Gamesmaster Gore Special VCD - HD Remaster

[Roareye]

STRAIIIIGHT DOWWWWNN HAHAHAHAAHA!

Well thanks to SeeNoEvil, I now have a digital copy of the GamesMaster Gore Special VCD. One thing I will be doing to satisfy myself is burn a copy to a VCD disc to play in my VCD upgraded Sega Saturn - surely the perfect marriage of gaming media.

However before I thrust my life away on Doritos and wanky old tele, I decided to see the effects of the remastering techniques I used for the DVD Final Episode on this muchly reduced quality video.

Firstly the audio, likely the bit most people care less about. I have a raw copy of the LPCM audio (lossless) which I can use for the release. This is the Stereo 2.0 44.1Khz/16bit that the VCD includes. I am looking at the possibility of surround audio boosting, but my first attention is on the video.


Raw Upscale of the VCD footage - No remastering done

I was actually surprised how battered and tired the video is on the disc. The DVD was pretty bad in spots for colour balance and black levels, as well as artifacting - and Season 4 is undoubtedly one of the worst seasons of GM as far as image quality goes. Not the style or technical effort, just the end result we have left on recording. Detail has been lost in relatively poor media used to record the show (Moreso than other seasons) which will never be coming back. Colour depth and black levels are morbidly failing and the VCD adds it's own sheen of blocky pixelation to the affair.

Strangely, the restorative work I did on the DVD footage works just as well here. Not only does it work just as well, it works far more impressively than on the DVD edition. It looks almost as clear as the DVD remaster (Seen most effectively during the Robocop segment, where we can directly compare footage). The VCD footage is diabolical compared to the DVD (Which wasn't exactly gold itself), but the VCD remaster looks almost identical to the DVD remaster. There is a miniscule spec of distortion or two more from the VCD encode, but you'd have to really stare at it to see it (as I did)

I only a few stills for tonight, as I am having an evening in with my girlfriend and I'm being very rude doing this much! However I hope this whets your appetite for the restoration to continue. Let me know what you think, and if there are any particular shots you want to see restored in a still while I work on this thing.

LEFT: Original VCD Upscaled to 1080p
RIGHT: VCD Remastered in 1080p

[Roareye]

An example of a very problematic frame from the VCD. In this particular shot the camera was poorly placed behind the licking flames of one of the floor-standing fire lamps. This had the effect of the camera rendering the image far too brightly in confusion between the contrast of the bright flames and the darker humans/background. This is then made worse by the VCD's encoding process which butchered the remaining image into massive squares of extreme pixelation at a low resolution.

While not able to perfectly recapture the source, the remaster I've done (on the right) has cleared up the colour balance issue and largely restored the image. With a frame this badly damaged by the camera angle I can't fully recover it, as such large squares still invade the remastered image, but it's not as pronounced and some depth and clarity has returned.

Just a preview of one of the more difficult frames (The Dominik close up in the first post is a frame that had much less damage) and the current results of restoring them.

Please do post your thoughts and critiques on this as I go

I'm about halfway done with the first draft of the video remastering. Not touched the sound yet, and I'm calling this the first draft because I need to do a finished render of it to test it for inconsistencies and possible issues (I'm keeping my eye on black levels and noise specifically).

[Roareye]

Just keeping you guys up to date. I'm currently remastering the large main feature, which I'm frankly not too keen on personally. I'm a bit of a prude, and had considered cutting this bit from the remaster, but that wouldn't be fair to the source material so it's staying in. >_>


That said, the quality of the imagery is far superior, so those looking forward to this shameful segment can enjoy it more than ever before :p

FULL SIZE
I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this (I'm possibly repeating unnecessary info) but when you click the images they open up in a small new window, at about 240p height.
The images here are mostly 1080p, and you can stretch the new little window to see more detail.

EDIT: Now 3/4 complete with the first visual draft

[Roareye]

I'm rendering the first draft now. It's got another 12 hours to go, so it's unlikely to be available for me to peruse until then (My computer may speed up once I come off of it lol)

Current concerns, but not necessarily issues, with Draft 1 of the VCD;
- Black levels: Possibility I may have rendered scenes too dark.
- Noise levels: The addition of film grain and noise is a necessary part of the process, as it hides the fact there is no detail in upscaled footage. This may have been placed too high in scenes and need editing.
- Saturation/Contrast: It is possible that colours may be pushed too high and the end result will look like cheap TV footage rather than the more filmic result I am trying to go for. High contrast may blow detail out in favour of masses of black.

I will apologise in advance for game footage not being particularly great, especially sprite based imagery. I have done my best to convert these but bear in mind they are rendered at 240p, upscaled to 480i, rendered to 576i and then downscaled to 288p for the VCD encode - this footage isn't hot off of the console. However if anyone wishes to record 1080p replacement footage of the games, I'll happily do a complete remaster version with all new footage. From playing my Sega Saturn through RGB out through an HDMI converter, I know more detail can be achieved from fresh footage.

Dependent on black level control, I think I've done a sweet job on the intro sequence ("Straight Down!" Train footage), as I've edited the remaster to give it more atmosphere and darker black levels. I think it fits the original intent of the footage.

[Roareye]

The rendering process has turned several areas into flickering noise levels. The first occurrence of these is in the first Atari Jaguar logo, when the black background flashes between pitch black and whiter due to the addition of noise.

This also happens in odd scenes in the footage, making dark areas flash in an otherwise okay picture. Well First Draft certainly did it's job. I'll be looking to rectify these before I put the video out there, as I'm sure you guys will agree that flashing black/noise levels is a huge negative to the final product.

[Roareye]

Blimey has it been that long already?
Well I've been doing some more work on the Gore Special and have finished the Atari Jaguar ads and the GM Season 4 intro (I've done a bit more, but this will be enough for preview's sake).

CLICK HERE TO WATCH/DOWNLOAD
http://www.imperialnova.net/joey/gmhd/BETAPreview.mp4
I'll link to the Youtube version lower down the post, however it is of reduced quality (Not by me, YouTube's video output for 1080p is a VERY low 8mbps). The link above is the original video source, so go there for the best image quality. It will play in your browser.

You can download it if you wish(Right click, save as...), it is 304mb for a 3 minute video. If that sounds large, it is actually comparable to a decent TV show blu-ray video (25mbps average bitrate), which would allow me to fit 10-18 videos on a single Blu-Ray disc with relative ease. Could even fit extras on Seasons 1 and 7 due to their low episode numbers.

Please leave some feedback, too. Even if you hate it lol, better to get conversation or chat going than leave the forums dead.


There's the YouTube link for the lower quality version.

[azel]

The remaster looks amazing, great work! Well worth the effort I think.

[Roareye]

Thanks Azel. This video certainly needed it more than the DVD but I had to get the remastering process right before I worked on anything more damaged.
The game footage of Kasumi Ninja in the GamesMaster program itself is (from its source) much better than the Jaguar advertisement, so much of the in-game footage will look stronger than these promos.

I don't know when this will be done, I'll try and get it done as soon as possible. Just got to fit it in around this weekend's trip, holiday next week, filming a short movie in early April, editing and releasing said movie, getting all of the Kickstarter rewards ready and sent out, completing the novel the movie is based on and publishing said novel by the end of May. Oh and working my shitty job 29 hours a week on top.

Somewhere, I'll squeeze GM:HD in haha.
If you guys wanted to keep up with what I'm doing, then it's all here;
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/16 ... ogs-of-war

[Roareye]

Okay, sorry for the long wait for an update guys.
I am going to Barcelona tomorrow morning (yay, first holiday in years) so I will be silent at least that long, however there are a few things I want to update you with.

Firstly, the original images and the video download link have broken due to a server failure. I will try to get these reuploaded when I get back. I can't afford to do it right now due to time and the second part.

Secondly I am rendering the 2nd Draft of the GamesMaster Gore Special VCD Remaster. This second draft has removed image noise which I foolishly let seep into the first draft, it also sees me correcting the colouration of the image (scene by scene) to ensure that colours are more natural and realistic (It also boosts the colour palette to something more akin to HD levels, which will be saved in the HD file accurately).

So next steps?
When I get back from Barcelona, I will look at the footage and see what minor adjustments are needed for the final render. It is very possible my colour timing was better nearer the end of the footage than the start so minor adjustments can be made there. I'm also thinking I may have slightly overdone the Unsharp Masks (which "pop" the image) which has left detail blown out and the image a little too video-like (I'm trying to make it look like soft-focus film).

Basically this will be at least another week in the works. 5 days in Barcelona (returning on Saturday morning) and a couple of days to review the footage, make adjustments and create the final render. I will state that this will not include time for an audio remaster.

On the plus side, the footage you've already seen is likely to see improvements. This will be a relatively good looking show, upscaled from 240p to 1080p at 25fps.

A question: Would you guys be happy to get the episode a bit earlier with the original audio, or wait a bit for me to remaster the sound?
Let me know and I'll see your responses when I return

EDIT: Already going over the colour timing of the Jaguar advertisements while I wait for my girlfriend to finish packing for the trip. I've improved almost all the in-game footage elements, and tweaked the colouration of the live action segments so they are more dynamic and have an increased colour space, they also have better contrast levels to reveal more detail.
Feel free to slap me for spending too much time on an old videotaped show x_x

EDIT 2: Managed to stay up late and finish the video editing. Amazeballs. Rendering it overnight and am unlikely to be able to do any final last minute adjustments until I return on Saturday - however if the video seems perfectly fine then technically this is the finished piece (Except no restored audio yet, sorry).
I'm actually very proud of the end result. The Robocop sequences from the VCD look better than the remaster of the same segment from the DVD! Iwill have to go back to the final episode, as it seems wrong to have a better image from HALF the source information.

I think this is the final stage of my testing for the remastering process. I'm pretty certain I have the final product now. So hopefully I can give you guys the best quality you'll ever see from GamesMaster, now or in future.
Now for sleep x_x

[azel]

Have a nice time in Barcelona. I would be more than happy to wait for the remastered audio, but I'm only speaking for myself. Thanks for the amazing work so far.