Star Trek Deep Space 9 S01 Ai Upscale 4k 2020 «Authentic»

In 2020, the "story" of upscaling Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

: Author Joel Hruska documented a comprehensive series for ExtremeTech , detailing his journey using Topaz software to upscale the series to 4K. By May 2020, he reached a "season finale" for his technical project, highlighting challenges like variable frame rates in 90s TV DVDs.

Here is a breakdown of why this project exists, how it works, and whether it is worth your time.

Since these are fan projects, they exist in a legal gray area and aren't available on official platforms like Paramount+. However, the 2019 documentary What We Left Behind featured several minutes of DS9 footage officially remastered in HD/4K, proving just how beautiful the show could look if given a full studio budget.

The 2020 AI upscales of Deep Space Nine Season 1 are not a studio-grade remaster. They cannot fix missing CGI elements or recomposite effects shots. But they are a triumph of interpretive restoration. They prove that neural networks can love Star Trek as much as we do.