No Stupid Questions

I think it would be possible. But adding previously unseen stuff would be changing/redirecting the movie/show.

Each scene is set up and framed deliberately by the director, should AI just change that? It's a similar problem like with pan-and-scan, where content was removed to fit 4:3.

You wouldn't want to add content to the left and right of the Mona Lisa, would you? And if so what? Continuing the landscape, which adds just more uninteresting parts? Now she is in a vast space, and you already changed the tone of the painting. Or would you add other people? This removes the focus from her, which is even worse. Well this is just a one frame example, there are even more problems with moving pictures.

It would be an interesting experiment, but imo it wouldn't improve the quality of the medium, in contrary.

Do you mean something like this? (warning: reddit link)

• using AI to fill the scenes vertically : StableDiffusion

You should be able to but remember that aspect ratios and framing are done intentionally so what is generated won't be at all true to what should be in scene once the frame is there. You'd be watching derivative media. Upscaling should be perfectly doable but eventually details will be generated that will not have originally existed in scenes as well.

Probably would be fun eventually to try the conversion and see what differences you get.

Who is the person that enjoys old shows, but also can’t get past the old aspect ratio?

If the AI is just adding complimentary, unobtrusive parts to the shot, so as not to disrupt the original intent, I have to ask- is there really value being added? Why do this at all?

George Lucas thought CGI could make the original Star Wars movies better.

Ahhh... the much-fabled "uncrop" operation!

Why would you want that? It's always best to consume media in its purest form, and that means with its original aspect ratio. Resolution is something I'm flexible on, because I figure that filmmakers and tv directors in prior eras would have used HD if it was available, but aspect in general is tied to format, though it can be used to great effect to convey the space of a scene in different ways. Changing the ratio is akin to changing the color pallet. Might as well offer Instagram-style filters for older content while you're at it.

Previous century I bought a TV that was 16:9 and had software to stretch 4:3 broadcasts to fit the screen. It chopped off a tad at the top and bottom and stretched the sides a tad to fill the screen... it was horrible. I'd rather have the dark borders at the sides over mutilated images. Somehow I doubt AI would be a bit more creative.

I remember watching a great video about why this isn't a good idea.

Here it is.

There is no original film for voyager it was filmed on tape.

TNG used film so that can be rescanned but the original analogue broadcast is the literally the best quality we have of Voyager.

Adding imagery that reliably looks good is currently beyond what AI can do, but it's likely going to become possible eventually. It's fiction, so the AI making stuff up isn't a problem.

Upscaling is already something AI can do extremely well (again, if you're ok with hallucinations).

I used adobe's Generative Fill tool (where it uses AI to fill in the blanks like adding more sky/backgrounds/hiding people) and it's pretty miss. 20% of the time, it would kinda work. And I say that loosely.

I think in a few years, we'll get there. But not today.

Yeah, but why would you want to? It would have to generate new imagery to fill out the gaps. That's bound to not look right. It at the very least would not be fitting the artist's intention.

its already possible, but not really good atm. saw some scenes, where they changed the aspect ratio from 16:9 to tiktok. im waiting for realfill, which google is working on. idk how it works, but it can guess, what should be outside of the image and the images i saw were pretty amazing compared to SD. 4k upscaling at 120hz also no problem, as i did this to the first season of spongebob and it really works fine with my hobby equipment in one night. id really love to see an upscaled 16:9 version of the it crowd and the first 6 seasons of scrubs.

edit: this is what i was referring to https://youtu.be/bD_HyxHMHPo?si=-ktJz3GuBNHhn9UY

Voyager and DS9 were shot on video, not film.

That's why there's HD versions of TOS and TNG but not DS9 and Voyager.

Ive been rewatching Star Trek Voyager recently

Good choice.

I'd imagine that AI probably will be able to in 10-15 years. We already have that photoshop stuff that can analyze the surroundings and then fill in gaps/erase stuff. It's not perfect but it's the ground floor. I can only imagine that in the not too distant future it'll be able to fill in the gaps of video too. Especially with a consistent set like Voyagers main engineering, as an example.

Actually come to think of it, the same principle could be used to make VR environments too.

I was wondering the same last week, but for Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series, which received a horrible HD release some years back.