**Episode 5 - Troll Bridge **
This is just stunning. Thank you for doing this.
Whilst happy with the fan route, I wonder if there’s any appetite at Ghost Corp (or whoever handles the rights to the cartoon these days) to run the series through this process and update the streaming services or use this for a future re-release.
Could see many old cartoons benefiting from this process.
Edit: I think in terms of colour balance the reds are slightly muted in this compared to the original, which is why it ends up looking cooler and more orange in places? It’s a minor nitpick though.
I watched this one side by side with the original and the detail it adds to the backgrounds especially is very noticeable. I could understand it may spark some debate about upscale choices and authenticity but it would undeniably make the show look better on a modern TV setup.
I don’t know if you had resized it at 4X instead of 4.5X, but it has the same issues. If you could, can you screen cap the intro where the outline of the No-Ghost is straight over his stomach (like what I posted a bit ago) for the new conversation from the video file (not on youtube). There might be a chance that some of the issues are on Youtube’s side.
Sure here it is. The issue is definitely present without Youtube’s compression:
Obviously this is something that would need to be addressed in a proper remaster rather than a simple upscaling like I am performing. I don’t have the knowledge, skill, or software to perform such a remaster. I’ve noticed that the scaled up/restored classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+ have similar issues, so maybe it’s not possible without actually reanimating/redrawing the episodes.
I think the only way to solve those issues would be to add an additional layer of animation adding line work touch-ups etc using the upscaled video as a base.
Which is an awful lot of work. And even with the line artefacts it is still an improvement over the current quality.
Maybe the upscaling software will develop over time and improve how these sorts of lines turn out.
Try it with “You can’t take it with you.” That episode is in really rough shape.
oof yeah that’s a bad one. Got “When Halloween Was Forever” coming up soon, and that one is possibly the worst animation of the first season, so it’ll be interesting to see all that mess scaled up. Slimer, Come Home has some bad parts in it as well.
Episode 7 - Mr. Sandman, Dream Me A Dream
Episode 8 - When Halloween Was Forever
Episode 9 - Look Homeward, Ray
Episode 10 - Take Two
Episode 11 - Citizen Ghost
The commercially high-end version of this tech does an exceptional job and without the sorts of artefacts we’re seeing here. No offence to kind2311 who is doin sterling work. Here’s an example of the new He-Man bluray:
It’s not beyond the realm of possibility Real Ghostbusters will eventually see such a re-release. I imagine all cartoons from that era are ripe for this tech, so I’m confident.
I went though the DVD version of the episodes I have already enhanced, and the DVD also exhibits the same color and temperature changes that the enhanced copies suffer from. Either it’s a problem with my copies of the DVDs, or it’s something inherent to the DVD transfer that is now being enhanced and exacerbated by the upscaling process.
Your DVD copies seem the same as TimeLifes. The issue is a true remaster finds a master to work from. A DVD is already quite a few generations from the original print. Between it being “a copy of a copy of a copy…etc” and it being digitized at 640 X 480 pixels, it can only be fixed to a point. That’s why the black outlines of the No-Ghost walking are the way they are. It is going to happen no matter what software you have. It is already set at 640 X 480.
From what I’ve gathered the company producing the He-Man Blu-Ray has tech which can produce superior results. See above where more detailed line work is depicted where there would be incomprehensible artefact using a basic AI upscaler. I have no idea how it’s able to do that.
Also worth noting some of the same people who worked on the Time Life RGB set are working on this He-Man set. If they got the rights to Real Ghostbusters I’m sure the results would be superior to what a fan can achieve with DVD rips. Fingers crossed the rights are acquire and / or Ghost Corp sees a financial or preservation incentive in remastering the series in this way. It would also justify a full price re-release / box set and new streaming revenues.
This is why I am quietly confident it’s a matter of when not if. Plus even if it doesn’t happen, the upscaling tech out in the wild will continue to improve.
Are we absolutely certain the He-Man remaster is solely down to AI interpretation? The dots on the middle plate of elephant man’s are damn-near invisible on the old transfer, and surely would’ve been lost in the clean-up process if that 2019 DVD is representative of the quality they’re using as the foundation?
I’m told it was done using “Upscaling technology”. Whether they have broadcast tapes to work from I’m not sure, those would exist for RGB anyway as they were used for the Time Life set.
