The results of these projects speak for themselves. In head-to-head comparisons, the AI-upscaled 1080p footage is vastly superior to the original DVDs. The image is sharper, colors appear more vibrant, and the crushing compression artifacts that plagued darker scenes are significantly reduced.
The creators driving the "2020 hot" upscale trend did not just push a single button. Achieving a watchable, cinematic 1080p output required a complex multi-step pipeline. 1. De-interlacing and Inverse Telecine
Joel Hruska of ExtremeTech is perhaps the most prominent figure in this fan movement. Driven by his own love for the series, Hruska embarked on an epic journey to create a fully reproducible, high-quality upscaling method.
On the other side, critics raised several valid points. They argued that AI upscaling can introduce new, sometimes distracting, artifacts. For example, the Gaia-CG model could make faces look like "plastic," and detailed textures like hair or fabric could become smeared. Others felt that the AI upscaled versions, while sharper, lacked the filmic texture and organic feel of true high-definition scans. A common refrain was that it was a fun experiment but not a true substitute for a professional restoration. star trek deep space 9 s01 ai upscale 1080p 2020 hot
When DS9 premiered in 1993, televisions were boxy, low-resolution CRT monitors. Visual effects were mastered in 480i NTSC format. On modern 4K and OLED screens, the original DVD releases look blurry, muddy, and plagued by digital artifacts.
While purists correctly note that a true, full-budget studio remaster would look even better, the community widely agrees that these AI upscales are a game-changer for re-watchability.
While fan AI projects are incredibly popular, they are not a replacement for an official remaster. As of 2026, the best way to watch remains either the official, slightly upscaled, but often compressed streaming versions on platforms like Paramount+ (which can be poor on certain browsers) or the dedicated fan-made AI versions [ Reddit , 2026]. The results of these projects speak for themselves
The year was 2020, and the world had shrunk to the size of a living room. For Elias, a freelance editor with too much time and a high-end GPU, the isolation was an opportunity to solve a thirty-year-old grievance: the blurry, standard-definition haze of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .
What (like Plex, VLC, or an Apple TV) you currently use to watch your content.
This was not a simple "enhance" button press. The creator reportedly split each episode into shots, trained the AI to recognize Starfleet uniforms vs. Cardassian grey walls, and manually tweaked the de-interlacing to prevent the "soap opera effect." The creators driving the "2020 hot" upscale trend
Project Defiant: DS9 1080p+ Upscale Now Available : r/startrek
The year 2020 marked a pivotal moment for Deep Space Nine fans. The stars aligned: the release of new, commercially available AI video upscaling software coincided with a groundswell of fan-led restoration projects. While a fan named CaptRobau had proven the concept in 2019, 2020 is when the movement went mainstream and captured the imagination of the entire fandom, becoming a "hot topic" at online forums and social media communities. Fueled by a collective desire to honor this landmark series, fans began sharing guides, creating powerful comparison videos, and building an ecosystem around AI-upscaled Deep Space Nine . It was a true "by the fans, for the fans" renaissance for the show.
In 2020, three major versions of the AI upscale were widely discussed by fans: