I want to reign in the whites and dial down the contrast, just not to the level of the BD

I love this film.

dvdmike: Where'd you get source #2? Usenet? Found it.

Count me interested!

First run:

VS

Glad someone is taking a stab at this. This new BD is terrible!

Is it wrong that I really prefer the old 1998 DVD with the original as-shot framing that's really wide?

My problem now is to DNR the video noise out and regrain the image?

I hate doing anything drastic but the image can look like a hot mess in places 

Contrast is the next step, I am close to happy with the colour and now comes the contrast balance.

I tried a little DNR sample and it looked like crap, so video noise it is!

Next run with contrast changes encoding now!

Will update when its done.

If people are happy I need to cut the file down as at the moment its 40gb  

First Run

New Run 

BD

Yeah was aiming for a bd25

I have the DVD extras I need the Criterion commentary yet tho 

Another day, another run! (I seriously need to get this done as projects are piling up!)

Knocked the contrast down further and got the encode down to 16gb

A few other shots from elsewhere in the movie:

I must admit your first pass had me skeptical but knocking down the contrast has really improved this IMO.  Looking forward to giving it a look whenever it gets out there.

That's why I put images up and did not stop at one pass!

 My free time is rarely occupied, so I have issues with trying again and again

Thanks for this thread! I must read more of these projects to discover which DVDs to keep when I upgrade to the Blu-ray downgrades. Seriously.

I gave it a (not-so-)quick correction attempt -- that last 10% is a killer. It's still probably 5% off, but from the Blu-ray screencap:

add these RGB corrections (in a single pass):

histogram     low   gamma   high   mid-tones
RED               0       1.6        255    -10
GREEN           0       1.5        255    -12
BLUE             0       1.5        255    -15

for this result:

which improves (according to taste) on the HDTV's strong contrast and hot skin-tones:

That is some good work, you have a full size link for that corrected shot?

The original was shrunken to the posting size, but it was easy enough to again grab your posted picture and plug the numbers into a paint program's histogram function (which I use for quick tests):

You may have some other program or plug-in to apply this to your video, but I've used the VirtualDub plug-in Gradation Curves and it's just as interactive as a paint program, with improved features. It's supposed to be Avisynth compatible but I couldn't get that to work (Avisynth is not interactive anyway and interactivity may not show there). See my post in the THX 1138 preservations thread http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/THX-1138-preservations-Italian-Cut-available-see-1st-post/post/589761/#TopicPost589761 for more information and examples.

I do stuff the hard way, mostly scene by scene by eye!

The last 10% that I previously mentioned was to get the blue shirt colors the same. It came only close (the remaining 5%). Perhaps they were unevenly playing around with the color? So I capped an earlier source (videotape). It was pan & scan but, fortunately, this scene had both parts of the shot (at different times) that could be stitched together. I also re-sized it to better approximate your capture:

If you have access, you might consider capturing or getting sample screen grabs from the laserdisc for a better representation of what the color once looked like. That may be the best guide to "fixing" the Blu-ray.