The Jacksons: An American Dream

After enjoying the Michael (2026) movie in the cinema, it got me thinking about The Jacksons: An American Dream miniseries from 1992. I remember watching it when it was released in the 90's but haven't seen it since. The only available copy I could find was a double DVD, which I purchased online with the intent to enhance the quality.

It has been around 20-25 years since I last bought a DVD so that in itself was very nostalgic! There is something special about holding the discs in your hands and being able to watch it anytime without the fear of it disappearing off a streaming service. These DVD's however, were destined for the PC to have their raw files extracted.

The DVD is a double disc, one for each episode of the miniseries, and is in 4:3 NTSC format at 29.97 fps interlaced with 2.0 stereo sound. I was fairly successful in upscaling it to 1080p at 59.94 Hz progressive and it looks quite natural and considerably clearer. The aspect ratio remains 4:3 however so there are black bars on the sides.

I spent some time on the stereo audio trying to enhance it to suit a modern 5.1 surround system. Using AI software, I stripped out the vocals and positioned them in the centre audio channel, and then used the remaining stereo audio for the front left and right channels. I also created a low frequency (LFE) channel for the subwoofer. There is no surround data in the 2.0 stereo source for the rear channels, so I just created a high frequency only version of the front left and right channels but at a considerably lower volume. The audio really is more 3.1 than 5.1 but at least with broadens the sound stage of the miniseries.

Overall it was a successful project, and The Jacksons: An American Dream is a great expansion on the story we saw in Michael (2026).

Contact us if you are interested in watching this great 2 part miniseries.