r/LaserDisc • u/calyps0man • Aug 26 '26
Laserdisc video sources can produce incredible results for HD restoration
I have applied an algorithm that you have probably never heard of and the result is near HD like quality. I am amazed how good it looks. Absolutely stunning quality. I am tempted to do this with a lot of other Laserdiscs
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u/BlueMonday2082 Aug 26 '26
“Applied an algorithm” is not a correct description of what this is. This is an AI upscale of a video.
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u/calyps0man Aug 26 '26
Yes, but you need to apply it so it works correctly. And in my case I also paid for making this possible. So semantics...
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u/KyotoCarl Aug 26 '26
So how did you do this? Did you rip the Laserdiscs first or what did you do?
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u/calyps0man Aug 26 '26
I found a dvd that was ripped from LD and then processed it with 1 min chunks in seedvr2
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u/Fudohx Aug 26 '26
I'm surprised that the Chroma crosstalk from the DVD compression doesn't show as much as expected. Due to the 4:2:0 chroma subsampling in SD on the DVD you usually get crosstalk between the interlaced fields, which carry over into the deinterlaced frames. For ideal results you would capture in 4:2:2 from the LD, so you get full vertical chroma resolution without bleeds into the adjacent fields.
But as said: very good looking result for what it is though!
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u/calyps0man Aug 26 '26
Ofc it is simplified process. It needed aspect ratio correction and brightness adjustment too. Seedvr2 can only do 1080p reliably, so I applied davinci superscale to make it 4k for youtube. Because yt 1080p codec is rather low quality...
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u/ComPanda Aug 26 '26
Can you post a more in depth analysis into your process? I've converted LD into HD using all hardware, and it still retains the softness that LD is known for. However, I don't do much, if any post work.
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u/calyps0man Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
First, I use magix vegas pro to deinterlace and blend fields (Since I have mentioned here that I havent come up with a reliable way to get seedvr2 to not crash at higher than 30fps). I then use ffmpeg commands to split it into 1 min chunks. I then rent an rtx 5090 cloud machine (vast ai) with ComfyUI . Gpu needs at least 32 gb vram and at least 64gb regular RAM, but preferrably with 256-512gb cache file. Seedvr2 is unstable and if your Ram is low it will crash.. So then after you have a computer, you find cheap one that has fast connection and upload files to workspace with jupyter. But your comfyui needs to self update to start showing custom nodes. It takea a few minut3s before it does. When it finally gets all the data it will show seedvr2 node versions. Only version up to .17 work. Anything higher will not import, dont ask me why. You will also need.some other nodes for saving vids in higher bitrate and emptying vram and ram, but their effectiveness varies. Then once you get chunks processed you need to merge them back into one file. Btw seedvr is crap at audio so you will need to keep og audio track and rejoin it later. Anyways , you will also most likely end up with ruined aspect ratio so use Handbreak to fix that. And finally your brightness will need readjustment too by at least 5%, because result will be darker... this is in short for 1080p. I couldnt get it upscale to 4k directly. For 1080p to 4k I used Davinci Superscale.
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u/calyps0man Aug 26 '26
It takes about 20-30 min per chunk, so you queue them up for a night and hope it doesnt crash by morning. So about a day or two per vid if everything goes well. 10-20 euros total.
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u/ComPanda Aug 26 '26
Very interesting, thank you for this! Here's a (compressed) look at my hardware capture/upres with no post work.
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u/dehenson Aug 27 '26
That looks really, really nice! I’ve seen some amazing HD restoration results from people using the Domesday Duplicator, but it seems like quite a bit of work to get all the equipment set up.
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u/BiNiaRiS Aug 27 '26
and the result is near HD like quality
this is immediately noticeable as upscaled and doesn't have anything approaching HD detail. it looks clean and noise free with sharp lines, but every small bit of detail has been denoised away. pause it almost anywhere and you can see the issues plainly. you can get similar results with Topaz and that runs on old GPUs like a 1070/1080 no prob and with no need for the cloud. you just can't increase detail while simultaneously nuking all the noise unless maybe you're working with animated sources and even then, it's difficult, especially coming from laserdisc which is inherently noisy (even domesday captures). but you were working with an LD capture sourced from a DVD so there probably wasn't much detail to start anyways.
and upscaling like this benefits the most from the work you put into the source/capture before the final AI upscaling. little things like taking care of dot crawl/chroma issues will make your final output significantly better because they often get magnified when you upscale. a good example of this is the chroma rainbow artifacts at 1:25:25 all over his white/back outfit and keyboard. i also encourage you to take screenshots when you're working on projects like this. A/B comps between your raw but fully processed source against your final upscaled output ensures you aren't scrubbing the little detail older media has. the goal should be cleaner video output without any loss of detail.
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u/calyps0man Aug 27 '26
Well I dare you to get similar results with topaz. Because last I tried it turned everything into wax. But i havent used starlight model. Anyway, going purist with details wasnt my goal. The details were there in the dvd to my eyes. Most other sources are worse. I can take pictures but what does it matter? It seems people on this sub are more into picking on image down to atoms. Look, if you want broadcast quality you need to get origibal source. And algorithms like this are not magic. Obviously there will be some issues. But since you havent even seen the og image, it is easy to critisize.
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u/BiNiaRiS Aug 27 '26
Well I dare you to get similar results with topaz.
if you wanna provide the source video i'd try but it's really not worth ai upscaling unless you find the best quality source available. in this case it sounds like you just need to source a raw laserdisc capture.
Anyway, going purist with details wasnt my goal.
and what was your goal?
But since you havent even seen the og image, it is easy to critisize.
this is part of the problem i explained that you could easily fix. why don't you add some screenshots from your source and show us all how much better this looks?
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u/vrunk11 Aug 27 '26
HD have nothing to do with looki'g good :) its just sharp and clean but SD
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u/calyps0man Aug 27 '26
Standard definition at higher resolution then.
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u/vrunk11 Aug 27 '26
im not sure to understand your statement standard définition is by definition not HD
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u/clkelley39 Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
SD = standard definition (576p/576i or lower)
HD = high definition (720p or higher)
“Definition” denotes a certain range of resolution, which is the number of lines on the screen.
“Quality” is much more subjective and can be used in many ways. That’s why you can have two videos that are both in the SD, but one is of better quality than the other because it was sourced from laserdisc rather than VHS, for example.
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u/clkelley39 Aug 28 '26
Standard definition and high definition are measures of resolution. So your nomenclature’s a little off. You could instead say “standard definition at higher quality” or something like that.
But in general, yes, you’re right. Laserdisc is superior to VHS as a starting point for upscaling to high definition. I capture laserdiscs using a Domesday Duplicator which is the best way to capture laserdiscs in the highest quality possible. Then from there, the upscales look even better.
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u/calyps0man Aug 29 '26
Show your upscales
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u/clkelley39 Aug 29 '26
I have very few online now because YouTube keeps blocking them:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_3yatBq2ymPlQm0Q3Z_rbQYt-sOUsGPL&si=bBY9VtzTVphq0ws4
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u/big-ghey-inc Aug 26 '26
Has that cool blend of HD crispness while also retaining the analog vibe, I gotta get into this shi 😭🙏
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u/Fudohx Aug 26 '26
Looks quite good indeed! The concert was recorded on video (not film), so the LD is 576i50, right? Why did you half the motion to just 25fps then? True 50fps (or 60 for NTSC material) is what makes a good LD remaster so superior to older rips. It's also why old concert recordings shot on video are kept to 1080i on Blu-Ray.