The fifth episode of Star Fleet Academy was filled with memberberries for Deep Space Nine. So now I want to re-watch this magnificent Star Trek show. I first watched it, back when it aired in the 1990s.

There are many versions of it available: DVD, Laserdisc, free streaming on pirate websites, legal streaming, pirate DVDRips, pirate AI upscaled versions.

Pirate streaming ended up being a muddy picture, mislabeled episodes and such. So I checked out torrents and found a whole zoo of DVDRips and AI upscaled versions. Some upscaled versions have gigantic file sizes of hundreds of GB.

DVDRips

There are DVDs following the analog video standards PAL and NTSC. PAL has a higher vertical resolution of 576p compared to 480p for NTSC. The colors of PAL are also better. PAL is sped up by 5% to 25 fps, leading to a slightly shorter runtime and pitched up audio. Some say the PAL version makes people speaking sound like chipmunks. I don't think it's that noticeable, if you don't compare it directly.

The version I'm currently watching is called Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Complete Series - 576P - Multi Subs - DVDrip - X265-HEVC - O69. Each episode is around 250 MB encoded in x265. The DVD extras are included and a lot of fun. It's acceptable quality wise. However the image is too dark overall. I added a gamma adjustment filter of 0.9 to bring out the contrast and details in the shadows in my video player.

Legal Streams

Use the DVDs and recompress them. So at best as good as a DVDRip.

AI Upscale

There are a bunch of different upscaled versions, and new ones are regularly. These are just a few examples of many.

DS9: Redefined

Is a newish project for an actually good upscaled version. They use LaserDisc as source, correct the colors, and then upscale.

Their demo videos actually look pretty great. Sadly I couldn't find where to actually download the completed video files. Do you know?

Other upscales

https://berglyd.net/blog/2023/08/upscaling-startrek-ds9/
shows only a slight difference. Noise and grain are reduced, sure. Details like the pips on Sisko's collar are smudged and arguably worse.

https://community.topazlabs.com/t/star-trek-deep-space-nine-upscaling-project-by-leland-kovich-pal-dvd-to-1080phd-in-4-3/92214/8
Noise and grain is suppressed, but also the texture. Too much saturation, too much contrast, sharpening, ringing. Sisko's legs are an abomination, see the parallel line in the water. The rocks went from background blur, to sharp. The whole image has lost depth and looks flat.