Here’s some interesting info regarding Gaia-HQ in the latest 1.4.2 version of Video Enhance AI that might be useful to both users and developers.
I have found that I get the best results when only scaling the source by either 2x or 4x. From there, I do the final stretch (if required for anamorphic DVD) with AviSynth via Hybrid. I use Spline144 to do the final resizing. I have found I get an improvement when running the “Limited Sharpen Faster Mod” filter at the default settings for “slow” with the preblur on. As mentioned, Video Enhance AI seems to be slightly lowering the gamma from the source DVD (darkening it), so I increase the gamma by .02.
Here’s a sample frame gallery:
The first image is from the source DVD. It has had small borders cropped and resized to 1920x1080 using Lanczos in Irfanview.
The second image is from direct output from Video Enhance AI, outputting to PNG, Gaia-HQ, 2x scale, cropped and resized to the final dimensions of 1920x1080 using Lanczos in Irfanview.
The third image is from the Gaia-HQ output processed through the below AviSynth script. A residual bottom black border is cropped, the gamma is increased by .02, resizing to final dimensions is done via Spline144, and the Limited Sharpen Faster Mod filter is applied as described above:
ClearAutoloadDirs()
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\LoadDll.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\ImageSeq.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\SplineResize.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\masktools2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\VariableBlur.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\warpsharp.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\RgTools.dll")
LoadDLL("C:\Program Files\Hybrid\32bit\avisynthPlugins\libfftw3f-3.dll")
Import("C:\Program Files\Hybrid\32bit\avisynthPlugins\Zs_RF_Shared.avsi")
Import("C:\Program Files\Hybrid\32bit\avisynthPlugins\LimitedSharpenFasterMod.avs")
SetFilterMTMode("DEFAULT_MT_MODE", MT_MULTI_INSTANCE)
# loading source: E:/USER/fin/wip/GaiaHQ/%06d.png
# input color sampling RGB32@8, matrix:Rec.709, scantyp: progressive
# input luminance scale tv
ImageReader(file="E:\USER\fin\wip\GaiaHQ\%06d.png", start=0, end=147528, fps=23.976, use_DeviL=true, pixel_type="RGB24")
# current resolution: 1412x936
# cropping
Crop(0,0,0,-8)# 1412x928
# color modifications
Levels(0,1.02,255,0,255)
# scaling to 1920x1080
Spline144Resize(1920,1080)
# sharpening
ConvertToYV12(interlaced=false, matrix="Rec709")
LSFmod(Smode=5,Smethod=3,Lmode=4,preblur="ON",soft=-2,edgemaskHQ=true)
PreFetch(4)
return last
Finally, the fourth image is the same as the above, but the Rec.2020 color space that Video Enhance AI outputs has been converted back to Rec.709 which matches the source DVD. I feel the Rec.2020 output by Video Enhance AI is an improvement in this case:
ClearAutoloadDirs()
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\LoadDll.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\ImageSeq.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\ColorMatrix.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\SplineResize.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\masktools2.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\VariableBlur.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\warpsharp.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\Hybrid\32bit\AVISYN~1\RgTools.dll")
LoadDLL("C:\Program Files\Hybrid\32bit\avisynthPlugins\libfftw3f-3.dll")
Import("C:\Program Files\Hybrid\32bit\avisynthPlugins\Zs_RF_Shared.avsi")
Import("C:\Program Files\Hybrid\32bit\avisynthPlugins\LimitedSharpenFasterMod.avs")
SetFilterMTMode("DEFAULT_MT_MODE", MT_MULTI_INSTANCE)
# loading source: E:/USER/fin/wip/GaiaHQ/%06d.png
# input color sampling RGB32@8, matrix:Rec.2020, scantyp: progressive
# input luminance scale tv
ImageReader(file="E:\USER\fin\wip\GaiaHQ\%06d.png", start=0, end=147528, fps=23.976, use_DeviL=true, pixel_type="RGB24")
# current resolution: 1412x936
# cropping
Crop(0,0,0,-8)# 1412x928
ConvertToYUY2(interlaced=false, matrix="Rec709")
# color modifications
ColorMatrix(mode="Rec.2020->Rec.709",interlaced=false,hints=false)
Levels(0,1.02,255,0,255)
# scaling to 1920x1080
Spline144Resize(1920,1080)
# sharpening
ConvertToYV12(interlaced=false)
LSFmod(Smode=5,Smethod=3,Lmode=4,preblur="ON",soft=-2,edgemaskHQ=true)
PreFetch(4)
return last
To best see the differences between these images, it’s best to load each of them in 4 separate instances of Irfanview, then switch between the open windows. Here’s the files uploaded to the above Imgur gallery in a zip: