MARCH 20, 2025|ENTERTAINMENT & HOLLYWOOD
Unnecessary Enhancement and the Upscaling Backlash Against Netflix
What if everything doesn’t need to be better? A series of 80s shows originally released at a 4:3 aspect ratio and with non-HD level filming have been digitally “enhanced” with AI to make them higher quality and in the typical widescreen format preferred now. The upscaling is a disaster.
Anyone watching immediately notices inconsistencies, weird AI-generated remnants and a wide format that cuts off critical pieces of a scene. The end result is that anyone watching will long for a time when all these “enhancements” weren’t around, and you could just watch a program as it was originally created.
The whole story is a good reminder for us all not to abandon the things people like in order to just make a product or experience feel more modern. The old way may not be perfect or even as technologically advanced, but sometimes it’s better anyway.
Rohit speaks on this topic. See his AI keynote.
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How It All Started
A Short Backstory Of This Blog
This is a blog about non-obvious ideas. Originally launched on the Typepad platform in 2005 as the Influential Marketing blog, the stories at first focused mainly on digital marketing while Rohit worked at Ogilvy Advertising. In 2015 Rohit officially rebranded to the Non-Obvious Insights Blog and published his WSJ bestseller Non-Obvious. For the past twenty one years, this blog has coined new terms, introduced future marketing practices and inspired the next generation of non-obvious thinkers and marketers.
