Claude Video Enhance

claude-video-enhance — AI Video Enhancement

Pre-Flight

1. Activate venv: source ~/.video-skill/bin/activate
2. Check free VRAM: nvidia-smi --query-gpu=memory.free --format=csv,noheader,nounits
3. Get input video info: ffprobe -v quiet -print_format json -show_streams "$INPUT"
4. Estimate processing time and disk space (frame-based pipelines are slow and large)
5. Always warn the user about expected processing time before starting

AI Upscaling (Real-ESRGAN)

Upscale video resolution by 2x or 4x using AI super-resolution.

source ~/.video-skill/bin/activate
python3 scripts/video_enhance.py upscale "$INPUT" \
  --scale 4 \
  --output upscaled_4k.mp4

Options:

• --scale 2|4 — Upscale factor (default: 4)
• --model realesrgan-x4plus — General purpose model (default)
• --model realesrgan-x4plus-anime — Optimized for anime/cartoon content
• --half — Use FP16 precision (faster, less VRAM, recommended)
• --output FILE — Output path
• --codec h264|hevc|av1 — Output codec (default: h264_nvenc if available)

VRAM: 2-6GB with --half flag

Performance expectations:

• 720p → 4K (4x): 2-5 FPS → 10 min video (18,000 frames) takes ~1-2.5 hours
• 1080p → 4K (2x): 1-3 FPS → expect even longer

Pipeline:

1. Extract all frames to temp directory (large disk usage: ~5x input size)
2. Upscale each frame with Real-ESRGAN (GPU)
3. Extract audio from original video
4. Reassemble upscaled frames + audio into output video
5. Clean up temp frames

Disk space warning: A 10-minute 30fps video creates 18,000 PNG frames. At 4K, each frame is ~10-20MB. Total temp space: 180-360GB. Ensure sufficient disk space.

Frame Interpolation (Practical-RIFE)

Create smooth slow motion by generating intermediate frames.

source ~/.video-skill/bin/activate
python3 scripts/video_enhance.py interpolate "$INPUT" \
  --multi 2 \
  --output smooth_slowmo.mp4

Options:

• --multi 2|4|8 — Frame multiplication factor (default: 2)
  • 2x: 30fps → 60fps, or half-speed smooth slow motion
  • 4x: 30fps → 120fps, or quarter-speed smooth slow motion
  • 8x: 30fps → 240fps, extreme slow motion
• --output FILE — Output path
• --fps-target N — Instead of multiplier, set target FPS

VRAM: 2-4GB

Performance: 60+ FPS for 2x interpolation at 720p. Slower at higher resolutions.

Use cases:

• Convert 30fps to 60fps for smoother playback
• Create cinematic slow motion from normal-speed footage
• Smooth out choppy screen recordings

Face Restoration (CodeFormer)

Restore degraded faces in old or low-quality video footage.

source ~/.video-skill/bin/activate
python3 scripts/video_enhance.py restore-faces "$INPUT" \
  --fidelity 0.7 \
  --output restored.mp4

Options:

• --fidelity 0.0-1.0 — Quality-fidelity balance (default: 0.7)
  • 0.0 = Most beautiful (more hallucinated/enhanced)
  • 0.5 = Balanced
  • 0.7 = Recommended (good quality while staying faithful)
  • 1.0 = Most faithful to original (minimal enhancement)
• --bg-upscale — Also upscale background with Real-ESRGAN
• --output FILE — Output path

VRAM: 2-4GB (CodeFormer) + 2-4GB if --bg-upscale enabled

Pipeline:

1. Extract frames
2. Detect faces in each frame
3. Restore each detected face with CodeFormer
4. Optionally upscale background
5. Reassemble with audio

Best for: Old family videos, low-resolution webcam footage, compressed video with face artifacts.

Background Removal (rembg)

Remove background from video to create transparent video.

source ~/.video-skill/bin/activate
python3 scripts/video_enhance.py remove-bg "$INPUT" \
  --format webm \
  --output transparent.webm

Options:

• --format webm — VP9 with alpha channel (for web, default)
• --format prores — ProRes 4444 with alpha (for editing workflows)
• --model u2net_human_seg — Optimized for humans (default)
• --model u2net — General purpose (any subject)
• --model isnet-general-use — Alternative general model
• --output FILE — Output path

VRAM: 1-2GB (GPU) or CPU fallback

Performance: 5-10 FPS for 1080p

Output formats:

• WebM (VP9+alpha): ffmpeg -c:v libvpx-vp9 -pix_fmt yuva420p output.webm
• ProRes 4444: ffmpeg -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4 -pix_fmt yuva444p10le output.mov

Combined Enhancement Pipeline

Chain multiple enhancements on a single video:

python3 scripts/video_enhance.py upscale "$INPUT" --scale 2 --output /tmp/step1.mp4
python3 scripts/video_enhance.py restore-faces /tmp/step1.mp4 --fidelity 0.7 --output /tmp/step2.mp4
python3 scripts/video_enhance.py interpolate /tmp/step2.mp4 --multi 2 --output final_enhanced.mp4

The script extracts frames once and applies multiple enhancements to minimize I/O when using --pipeline mode:

python3 scripts/video_enhance.py pipeline "$INPUT" \
  --upscale 2 --restore-faces 0.7 --interpolate 2 \
  --output final_enhanced.mp4

Time and Space Estimates

Always run bash scripts/estimate_size.sh "$INPUT" before starting.

VRAM Management

All operations load models on-demand and unload after processing. Multiple light models can coexist if combined VRAM < 12GB.

Safety Rules

1. Always estimate time and disk space before starting — confirm with user
2. Run bash scripts/preflight.sh "$INPUT" "$OUTPUT" before writes
3. Never overwrite source video
4. For upscaling: verify sufficient disk space for temp frames (can be 100x+ input size)
5. Use trap to clean up temp directories on failure
6. Confirm before operations estimated to take >30 minutes

Reference

Load references/video-enhance.md for model details, quality comparisons, and pipeline optimization.