This isn't about analyzing the glitch itself--the glitch is just a glitch.
This thread IS about analyzing this 'item'. Which might not be a glitch, as i've notated in the thread title. There is the possibility that someone working on the 2004 transfer decided to leave a message. Having experimented in creating glitch stuff in the past, the nature of this 'item' doesn't ring out 'glitch' to me. Another reason why glitch doesn't feel right is a glitch would generally show up on the first frame of a quick moving item showing up on screen. This glitch occurs 2 or three frames in.
I can't stop people from stating their anti-inquisitive mind opinions, or off-topic'ing into why some people feel this 'item' is important to other issues. That will happen continuously. But I ask that you keep that to a minimum and focus on the 'Humdinger' itself and try to figure out why it's ended up in the 2004 release, and why it looks like it will be in future releases.
Erikstormtrooper wrote: Is it know for a fact that recompression caused the humdinger to disappear? Is there any possibility that the Wookiegroomer release was based on a different master?
This is a good question, and I don't know. Am attempting to contact Wookiegroomer to see if he was aware and removed the Humdinger on purpose or did the recompression really remove it. If the recompression did remove it, that will tell us something about the LFL versions. I'm leaning toward Wookiegroomer having found it an removed it, he might not have realized it was an official thing, he might have thought it was just his digital copy.
Have also reached out to someone who worked on the color correction of the 2004 DVD. Am awaiting a response. My initial contact might have sounded a little odd, so might have to try in an alternative way.
Thanks Harmy added the PAL screencap.
So I started this thread to talk about the Humdinger, from how it was created to why it has continued to exists. Discussion of the Humdinger's relationship to the blu-ray transfer can continue in the blu-ray thread. I hope this thread will get more into the features of the Humdinger, is it glitch or crypto or steganography. Could it be a message from someone inside LFL, or the color lab or Lowry or some other department? If it is steganography, what does this person want to let us know? The evenly spaced lines almost seem matrix'y. (vertical lines of characters)
Here are the various Humdingers: 2004DVD - 2006 HD Cinemax - 2005 & 2007 HD German
So just looking at these version tells us something about how the Humdinger reacts to recompression. It changes. Cinemax seems like a full size 2004 DVD, but it's lacking in color somewhat. The German 05 and 07 could be the same except broadcasted at a different rate. And these German ones seem to be half the size, the 05 one even seems to 'find' the missing Death Star lower half, after the 'item'. The 07 looks like real glitch. vibrant color zones which are hard edged and lack a uniform size.
If you haven't seen it, mikrosopht's 'Lone Star Destroyers' is an example of glitch: http://mikrosopht.godxiliary.com/LSD/
From what I remember, he told me there are two main types of glitch creation methods in the video. Primarily he downloaded the movies on BT and would stop and play the half downloaded files. Another method was to remove keyframes and only play the 'updates'. These methods don't look anything like the Humdinger.
The uniformity of the Humdinger for me points to something else, elusive. Here's a blow up of the first 10 bars:
If you look at the Cinemax, second down, the Humdinger almost seems to be in two halfs, the upper is more colorful the lower is washed out. Which conforms somewhat to the German 05 which somehow 'figures' out the lower Cinemax grey zone. What's also odd about the German 05 is the bottom edge seems almost faded down, which could be a sign of the compression being used. But I don't know enough about that at the moment.
The space between the lines look like the Death Star. Why would a glitch alternate over pixels?
*EDIT* The hard edge of the top of the Humdinger is a sign of the recompression which these versions went through, the 2004 went though a lot, the Cinemax a little less, but significant as there is some bleeding. But the German's are top hard edge. Which says to be that they are close to the source. The person who worked on the files said the source scan was 2048 x 1556, so all the versions we've got have some recompression in play. and the Humdinger remains.
Of course there might be an easy explanation for this being actual glitch, but don't know the ins/outs of compression algorithms to explain this one.