Visitors experience artificial intelligence (AI) on the Baidu AI Bus during an AI exhibition held by Baidu in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: IC

 Chinese video platform Sohu is using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to remaster old TV series and improve viewer experience.

Many classical TV and film productions in China are of low image quality due to the limited filming technology of the day and improper storage, which in turn has acted as a barrier for audiences wanting to watch these classic works.

Adding popular classic dramas is a great and cost effective means for streaming platforms to increase their library of content, so remastering are well worth the investment and effort.

According to Sohu, its AI program has remastered more than 300 old TV dramas and films including Hong Kong movie Ashes of Time released in 1994, 1993's Farewell My Concubine and The Last Emperor directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987.

These remastered films and series have seen significant increase in views on the platform. 

The program focuses on dealing with four problems of old film and TV productions: loud noise, blurry images, yellow discoloration and low resolution ratio. The program can enhance color saturation and brightness of images and effectively remove video blur caused by camera jitter or the fast motion of objects.

The process is relatively quick, taking only a dozen or so minutes to remaster a single two-hour film.