I think it would be possible. But adding previously unseen stuff would be changing/redirecting the movie/show.

Each scene is set up and framed deliberately by the director, should AI just change that? It's a similar problem like with pan-and-scan, where content was removed to fit 4:3.

You wouldn't want to add content to the left and right of the Mona Lisa, would you? And if so what? Continuing the landscape, which adds just more uninteresting parts? Now she is in a vast space, and you already changed the tone of the painting. Or would you add other people? This removes the focus from her, which is even worse. Well this is just a one frame example, there are even more problems with moving pictures.

It would be an interesting experiment, but imo it wouldn't improve the quality of the medium, in contrary.

Do you mean something like this? (warning: reddit link)

• using AI to fill the scenes vertically : StableDiffusion

You should be able to but remember that aspect ratios and framing are done intentionally so what is generated won't be at all true to what should be in scene once the frame is there. You'd be watching derivative media. Upscaling should be perfectly doable but eventually details will be generated that will not have originally existed in scenes as well.

Probably would be fun eventually to try the conversion and see what differences you get.

Previous century I bought a TV that was 16:9 and had software to stretch 4:3 broadcasts to fit the screen. It chopped off a tad at the top and bottom and stretched the sides a tad to fill the screen... it was horrible. I'd rather have the dark borders at the sides over mutilated images. Somehow I doubt AI would be a bit more creative.

Who is the person that enjoys old shows, but also can’t get past the old aspect ratio?

If the AI is just adding complimentary, unobtrusive parts to the shot, so as not to disrupt the original intent, I have to ask- is there really value being added? Why do this at all?

George Lucas thought CGI could make the original Star Wars movies better.

Why would you want that? It's always best to consume media in its purest form, and that means with its original aspect ratio. Resolution is something I'm flexible on, because I figure that filmmakers and tv directors in prior eras would have used HD if it was available, but aspect in general is tied to format, though it can be used to great effect to convey the space of a scene in different ways. Changing the ratio is akin to changing the color pallet. Might as well offer Instagram-style filters for older content while you're at it.

Ahhh... the much-fabled "uncrop" operation!

I remember watching a great video about why this isn't a good idea.

Here it is.

Voyager and DS9 were shot on video, not film.

That's why there's HD versions of TOS and TNG but not DS9 and Voyager.

Yeah, but why would you want to? It would have to generate new imagery to fill out the gaps. That's bound to not look right. It at the very least would not be fitting the artist's intention.

There is no original film for voyager it was filmed on tape.

TNG used film so that can be rescanned but the original analogue broadcast is the literally the best quality we have of Voyager.

Adding imagery that reliably looks good is currently beyond what AI can do, but it's likely going to become possible eventually. It's fiction, so the AI making stuff up isn't a problem.

Upscaling is already something AI can do extremely well (again, if you're ok with hallucinations).

I used adobe's Generative Fill tool (where it uses AI to fill in the blanks like adding more sky/backgrounds/hiding people) and it's pretty miss. 20% of the time, it would kinda work. And I say that loosely.

I think in a few years, we'll get there. But not today.

its already possible, but not really good atm. saw some scenes, where they changed the aspect ratio from 16:9 to tiktok. im waiting for realfill, which google is working on. idk how it works, but it can guess, what should be outside of the image and the images i saw were pretty amazing compared to SD. 4k upscaling at 120hz also no problem, as i did this to the first season of spongebob and it really works fine with my hobby equipment in one night. id really love to see an upscaled 16:9 version of the it crowd and the first 6 seasons of scrubs.

edit: this is what i was referring to https://youtu.be/bD_HyxHMHPo?si=-ktJz3GuBNHhn9UY

I was wondering the same last week, but for Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series, which received a horrible HD release some years back.

It works well enough to be shown for a few seconds at a keynote for static pictures in some cases. It won't yet work well enough to be permanently known as the official "remastered version" for moving video consistently.

Now, someone uploading a watchable version on YouTube? That will happen in the next years if it hasn't already. But that version would be widely ridiculed if released officially because something, somewhere will be off and fans will notice.