[JasonFruit]

But if that ML tool is trained on modern video, depending on its capabilities it may subtly modernize aspects of the video in ways that lessen the "past is a foreign country" effect, leading us to believe that the past was more like the present than it in truth was. It's a trade-off between removing technological barriers between us and the person, so we can connect to their recorded legacy, and removing sociological barriers, which we probably want to preserve.

[hnlmorg]

The past was more like the present than we like to believe. The past was no more sepia than it was black and white. Just like the 80s wasn’t as bold and neon as pop culture portrays.

In media we use colour to exaggerate the differences of the past, to make it feel different and foreign to our senses, rather than represent them accurately. So if you want a more accurate representation then you absolutely should be training your models on modern video.

[WalterBright]

> leading us to believe that the past was more like the present than it in truth was

So what? I just don't get this. Can't we just enjoy a much improved film experience?

> so we can connect to their recorded legacy, and removing sociological barriers, which we probably want to preserve.

Nobody is suggesting destroying the originals.

[kouru225]

What they’re saying is that it’s your opinion that that would be an improved experience, and that’s not an objective opinion that other people share.

[kortilla]

But what’s the point then? If you’re going to make fake videos might as well just generate a completely new one with actors.

[WalterBright]

Would you rather see a colorized picture of your grandma or a color picture of another woman?

[kortilla]

If the colors are just someone guessing I would honestly not want to see it. I find those kind of wishful fantasies harmful. Not much different than when favorite book is converted to a movie and actors stomp out your imagined characters.

If you hadn’t had a picture of your grandma at all, would you want AI to generate one based on a description of her and tell you it’s a picture of your grandma?

[WalterBright]

There is a short movie on Google which is a film of a train rolling into a station, and then the same one sharpened by AI. The second one is marvelous to watch.

There's another of a colorized ancient movie of a trolley ride in Europe. It's very fun to watch.

Ya know, when people restore old cars, if they want to drive them, they'll usually do a few upgrades to make the car safer and more driveable. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm curious. Do you ever watch and enjoy movies from the 20's and 30's? For the silent flicks, do you think that the music played during the screening by some random starving artist plinking on a crummy piano or squeaking away on a violin is part of the "vision" of the director?

Lots of people today simply turn away from any movie that is black and white.

[kortilla]

“Fun to watch” and “historically accurate” are different things.

We’re not that far away from doing things like have AI remove “icky cigarettes” and “poisonous alcohol” to make it lots of fun for zoomers to watch.

[bredren]

I’d like to see rolling data on how people are turning away from lower quality media. Or what premium is being placed on 720p+ video versus standard.

There’s a reason video sites offer a filter for HD and YouTube videos get keyword stuffed for 8k even when they aren’t.

I am very curious how Apple’s spatial video lands.

From reviewer descriptions, the experience is such a major change from standard HD video I am wondering if depthscaling “old” video will become a thing too.

[b112]

If the colors are just someone guessing I would honestly not want to see it. I find those kind of wishful fantasies harmful

I think disclosure is high priority here. If you know it's been cleaned up, and colourized, then you can watch it as you would the original.

Because, what I think people are saying here is that older cameras already have made the equivalent of "someone guessing". The framerate is variable and jumps, the colour is off and variable, rhe film is degraded, and even the people in the films act quite unnatural, for they are very aware of being filmed.

I get what you mean about authenticity, but I think full disclosure takes care of that.

[thsksbd]

Another woman than a fake grandma

[iancmceachern]

Because it's not real, red pill man