RESTORATIONS

4K RESTORATIONS

Restoring old movies and TV Shows into HD or 4K can be handled in one of three ways;

1. Re-Scanning the Cinema Negative: Some TV Shows and most movies were filmed on an actual cinema negative, which has a higher image quality than most modern digital resolutions. This is how a film from as far back as the 1930s can be given a true HD or 4K remaster, regardless of its age. This is how we accomplished our 4K Footage from the Super Mario Bros movie trailers.

2. Upscaling Standard Definition: This is the most common method for TV Shows and films that were either filmed directly onto video tapes, or where the source film negative is lost or considered too expensive to transfer. Many TV Shows from the 80s and 90s were filmed directly to video tape, such as GamesMaster and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. That means that the Standard Definition footage is the best there ever was. Other media, such as Cyber Razor Cut and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were filmed on a 35mm cinema negative and then copied over to video tape for editing and the final masters. These shows/adverts could be brought to real 4K standards by Re-Scanning the Cinema Negatives but Cyber Razor Cut's cinematographer informs me the film negatives are lost and CBS (who own Star Trek) cancelled their restoration work after doing so on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

3. Cyberpunk Studios' 4K Restoration: Exclusively with us, we've developed a way of restoring Standard Definition footage into 4K which far surpasses the results of upscaling. It's not as efficient as Re-Scanning Cinema Negatives, but for many shows it is the only route to a higher quality master being made available. An example of popular shows with no other route to HD/4K - The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, GamesMaster, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, Home Improvement, and many many more.

We have specific pages for some of the projects we're focussed on/have completed, and below that list are some samples of other shows being given the 4K Remaster treatment. It is advised to look at these on a computer screen where possible as the low resolution of mobile phone devices is likely to hide just how big an impact this restoration has given these shows.

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR

This technique is incredibly versatile, and can be applied to practically any standard definition TV series. Of course, the better quality the source material is, the better the results on the other side. Below is a frame from the intro to The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air (taken from it's pilot episode). 

The upscaled "SD" frame is the actual image we used to create the "4K" version, which has eliminated a huge amount of interlacing problems as well improving visual details on Will Smith's face. However by looking very closely at the still frame you can see some of the interlacing problems have left a strange line effect on the base of his hairline and rim of the hat. It's still an major improvement on the image, however you can see how any visual damage (or extreme interlacing effects) can affect the restoration.

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

Here we've applied the technique to a few test frames of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. These come from the DVD copies of the first Season, episode Duet.
As you can see, the restoration effect is vastly cleaner here, however some blockiness can be seen on the wall beside Kira. The original frame had the same problem, however with the rest of the image now looking cleaner, it stands out on the 4K version.

In reality this technique, while looking mostly great on DS9, wouldn't be the correct way to restore the show. Unlike many TV Shows in the 90s, Star Trek was always filmed on a cinema negative and then transferred to video tape for editing. While this restoration technique revives the image wonderfully, it can't replace all of the missing information that is still accessible on the camera negative.

Where Fresh Prince of Bel Air and GamesMaster were recorded directly onto video tape, Star Trek's surviving film reels mean it can actually be restored into real 4K from new scans of the film negative. But since CBS have rejected doing so for a decade, it seemed appropriate to have a go and see just how vibrant we could make DS9 look without them.
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