I got it over at tehparadox. No invite needed. Just mentioning another option.

Arnie.d said:

In the Netherlands there's a company that scans 16mm film to HD (1400x1040). I don't think they care what kind of material it is. It's 2,50 euro per minute. So for under 1000 euros you can have the OOT scanned. So whoever owns these 16mm films, maybe it's a nice idea.

The shipping would cost an arm and a leg though. (16mm film reels are bulky to begin with.) It cost me over sixty bucks just to send some DVD captures to Sweden!

Most film collectors would probably be a nervous wreck sending their prints off to another country to be handled by unknown individuals.

There are companies here in the U.S. that will scan 16mm in hi-def.

After I'm done with PSB (and possibly after ROTJ), I am considering going back and remaking an upscaled PG, using the original captures.  Perhaps you can help me color correct it then?

That's pretty cool, The blue blacks are something that always bothered me about PG. Especially the cockpit shot of Luke looks much better.

And I think a new encode from the original files could improve the PQ quite a lot as well.

I would personally lose the rounded sides as well, since from what I understand they're a side product of the transfer and not a part of the original print, but I understand the desire to keep as much of the picture as possible. And whenever I watched PG, I always zoomed it in slightly to hide them, so I guess I can just continue doing that :-)

I tried a couple of warping tools to fix the rounded sides, but the side effects produced were always worse than the rounding.  Virtualdub has a tool for barrel distortion correction that worked great on some scenes, unfortunately not all.  And yes, it always bothered me to chop anything off of the image.  The 16mm frame is already badly cropped, especially vertically, and I couldn't bear to crop more off.

Funny how some of the OT deleted scenes on Blu Ray seem to have those same rounded edges to the frame.

SilverWook said:

Funny how some of the OT deleted scenes on Blu Ray seem to have those same rounded edges to the frame.

A proper anamorphic projection of course shouldn't curve like that.  My process is rather juryrigged, and as a result has a variety of shortcomings.

A "proper" anamorphic projection will pincushion. That's why you have curved screens in theatres.

Projectionist of 4 years. Even had to project an anamorphic 16mm print of They Live once. It was fun taping an anamorphic lens to the projector and spinning it around until the curves were just right. Focusing it was a pain in the a** though.

Mavimao said:

A "proper" anamorphic projection will pincushion. That's why you have curved screens in theatres.

I know that, but mine isn't pincusioning for the same reason, since it isn't being projected.  The WorkPrinter I'm using has a custom enlarged gate and that is what is contributing to the pincusioning, because the optics are slightly off as you reach to the extreme edges - ordinarily the gate would mask it. I guess I could claim to be simulating the anamorphic pincusioning effect. :)

The edges of an anamorphic image on film are not bowed/pincushioned; it is a square image.  The content of the image itself may have lens distortion, but that is a separate issue.  All my sources are anamorphic, and do not exhibit this behavior when unsqueezed. I've generated anamorphic visual effects for film outs hundreds of times as well, without bowing/pincushioning in the image. A compensatory curve of the screen in a theater should be necessary only when the projector's lens itself adds a bowing to the image, but the actual film frame images are square.

_Mike

mverta said:

The edges of an anamorphic image on film are not bowed/pincushioned; it is a square image.

I meant the optics on the WorkPrinter, not the image itself.

I'd be interested in seeing if You_Too could work up a good color correction for the Swedish print's release.  If I recall that was generally in better condition, outside of the copious red (which really is to be expected of anything its' age).

The Aluminum Falcon said:

Wow. You_Too, your work continues to impress. Those colors look like an excellent improvement. I'd be fascinated by an enhanced version of the Puggo Grande like this.

This.