The Great Escape - Non DNR/Teal and Orange Preservation (* unfinished project *)

Looking at the reviews and screenshots of this amazing movie and it just will not do!

New colour timing, messed up contrast, DNR.
 

What I have:

1. 1080i HDTV 1.78:1 Cropped

2. 1080i HDTV 2.35:1 Slight Crop from the 1998 2.39:1 Master

3. 720p HDTV 2.35:1 Looks to be same master as above 
 

DVD Extras

Shots:

Screenshot Comparison

BD-HDTV 2

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/21837

BD

What I need

Criterion Laserdisc Commentary

The contrast needs correcting in the HDTV, but its is already better.

I want to add the extras, and the Commentary track to a BD25 restoration

God, that's disgusting looking. Awful color timing, horrible DNR and contrast that makes it look like it was shot through a fog.

The HDTVs don't look too hot either, but they could probably be worked with.

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

First run:

VS

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 

I think the whites are a bit blown out on your sample, but it still looks ten times better then the BD. I think it would be best to not try to remove the video noise (already lost a lot of detail as is) and simply cover it with grain.

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!

Whites do look blown out. Just tone it down a bit. 

Fake grain really won't do though. It is what it is and we will have to live with it. 

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

The contrast still looks a bit blown out; but your tweaks have gone a long way in helping it. I'd definitely be interested in the final product of this. BD25 perhaps?

Yeah was aiming for a bd25

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

Cool. Definitely will keep my eye on this thread then. Haven't watched this film all the way through in a long while...

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:

Excellent! Looks great.

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.