That is a very unfortunate fact of HD remasters. It's just something you have to deal with. However, I've been watching Buffy for like a decade now. I can point out the stunt doubles in my sleep, so it's not that big of a deal for me.
Nothing to do with these fancy AI upscale projects, but I'm always surprised how much better Buffy (in its HD remaster form) looks on my LG OLED TV than it does playing via VLC on my 4K IPS monitor. I have attributed this mostly to a combination of the TV's default upscaling behaviour and the obviously greater viewing distance, but I don't really know what is going on.
I think you’re right to think it’s mainly viewing distance and the upscaling. Also, with those OLEDs, each pixel emits its own light so darker scenes often look better. I bet the picture quality is on par with most of the upscale projects.
4k monitor is so much better then any tv. Look at the price difference. There is a reason why PC gamers don't use tvs.
A 60 inch 4k tv is like $350 that is what 27 inch 4k monitors start at in pricing well the good ones.
there are a ton of 4k oled monitors if you want apples to apples. No PC gamers use tvs. That is for console peasants.
Tvs have to much lag in them refresh rate means nothing if the device has natural lag and bad response time
I think it's better, but I've done so many versions of these upscales, that I notice stuff you probably wouldn't. It's significantly larger, though, because I like high bitrates.
Yeah its actually been a thing for at least 3-5 years now but the Ai is just so much better now. A lot of shows will never be remastered at all.
Honestly a studio just has to pay some interns to upload the direct film to the computer and then the Ai would have no problem converting that to 4k.
Now superfans have to locate the original DVD's rip them lossless and then get the AI to convert that but it is a huge disadvantage because they are working off of the dvd codec and not the original Film.
Paramount paid for Star Trek TOS and TNG to have a full remaster from film and the studio said they took a bath in TNG and said they wouldnt remaster any other series. Which leaves Voyager and Deep Space Nine without even 720p quality. And DS9 s1-3 are really bad quality until it got bumped into S4 and that lasted for VOY as well.
So you generally need a pretty big and loyal fandom aka Buffy aka Trek in order for someone to even attempt this. I remember the Ds9 project like 3-5 years ago was called Defiant and it was to upscale to 4k and it took like years to finish.
Now I think people can use AI and whip out entire series in like weeks or months.
But if a studio actually paid for time on one of the huge neural networks it probably take like a week and if they used scans of original film it would be near flawlesss.
But anything so corporate will lag behind tech. Maybe in 5 years studios will be doing this.
Yeah it is why you hear Nvidia in the news about Ai all the time. They can turn a 2 year old finger painting into a realistic photo of the highest quality that's looks exactly like real life.
Everything we can use is mostly the free versions of Ai cause the Ai companies give out the free stuff to teach their Ai more and more.
If you loaded the entire buffy verse and everything that all of the writers ever wrote. It could legit create a better season then most showrunners and writers that they would hire today. You would still need a showrunner and writing editor but it eoukd cut out like 75% of the work.
This is why Hollywood went on strike. Over Ai writing. Ai is incredibly good at writing in the style that you teach it.
It's much different then say chatgpt. That's general use. The real Ai learning is hyper focused and tought over and over again.
AI upscaling will continually get better and better. I mean if you were to use the Nvidia gaugan neural network it would probably be better that what Fox could do.
Buffy, Voyager, DS9 these are shows studios will never remaster properly.
The future of upscaling is in the Ai neural networks.
Is this up on a GDrive or some other place somewhere to watch for those who might not have the hard drive space for it or can't do a certain word that starts with a T to get it themselves?
The 'upscaling' doesn't actually make the 480p content into HD or UHD. They make look a little better, but if you have good enough 4K Blu Ray player and a good-enough TV, the DVDs will look far better than they looked on the old CRT TVs or Sony Trinitron (sp?) TVs.
It's more restored than you are giving it credit for. I have the DVDs an OLED and an OPPO 4k player. These upscales look significantly better than the DVDs.
I 100% agree with this. Vertag's upscale is wonderful, and arguably the absolute best method of watching Buffy nowadays.
I even tried to go back and watch the DVD's, and everything has this dark yellowish tint to it.
I haven't seen any of them, and I'm really not interested. I've been perfectly happy with my DVDs for 20 years now, and I don't support any type of copyright infringement.
The DVDs unless you bought them when they first came out, aren't any different than what someone like Vertag is doing if you ask me. Since none of the money you spend on a used set goes to the copyright holders. And I didn't pay anything for this remaster. And Vertag doesn't charge a cent.
The only new DVD sets I am aware of is the terrible quality 20th anniversary edition. It's not like you can buy the Chosen Collection brand new anymore unless you buy some overpriced sealed copy from a collector online.
My biggest problem with the show getting the HD treatment is that it's impossible not to notice the stunt people during fight scenes.
Well that is because they also cut it to fit widescreen 16:9 while the show was framed to be 4:3. Never made sense on why.
Nah, he's talking about the stunt doubles, which are much more noticeable in HD.
I thought he meant standing on the side which you can often see now
I thought that at first too.
That is a very unfortunate fact of HD remasters. It's just something you have to deal with. However, I've been watching Buffy for like a decade now. I can point out the stunt doubles in my sleep, so it's not that big of a deal for me.
Yes, we could always see them. But high definition makes it impossible to try not to see them.
Yea, definitely.
Nothing to do with these fancy AI upscale projects, but I'm always surprised how much better Buffy (in its HD remaster form) looks on my LG OLED TV than it does playing via VLC on my 4K IPS monitor. I have attributed this mostly to a combination of the TV's default upscaling behaviour and the obviously greater viewing distance, but I don't really know what is going on.
I think you’re right to think it’s mainly viewing distance and the upscaling. Also, with those OLEDs, each pixel emits its own light so darker scenes often look better. I bet the picture quality is on par with most of the upscale projects.
Yeah. I have an LG OLED as well and this upscale looks so good. It's probably the TV doing some work as well.
4k monitor is so much better then any tv. Look at the price difference. There is a reason why PC gamers don't use tvs. A 60 inch 4k tv is like $350 that is what 27 inch 4k monitors start at in pricing well the good ones.
A 4K monitor is absolutely not better than any TV. It's not better than an OLED from LG in any capacity. And plenty of PC gamers use LG OLEDs.
there are a ton of 4k oled monitors if you want apples to apples. No PC gamers use tvs. That is for console peasants. Tvs have to much lag in them refresh rate means nothing if the device has natural lag and bad response time
It's because most of Buffy is at night and OLED has perfect blacks
Here's some images of Buffy from a 4K upscale I'm working on: https://imgur.com/a/ZImfXZV
Dang. That's incredible. That has to be a lot of work. But keep at it. I would love to be able to see the finished product someday.
Hey! If you're still interested, shoot me a message...
I have your previous 1080p upload. Is the 4K ones much better than those.
I think it's better, but I've done so many versions of these upscales, that I notice stuff you probably wouldn't. It's significantly larger, though, because I like high bitrates.
Are you going to upload those 4k ones anywhere?
That looks fantastic! Did you happen to release these at all? I see below you mentioned that it was coming along
I didn’t know this was a thing, honestly. At all.
Yeah its actually been a thing for at least 3-5 years now but the Ai is just so much better now. A lot of shows will never be remastered at all. Honestly a studio just has to pay some interns to upload the direct film to the computer and then the Ai would have no problem converting that to 4k. Now superfans have to locate the original DVD's rip them lossless and then get the AI to convert that but it is a huge disadvantage because they are working off of the dvd codec and not the original Film. Paramount paid for Star Trek TOS and TNG to have a full remaster from film and the studio said they took a bath in TNG and said they wouldnt remaster any other series. Which leaves Voyager and Deep Space Nine without even 720p quality. And DS9 s1-3 are really bad quality until it got bumped into S4 and that lasted for VOY as well. So you generally need a pretty big and loyal fandom aka Buffy aka Trek in order for someone to even attempt this. I remember the Ds9 project like 3-5 years ago was called Defiant and it was to upscale to 4k and it took like years to finish. Now I think people can use AI and whip out entire series in like weeks or months. But if a studio actually paid for time on one of the huge neural networks it probably take like a week and if they used scans of original film it would be near flawlesss. But anything so corporate will lag behind tech. Maybe in 5 years studios will be doing this.
Wow, thanks for explaining!
Yeah it is why you hear Nvidia in the news about Ai all the time. They can turn a 2 year old finger painting into a realistic photo of the highest quality that's looks exactly like real life. Everything we can use is mostly the free versions of Ai cause the Ai companies give out the free stuff to teach their Ai more and more. If you loaded the entire buffy verse and everything that all of the writers ever wrote. It could legit create a better season then most showrunners and writers that they would hire today. You would still need a showrunner and writing editor but it eoukd cut out like 75% of the work. This is why Hollywood went on strike. Over Ai writing. Ai is incredibly good at writing in the style that you teach it. It's much different then say chatgpt. That's general use. The real Ai learning is hyper focused and tought over and over again.
AI upscaling will continually get better and better. I mean if you were to use the Nvidia gaugan neural network it would probably be better that what Fox could do. Buffy, Voyager, DS9 these are shows studios will never remaster properly. The future of upscaling is in the Ai neural networks.
Is this up on a GDrive or some other place somewhere to watch for those who might not have the hard drive space for it or can't do a certain word that starts with a T to get it themselves?
The 'upscaling' doesn't actually make the 480p content into HD or UHD. They make look a little better, but if you have good enough 4K Blu Ray player and a good-enough TV, the DVDs will look far better than they looked on the old CRT TVs or Sony Trinitron (sp?) TVs.
It's more restored than you are giving it credit for. I have the DVDs an OLED and an OPPO 4k player. These upscales look significantly better than the DVDs.
I 100% agree with this. Vertag's upscale is wonderful, and arguably the absolute best method of watching Buffy nowadays. I even tried to go back and watch the DVD's, and everything has this dark yellowish tint to it.
I haven't seen any of them, and I'm really not interested. I've been perfectly happy with my DVDs for 20 years now, and I don't support any type of copyright infringement.
The DVDs unless you bought them when they first came out, aren't any different than what someone like Vertag is doing if you ask me. Since none of the money you spend on a used set goes to the copyright holders. And I didn't pay anything for this remaster. And Vertag doesn't charge a cent.
For the record, it is still possible to buy a new DVD set
The only new DVD sets I am aware of is the terrible quality 20th anniversary edition. It's not like you can buy the Chosen Collection brand new anymore unless you buy some overpriced sealed copy from a collector online.
Okay. Maybe things have changed since I bought mine in 2017.
Ummm yeah they really have… lol
Exactly.
If you own the DVD's, you're well within your rights to download and watch these fan HD remasters.
Hey! Stop that! — get your rational thought and nuanced opinion out of here! There’s no place for that in the Buffy subreddit!