So I wonder if this could be used on sliders footage?
Apparently not a post processing solution per ceo so guess not.
]]>Here's what google ai said. Gonna check YouTube to see if this stuff is magic yet or problematic.
As of late 2025 and early 2026, Topaz Labs has introduced a new era of AI models focusing on diffusion technology, improved temporal consistency, and high-fidelity denoising, primarily under the new "Topaz Video" (Studio) subscription banner.
Key new models and enhancements include:
Starlight (formerly Starlight Mini/Project Starlight): This is the flagship new model, marking Topaz’s first venture into diffusion-based video enhancement. It is designed to turn low-resolution, degraded, or old footage into high-definition, producing much more detailed and temporally consistent results than previous models. It supports both cloud and local rendering for Windows/NVIDIA users.
Starlight Sharp: A variant of the Starlight series designed for extreme detail and sharpness, particularly for restoring fine, high-resolution details.
Nyx XL (Denoising): A new, specialized AI model for high-resolution, low-light footage that removes noise while preserving, rather than destroying, fine details. It is often used in combination with other models (like Proteus) for the best results.
Astra: A new creative video upscaler aimed at improving AI-generated footage, offering more creative, "real-life" details compared to traditional, rigid upscaling.
Bloom: A new model for enhancing realism, reducing the "plastic" or over-smoothed feel often associated with earlier AI upscaling.
Proteus Natural (v1.2.0): An updated version of the popular general-purpose model, designed to reduce artifacts and aliasing without overly modifying the original source details.
Key Changes to the Ecosystem:
Subscription Model: As of October 2025, Topaz Labs moved to a subscription-only model for its new "Topaz Video" app, which includes over 100+ new and legacy models.
Live Preview (Beta): A new feature allows users to instantly see the results of model adjustments, significantly speeding up the workflow.
Performance: The new models, particularly Starlight, are demanding, requiring high-end hardware (e.g., 16GB+ VRAM) for optimal local performance.
These models represent a major shift towards generative, diffusion-based restoration that solves the previous issue of flickering (temporal inconsistency) between frame
Just wanted to update and say sliders.pl notified me that Sliders the complete series is on pre-order in the UK. It will be released on June 30, 2025: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sliders-Comple … 0F3DBBK6V/. Same artwork as the region one 2014 release.
Amazing that new releases are still happening
]]>I admit they are not good; they just happened to play better on my player than the Universal discs.
]]>I bought a Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen 2025, and this Google TV box, while functionally the same, has some new features: it processes video significantly better than the MiBox S. Episodes 2- 8 of SLIDERS after pneumatic's QTGMC cleanup and field matching scale extremely nicely when played by the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen. Episode 9 looks okay.
On the MiBox S 2016, pneumatic's files looked less damaged than the DVD versions; pneumatic fixed most of the mismatched fields and flickering edges, and I amped up the colour a bit. However, it still looked soft and fuzzy, clearly not having the full 480p or 540p image data needed. Sharpening it more was ill-advised: closeups looked great, but wide shots looked smeared or oversharp. However, the 2025 Google TV box clearly processes video with nine years' worth of advancement.
Episodes 2- 8, after pneumatic's cleanup, benefit from the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen upscaling the video with some very capable algorithms. This upscaling seems to apply scaling selectively to different parts of the video image: sharpening with added pixel contrast for edges, interpolation for smooth surfaces, deblocking and deringing filters, smooth pixel addition via multitap filtering for scaling, and using these measures selectively on different parts of the same video image. This is clearly due to the processor on the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen, which has significantly improved hardware from the 2016 version.
I played a 720p video file of SONG ONE on the 2025 box. I was impressed by how the 2025 box scaled and sharpened the image to fill the 4K screen: I could see every strand of Anne Hathaway's hair which looked a little fuzzy in 720p on the 2016 box. I played the HD version of EVERWOOD, a 16mm film TV show that had some very heavy grain, and I was surprised to see that the 2025 box tones down and filters that grain without any muddiness or loss of detail; the new GPU is applying spatial and adaptive noise reduction.
However, Episode 9, "Luck of the Draw," an episode that pneumatic identified as being blurrier than the rest due to film judder throwing off the film conversion to analog videotape, is still a little too soft even under the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen's impressive scaling.
The Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen also offers AI-SR, Artificial Intelligence Super Resolution. This is an on-the-fly upscaling technique where an AI is trained on a visual data that compares low-resolution and high-resolution versions of the same image, teaching a neural network how to identify visual elements and reconstruct additional detail when increasing the image size. Since this processing is happening live, it's not as advanced as a Topaz algorithm in rebuilding image data to sharpness at a higher resolution; AI-SR is instead focused on increasing image size with smoothly blended pixels that avoid blurriness or artifacts, and the details it fills in aren't going to be at the same sharpness as Topaz.
I turned it on for SLIDERS... and it made things worse. AI-SR oversharpened the fuzzy video image and made it blocky and pixelated.
I turned it on for SONG ONE and EVERWOOD and... I could really see no difference. Still, it's possible that AI-SR might be useful for upscaling on a bigger TV; my 55 inch might not benefit from AI-SR upscaling from 720p or 1080p content
to fill a 4K image, while someone with a 70 inch TV might see a marked improvement.
It's hard to say if there's a consumer/hobbyist option to build on pneumatic's improvements the way the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen is improving Episodes 2 - 8, and Episode 9 remains troubled. Still, it's something.
Anyway. I disabled all automatic updates on the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen, and I was able to switch off all the ads on this version of Google TV. I'll just leave the Box without OS updates so that it continues to work as well as it does right now.
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I used to think I was the second biggest fan of SLIDERS in the world (TF is obviously the first since he has a collection of props), but I have to bow to someone who would retrieve a CRT television from a trash heap to watch SLIDERS.
I admit, I would probably do the same if I had space for a CRT TV in my home, but I don't.
It takes up half the room. It's definitely a sacrifce.
]]>I used to think I was the second biggest fan of SLIDERS in the world (TF is obviously the first since he has a collection of props), but I have to bow to someone who would retrieve a CRT television from a trash heap to watch SLIDERS.
I admit, I would probably do the same if I had space for a CRT TV in my home, but I don't.
]]>Speaking for myself: Episodes 2 - 9 of SLIDERS are so far gone that even a purist could not claim that the episodes in the condition that they exist in any way represent how those episodes looked on original broadcast. On a CRT television, those episodes looked sharp enough and clear enough; it's only on HDTVs that all the flaws become apartment. The other episodes of SLIDERS don't need AI upscaling or reconstruction. Using AI image generation to rebuild Episodes 2 - 9 would be reproducing an acceptable facsimile of something that otherwise does not exist. I personally would be fine with that.
When we look at the 4K AI version of TRUE LIES, it looks like a plastic abomination and an embarrassing mutilation of a film that exists in 1080p and looks just fine in 1080p. With those broken episodes of SLIDERS, there isn't really a good version to turn to, so why not rebuild it?
I literally have a CRT television just for another way to watch Sliders. Someone was throwing it away, and I jumped at it.
]]>When we look at the 4K AI version of TRUE LIES, it looks like a plastic abomination and an embarrassing mutilation of a film that exists in 1080p and looks just fine in 1080p. With those broken episodes of SLIDERS, there isn't really a good version to turn to, so why not rebuild it?
]]>this is interesting
https://twitter.com/EHuanglu/status/1877408621002104999https://github.com/NJU-PCALab/STAR
I wonder if 45 minute episodes are feasible or if this is the type of thing only equipped for short samples. But if it can realistically extrapolate what is in the image to rebuild it, and can provide a reasonable facsmile of what the 1080 content may have been then it could be a game changer for modernizing unsalvageable content.
It looks like, per Jim Hall, Topaz is going to be introducing a model that does something similar.
It looks like the algorithms are shifting from grain extrapolation to image "filling in" and while I don't know what the quality will be in the short term, I also think in the short-term something may be commercially available (or via open source like above) to actually salvage pretty fuzzy, grainless content. The future is happening faster than we could have guessed. I almost wonder if NBCUniversal would be motivated to "give in" and use this technology or it will be considered to sacrilege.
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