The Upscale Project (aka Project Upscale)

[PDB]

I attempted to get a big Sony CRT at a few points but the math never worked for me. I just don’t have the space for it. My Sony PVM is only 14 inches so I can work with that.

[PDB]

So after months of working on this, I'm not happy with the level of progress I've made in general but some projects look good enough to release.

So I'm going to start with the french DVD of Hard Boiled

[monks19]

Hello everyone. I've found that thread recently and I would like to do some upscaling of old DVD (or HDTV file) on my own into either 1080p and/or 4k. Any advice(s), software(s), workflow(s) and recommandation(s) that I can use as a beginner ?

Thanks if you can help

[PDB]

Hello everyone. I've found that thread recently and I would like to do some upscaling of old DVD (or HDTV file) on my own into either 1080p and/or 4k. Any advice(s), software(s), workflow(s) and recommandation(s) that I can use as a beginner ?

Thanks if you can help

There are a lot of ways of upscaling. Several through avisynth. For avisynth there is Superres, SuperresXBR and several newer AI upscalers.

But I think for simplicity sake and starting out, I think most would recommend Topaz Video AI for a beginner. It has a lot of faults but seems to be one of the best upscalers out there.

[PDB]

This project was dead but I'm thinking about picking it back up.

I still have ~2000 DVDs that I like to watch but in the world of 4K TVs they present diminishing returns. Especially since modern TV's aren't the best at taking 480i (NTSC) to 1080p or even 2160p. A lot of modern TVs focus on scaling 1080p to 2160p and above. So in that light, I have always had an idea to upscale my whole DVD collection so I'm able to watch them better on modern equipment.

I have been experimenting with this on two fronts, upscaling and color. The goal with the upscaling part is to get the best amount of details in the shortest amount of (upscaling) time. Say upscaling a DVD in two days versus taking a week. The question is: does the extra processing yield details that are worth it? Before I would of said yes but in lieu of upscaling hundreds of DVDs, I'm trying to find the mix of best details in the shortest timeframe.

The second part is color, specifically applying my CRT Project LUTs to old DVDs. Of course I'm on the lookout and first targeting those DVDs with unique color timing. Ones that would be useful for future projects. But I'm also looking at DVDs that seem uninteresting until you apply my CRT LUT. At that point they might be useful for future projects.

In brainstorming here, I might just start upscaling these DVDs and post them on here. If there is enough interesting, I will host one or two online for people to procure. I'm curious to see how far I can get before I get burn out.

I finally picked this project back up and started upscaling a massive amount of DVDs. The goal is to hit the DVDs not in HD, with different colors, different transfers or just DVD's I like. So a bit of a random selection, most likely with a focus on older films.

I'm also going to emphasize the upscaling part and spend less on color correction. A few will get some color work but most won't.

As I've said before, I doubt these upscales will fool anyone into thinking these are HD but they should be much better then the original DVDs. The goal is to get the best upscale using my current workflow in the shortest amount of time. A lot of the results are going to be dependent on the quality of the original DVD. Garbage in, garbage out. Particularly, in the case of compression and EE.

For the audio, most of the time it will be the original DVD's audio but if I have some special tracks ready to go, I'll mux those in.

I not going to upload these as I expect them to not be super popular but if you want one and you are a regular contributor just PM me.

BATCH 1
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Akira (1988)



Why?
The DVD has a different transfer and different colors
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=15123&d2=3862&c=1600

Video
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
FLAC 2.0 JPN (from the JPN LD)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 JPN (from the DVD)
DTS-HD MA 7.1 JPN (from the BD)
FLAC 2.0 ENG (from the Criterion/Streamline LD)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 ENG (from the DVD-New ENG Dub)

Notes:
The DVD is a very rough, old transfer and some of the worse EE I have seen on a DVD. So don't expect any miracles. The audio comes from a project, I found online but I don't know who did the work. So credit to that person for the audio.

More Pics:

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The Brides of Dracula (1960)



Why?
A different transfer compared to the Universal BD. See notes

Video
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (from the DVD)

Notes:
I thought this was the older Universal transfer in the unique 1.66 aspect ratio but now I see the Shout BD has that aspect ratio, so now I'm not sure.

More Pics:

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North By Northwest (1959)



Why?
The Warner/Lowery DVD has a different transfer and different colors.

Video
DVD video upscaled to 1080p with some black level/contrast adjustments

Audio:
PCM 2.0 Mono (from the Criterion LD)
PCM 2.0 Mono-Stereo (from the MGM LD)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (from the BD)
Commentary (from the BD)

Notes:
Synced to the BD

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Where Eagles Dare (1968)



Why?
The DVD has a different transfer and different colors
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=725&d2=724&c=1011

Video
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the DVD)

Notes:
N/A

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Eiichi Kudo's Samurai Revolution Trilogy

13 Assassins (1963)


The Great Killing (1964)


11 Samurai (1967)


Why?
Not 100% sure but I don't think these amazing films are on BD/HD.

Video
DVD video upscaled to 1080p with some black level/contrast adjustments

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (from the DVDs)

Notes:
11 and 13 are the old Animeigo DVDs, I can't remember the source for TGK

More Pics:

13 Assassins


The Great Killing


11 Samurai

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Universal Monster 1999 Transfers - Part 1

Dracula (1931)


Frankenstein (1931)


Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)


Why?
Different and older but interesting transfers when compared to the late CE DVD/BD/UHD transfers

Video
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (from the DVDs)

Notes:
N/A

More Pics:

Dracula (1931)


Frankenstein (1931)


Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

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Abandoned Upscales

2001 (MGM DVD) - I believe this is from the old MGM LD transfer and put onto the MGM DVD (later reprinted by Warner). It had really, really bad EE. Once I lessened that I noticed the level of detail wasn't that great probably owning to the LD natural of the transfer. So I dropped it.

Revenge (Sony DVD) - The 1990 Scott-Costner picture. I thought the TC only existed on DVD but just noticed that the TC is on German BD. So I dropped this also.

Firestorm (Fox-UK PAL DVD) - I love this Howie Long 1998 cheese fest. I had upscaled it till I found a pretty good HD transfer.

[Hitcher]

Impressive.

[PDB]

BATCH 2
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The Big Sleep (1946) - The Pre-Release Version



Why?
A different cut of this famous film.

Video:
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono (from the BD)

Notes:
This is the Pre-Release cut of TBS. It is a slightly different cut compared to the TC. While the TC got bumped up to HD and beyond, the pre-release is still in SD as far as I know.

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Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - First DVD 4:3 Version



Why?
The DVD has a different transfer and different colors

Video:
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 (from the DVD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the DVD)

Notes:
I tracked down the old flipper DVD of BSD hoping to use it for patching a bad HDTV broadcast. Since the I had the 4:3 version I thought it would be fun to upscale it and see how it looks. Like a lot of 4:3 transfers it loses on the sides and gains on the top and bottom.

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Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)



Why?
The DVD has a different transfer and different colors

Video:
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 (from the DVD)

Notes:
This is the first gen DVD of Rambo II with the original 2 channel DS soundtrack.

More Pics:

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Rear Window (1955)



Why?
The DVD has a different transfer and different colors

Video:
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (from the DVD)

Notes:
I believe this is the first DVD issued for RW in the 1.66 aspect ratio.

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Coming Soon
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Hard Boiled (1992) - French DVD Color Corrected



Why?
The French DVD has a different transfer and different colors compared to the Japanese BD. In addition, I made 1 LUT color correction to better match the upscale to a 35mm trailer of HB I have.

Video:
DVD video upscaled to 1080p

Audio:
PCM 2.0 Mono (from the Criterion LD)

Notes:
This is synced to the Japanese BD with 4 short scenes taken from that BD to pad it out. Subs are a fan translate.

More Pics:

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