I am back. So the program for deinterlacing is called Hybrid. Steps to download and use are on this external forum thread here.
Here is the setting for my Sabrina Profile in text form. I did forget to add in scaling that my final output is 1440x1080. I only gave the percentages there.
How much RAM do you need for Topaz? I have access to a 2080 ti 11GB and a 6900 XT, but both systems only have 16GB of RAM.
Before I built this machine, I had 32gb of RAM. You should be fine with 16gb as it isn't that RAM heavy. Just close out anything not Topaz. Topaz is going to 100% your machine (like it does mine) anyways so you do not need anything else up. On that note, I recommend upscaling over night. A 1080p-4k upscale can easily take my machine 7-11 hours to do. You shouldn't have that long since you are only trying to bring something to 1080p, but still be aware your computer may be occupied for a couple of hours.
Are there any specific profiles for Topaz you can share? (I assume it supports something like that?)
Yes there are profiles, but they are better for keeping things persistent between series (like I have a Sabrina profile just for Sabrina) rather than a one size fit all. I do have one I found to upscale BRs to 4k with only slight adjustments. I will post in a follow up comment once I get off work. In general though you want to make slight adjustments, render a few seconds of video, review it, then make more adjustments. When you like it, apply that to different scenes in the same movie (I recommend testing dark/night scenes for sure since those a tricky for AI) to make sure it works, then do the actual upscale.
I will also throw in my Sabrina preset since I managed to use it to upscale some other DvDs with minor tweaking as well. It should provide a good starting place for your DvDs.
Is there something equivalent to Topaz on Linux?
I do not know Linux, sorry :(
The amount of commercial AI upscaling software is rather limited (at least when I started searching this May) and focused towards a Windows and maybe Mac audience. That being said, I know there are AI upscaling software on Github so I would not be surprised if someone ported something like Waifu2x (an open source AI trained to upscale anime) to Linux. As to their quality, I do not know. All I can vouch for is that of the commercial software, Topaz was the best when I bought it in June.
How do I get a DVDRip to look clean without any further compression? By default MakeMKV results in files with these annoying lines, which only disappear after passing it through Handbrake (deinterlace/decomb).
I do have a program to deinterlace (remove the annoying lines) which I will also provide you the name of when I give you my profiles. Topaz can also do decent deinterlacing, but my program is better (and also free).
Will I have better results only upscaling to 720p or does the output resolution not matter in terms of AI artifacts?
It is going to depend on how clear your source is. If your input has a lot of compression artifacts, then that means more guesswork for the AI, and more chances for Topaz to guess wrong. Upscaling to 720p is going to be a lot more successful in general since its borderline HD, but if you have a good source and don't mind the occasional weirdness really only noticeable if you know what to look for, then 1080p is doable for even something like 360p.
One thing I like to do (to the anger of many film purists) is add my own film grain in post. There is something about film grain that helps our brains not notice small errors in the upscaling process. Holy Grain is a very good film grain in 1080 and 4k. Sadly I never found a torrent of it so I ended up spending the cash to buy it myself.
Yeah, the mod is trying to strawman the issue. The people are concerned not that the upload wasn't caught instantly, but the fact that the uploader has not been punished.
A human being with really good/photographic memory can do the same.
The guy said " Private property is a scam, and intellectual property even more so". I think The table comment was a response to the private property part, not intellectual property.
Yes, screen capture with an HDMI splitter and capture card.
and grab the video from something like 1337x in a decrypted format.
This was extremely tempting to do, but this is a bit of a niche movie and the only copy I can find on public trackers (the cons of being a debrid user) with any seeds is one of absolutely abysmal quality. Like my 480p DvD version on my shelf is better than that 1080p torrent.
They use PlayReady DRM so a browser extension might be able to pull the decryption key during playback. One could download that same stream from that playback season then use ffmpeg with the pulled key to decrypt.
I will look into this. Thank you :)
Btw can the said movie be played in a browser via say the GRC site? It may be an easier target.
Yes, the movie can be played via browser on the GRC website. I think you gave me an idea, and I want to run it by you to see your thoughts on it. Now I have the hardware to do a WebRip from GRC's website, but avoided that for this movie since I wanted to have the higher bitrate of a WebDL. You got me thinking though, what if I do a "webrip" but done from the GRC app? Since bandwith isn't a factor (I believe) because the 7gb movie is right on my computer, would I not get WebDL quality?
The video is about 7gb. The Audio is about 100mb. Its a 1080p movie.
I was looking into FFMPEG just a minute ago. I believe it can strip the encryption, but I will need to grab the WV encryption keys beforehand.
Yes, I was able to open it in Notepad++. Its XML like you said. Its big at over 2500 lines.
Where is the best place for Debrid users to find 4k content since private trackers are a no go for us?