- Post
- #1531634
- Topic
- Millennium (1996 FOX TV) DVD Restoration/Upscale Project (RELEASED)
- Link
- https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1531634/action/topic#1531634
- Time
The series is complete! Some notes for folks:
This show was nominated for 4 ASC awards, and many of the shots in each episode were highly stylized with mixing of media (8mm/16mm/35mm film, 480i video). The large majority of each episode is nice and clean 35mm film, but there are lots of shots with varying amounts of grain. I’m not a fan of using DNR if it substantially changes the director’s intention, so these episodes have been upscaled with ZERO DNR. That probably won’t please everyone, as there are scenes in each episode where the grain is very high, and you can see the grain moving in those shots, but my preference is to see the show as it was presented.
These episodes of “Millennium” were upscaled from compressed files (DVD source). If you watch the original DVDs, you’ll see this grain as well - on faces, backgrounds, etc. In some cases, the grain noticeably ‘shimmers’. My upscaling technique uses a combination of hardware and software and blending 4 different results for final output. The end product is gritty but true to the original. Apologies to those who find those grainy shots distracting.
Last note - the file sizes are large for these episodes. Well over half the show was shot in darkness or with varying degrees of dim/gray backgrounds (Chris Carter initially pitched the show as “Se7en” in Seattle). There was significant banding of backgrounds at lower bitrates, and I didn’t want to revisit this project in a couple of years, so each episode ranges from 2.6gb to 3.6gb. Season 1 is 58.7gb, Season 2 is 61.7gb and Season 3 is 74.2gb. Season 1 is 4:3 HD, seasons 2 and 3 are full HD.
If you own these episodes on DVD and would like a link to these fan upscales, please let me know. Cheers to all.
Have all 3 seasons. Was trying to upscale it myself but my vivobook paid 400$ just crashes when I try it with DVDFab ai upscaler. The VOB loads, but that is basically it. Reckoned not enough rams, poor processor, and crappy integrated video card are not suited for any AI upscale software.
Would you be so kind as to share your upscales.
Cheers, and many thanks for the work!