Enhancing Old Videos (with AI)
 

I've been enhancing some of the old videos at Downblouse Loving and am pleased with the results. I'm using Vmake AI:

https://vmake.ai/

After a lot of research and testing I've found that to be the best way to enhance old videos.

A lot of the old videos are 960 x 540 with a bit rate of 1800 kbps. I've not gone mad and tried to upscale them to 4K, though I have tested that idea out. I didn't like the results as the videos lost their realism and looked a bit waxy and fake. That's because the AI had do fill in so much detail to blow them up to 4K.

I've found a way to convert the old videos and for the file sizes not to be too much bigger.

Here are 3 videos that have been enhanced:

https://www.downblouseloving.com/tag/video-samples/

What do you think? Is anyone else considering doing this? I haven't got any feedback from the members yet but will be asking for some soon.

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. Strabnge that no replies

upscaling/sharpening has always been in the toolbox; fcp, imovie, etc.

in marketing to users, "ai" seems to be in the same category as vr and 3d. some enthusiasts but not the majority.

I use Topaz

Have you downloaded the program? I assume if you have then you use your own computer to enhance the videos. This could be very slow unless you have a powerful computer. I've just asked AI to compare https://vmake.ai/ with Topaz. It says VMake AI is more convenient and quicker as you use their software and servers on the cloud. But it says you can get better quality using Topaz which is often more natural than VMake AI. I imagine you have to learn a lot to use Topaz whereas with VMake AI it's all basically done for you with a click of a button.

Yes, that's true. I think something like VMake AI is better in a lot of ways as it's just really convenient to use and doesn't require any technical knowledge. I'm happy with the video enhancements I've been able to make with it. You can clearly see a difference in quality with the enhanced video but it still looks natural.

unless you count using drop down menus and sliders...

fcp and imovie don't really require "technical knowledge" to use.

Karen Hao went to uni with the ai tech bros. Good interview.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8enXRDlWguU



And yes. I'd shoot w￶/ her for sure.

Decent quality. It would be even better if you could have AI smooth out the jerky camera movements.

Need to see the originals to compare.
Topaz is decent though which we run on machines with 5090 cards so is pretty fast.

Thanks. There is some jerky camera movement I'll admit on some of our earlier videos. We try to avoid that now. I'll see if I can find a way to reduce it on some of the videos. Will be interesting to see if I can do that.

what plan did you purchase on Vmake?

interested to use this too, especially for upgrading some of our HD to 4k, but this is only the pro plan...

I'm on the $9.95 a month plan, called the Plus plan. But I'm going to upgrade soon to the Pro plan at $29.95 a month. The $9.95 a month plan limits you to enhancing 10 videos a day. The $29.95 a month plan allows you to enhance 50 videos a day. With each plan you also get credits. With the $9.95 plan you get 1,000 credits a month. If you enhance 10 videos a day on that plan you can enhance more but each extra video costs you 50 credits. If I can enhance 50 videos a day then I'll be very happy. It seems there is a limit in file size that you can upload. I'm not sure if you can enhance and video that is over 300 MB. Though you might be able to on the $29.95 a month plan. But the older videos I'm enhancing are not so large in file size so it's no problem.

Many AI offers now, but exhausting to find the best. Have you tested other tools?

Yes, there are... I have tested other tools and done a lot of research. I can recommend https://vmake.ai/ because it is so easy to use and reasonably priced and the results you get are very good. I did try downloading some programs but they were really slow because my computer isn't top spec, especially regarding graphic card... When you use VMake AI it doesn't use your computer to enhance a video so it's much quicker. I recommend to anyone that they try out the $9.99 a month option to test it out. You can convert videos to 4K but can only convert 10 clips a day. If you want to convert more you have to use points that you get with your subscription. You get 1,000 points a month with the $9.99 a month option. Also VMake AI does a lot of other things but I'm just interested in using it to enhance older videos. You might actually get some better results with some other program that allows you more options when converting videos but then you will need to learn how to use it and it will probably be more time consuming. It has great reviews on Trust Pilot:

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/vmake.ai

I'm going to upgrade to the $29.99 a month option, now that I've tested it out and like it. The $29.99 a month plan allows you to enhance up to 50 videos a day.

im not a restauration pro, but as long as the colors or overall dynamic color range is adopted to something more contemporary, it doesnt make much sense to just blow up the resolution, your only getting bigger files . my opinion. some sort of color grading is necessary to make it look a bit more contemporary. the possibilities here, even with ai are limited by the quality of the native/original material .i mean technical quality ,my try once again with uncompressed footage if you have it still available.

100% agree.

I agree. I'm just doubling the resolution instead of going for full 4K. The file sizes of the conversion are really large so I then use Handbrake to convert the enhanced file which is usually 1080 back to a smaller resolution. I just convert with Handbrake to 720 and a lower bit rate. I think the results are definitely an improvement on the original video. I've had a good response from the members of the sites.

I do believe one day AI will be able to make old videos like mine true 4K whilst not making them look unrealistic and fake. It will add shading and keep skin texture real. In the meantime I think VMake AI does a good job of noticeably sharping the quality of older videos whilst still keeping them looking natural.

its your time and work, but for me it seems like a bit of wasted time and ressource
maybe just use a simple upscaler, you can scale up videos in resolution with ai . so you can spare this cumbersome process of using handbreak to downconvert again the huge file size from the previous conversion. however this will not give you the desired wow effect either , as i said it only bloats the filesize , but maybe the users feel like they are getting a bit more of value when the files are bigger 8)

Reconverting the videos through Handbrake is no problem as I do it in batches so can convert lots of videos at the same time. So actually it only takes about a minute of my time because when the videos are converting in Handbrake I'm doing something else or am out. I did spend a lot of time trying different things and conversions and am happy with what I've come up with. When I'm enhancing videos with VMake AI I'm doing other things on my other computer or just leaving them to enhance. It's all so easy and quite a few members have got in touch to tell us how they appreciate the enhanced videos. I'll just enhance a certain amount of videos each week. I think, for me, it's definitely worth the time spent doing this.