I FINALLY FOUND IT! But give me some time to explain about the process... you don't need to read it, but I need to tell you. After months searching for a good source on this one, I went through: A 486i MP4 web master - Yup, this was my first one. A file simply named "ti.mp4". It had great colors, great sharpness, great everything, but one major flaw: extreme frame blending from multiple improper frame rate conversions. I tried everything I could to fix it: every single frame rate restoration plugin from AviSynth, Topaz' motion deblur, DaVinci Resolve's new motion deblur feature, and also tried using only the luma from one source and the chroma from another one, but the frame blending would mess everything up. I decided to move on. Vevo 1080p - I could downscale it and use it for an upscale if it looked good, but this one had highlights completely burnt out, and the whole color was all over the place, too much washed out. Apple Music 1080p - This one was actually an AI upscale already, but had terrible quality, and the colors looked washed out exactly like the Vevo version (probably the same source) Tidal 1080p - Had a better upscale quality, but had the exact same washed out colors from Apple Music and Vevo (again, probably the same source) Every single YouTube version - Even with lower bit rate, I thought "maybe...". Well, it didn't work out, obviously. Random channels had MTV rips with logos, and the official T.I. and label channels had both an SD version (which was like 360p, with that great YouTube bit rate that comes with it) and an HD version (same source from the Tidal, Apple Music and Vevo versions, with washed out colors, again) Promo Only DVDs - Yeah, I went there. Both the UK Chart March 2009 and Video Pool UK March 2009. Both looked terrible, had low bit rate in MPEG-2 codec, and frame blending, and the titles, and the P.O. logo. I even tried color grading myself the Tidal version to match the master (a complete disaster). And also tried reaching out to every single person that I knew that might have the master (this is how I found about most of these sources). When I was about losing hope, one person mentioned to me in a Facebook group that he had a low bit rate web master source, but it didn't had any defects besides the low bit rate. I asked again to confirm it: "isn't this the ti.mp4 web master file?". He said no. And then he sent me. A source that was indeed low bit rate, but had perfect colors, no rainbowing, and no frame blending. I ran this as I always do, through Topaz Video, using the AI model Starlight Precise 2.5, in 4x resolution. It looked fine, not great. I then took this file and also ran it through AI, this time using the Gaia 2 model (the new version, not the old one that exists since 2020). I used 2x and ended up with a 50 GB ProRes file, around 5K resolution. I then restored the grain of the original master, trying to match it as close as possible, using FilmConvert's grain (but obviously disabling all color grading features of the plugin, including the film look conversion). And here we are. So I can assure you, this is not only the best version of this video available right now, but also one of the few ones with good quality, and the only one combining good quality with no frame blending. And yes, I checked all the internet. Source: Web master + audio from FLAC (song) + audio from LPCM VOB (video-only bits) Codec: 2160p (4K) HEVC video/Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio/MP4 container Code: General Complete name : G:\Videoclipes\SD e upscalings\T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake - Dead and Gone\T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake - Dead and Gone (2009) v1 4K.mp4 Format : MPEG-4 Format profile : Base Media Codec ID : isom (isom) File size : 1.75 GiB Duration : 4 min 55 s Overall bit rate mode : Variable Overall bit rate : 50.8 Mb/s Frame rate : 23.976 FPS Encoded date : 2026-05-28 16:41:45 UTC Tagged date : 2026-05-28 16:41:45 UTC Video ID : 1 Format : HEVC Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding Format profile : Main@L5@Main Codec ID : hev1 Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding Duration : 4 min 55 s Bit rate : 49.8 Mb/s Maximum bit rate : 151 Mb/s Width : 3 840 pixels Height : 1 600 pixels Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1 Frame rate mode : Variable Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS Minimum frame rate : 23.974 FPS Maximum frame rate : 23.981 FPS Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.338 Stream size : 1.71 GiB (98%) Encoded date : 2026-05-28 16:14:42 UTC Tagged date : 2026-05-28 16:41:46 UTC Color range : Limited Color primaries : BT.709 Transfer characteristics : BT.709 Matrix coefficients : BT.709 Codec configuration box : hvcC Audio ID : 2 Format : ALAC Codec ID : alac Codec ID/Info : Apple Lossless Audio Codec Duration : 4 min 55 s Duration_LastFrame : -8 ms Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 977 kb/s Nominal bit rate : 921 Mb/s Maximum bit rate : 1 177 kb/s Channel(s) : 2 channels Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Bit depth : 16 bits Stream size : 34.4 MiB (2%) Encoded date : 2026-05-28 15:44:31 UTC Tagged date : 2026-05-28 16:41:46 UTC Hidden Content: You must either reply or click 'Like' to see the hidden information contained here.
Thank you very much. After a long and difficult period of work, the excellent and, in some ways, even unexpected result is truly surprising.
love reading your method on retrieving & fixing the video. and cheers for the guy who shared the one last possible source for this video❤️
