ShagBuddy Upscale and Remaster Feedback, Requests, and Discussion

[GingerBra]

Jayna Oso - Suck Fuck Swallow (2004)
Sasha Grey - Double Penetration 3

They would be awesome to have remastered.

[ShagBuddy]

Originally Posted by GingerBra

Jayna Oso - Suck Fuck Swallow (2004)
Sasha Grey - Double Penetration 3

They would be awesome to have remastered.

I will look into them.

[ShagBuddy]

I had a user ask me for some info about how I do upscales... Some people may guard this info for some reason... but I would LOVE for more people to learn how to do it since that would just mean more old great scenes will be brought back to life. Here is the reply I sent them:

Hey thanks! Sure! Happy to! The more people who learn the more old scene we can bring back.

Yes, Topaz is great! It is the main app I use to enhance videos that are already HD and it is what I use to upscale SD files. Hybrid is a very robust app, but I find StaxRip is easier to get around in and it is the other main app I use aside from Topaz Video AI. My workflow goes like this...

I drop it into Topaz to see what kind of result i can get with tweaking. I almost always go to Enhancement --> Proteus --> Manual. Then click the "Estimate" button. Usually it sets the Revert Compression slider a little too high so I decrease that by around 5 - 10, and then set the bottom slider (antialias/deblur) to around 50 and then check the preview. I tweak from there.

If I have to increase revert compression too much (which will wipe out fine detail like skin texture) then I close Topaz and use StaxRip to prep the file by running a TemporalDenoise filter to clean up some artifacts and then drop it back in topaz and repeat the process again.

Once the export from Topaz completes I use StaxRip to tweak color, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue.

After getting the exported file from StaxRip I finally encode it in x265 with the FFMPEG that is packaged with StaxRip. I do encodes using CPU only. GPU encodes can be MUCH faster but the quality and file size for CPU encodes are superior.

I usually do 5 - 10 of these to have the final file ready to encode and then I run a CLI batch script that processes all of the files one by one in a folder.

PS: The quality of your source file determines how good your final file will be so it is worth trying to find the best quality source file that you can to work with.

PPS: Do the exports from Topaz and the exports from StaxRip at the max quality that you can. In staxrip I use the highest quality with a speed of fast or faster. This will result in high quality files but they are large. A 30 min scene will be around 4 GB. Have a large fast drive (like a SSD) is best.

I can give you more details and answer questions. Just let me know.

[sword14]

Hey Shagbuddy,

fantastic work, thank you for your informations. It would be nice if you could tell us how to work with staxrip use tweak color, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue.
I usually first use Staxrip (field) to make the mp4, then I´m trying to get the best quality by Topai AI. I normally first use Artemis Dehalo and then Artemis HQ. But most of my upscales are not so good.
Sources are mostly DVD- and VHS Rips (MPEG2).
Thank you for your help

[Boobcllctr]

Hi Shagbuddy,

Many thanks for remastering Kascha & Katerina Konec, it's the first time I can watch these ladies in such great quality. I'd appreciate if you could add some more Katerina such as:

Katerina Konec, Nacho Vidal - 110_ Natural #5 (2003)
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...9&postcount=28

Katerina Konec - Einfach Geil
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...2&postcount=41

Thanks once more

[ShagBuddy]

Originally Posted by Boobcllctr

Hi Shagbuddy,

Many thanks for remastering Kascha & Katerina Konec, it's the first time I can watch these ladies in such great quality. I'd appreciate if you could add some more Katerina such as:

Katerina Konec, Nacho Vidal - 110_ Natural #5 (2003)
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...9&postcount=28

Katerina Konec - Einfach Geil
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...2&postcount=41

Thanks once more

You bet! I actually already have the 110% natural scene in my queue to work on.

[BoInk2]

Could you please...?

Anya Olsen - R@w Talent
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...&postcount=284 (best I could find)

Majella - Chasing the Big Ones 13
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...postcount=1782

Zoe Voss in Praise the Load 5
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...4&postcount=75

Unfortunately I can't find any good quality version of Jezebelle Bond in Mr. Pete is unleashed, or Blue Angel in Win a MILF's daughter.

[ShagBuddy]

Originally Posted by sword14

Hey Shagbuddy,

fantastic work, thank you for your informations. It would be nice if you could tell us how to work with staxrip use tweak color, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue.
I usually first use Staxrip (field) to make the mp4, then I´m trying to get the best quality by Topai AI. I normally first use Artemis Dehalo and then Artemis HQ. But most of my upscales are not so good.
Sources are mostly DVD- and VHS Rips (MPEG2).
Thank you for your help

That is how I started, too. Mainly using the artemis presets. They work ok, but you can get better results using the Proteus model and manual settings. Artemis Dehalo or Strong Dehalo is often really good for classic/vintage video. If the quality of the file is low and has a lot of compression artifacts then it helps to process the file with MCTemporalDenoise or TemporalDegrain before processing it in Topaz. This helps to clean up the file before sharpening and upscaling it. HOWEVER, you will lose a little detail by doing that. Without it, you will lose even more detail if you have to turn up the revert compression setting in Topaz, though. MCTemporalDenoise is not as heavy handed as TemporalDegrain and it has multiple setting levels. The faster the setting, the more detail is preserved, but also overall less cleaning. MCTemporalDenoise also runs faster. But if the file is really grainy and loaded with artifacts, TemporalDegrain will be your best bet to clean it up but it takes longer.

For color/contrast correction in StaxRip add this filter...
AVS Filters --> Add --> Color --> ColorYUV --> Tweak --> Neutral

You can then double click the added "Tweak Neutral" filter to bring up settings for it. I have found that these settings are a good starting point usually:
hue=4, sat=1.01, bright=-10, cont=1.08

Hue - Most movies have this horrible yellow tint to them and the hue setting will fix that. The more yellow the video is tinted, the higher this setting needs to be to correct it. Apply a change, check preview, adjust, preview again, etc. until you get the look you want. Sometimes the image is too cool and needs to have some warmth added instead. Use a negative number for the hue value to do that.

Sat - 80% or more of older movies seem to have under-saturated colors. Default is 1 for this setting. An increase of a hundredth of point makes a noticeable different. So Increase in tiny amounts (1.01, 1.02, 1.03 etc) to find the best setting.

Bright - Most movies, old and new, are a little too bright. That helps you to see more detail in the scene but it just doesn't look natural and reduces overall picture clarity. I almost never have to increase this and usually use negative values. Try changing it in increments of 5 (ie. -5, -10, -15, etc) and then fine tune if needed.

Cont - Contrast. Higher contrast is your friend! Often upscales without color correction look sort of odd to me. The edges are super crisp and usually darker than everything which almost gives the video a little bit of a cartoon look. When you increase the contrast and reduce the brightness it makes a big difference! It makes shapes, curves, boobs, etc POP since there is more definition between light and shadow. I usually edit Sat last since colors will become more pronounced when you lower the brightness. The values for Cont are similar to Sat (but not as sensitive). Literally EVERY movie I have worked with has needed at least a little more contrast and a little less brightness.

[ShagBuddy]

Originally Posted by BoInk2

Could you please...?

Anya Olsen - R@w Talent
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...&postcount=284 (best I could find)

Majella - Chasing the Big Ones 13
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...postcount=1782

Zoe Voss in Praise the Load 5
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...4&postcount=75

Unfortunately I can't find any good quality version of Jezebelle Bond in Mr. Pete is unleashed, or Blue Angel in Win a MILF's daughter.

I will start adding the current list of requests to the first post in this thread. I will check them out and see what I can do.

[dalep]

Awesome job, especially the Peaches scene!

Kinky Big Butt Cougars - Cala Craves
http://veterperementour.ru/showpost.p...4&postcount=20

I have one request and I'm not sure if it's even possible since this is a an old scene with 512x288 resolution. I'd be thrilled if this could somehow be bumped up to 720x480.