And yet you can buy Highlander: the Series on Blu-ray. Granted, they did a terrible job but it's still more than DS9 has so far.
I'd be happy if the live action footage was presented in HD and they left the crappy CGI alone. That would be better than nothing...
I could live with that. The problem is that they'd still have to re-cut, reassemble all the film elements from scratch. DS9 was filmed on film but edited on video in the then-broadcast resolution, which is why even the DVDs look awful.
Not to mention but they were also editing in composite video, as DS9’s masters are on D2 Composite videotape. Composite doesn’t look good converted to component.
Such AI is still limited by the same resolution (480 interlaced) and it can't create detail where it finds none. To compare, it's like any one of us getting some LSD and asked to draw a picture of the Statue of Liberty. There will be omissions, and bits that were never on the original. Besides, even under ideal conditions, film still suffers from "the vinegar effect" over time. If for no other reason, I'd be making a digital high-res backup of the original material so something could be saved. The film stock used will certainly last a few more decades; usually color fade is the first problem - especially reds... once the vinegar effect starts, then problems really begin. After x number of lost frames, no AI would be able to extrapolate the number of moves to mimic the original even adequately. Not going to happen. Ask me again in 50 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, and 60 seconds.
Yup. 550ppi 6" screen capable of 2560x1440 and it's upscaling a 720x240 (480i) video image. That's crisper than what I store my lettuce in, woohoo!!
Considering that the film is currently deep underground in an abandoned salt mine, in a temperature controlled environment, it’s highly unlikely that “vinegar syndrome” will set in for another 100 plus years.
Nine 16mm Doctor Who telerecordings dating from the mid-sixties were recovered a few years ago from a TV station archive in Nigeria, where they'd been for 35 years. Vinegar syndrome thrives in hot and humid conditions. Aside from a little wear and tear, they were in good condition. I'm pretty sure the DS9 negatives will be fine for a few years yet!
There are still early nitrate films in pretty decent condition that were made over 100 years ago. Of course the don’t contain the same chemicals that are used for color film.
True, but a least it would shave a lot off the production compared to what they did for TOS and TNG. Would it save enough to make the project economically viable? I have no idea...
Digging the film out and redoing the post-production work is probably the most expensive part of the process.
I don't know how the original negatives are stored - are they cut and then comped on video, or the entire episodes shoot is scanned to video and then cut and edited?
Back in the 90’s the original film was processed to allow for positives to be made and then it was the positives that were actually telecined to videotape; the film then went to the vault.. If it was just a live-action scene, it went to both VHS and D2 composite tape (the VHS was used for the cheaper offline edits that allowed for the editor edit different cuts together before the final edit was done on the higher, more expensive D2), while special effects and model shots went to D1 component so that the effects house could compile the shots in higher quality component, and then the completed effects shots were transferred to D2 for the editors at Paramount to edit into the episode master.
The original 35mm film was kept in a salt cave for TNG, and re scanned for the Blu Ray. I think DS9 is the same, but CGI assets are separate and many would be missing.
I wish people would actually look things up before speculating on the whereabouts of the DS9 CGI assets. Few, if any, of the CG assets are missing. The DS9 CG models are the source (or at least the starting point) for a large chunk of the Eaglemoss ship collection. There's been demo still renders floating around online for years. Most of the textures are 2048x2048, which was way overkill for the time and sufficient for 1080p if not 4K now.