Denis Shiryaev
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2020–2023
3:48 · 2.8M views · Aug 9, 2020
Neural-network upscaled, 60 fps, stabilized and colorized version of 1902 footage of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn suspended railway in Germany. The source film comes from MoMA. It gives a vivid view of an early-1900s city and a train system that still runs.
HN commenters share it as a favorite example of upscaled vintage footage that makes the early 1900s feel present, though some find the colorization off.
4 comments from Hacker News
I'm not a film expert, but I like to think I have taste? And yet, somehow the recent Beatles projects reduced me to tears on several occasions. Am I secretly a chud in denial, or are my tastes just offensive? Look, everyone has the right to be an elitist on their own film blog. The author didn't ask us to read what he said. However, his entire thesis is dramatically undermined by the simple fact that he didn't attempt to grab even a single comparison frame from the original releases so that a reader can A/B them and make up their minds for themselves. As to his distaste for those upscaled and colorized vintage shorts, I'm happy to go on record and say that I love them. In fact, watching these clips is the closest thing my family has to a Christmas tradition at this point. My personal favorite is this video and frankly, I don't have the time of day for anyone who is upset that I think it's wonderful.
I've really come to enjoy these sorts of upscaled videos that allow a view of various cities in the early 1900's. New York: [LINK] San Francisco: [LINK] Paris: [LINK] Wuppertal, Germany: this video
That colorized well, or seemed to, since the original had little color. It had to color "building", "snow", and "skin". That's about it. Here, though, is a similar technique applied to the Wuppertal monorail.[1] The colors are all wrong. The supports was really lime green, the overhead track was brown, and the carriages were a glossy red. Since the training set lacks data for 19th century supported monorails, it's just guessing. [1] this video
The 4K upgraded version, with good speed correction and somewhat lame colorization.[1] Here's a cab ride today, from the back end.[2] [1] this video [2] [LINK]