Why some “remastered” music videos look awful
This isn’t “the way they were meant to be seen”. • Join CuriosityStream, including access to Nebula and my original series, for only $2.99/month here: https://curiositystream.com/tomscott
When YouTube allowed music labels to “remaster” their original uploads, different videos had very different approaches. Some are in crystal-clear 4K; others are very definitely not. Here’s why some of them look terrible.
Animation by William Marler: https://wmad.co.uk
Sound mix by Graham Haerther: https://haerther.net
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@theirishace923
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Just putting an appreciation for all the little easter eggs the editor put in this, well done William!!
@ten915thecool
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
dont forget the ren and stimpy remasters.
just dont watch it.
the laserdisc is somehow better quality then a "remastered" dvd
@niamhrz
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
So does the industry not tell people about QTGMC de-interlacing…. It solves alot of this.
@olllasalle8755
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
I just watched the music video and it's not bad at all. You're just doing this to create content. The video is kind of smooth looking, but the original video was meant to look like that.
@SearTrip
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
“And if you going to change the historical record, it does seem a terrible option to make it worse”: cue over 99% of all colorizations of b&w photos and films.
@sarahluciakarmann6133
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Great explanation!
@u.l.iofficial379
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Is everybody going to ignore those absolutely hilarious comments in the Youtube scenes?
@feduwtc
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
3:15 tbh i never thought this remaster was bad
@DemoniteBL
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
4:23 "Remastering doesn't mean restoration, it means recreation." Not in the gaming industry, there it means creating a graphics mod for an old game and selling it again at full price.
@Thee-Turbo
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
1:31 SUOMI MAINITTU RAAAAAH!!!
@Boz1211111
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Idea is not bad, bu anywhere where they didnt have acess to lets say film, its waaaay overdone and as you say it looks worse. sadly originals that havent been compressed 5 times alredy cant be found for many things at all
@philitgraffic
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
This is soooo true. I'm working on a HD upscaling of We Are The World video clip, and because the cleanest source is a TV 480 interlaced @25 fps footage capture I'm facing some problems to make the output definition worthy of enven a real 720p.
@CEOofSEGG
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Tom Scott turned into Captain Disillusion
@JoseAlba87
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
5 years later Ai is here. Ai tools are absolutely amazing in enhancing video quality.
@bormix-is-poor
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Love the reference of pencil head in the "all star" music video's comments.
@quad7685
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Do British people like Smash Mouth?
@quad7685
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Rest In Peace Steve Harwell
@IrishFinalExit
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
The beatles videos look amazing.
@pedreiro_do_mato
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Funny enough that wacky look gave the video it's particular remarkable appearence
@PXKMProductionsGaming
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Smash Mouth deserves way better than this.
@littleandy1209
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
AI 4K remastering makes people look like avatars!
@SwitchZetto
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
You can say Smash Mouth's remastered MV is the sharpest tool in their shed
@DoveEye98
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
06:09 so dedicated that you'll yap so much (in a good way) and I respect that
@TooMuchSascha
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Describing remasters as "rewriting history" is a good way of looking at it and explains why, despite being technically in higher quality, I don't enjoy remasters of visuals or audio and prefer original versions all the way across the board.
@Genius_junction12
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 pm
if you pause quickly enough at the very start you'll see corrupted tom
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