Restoration gives classical TV dramas a new lease on life

Even with the aid of AI technologies, digital restoration of old productions is no mean feat, as increasing the image resolution is one thing, but restoring its original texture is quite another, which requires technologies, as well as a craftsmanship spirit. For instance, 30-plus members of the Youku digital restoration team worked for as long as a month to fully restore the 1983 megahit, The Bund.

"Our team has made various attempts to enhance audiences' viewing experience. If only the definition is increased through transcoding, audiences may feel that the images have been doctored through filters. So we went to great lengths to restore the texture that is unique to the period when the classical series was shot," said Guo Linna, a senior visual optimization engineer from Youku. 

Though Youku's digital restoration team is made up of no more than 40 members who do not work full time, every week it can restore 100-plus episodes of old TV dramas.

Speaking of her original motivation, Guo said that she chose to restore those old TV series because on the one hand, she wanted the post-80s generation to have better access to recalling childhood memories, and on the other hand, she wanted the younger generation to gain new experience through watching these classic works.

The rerun of restored classic TV dramas backed by some promotional campaigns on video-streaming sites has borne fruit. For example, the restored version of the 2010 TV historical comedy-drama, Li Wei the Magistrate 3, on Youku has gained surprisingly high views that are mainly from the fans of actress Zhao Liying, as the show starred their idol long before she joined the A-list.

During this year's Spring Festival holiday, iQiyi released 25 restored classical works, like The Kangxi Dynasty and garnered massive views. So to tap the huge potential of the summer season, Youku has set up the "HD Classic" section featuring 1,000 restored classic film and TV productions in 1080P resolution.

Yang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.