Mainstream tech journalists have also weighed in. A December 2023 feature in TechCrunch titled "I'm watching 'AI upscaled' Star Trek and it isn't terrible" encapsulates the general sentiment. The author concluded that the fan-made upscale was "surprisingly good," arguing that it is now "certainly good enough that media companies ought to pay attention". For die-hard fans, it is the definitive way to experience the Dominion War and the struggles of Captain Sisko in all their intended glory.
To understand the 2020 upscale, you have to understand the source material. DS9 was filmed on 35mm film (which is natively high-resolution), but it was edited and had visual effects (VFX) composited on standard-definition video tape.
Because Paramount has repeatedly indicated that a official HD or 4K remaster is financially unviable due to the staggering cost of re-rendering thousands of visual effects shots, the fan community took matters into their own hands. Around 2020, a revolution occurred. Breakthroughs in consumer-grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) upscaling allowed tech-savvy fans to breathe new life into the series.
The visual upgrade to Season 1 is nothing short of breathtaking.
or better (required for Topaz's Tensor core acceleration at the time). Topaz Video Enhance AI. star trek deep space 9 s01 ai upscale 4k 2020 top
Text Interpretation: The AI struggles with text. Screen displays on the computer terminals (LCARS) can sometimes warp into unreadable, alien gibberish if the source text is too blurry.
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In some early 2020 renders, fine text on computer monitors (LCARS screens) became garbled as the AI tried to turn unreadable pixels into recognizable letters. Similarly, organic shapes like alien faces can occasionally take on a slightly plastic, overly smoothed "waxy" appearance if the settings are pushed too aggressively. Mainstream tech journalists have also weighed in
TLDR: DS9 upscale is here. Skip all the way to the bottom for instructions on where to get it. We've opted to release it in 1080p+ www.reddit.com
For decades, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has been the "stepchild" of the franchise’s home release cycle. While The Next Generation received a lavish, multi-million dollar full HD remaster (complete with re-composited CGI), DS9 —and its sister show Voyager —were left in the digital dust. The official reason was always cost. Because DS9 was edited on videotape and its visual effects were rendered in standard definition (480i), a proper remaster would require re-editing every episode from scratch.
Due to copyright, this project exists in the "data restoration" grey market. Search for "Project Defiant DS9 S01 2160p" in the usual digital archives.
The 2020 fan upscale of DS9 Season 1 proved that legacy media does not have to be trapped in the decade it was born. It sparked a massive wave of similar projects, forcing the industry to acknowledge the power of consumer-grade AI tools. While AI upscaling can occasionally introduce minor artifacts—such as a slightly "waxy" look on skin textures if overprocessed—the top 2020 renders managed to strike a perfect balance between modern sharpness and nostalgic film grain. For die-hard fans, it is the definitive way
Consequently, the master tapes handed to streaming services and DVD distributors suffer from:
To understand the importance of the DS9 AI upscale, one must first grasp the technical hurdles that make an official remaster so daunting. Unlike the original 1960s Star Trek , which was shot and edited entirely on 35mm film, The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager were produced using a hybrid process. While the live-action footage was shot on high-quality 35mm film, the shows were then edited on standard-definition videotape. This was the industry standard for television production in the 80s and 90s, as it was far cheaper and faster than editing on film.
This means the final master tapes of DS9 exist only in standard definition (480i). To officially remaster the show, CBS would need to locate the original film canisters, re-scan every frame, and completely re-create all the visual effects from scratch. After the physical Blu-ray sales for the remastered Next Generation failed to recoup costs, Paramount shelved plans for a DS9 remaster indefinitely. The 2020 AI Upscale Breakthrough
Remastering the Alpha Quadrant: The Definitive Guide to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1 AI Upscaling
Using AI models to "guess" missing detail based on patterns the software learned from high-resolution training data.