Talks to Watch

Let's Enhance

3.8M views · Dec 13, 2009 · 1:44 · 0 HN recommenders · 11 mentions · discussed 2010–2025

A two-minute compilation of TV and film scenes where investigators say 'enhance' and a blurry image becomes sharp. It mocks the trope.

Why Hacker News points people here: Used as a joke or critique whenever someone expects impossible image upscaling or recovery of detail.

What Hacker News said 11

CriticalbtillyApr 2010

“here is what the public thinks image manipulation can do”

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Thanks to CSI and relatives, here is what the public thinks image manipulation can do: this video The ridiculousness may be lost on you if you need an explanation why a digital image of a crappy security camera can't be used to zoom in on a reflection of an eyeball. Or of why a 2-dimensional image can't be used to construct a 3-dimensional image of the scene, that you can rotate to see objects out of the line of view of the camera.

in “CSI Effect: How Forensic Science on TV Impacts Our Real Justice System” · view on HN
CriticaljereOct 2012

“trope is still completely stupid.”

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The whole "Enhance" trope is still completely stupid. this video link >But the Enhance Button simply ignores the fact that the big blocky pixels you get when you zoom in too close on a picture are the only information that the picture actually contains, and attempting to extract more detail than this is fundamentally impossible. No matter what you do or how you do it, you're merely guessing, if not making stuff up outright.

in “Restoration of defocused and blurred images” · view on HN
Jokenovas0x2aMar 2010
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Gigapan.org has a snapshot feature for that. 26-gigapixel is bigger than most (all?) of what Gigapan has, but they have a bunch more. The Obama inauguration one[1] is probably their most famous. I don't really ever get tired of being able to "enhance! enhance!"[2] an image. 1) link 2) this video

in “26-gigapixel panorama of Paris; try zooming in near the horizon” · view on HN
Jokesp332Dec 2010

“Which was making fun of... well, all of these”

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"Uncrop" isn't from Blade Runner, it's Red Dwarf. link Which was making fun of... well, all of these: this video :-) And everyone knows that Deckard was looking at a live feed from a video camera, not enhancing a still image.

in “Pixel Art Scaling Algorithms” · view on HN
JokedictumMar 2014

“I think you stumbled into the biotech equivalent of CSI picture enhancement[0]”

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> The correct thing would be to do is create a chemical that kills all unwanted stuff and leaves the wanted stuff unharmed I think you stumbled into the biotech equivalent of CSI picture enhancement[0] or unlimited data storage. [0]: this video

in “Monsanto Owns Us: The Monopoly of Seeds and Intellectual Property Rights” · view on HN
JokeBrajeshwarJan 2015

“I hope I can tuck in this video as a gentle reminder of what we wishes we can do.”

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I hope I can tuck in this video as a gentle reminder of what we wishes we can do. Now that we are pretty much there. this video

in “Identifiable Images of Bystanders Extracted from Corneal Reflections (2013)” · view on HN
JokenpuntFeb 2017

“(enhance.. enhance.. [1])”

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I didn't mean 'obsessive' as a smear, more that they were dogged in their pursuit, going as far as crunching biometrics and zooming in on a watch for evidence (enhance.. enhance.. [1]). It was an entertaining read since it looked eerily similar to how conspiracy sites construct their hilarious conclusions. And yet, it was real. Also, 'relatively innocent' was meant in context of buying instagram followers, not in cheating. > I'm more disturbed with the evident impulse to forgive. Is nothing important any more? Is character and honesty so worthless? The thing I'm most disturbed by in these threads is how easily nuance is lost to the power of righteous indignation. It's like we're reading an entirely different set of comments. [1] this video

in “Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon” · view on HN
JokedansoJun 2020

“believe in CSI magic”

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What's sad is that a tech entrepreneur will definitely add that feature and sell it to law enforcement agencies that believe in CSI magic: this video

in “Facial Recognition Leads To False Arrest Of Black Man In Detroit” · view on HN
JokeathenotDec 2021

“Joking aside”

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Then you can "Enhance". this video Joking aside, this does illustrate the "magical" properties of technology to the layperson. As a corollary, failure modes end up quite suprising and hard to reason about without a certain amount of proficiency in these technologies.

in “A deep dive into an NSO zero-click iMessage exploit: Remote Code Execution” · view on HN
JokemilesApr 2023

“will never fail to entertain ;-)”

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“Enhance!”[0] may no longer qualify as comedy, but this[1] will never fail to entertain ;-) [0] this video [1] link

in “Stability AI releases Image Upscaling API with 2 open-source models behind it” · view on HN
JokeameliusMay 2025
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Yes but by necessity it is making up stuff. It reminds me of: this video and in particular the line "enlarge the Z-axis"

in “Bringing 3D shoppable products online with generative AI” · view on HN