"Shenmue Premiere" Video Enhancement Project (UPDATED)

[g77]

For years I've been trying to enhance the old "Shenmue Premiere" video that Sega published on their website more than a year before "Shenmue" was released. The video it's almost 2 hours long and it includes lots of interesting things, for example a ton of amazing footage of Beta and unreleased scenes of the first two games. Unfortunately, the original RealMedia format file from 1999 is 160x112 at 15fps (and frame rate is not even stable).

Image quality is so low and frame rate is so choppy that simply upscaling is not enough to make the video watchable. In recent years, artificial intelligence applied to video enhancement has increased its reliability, and recently I have decided to give it a try to enhance the "Shenmue Premiere" video. So here are the results.

Step 1: The original file. As I said, is 160x112 at 15fps:



Step 2: Using Artificial Intelligence frame interpolation, I've doubled the frame rate to 30 fps but keeping the original frame size of 160x112. The result is a more pleasant viewing experience but resolution is terribly low.



Step 3: Using the interpolated video from above and Artificial Intelligence upscaling, I've upscaled the frame size six times, getting a final result of 960x672 at 30fps. Of course, since the original file was so small and so compressed, the result is very irregular, and artificial intelligence upscaling is far from perfect. Some shots (especially closeups of faces) look very good but others look terrible. Still, I think it's now a much more pleasant viewing experience.



UPDATE 11/01/2021 - Step 4:
Using the same AI interpolation and AI upscaling processes, I've used the alternative video file provided by user MestreZiming as a source. The file had more problems of repeated frames (probably result of the original re-encoding) so there are more odd frames, specially in fast movement sequences. Nevertheless, the final result is very slightly better, with more natural colors and less compression artifacts:


Some sample frames:

Before:​	After:​
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Now we only need subtitles If someone wants to make subtitles I can add them to the video. Even though the video is long, there are long scenes with no dialog and some of them have already been translated from the "Project Berkley" GD, I think.

 

[code l name]

I can’t wait to view this later. Getting high quality video of premier is one of those things I’ve wanted for a very long time.

@Switch I think provided subtitles for this video before. My memory is hazy but perhaps he can clarify.

 

[g77]

I hope you'll enjoy it but unfortunately is far from high quality. It's just an upscale, with lots of artifacts and weird frames, but more watchable than the original rm video file.

No, I don't think Switch provided subtitles for this video. He provided subs for the short 15 minutes digest video of the premiere that was included in one of the Dreamcast Express demo discs, this one:


Of course, it would be great if he could make subtitles for the full video .

 

[Switch]

It's definitely much more watchable now @g77! Nice job.

I've known about this video but the quality was so poor that I decided to hold off on trying to subtitle it until a high-quality version was obtained - which has never happened! But with the quality improvement you've made, I think it would be worth doing.

No, I don't think Switch provided subtitles for this video. He provided subs for the short 15 minutes digest video of the premiere that was included in one of the Dreamcast Express demo discs

Yes, that's right. I'm not sure how much overlap there may be between them.

Maybe anyone who starts working on this could use this thread to let everyone know, to avoid double-ups. I'm a bit tied up at the moment, but may be able to help out later on. (Also @danielmann861 may be interested?)

 

[code l name]

Yes, hopefully one day we can get a high quality, original source to this as there’s so much to cover and discuss. I only skimmed through the video but a couple of stray observations-

- It still amazes me until this day how much Shenmue 2 content that appeared in the premiere that made its way into the final game. From characters, cutscene direction and even gameplay scenarios and scenes.

- At 38 minute mark we get handful of character introductions. It’s an intriguing list; Ren, Xiuying, Yunda Zhu, Lan Di, Niao Sun, Chai, little boy (hard to tell if he’s same kid you save in optional QTE when doing Chawan signs), broom girl on kings road who’s artwork appeared in Shenmue 3 pre-release material but never made it into game, two butchers in HK and Shenhua. You could argue it’s a red herring but I am very curious what Zhu’s profile says and whether his place in list has any importance or coincidental.

- I am not sure if scenes were re-arranged for promo purposes or were different at the time. It seems Wong stealing bag, looks to be at the harbour or was that in HK (video quality makes it hard to make out). Also Ryo and Shenhua introducing themselves at what became firefly scene.

 

[24Nathan]

Yes, hopefully one day we can get a high quality, original source to this as there’s so much to cover and discuss. I only skimmed through the video but a couple of stray observations-

- It still amazes me until this day how much Shenmue 2 content that appeared in the premiere that made its way into the final game. From characters, cutscene direction and even gameplay scenarios and scenes.

- At 38 minute mark we get handful of character introductions. It’s an intriguing list; Ren, Xiuying, Yunda Zhu, Lan Di, Niao Sun, Chai, little boy (hard to tell if he’s same kid you save in optional QTE when doing Chawan signs), broom girl on kings road who’s artwork appeared in Shenmue 3 pre-release material but never made it into game, two butchers in HK and Shenhua. You could argue it’s a red herring but I am very curious what Zhu’s profile says and whether his place in list has any importance or coincidental.

- I am not sure if scenes were re-arranged for promo purposes or were different at the time. It seems Wong stealing bag, looks to be at the harbour or was that in HK (video quality makes it hard to make out). Also Ryo and Shenhua introducing themselves at what became firefly scene.

Actually, the character you linked is introduced by Miyazaki - san as Ming Ming, who has not yet appeared in the games. The girl introduced here should be (going from memory, can't access my laptop now), the yellow dress younger girl who helps out at a shop in the Green Market Qr., correct? Her model was reused as another shophand in Shenmue III. I believe in the Premiere, she was at the Sunny Capital Pharmacy? Again, going from memory here. :)

 

[g77]

I don't know about you, but I've always liked more the "dirty grey" Hong Kong from the Premiere/Beta scenes than the colorful one we got in "Shenmue II". Don't get me wrong, I dig the Hong Kong we visit in the final game, but... I don't know, this one looks more atmospheric, more mysterious.

 

[24Nathan]

This is amazing. Fantastic work! I remember downloading this file from File Planet back when we were on Planet Xbox. Took me almost a day on dial up, if memory serves. Was so excited to watch it, even with it being of such low quality.

 

[James Brown]

I don't know about you, but I've always liked more the "dirty grey" Hong Kong from the Premiere/Beta scenes than the colorful one we got in "Shenmue II". Don't get me wrong, I dig the Hong Kong we visit in the final game, but... I don't know, this one looks more atmospheric, more mysterious.

I agree too, looks a lot more in tone to Shenmue 1's look. Too be fair, I think the Dreamcast version of Shenmue 2 was less colourful...they went a bit over the top on the OG Xbox with bloom lighting and stuff that made it look more cartoon'y than origianlly intended imo.

 

[MestreZiming]

I have this version that I encoded long ago, maybe you can give it a try to see if you get any better results,
seems very slightly more blurry but sure doesn't suffer from the same 'ghosting' effect as much as your source.

Upload files for free - shenmue45od.avi - ufile.io

Download shenmue45od.avi for free from ufile.io instantly, no signup required and no popup ads

ufile.io

 

[code l name]

Actually, the character you linked is introduced by Miyazaki - san as Ming Ming, who has not yet appeared in the games. The girl introduced here should be (going from memory, can't access my laptop now), the yellow dress younger girl who helps out at a shop in the Green Market Qr., correct? Her model was reused as another shophand in Shenmue III. I believe in the Premiere, she was at the Sunny Capital Pharmacy? Again, going from memory here. :)

That’s for the correction. I vaguely recall a @Switch blog post talking about very looking similar characters in original games appearing in Shenmue 3, but couldn’t find entry.

I too also felt the more grimy, darker version of HK looked very interesting. I would love to understand why they opted for more colourful approach in the end.

 

[g77]

I have this version that I encoded long ago, maybe you can give it a try to see if you get any better results,
seems very slightly more blurry but sure doesn't suffer from the same 'ghosting' effect as much as your source.

Upload files for free - shenmue45od.avi - ufile.io

Download shenmue45od.avi for free from ufile.io instantly, no signup required and no popup ads

ufile.io

Yes, your file seems to be veeeery slightly better than the source I have. What did you do? The one I used is the original .rm file that Sega uploaded in 1999.

I will think about doing a new version using your file as source. But I need to be sure and have time, my computer needed 40 hours of non-stop rendering for the last step alone.

 

[MestreZiming]

i used the official rm file too, i think i was having the same problems at the time to get a good encoder/decoder,
don't ask me which one i used tough, i really forgot about it...
Ok, when you have time, I belive you will get better results with this one.

 

[g77]

I edited the main post and added the new enhancement using the video file provided by @MestreZiming . I've used the same AI interpolation and AI upscaling processes, but the file had more problems of repeated frames (probably result of the original re-encoding) so there are more odd frames, specially in fast movement sequences. The result is very slightly better, with more natural colors and less compression artifacts:

 

[g77]

Just a curiosity, maybe the only article from that time period who attended the premiere and still survives online?:

Shenmue Premiere: The Full Report

 

[24Nathan]

Finally getting around to watching this again. This is so awesome to see on a big screen with decent quality (considering)!

EDIT:




No matter how blurry, the character tree images never cease to pique my interest.

 

[RetroLord120]

I edited the main post and added the new enhancement using the video file provided by @MestreZiming . I've used the same AI interpolation and AI upscaling processes, but the file had more problems of repeated frames (probably result of the original re-encoding) so there are more odd frames, specially in fast movement sequences. The result is very slightly better, with more natural colors and less compression artifacts:

Just curious, what AI upscaling program did you use for all this?

 

[g77]

Just curious, what AI upscaling program did you use for all this?

Topaz Video Enhance AI.

 

[Switch]

Since it's relevant to this topic, I just stumbled across this nice version by @derplayer who has replaced low-resolution footage with higher quality footage from other available sources. Maybe you guys could join forces!


Also I'm also planning to start work on creating subtitles soon, but at 2 hours in length it won't be a quick process.

 

[Peter]

Or someone at the YSNET offices could slip us it, so we could work on upscaling it. It's definitely there