[In progress] The Dark Knight full 4K IMAX 1.43:1 restoration

[bobbster574]

EDIT [24/01/2024]:

v1.0 (2K ver) is done! if you dont want to spend the time scrolling through the thread, check out here https://fanrestore.com/thread-5269-post-...l#pid89233 (hopefully link works lol)

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hiya! i get that this is not an entirely novel idea but i think i have something to bring to the table that i have yet to see, and so far showing this stuff off people seem to like it, and it was mentioned itd be perhaps an interesting idea to post here!  

im sure you've heard this before: The Dark Knight (2008), has IMAX sequences which were originally shot in 1.43:1, but cropped to 16:9 for the Blu-ray presentation. there is a bonus disc in one of teh special edition box sets which has the main IMAX sequences in the original full frame presentation, but not quite everything. there is an old fullscreen 4:3 DVD which has something approaching the full frame (and way more image than the Blu-ray) but of course is 480p so you can't just drop it in as-is because its pretty soft

my idea: use a combination of upscaling and compositing to obtain near-native quality out of the lower resolution shots with the help of the 2K and 4K Blu-rays. i say near-native because some of the frame will be upscaled, but a good portion of the frame (and usually the portion which has the subject of the frame) will be true native, and the top/bottom of the frame is often sky or kinda out of focus so there isnt as much detail or sharpness to begin with.

i was originally just gonna upscale the stuff missing from the bonus disc and call it a day but i decided itd be fun to go through everything. first upscale with the 2K Blu-ray, then after thats all done, do it with the 4K.

as a way of showing what ive done that isnt just posting individual shots, i re-edited the trailer with the available 1.43:1 footage, its not a 1:1 exact edit because of how a lot of shots arent in the final cut of teh film for their full length (or at all) but ive done my best. teh audio isnt edited at all so pls dont grill me too hard for audio issues


but i do also have shot comparisons to show off :









the couple things you might notice beyond the general quality improvement, are the slight changes in aspect ratio and colour. the 4:3 DVD footage is actually stretched a bit vertically, so when corrected it actually has an aspect ratio of ~1.35:1, and the colour has been matched to the Blu-ray.

if you want to see one in motion, i have a comparison here



so these are all 2K, as that is what im currently focusing on, but i have done a 4K proof of concept to show off what will hopefully be akin to the final release:


this was done with bonus disc footage so its a bit of a best case scenario, but realistically only like 30 or so shots need to be enhanced from SD so this should hopefully be representative of most of the film. the colour was attempted to match against the Blu-ray but i dont think its 100% there, im not exactly familiar with colour grading so im playing around with some tools ive found to try and get as close as i can. i will likely look into improving this by the time i get to work on the actual 4K version.

i will mention that, while i would like to have a HDR version, i dont have the equipment or skill to do something like that, at least at this point in time. for now i am focusing on the 2K version, then the 4K SDR version, before i will properly see how feasible HDR is. its on my mind, just its gonna be a bit of time before i get anywhere near it.

that's basically all i have to show off, thanks for reading!

[PDB]

I did something similar a number of years ago but that project is old and doesn't have the overlaying you are employing to increase picture quality. Your project looks much better then mine.

Good luck with the project, I'm excited to see the end results.

[bobbster574]

Hello again!  

I had time this weekend to made a bunch of progress. thought i might as well share screenshot comparisons. I'm pretty happy with these kinda intial results but feedback is welcome!

[480p DVD on left, enhanced on right]





































I'm still tweaking around with the upscaling, some of the shots aren't quite there, but on the whole I'm happy with the progress.

One issue I am running into is the upscaling+regrading process exacerbating some of the slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction, that'd be amazing. 

Otherwise, thanks for reading (and any feedback you give)!

[Bilbofett]

Hello again!  

I had time this weekend to made a bunch of progress. thought i might as well share screenshot comparisons. I'm pretty happy with these kinda intial results but feedback is welcome!


I'm still tweaking around with the upscaling, some of the shots aren't quite there, but on the whole I'm happy with the progress.

One issue I am running into is the upscaling+regrading process exacerbating some of the slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction, that'd be amazing. 

Otherwise, thanks for reading (and any feedback you give)!

" slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction?,"

hey, its me same guy.. welcome to the group! I will be following this post w/ great interest

re: the flickering and noise reduction.. I'm assuming the source DVD is progressive (not interlaced?) and anamorphic (or its the fullscreen?). Send me a short 30-60 sec clip of the noisy (and hopefully flickering) footage and I'll try some tools on it to make the best recommendation for you. Since I too was going to do this project, I'd rather just help you where I can

[bobbster574]

" slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction?,"

hey, its me same guy.. welcome to the group! I will be following this post w/ great interest

re: the flickering and noise reduction.. I'm assuming the source DVD is progressive (not interlaced?) and anamorphic (or its the fullscreen?). Send me a short 30-60 sec clip of the noisy (and hopefully flickering) footage and I'll try some tools on it to make the best recommendation for you. Since I too was going to do this project, I'd rather just help you where I can

Hiya! thanks for the reply!

The DVD was originally interlaced 4:3, but I was able to detelecine it and it syncs perfectly with the Blu-ray. I have uploaded a ~35sec sample clip here with most of the shots which it's most apparant in. Let me know if theres any issues with the file and thanks for your help!

[Bilbofett]

" slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction?,"

hey, its me same guy.. welcome to the group! I will be following this post w/ great interest

re: the flickering and noise reduction.. I'm assuming the source DVD is progressive (not interlaced?) and anamorphic (or its the fullscreen?). Send me a short 30-60 sec clip of the noisy (and hopefully flickering) footage and I'll try some tools on it to make the best recommendation for you. Since I too was going to do this project, I'd rather just help you where I can

Hiya! thanks for the reply!

The DVD was originally interlaced 4:3, but I was able to detelecine it and it syncs perfectly with the Blu-ray. I have uploaded a ~35sec sample clip here with most of the shots which it's most apparant in. Let me know if theres any issues with the file and thanks for your help!

This is the original 1:1 straight port from the DVD? The quality is abysmal if its not.. can I get that please? I want the original interlaced source

[dwalkerdon]

wow, the AI enhanced DVD upscaled footage looks phenomenal!!!!

[bobbster574]

" slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction?,"

hey, its me same guy.. welcome to the group! I will be following this post w/ great interest

re: the flickering and noise reduction.. I'm assuming the source DVD is progressive (not interlaced?) and anamorphic (or its the fullscreen?). Send me a short 30-60 sec clip of the noisy (and hopefully flickering) footage and I'll try some tools on it to make the best recommendation for you. Since I too was going to do this project, I'd rather just help you where I can

Hiya! thanks for the reply!

The DVD was originally interlaced 4:3, but I was able to detelecine it and it syncs perfectly with the Blu-ray. I have uploaded a ~35sec sample clip here with most of the shots which it's most apparant in. Let me know if theres any issues with the file and thanks for your help!

This is the original 1:1 straight port from the DVD? The quality is abysmal if its not.. can I get that please? I want the original interlaced source

hrmm I encoded it losslessly and it looks about the same to my eye... That being said, I've cut the first shot out of the original MPEG-2 stream so you can see what I started with (link). if its actually that much better I can go and dig out the other shots for you if you want.

[Bilbofett]

" slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction?,"

hey, its me same guy.. welcome to the group! I will be following this post w/ great interest

re: the flickering and noise reduction.. I'm assuming the source DVD is progressive (not interlaced?) and anamorphic (or its the fullscreen?). Send me a short 30-60 sec clip of the noisy (and hopefully flickering) footage and I'll try some tools on it to make the best recommendation for you. Since I too was going to do this project, I'd rather just help you where I can

Hiya! thanks for the reply!

The DVD was originally interlaced 4:3, but I was able to detelecine it and it syncs perfectly with the Blu-ray. I have uploaded a ~35sec sample clip here with most of the shots which it's most apparant in. Let me know if theres any issues with the file and thanks for your help!

This is the original 1:1 straight port from the DVD? The quality is abysmal if its not.. can I get that please? I want the original interlaced source

hrmm I encoded it losslessly and it looks about the same to my eye... That being said, I've cut the first shot out of the original MPEG-2 stream so you can see what I started with (link). if its actually that much better I can go and dig out the other shots for you if you want.

Thanks, sent you DM!

[MSTie2016]

Hello again!  

I had time this weekend to made a bunch of progress. thought i might as well share screenshot comparisons. I'm pretty happy with these kinda intial results but feedback is welcome!



I'm still tweaking around with the upscaling, some of the shots aren't quite there, but on the whole I'm happy with the progress.

One issue I am running into is the upscaling+regrading process exacerbating some of the slight flickering in the DVD footage. Tbh I have barely any idea what I'm doing with denoising so if anyone could point me in the right direction, that'd be amazing. 

Otherwise, thanks for reading (and any feedback you give)!

This looks incredible!!! I hope to see this when it's ready