Is there a way to enhance a old movie like you can with old game's textures?

[MrQuiche]

Hi,

 

I would like to enhance the movie Police Story 1 released in 1985 (image quality wise, the current resolution is 720*400), is there a program or a way to do it?

Serious answers are greatly appreciated.

[yoječ]

Not really, you can technically upscale it but don't expect any great results. It'd be easier just to get a Bluray version of the movie.

[Kingbing]

The only way you can do that would be if you had the actual film that it was shot on. Since film has no pixels, it can be scanned to higher resolutions without quality loss. But that's not something an every day person is able to do. So short answer is no you can't do it.

[Night Machine]

Just get it on Bluray, all the old movies I've gotten so far look fantastic in that format and are not much more than the DVD version.  If you have an XB1 or PS4 you can play them on there. 

[Dryspace]

I've never seen an old game whose textures have been truly enhanced, not even by the original developer.

 

On 5/9/2019 at 9:16 AM, Night Machine said:

Just get it on Bluray, all the old movies I've gotten so far look fantastic in that format and are not much more than the DVD version.

Yeah--over several years I picked up Blu-rays at Half Price Books or during sales online, with an average price per movie of ~$6.50 USD. One problem is the lack of availability of specific movies in Blu-ray format. I actually haven't checked in a while, but I was always surprised at how many relatively popular movies were still only available on DVD.

 

Of course, Star Wars is a "relatively popular" movie, and yet as of now, the only genuine, unadulterated, un-Lucased copy I have is VHS. Which I might actually watch if I had a VCR.

 

But no--there is no way to do what you ask in the way that you ask, as movies do not contain discrete elements that can be removed and replaced, like a game's textures.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Dryspace

[LazlowsucksiloveslutS]

There is a program called Splash Pro. Its motion2 post processing makes old rhings look anew. I use it to watxh my childhood favorites such as Wa,ker Texas Ranger, Highlander and Renegade.

 

There is also a Smooth Video Project, SVP for short - worth trying out.

 

 

[BS_BlackScout]

On 5/4/2019 at 2:30 PM, MrQuiche said:

Hi,

 

I would like to enhance the movie Police Story 1 released in 1985 (image quality wise, the current resolution is 720*400), is there a program or a way to do it?

Serious answers are greatly appreciated.

Whoever said no is wrong (in a way) and yes I am reviving a thread from May.
OK. I'll give you the brief but not so brief explanation because this could go on forever.

 

There are Neural Networks nowadays that are capable of upscaling game textures (and images) by hallucinating some details. I am fairly sure a lot of people have heard about them before.
So, the most used algorithm is ESRGAN. There are dozens of models based on ESRGAN that are capable of upscaling different sorts of images, not just game textures.

 

With that said, you should be able to use ESRGAN as a way to process the frames from this movie and improve the video quality *YMMV*.

 

The first step is to get the basic ESRGAN script running on your PC. (and the required libraries and programs (Python n some other stuff))
The second step is to join a subreddit called /r/gameupscale and their Discord. You'll find dozens of models and a wiki. In the discord there will be some programs, one being "Crop Upscale Merge" which immensely simplifies the task.
The third step is, with probably a little bit of effort or "asking around" find a way or a script that is capable of extracting all of the frames (and the audio track) from said movie. FFMpeg is capable of doing that but it doesn't have an UI (It's CLI, console line interface). You'll have to Google a bit to understand its syntax. (It has a help command too)

The fourth step is to process an example frame and find a model that seems to generally work well with that movie. You should also ask around to see if someone has tried anything similar.
The fifth step is to process all the frames you've extracted with the tools that seem the best or scripts or help that you've got. I've done this myself with Crop Upscale Merge to remove compression from a video-game intro.

The sixth step is to reassemble the video out of those frames, together with the audio track. (FFMpeg does that, or whatever script is out there that I am not aware of)

 

You'd be done. I know that was a very sh*tty explanation but it's totally possible. I've done it myself since I was playing around with those NNs for quite some time. Now that the community has gotten together and there are better tools it should be easier.

 

*Perhaps there is a script to do all the processing and extraction and reassembling that I'm just not aware of, but still.
 

Useful information for later:
If the source is too compressed, run the JPEG models on the frames before trying to upscale anything. It will help a f*ckton.

Edited June 16, 2019 by BlackScout

[Dryspace]

13 hours ago, BlackScout said:

Whoever said no is wrong (in a way) and yes I am reviving a thread from May.

Don't worry--this thread was never dead to begin with! It's just a newborn, and was only sleeping.

 

Do you have any examples of your results with this process? I admit that I wouldn't expect anything impressive from these methods, at least from what I know of them, but I am willing to change my mind. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that such processes can add information to an image, but they can never make an image more accurate. Regarding photography, they can potentially represent what one might have seen, but not what one would have seen.

[sivispacem]

Dryspace speaks the truth.

 

Moreover, there are a myriad of factors which make generating a coherent texture image in this manner for a video game or photograph enormously different from doing so with a film.

 

For games, the neural network can use components of a 3D model, or the mip, normal, transparency, diffuse or bump maps to "learn" what an image "looks" like. That's what enables them to add predictive detail in an accurate way (though still creating a texture significantly worse than a well-versed skinner will be able to create manually).

 

Similarly, use of neural networks to create detailed or add detail to still images are definitely in their infancy and highly reliant on both the availability of comparable images to "learn" detail from, and a decently high-resolution still image to begin with. 

 

People have experimented with Pix2Pix and TensorFlow for this purpose. The output tends to be a bit...odd:

 

https://hackernoon.com/remastering-classic-films-in-tensorflow-with-pix2pix-f4d551fa0503

 

In these gifs (middle), the outer components of the image (IE the extension from 4:3 to 16:9) are rendered via a Neural Network. Top is original B+W 4:3, bottom is genuine professional 16:9 remaster.

 

 

For it to work, the network needs to be trained on comparable source material too.

[Davve95]

On 6/16/2019 at 8:28 AM, BlackScout said:

Whoever said no is wrong (in a way) and yes I am reviving a thread from May.
OK. I'll give you the brief but not so brief explanation because this could go on forever.

 

There are Neural Networks nowadays that are capable of upscaling game textures (and images) by hallucinating some details. I am fairly sure a lot of people have heard about them before.
So, the most used algorithm is ESRGAN. There are dozens of models based on ESRGAN that are capable of upscaling different sorts of images, not just game textures.

 

With that said, you should be able to use ESRGAN as a way to process the frames from this movie and improve the video quality *YMMV*.

 

The first step is to get the basic ESRGAN script running on your PC. (and the required libraries and programs (Python n some other stuff))
The second step is to join a subreddit called /r/gameupscale and their Discord. You'll find dozens of models and a wiki. In the discord there will be some programs, one being "Crop Upscale Merge" which immensely simplifies the task.
The third step is, with probably a little bit of effort or "asking around" find a way or a script that is capable of extracting all of the frames (and the audio track) from said movie. FFMpeg is capable of doing that but it doesn't have an UI (It's CLI, console line interface). You'll have to Google a bit to understand its syntax. (It has a help command too)

The fourth step is to process an example frame and find a model that seems to generally work well with that movie. You should also ask around to see if someone has tried anything similar.
The fifth step is to process all the frames you've extracted with the tools that seem the best or scripts or help that you've got. I've done this myself with Crop Upscale Merge to remove compression from a video-game intro.

The sixth step is to reassemble the video out of those frames, together with the audio track. (FFMpeg does that, or whatever script is out there that I am not aware of)

 

You'd be done. I know that was a very sh*tty explanation but it's totally possible. I've done it myself since I was playing around with those NNs for quite some time. Now that the community has gotten together and there are better tools it should be easier.

 

*Perhaps there is a script to do all the processing and extraction and reassembling that I'm just not aware of, but still.
 

Useful information for later:
If the source is too compressed, run the JPEG models on the frames before trying to upscale anything. It will help a f*ckton.

I think I have been reading that in old movies they used two kind of film rolls and one of them didn't got relased (the best one) Is that correct? My memory aren't the best .. I hope you get my explanation aswell. 

 

Btw, another question. 

Why is AI required improve picture better? (I don't know the tech behind) I mean in Photoshop there are alot of other things that seems as powefull. Dosen't it work to fill the pixels and smoothen them? 

(like I said don't know the tech about picturs and PS etc) 

Or does it depends on that the reslut won't get great enough? 
 

Edited June 25, 2019 by yoječ
Sorry for the post messed up. But dosen't work to remove spoiler on phone and not even be able to write in my post any more after edit ....

[Syrens]

In answering the OP question though, it's $30 in Walmart right now for 1 and 2 on Blu Ray, much simpler.

[MrQuiche]

On 6/25/2019 at 12:56 PM, Syrens said:

In answering the OP question though, it's $30 in Walmart right now for 1 and 2 on Blu Ray, much simpler.

I know but it's an edition with new french voices (lost some of the best lines) and with added scenes that were cut. I tried to put the audio track on the remaster video track but it's way too hard and i don't have the time to cut all the scenes that were added.

[Dryspace]

That reminds me, I was really disappointed that the Blu-ray release of Hellboy was the Director's Cut version only. It was the original cut on DVD that I fell in love with, and the Blu-ray version has a lot of extra scenes that do nothing for the story.

 

As a musician, I've done a lot of work with non-linear editing software. Is there a free video/movie editing program that would allow me to edit the Blu-ray myself? I wouldn't want to spend a lot of money for just a single project. Of course, I would have to purchase a Blu-ray drive so that I could rip it in the first place.....I've never done that before... *sigh* It's probably not worth messing with, lol

Edited June 29, 2019 by Dryspace

[Syrens]

On 6/29/2019 at 3:35 PM, MrQuiche said:

I know but it's an edition with new french voices (lost some of the best lines) and with added scenes that were cut. I tried to put the audio track on the remaster video track but it's way too hard and i don't have the time to cut all the scenes that were added.

Well no offence, but if you don't have the time to put the audio over the new remaster, then I doubt you've got the time to "Hi Def" the OG video.  I would say cut your losses and have the original or get the remastered blu ray and accept some's changed dude.

[Beato_dim]

On 6/25/2019 at 12:49 AM, Davve95 said:

Why is AI required improve picture better? (I don't know the tech behind) I mean in Photoshop there are alot of other things that seems as powefull. Dosen't it work to fill the pixels and smoothen them? 

Because even with Photoshop, there are a lot of things that just aren't done automatically, but are rather done by a human with Photoshop as a tool.