New progress update:

 

I've finished reconstructing the frames! Over 113,000 frames in total (cut down to 90,000 after decimating for film 24fps). I spent about 40 hours total on this stage of the restoration process.

 

The next phase is now cleaning each frame of noise and artifacts. I've combined a set of filters and programmed them for the best possible noise reduction I could get while still maintaining good detail. Here's a comparison pic below of Bumblebee (top frame is raw dvd image, bottom frame is my cleaned version):

 

 

I've NEVER seen these old toons look so good! Unfortunately the process is very computation heavy, and the estimated cleaning time for the 1-hour pilot is going to take over 8 hours on my computer. I'll have to set it to cleaning over night. After that, I'm going to burn it off onto a DVD and then make a compressed 512x384 PC file version for kicks.

while it definately looks CLEANER... it seems like it is now color-book (fill in) clean and lacks a bit of depth and grain/texture to it. I'm no video expert, or even a novice - just a pure observer. I found the thread enjoyable to read (even despite the small diversion of drama). I admire the time someone is putting in to a project and even updating their process-- much like a scientist updating a scientific journal as he seeks his objective. I"m just saying, I'm not sure I like the 'clean' look of the 2nd frame more than the 1st tho. It feels like someone needs to airbrush some texture and shading onto him - if that makes sense. *shrug* Just one man's opinion.

Hey thanks for the input!

 

The above filter image is outdated as I've since switched to a professional filter called "neat video". I had to pay 50 bucks for it but it was worth every penny. It removes all the video noise while leaving full detail intact. I was nothing less than thrilled with the final results! However, in order to preserve the new "restored" looks of the frames, I had to use a different codec and went with "H264". The size of the 1-hour video file ended up being almost exactly 4 GB, so I was able to burn it off on a single DVD - R. The quality and animation seems on average about 3 times better looking than the DVD footage, so its been well worth the effort. I'm basically seeing these early episodes the best they have ever looked, short of a new blu-ray transfer.

 

I will more than likely go ahead and restore the rest of season one and see how it goes from there.

Just to bring the restoration comparison pictures up to date, here's my final output versus the original raw dvd footage (top frame is DVD, bottom frame is my restored frame):

 

 

In addition to using the "neat video" filter, I also applied a slight reduction in the saturation. They were maxed out by Rhino's transfer, which is not accurate. Also please note that I don't remove any original detail in the image, only the video noise is being removed. So what you're seeing on the bottom frame is how the original artist cell looked before being transfered to NTSC broadcast media.

and full season 1 clips of each season will be available for watching or download shortly......

That's pretty sharp. I applaud your effort and can't wait to see the finished project. You've got a fan in me.

That's pretty sharp. I applaud your effort and can't wait to see the finished project. You've got a fan in me.

 

Thanks! :thumb

 

I don't know if it would be legal for me to share the restored file, which brings me to:

 

and full season 1 clips of each season will be available for watching or download shortly......

 

Are they making them public domain now? I know you can watch all the episodes on youtube, but that's always been a questionable practice there. If they are making them public domain, I'd be willing to share my restored versions on emule. They are quite the hefty file size though. As I mentioned before, the restored one-hour pilot took up 4 gigs on its own. That would make individual episodes about 1.3 gigs a piece. If I encode them with xvid, that would cut the files sizes down to a few hundred MB, but it also reveals compression artifacts and color banding.

You can watch five G1 episodes(Season 2) on hasbro's site, but that's about it when it comes to legal G1 online viewing, I believe.

That's pretty awesome. I've been enjoying following this thread since it first started.

 

I'm kind of hoping Hasbro was one step ahead and is doing this process for their More Than Meets The Eye DVD that comes with 25th Anniv. Prime. (I've heard that it's remastered.) but if not, maybe you could bring this to Hasbro's attention and have a job. :thumb

 

Or a C&D, but either way..this is a neat process. I love how the latest images have that "fresh cel" look. I look forward to the rest of the project.

Best part of the thread! :lol

 

Agreed.

 

This restoration project is just simply amazing Firebrandx. This will look awesome when we get to see it in motion. All of those painstaking hours must have payed off big time for you.

 

Might I also sugest puting these episodes on a download site like Megaupload instead of Youtube?