@WXM:
Well, those DVDs have actually aged well, comparable to Babylon 5 DVDs. The Star Trek DVDs had more problems as far as picture quality was concerned (especially during the early seasons).
I am currently doing a test render on EFC, will have teaser images soon.
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)
Upcoming new project: Stargate SG-1 (Upscaled from the 1080p BluRay to 4K)
So anyone who is interested let me know!
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)
Upcoming new project: Stargate SG-1 (Upscaled from the 1080p BluRay to 4K)
So anyone who is interested let me know!
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)
Upcoming new project: Stargate SG-1 (Upscaled from the 1080p BluRay to 4K)
So anyone who is interested let me know!
@WMX:
Trust me, that’s not whining, you’re just giving facts. It’s the same thing with all the conversations about the upscales on both Star Trek shows that haven’t been properly remastered. There are certainly enough people out there with either the time, resources and/or abilities to actually create something that could be really great. And there are certainly those around who might have “saved” stuff (like model photography, renderíngs, CGI concept art and such), after all more and more stuff turns up every year.
If we could all just band together I bet we could do some magic of our own 😉
@WXM:
Thanks for the detailed reply. As I have said before: Even I sometimes struggle with the stretch (the planets especially). But I will continue - perhaps at some point a better solution will come along and I’d happily adapt to it.
Still, after having watched the 1080p masters I wondered about several points you noticed as well:
In any event, I will keep going forward. It’s kinda exciting.
Ok guys, since there were questions about it, I thought I do a little addition to my porevious comparisons.
Before, you had the PAL-DVD in 16:9 aspect ratio on the left side and my 4K Upscale in 16:9 on the right side.
Now, you have the latest 1080p masters in 4:3 ratio on the left side and my 4K Upscale in 16:9 on the right side. You will notice quality differences since I would never be able to achieve such results working from a DVD and replacing VFX shots from the 1080p masters with a stretch to 16:9. Also, you will see a different color palette and more grain in the 1080p masters (compared to my upscale).
The biggest differences however are: The 1080p masters have the original 4:3 effects (no stretch) but also less visual information during live action scenes on the left/right sides (since the DVDs had 16:9 natively on those).
The first new comparison set only takes a look at the CGI/Effect shots:
https://imgsli.com/ODk0Nzg
https://imgsli.com/ODk0ODA
The second new comparison set takes a look at the live action shots:
https://imgsli.com/ODk0ODI
https://imgsli.com/ODk0ODM
https://imgsli.com/ODk0ODc
https://imgsli.com/ODk0ODg
https://imgsli.com/ODk0ODk
Let me know what you think!
2022 - First Image Set: Episode 1, Season 1 "1x01 - Midnight on the Firing Line ; Ragesh 3”
ATTENTION: QUALITY UPDATE (01-2022)
Comparison Shots (with Slider; 10 image pairs per link):
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMjM
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMjU
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMjY
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMjc
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMjg
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMzE
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMzI
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMzQ
https://imgsli.com/ODkzMzU
If you want more, let me know. Happy New Year Everyone !!!
2022 - First Image Set: Pilot Episode "1x01;02 - Caretaker ; Der Fürsorger (Parts I & II)
ATTENTION: QUALITY UPDATE (01-2022)
Comparison Shots (with Slider; 10 image pairs per link):
https://imgsli.com/ODg0OTk
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDA
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDE
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDI
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDM
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDQ
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDU
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDY
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MDc
https://imgsli.com/ODg1MTI
If you want more, let me know. Happy New Year Everyone !!!
@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.
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 !!!
@calisto:
Thanks, won’t be long now.
@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.
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!
@Artan42:
Well, I experimented a lot before settling on what I am doing now.
My first approach in the past: Take the DVDs and upscale as they are. Looked good on live action, but the effects looked (in my opinion) worse because they were already zoomed in.
My second approach (after the 1080p masters from HBO/Amazon became available): Upscale that to 4K. Looked nice, but was only in 4:3 aspect ratio and personally I think they went overboard with their increased saturation.
My third approach was (as you have suggested): Mixed ratios - Live action 16:9 and 4:3 effects from the 1080p masters. Looked strange to me. Then I experimented with digitally / software-based “painting in” the missing elements from the sides. Looked good on static shots, but crappy as soon as anything moved (like stars, ships and such).
So I went with what I am doing now.
@Nearsighted Scrappile:
Sorry, you’ll have to wait til season 4 onwards. But I am sure once we get to that point, well, let’s just quote Q’s son “Talk about perfection …” 😉
Well, I know the debate about stretching without cropping to conform to 16:9 by heart.
Trust me, I have already caught a lot of crap for doing that.
I agree, planets look a bit “egg-shaped” and it’s certainly not according to everyone’s taste. But all I can work with are the materials I have available. Since I am not a CGI-artist and have no experience in VFX or blender work, I can’t recreate the effect scenes.
I am aware of Tom Smith’s work and it’s absolutely beautiful and stunning. It would be a dream come true to have such effects available. I actually considered contacting people who have knowledge in such areas.
And here comes the reality check (which shocked me a bit as well, but still, here it is): I actually got hold of someone who runs his own effects company and they are doing work for SciFi, but there were three problems:
So, as you can see, there are problems I can’t solve. Re-working effects is a long, expensive and difficult task. I am an enthusiastic amateur, doing the best I know to do with what I got.
This is it.
If you don’t like it, that’s ok. You are under no obligation to take it.
But please remember: I did mention that I was stretching the effects. Of course, it’s always a difference to look at pictures and the video. I get that.
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 first episode of seasons 1 of B5 (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 first episode should be done some time this week.
Here are comparison images:
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NTU
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NTY
https://imgsli.com/ODc2Nzk
https://imgsli.com/ODc2ODA
https://imgsli.com/ODc2ODE
https://imgsli.com/ODc2ODI
Here the sample (no unpacking, no password required; about 116 MB):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrmigyzv6rqwki6/SciFi-Upscale - B5 Sample (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0
Things that have been modified/improved upon (compared to what I did before):
Let me know what you think!
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 VOY-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/ODc2NTA
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NTE
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NTI
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NTM
https://imgsli.com/ODc2NTQ
Here the sample (no unpacking, no password required; about 81 MB):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/auyt1mktdh2ft2z/SciFi-Upscale - VOY Sample (1080p from 4K).mkv?dl=0
Things that have been modified/improved upon (compared to what I did before):
Let me know what you think!
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):
Let me know what you think!
@WXM:
You’re probably onto something. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to retain the details in the shadows.
Thanks guys, just wanted to let you know my workflow is solid an can be adapted to multiple sources (including later seasons). I am really trying to find the time to watch the full eps I have already re-done, but at the moment it’s difficult. These little snippets I put up were done several weeks ago when I was doing trial and error on specific settings.
Since then I finished the pilots of DS9 and VOY as well as the first episode of season 1 of Babylon 5. But the stuff is just “sitting there” since I haven’t had time to watch and do final corrections. But I will get around to it. My real-life job requires a 6-day-week at the moment with a lot of hours (trying to get in as much cash as possible in case Covid shuts us down again). So little time for other things. Still, I will get to it.
Perhaps the most interesting things/changes that happened to the workflow are:
Also, I have found a way to replace the stuttering CGI scenes from the PAL-version with those from the NTSC-version - I started experimenting with that because Voyager suffered a lot from this, but sometimes later seasons of DS9 do as well - combined with optical flow from DaVinci the stuttering can be reduced a lot and just looks nicer on the screen. Perhaps that technique could be adapted to Babylon 5, which also suffers from motion stutter a lot. I will have to take a look.
All in all things are looking up.
Hello community. Wanted to share something that I had “left over” from my upscaling trials (testing the workflow that has now become my standard), so you know I am still at it.
Please forgive me if I haven’t always hit the exact same frame or if the crop is a little off (I forgot to change the values), but since this was short ordered cooking, just focus on the visuals, ok?
Let’s call this “What does the Future hold (Part 2)”
New comparison images below.
Show: DS9, episode 1x06 “Captive Pursuit”
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNTY
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNTg
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNTk
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjA
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjM
Show: DS9, episode 3x01 “The Search (Part 1)”
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjQ
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjY
Show: DS9, episode 6x26 “Tears of the Prophets”
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjc
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjg
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNjk
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzA
And here you have the corresponding video samples (both SD-DVD from PAL-Source and 4K-Upscale - please remember that PAL has a speed-up to 25 FPS, which I corrected in the upscale towards 23,976 FPS, which is why voices sound different); free, no password:
Show: DS9, episode 1x06 “Captive Pursuit”
DVD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qwz3ym8ed81k8w1/DS9 - 1x06 - Captive Pursuit (SD-DVD).mkv?dl=0
Upscale: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uofieub5yzzqgxt/DS9 - 1x06 - Captive Pursuit (4K-Test).mkv?dl=0
Show: DS9, episode 3x01 “The Search (Part 1)”
DVD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/31rt2agnw6aywap/DS9 - 3x01 - The Search (SD-DVD).mkv?dl=0
Upscale: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ignkee7rmg8wylk/DS9 - 3x01 - The Search (4K-Test).mkv?dl=0
Show: DS9, episode 6x26 “Tears of the Prophets”
DVD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vawjd6mo557vv9y/DS9 - 6x26 - Tears of the Prophets (SD-DVD).mkv?dl=0
Upscale: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n4ago98ptdt9buz/DS9 - 6x26 - Tears of the Prophets (4K-Test).mkv?dl=0
Let me know what you think!
Hello community. Wanted to share something that I had “left over” from my upscaling trials (testing the workflow that has now become my standard), so you know I am still at it.
Please forgive me if I haven’t always hit the exact same frame or if the crop is a little off (I forgot to change the values), but since this was short ordered cooking, just focus on the visuals, ok?
Let’s call this “What does the Future hold (Part 2)”
New comparison images below.
Show: VOY, episode 2x21 "Deadlock”
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzE
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzM
Show: VOY, episode 4x09 “Year of Hell (Part 2)”
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzQ
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzU
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzY
Show: VOY, episode 6x26 "Unimatrix Zero (Part 1)”
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzc
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzg
https://imgsli.com/ODUwNzk
And here you have the corresponding video samples (both SD-DVD from PAL-Source and 4K-Upscale - please remember that PAL has a speed-up to 25 FPS, which I corrected in the upscale towards 23,976 FPS, which is why voices sound different); free, no password:
Show: VOY, episode 2x21 “Deadlock”
DVD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3dpnwoqyalqdshz/VOY - 2x21 - Deadlock (SD-DVD).mkv?dl=0
Upscale: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0t9kf9aqr54uio2/VOY - 2x21 - Deadlock (4K-Test).mkv?dl=0
Show: VOY, episode 4x09 “Year of Hell (Part 2)”
DVD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e39dan9wd32hzpj/VOY - 4x09 - Year of Hell (SD-DVD).mkv?dl=0
Upscale: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rj50eu911935udz/VOY - 4x09 - Year of Hell (4K-Test).mkv?dl=0
Show: VOY, episode 6x26 “Unimatrix Zero (Part 1)”
DVD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a9g8bcpkmvzv91j/VOY - 6x26 - Unimatrix Zero (SD-DVD).mkv?dl=0
Upscale: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oob69p5do2wselc/VOY - 6x26 - Unimatrix Zero (4K-Test).mkv?dl=0
Let me know what you think!
Thanks, but I still feel guilty. Besides, I used all (and I do mean all) available memory I had (including several harddrives, flashdrives and local computer memory to at least continue rendering), now everything is full. Can’t wait to clear that and continue.