upscaling, like:
   • Detail enhancements, increase of focus, upscaling of the picture dimensions (to 1080p or even 4K)
5. Final Encode/Rendering with additional image improvements. like:
   • Custom Aspect Ratio (original 4:3 on HD-resolution without black bars left and right
   • Correction of Pixel Aspect Ratio
   • Adjustment of the SD-color-palette to more closely resemble an HD-like look
     (the work here is based on what I have seen on the DS9 Documentary “What We Left Behind”)
   • Working in grain to give a “less plastic/waxy look”
   • Sharpening an Unsharpening to create a more “pseudo-detailed look”
   • Encoding in a more HD-compatible, modern file-format

If you wish for more detailed information (like the complete guide/workflow on “how to do the project”, comparison images, samples & more) and other stuff, please contact me via private message and I shall do my best to provide what you are looking for 😉

I will do regular updates with images on what I am currently working on, so you can see what is possible - I will also actively discuss the project with you and will try to answer questions (if I can).

Stay tuned.

EDIT:
Ok, the general password to access all the files around here is: “DS9Enhanced” (without the quotation marks).
Please be advised, that all comparison images have the following characteristics:

• Left Side: Original SD-resolution image (PAL-DVD) without crop oder modifications
• Right Side: Upscaled 4K-resolution image (2880x2160p) with cropping left and right
• Images are displayed through a media player that stretches the image to fit the screen, so the right
  sided image looks a little “wider” than the left, but the original aspect ratio is maintained (4:3)

I have a copy of “In the Pale Moonlight” HD .MP4 1080p on my HDD that I upscaled from a DVD… They need to be updated. Beware there is a clickbait “4K” news story out there so watch out! No one else is talking about such news…

Fang Zei said:

jimbotron235 said:

Top of my list is Star Trek VI:

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tuchd/tuchd0188.jpg

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tuchd/tuchd0999.jpg

Ditto.

For some reason, this is always the first thing that springs to mind whenever I think of the worst blu-ray transfers. Maybe it’s because I’m just barely old enough to remember when my Mom took me to see it in the theater. She actually surprised me with a theater-used ST6 poster this past Christmas.

It’s the blu-ray equivalent of the GOUT for me.

The source master is apparently a 1080i they IVTC’d to 24p, as evidenced by the stair-stepping. My guess is that while they probably had a decent-looking 1080p of the director’s version (the fresh transfer done in 2004 for the collector’s dvd to replace the old non-anamorphic transfer), this 1080i from whenever/wherever was the best looking transfer of the theatrical cut they had lying around. So rather than spend the money on a fresh transfer they simply gave us this.

Voyage Home arguably looks the worst, like someone applied the watercolor filter and turned it up to eleven.

Hey, are we going to get a Director’s Cut of STVI with the inserted Chang, Nanklus, and Cartwright images, a computer doesn’t lie, or my personal log was used against me mods? I have a Star Trek VI DE sorta HD transfer 1280x648. Found a link to it in the cloud but cannot even remember where it was. IT looks like crap but it’s the closest I could get. I tried to make my own but could not even figure out how… I asked Nick Meyer via fanmail of a DE BR was in the works. NADA.

New here… So how does someone get the download? I have the Bluray and the SCE DVD. I tried to find a copy of a widescreen TV version on ebay (I don’t think one exists…8588A?) transfer it to PC and make it into 16.9 but no luck. Nice job BTW.