HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

I just tried watching one of the upscaled and interpolated videos, and then comparing it to the source. Please consider doing this before commenting, because in my opinion it really illuminates how silly this all is.

4K: https://youtu.be/hZ1OgQL9_Cw

Original: https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0

The colorization, of course, is lies. The upscaling and interpolation, however, is harder to argue about. Sure, if you were to freeze a frame and zoom in, you are looking at data that may not directly correspond to what was recorded. But it didn’t come out of thin air either - its upscaled and interpolated. I have read the arguments and some of the comments on this page and I still cannot figure out how this isn’t just rationalizing elitism.

Of course we need to keep the source material, but nobody is suggesting to not do that.

⬐ aidenn0

The thing that struck me most about the colorized video was how every single person in it was wearing a hat. I did not notice this in the B&W video for some reason.

⬐ underwater

The ironic thing is that your "original" has completely fabricated sound added to it, which involves much more subjectivity than interpolating frames.

⬐ jchw

This is true. I would’ve linked a different source, but that’s of course the source used by the upscaled version. It is certainly worth mentioning.

⬐ paxys

Even the "fake" colors are a lot more representative of reality than black and white.

⬐ the_pwner224

The fake colors are completely made up by the computer. The people could have been wearing drab green or bright red or hot pink suits and it would show up as the same sepia/navy blue that the computer makes all the clothes look like in the colorized video.

⬐ int_19h

I don't know about that particular video, but they're not always made up. There are videos and photos of objects that we know were colored in a certain way (from contemporary descriptions) - flags are very handy in that regard, for example. These can be used to calibrate the algorithm. Of course, a B&W image will still be ambiguous, and the algorithm has to make guesses. But those guesses aren't completely random.

⬐ the_pwner224

It's the computer trying to copy the color from the training image set onto the video. My point about a guy in a bright red or hot pink suit in the B&W original being represented as sepia/navy in the colorization is still the same. It's impossible to turn B&W image into a color image without guessing what the colors are. The average color of a guy's suit in the colorized copy might be right if it's trained on a realistic dataset, but ultimately it's still guessing and making up information for each individual suit.

⬐ mrtksn

Wow, I played those in sync and for me the 4K version is significantly more relatable. Even though the colours are obviously fake, the smoothness of the movements of the people in the video is what makes it great because I can actually relate and feel the emotions through the body language. It also feels more immersive because the nature's physical behaviour looks more accurate.

⬐ shard

After reading your comments, I was curious so watched the two clips as well. Although the 4K version was a bit nicer to watch (which I watched first), I didn't feel a significant difference compared with the original. Perhaps I am biased, as I do enjoy watching old (or new) B&W movies.

⬐ extralego

I wonder if the cars in this are electric or gas.

⬐ yial

The sound is not the actual sound though? It’s simply an added in ambiance addition?

Another way to increase safety would be to slow down traffic... a lot.

It used to be that cars, trains (and horses) traveled at just over walking pace, pedestrian crossings (and jaywalking) didn't exist, pedestrians crossed the street anywhere.

https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0?t=4m4s

Though I guess today's traffic densities wouldn't allow for slowly meandering through traffic.