Couldn't find a proper 1920x1080 30fps encode for One Piece episodes 542 and 590, so I used a couple sources to create a textless, logoless, clockless version myself from Fuji TV (CX) Transpor Streams. I would have preferred to use THK, but I couldn't find anyone with the TS file, so I just used the CX version I capped myself back when they initially aired.
I've also included my TS caps from CX just in case anyone wants to see the original aired version. Sorry, they do have a clock for the first half hour of both episodes. Really a shame that no one kept the TS from THK or any other channel that aired it without a clock...
While the high-motion scenes have less pixelation, there are some problems with the WebDLs. Namely, the first half was the proper 29.97fps, but the second half of both episodes was blended and decimated to 23.976fps. During the second half, every frame of 30fps sections has remnants of the frame before and after, but the 23.976fps native segments are unblended. In addition, there is significant aliasing that gives all of the solid lines a jagged, blurry, digital feel.
Having said that, the CX airing has plenty of issues, too. While the lines are sharper and there is more overall detail in the picture, there is significant MPEG2 artifacting during any high motion scenes, and many of the 23.976fps scenes have been blend-converted to 29.97fps.
As such, I used a gradient mask to overlay the WebDL video over the clock to remove it from the CX. I also used a separate custom gradient mask to overlay the WebDL video over the hard-coded text within the episodes. This was more challenging for episode 542, because the WebDL source for the second half was in 23.976fps and I needed to convert it to 29.970fps. Episode 590 was much easier because the portions that had text overlayed were natively 23.976 fps, so it was easy to match up with the CX video perfectly. Finally, in episode 590 there were some scenes in the CX broadcast that darkened and blended all frames due to extremely speed movement and/or bright flashing lights. Luckily, the WebDL source was clean, so I just added one dupe every 4 frames to make it natural 29.97fps video.
I would have been fine with the WebDL version if both parts were 30fps, and I would have been fine with the CX broadcast if there were no text overlays... So, this is my attempt to restore it to the best of my ability. Again, a shame I didn't have the THK source...
I noticed that I missed a few things... Namely, I screwed up the framing of one of my overlays so that the overlayed portion is shifted down one or two extra pixels. I didn't notice it on playback, but when comparing it to the CX/WebDL I saw my error. Sorry about that... These encodes took me around 28 hours each to encode with my 10bit x265 settings and I couldn't justify doing yet another encode after finding the mistake (https://slow.pics/c/J0uBld1N).
Comparisons:
542:
https://slow.pics/c/izSR8aZJ
https://slow.pics/c/c9SgWQE1
https://slow.pics/c/PlBGItXG
https://slow.pics/c/jpHDBDnG
(^This is the most noticeable scene, because the overlay ribbon is from a 23.976fps source blend converted to 29.970fps to match the CX framerate. It was the best I could do with what I had to work with...)
590:
https://slow.pics/c/ndmSREt2
https://slow.pics/c/g2FNy15N
https://slow.pics/c/y0khck6b
(^This showcases how horrible the blending was on CX for some of the bright, high motion scenes. This was altered on purpose for photosensitive viewers.)
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