GoboFraggle1983

Molly said:

Just tested my chops on a DVD of the Winnie the Pooh shorts.  This crosses the line into custom territory, and the encode is low bitrate - let me explain.

1. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree - laserdisc rip (IVTC’d; bumper added)
2. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day - R1 rip (IVTC’d)
3. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too - laserdisc rip (IVTC’d; bumper added)
4. Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore - R1 rip (untouched)

I standardized the encode on the format of the fourth short - 3 Mbps/192 kbps, prograssive.  That isn’t a lot - the DVD’s only a little over half full.  If you want high quality, at the cost of integrity of the first three shorts (the fourth is exactly the same as presented here), you’ll need to get the Many Adventures DVD.  The first three shorts’ quality is nothing to write home about even before re-encoding them, though!  Lots of film noise.

Keep in mind that I’m not good at authoring DVDs.  The background image is taken from the opening titles, and the font is the same one used in the opening titles of Many Adventures (1977) and Day for Eeyore.  I do think I managed to get a Play All option working, though, as well as a Play One option.

Just a suggestion, but for your Pooh torrent, I think you should’ve used “A Day for Eeyore” from the LASERDISC version (the one bundled with “Blustery Day”) and here’s why: the DVD version incorrectly credits Jim Cummings, Ken Sansom, and Tress MacNeille as Pooh, Rabbit and Kanga (respectively) instead of Hal Smith (who is still credited as Owl), Will Ryan, and Julie McWhirter Dees. There’s also another and even rarer version of the opening titles (in a different font), as seen on the 1984 VHS and laserdisc release of “Winnie the Pooh and Friends”. I made a comparison of those opening titles and posted it to YouTube (just search “pooh day for eeyore opening comparison”), though the 1984 footage I mentioned is currently incomplete and in very low quality.

Molly said:

I think - it’s been years - that my old DVD-R was based on a CLV 1995.

I have CAV 1988, CLV 1988 and CLV 1995 but my player’s dead. 😕

(ETA: this is not a response to the previous post)

Oh. 😦 Well, is there anything else you could possibly try?

Shiaoran said:

I’ve just realised that the DVDs, even the UK one, are cropped, compared to the VHS.

These are, in order, brazilian VHS, brazilian DVD, and the russian DVD. Note the detail on the right.

Actually, only certain shots for each master happens to be cropped.

togedu said:

I’m so excited. The restoration is almost finished everyone!

First off: The Sound. I got the Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD mix loaded up and cleaned up and synced with the 25fps version corrected to 24, then did some re-mixing into 6.1 DTS ES. I have done a few sound effect pans into the surrounds when appropriate and re-mixed thunder and lightning for the nightmare scene/rain sequence. There were also some vocal issues on the musical number so I did some tweaking to make the vocals easier to hear. I have also of course included the original 5.1 DVD mix and the original stereo mix for those who don’t like revisions. (This is Original Trilogy after all.)

I digitally rotoscoped and cleaned nearly 600 separate shots in the movie, and also completely digitally redid the opening and closing titles. The final result is a pretty big difference. (The PAL transfer itself is a pretty big jump to begin with.)

I also added a title card for myself to the end credits for restoration work, and added the blue Disney castle logo from that era to the beginning and end. (I know Disney treated this film like crap upon release, so it’s my way of pretending they didn’t.)

I know some of you may not like the “revisions” to the film, but outside of the opening and closing logos, I just did a heck of a lot of dirt and spot removal. I did use some noise reduction in shots but I am very selective in my use of it. I hope you will be pleased with the results. I also have been working on a short 5 minute video documentary about the restoration of the movie… Which I will premiere here when it is complete. I expect to be done with it in April. I also have finished the cover art and will share it at a later time. Next time I’ll post some before and after video samples.

Hooray!! 😄

Doctor M said:

Okay, that makes more sense.
It appears the DVD publisher was IDDK which is ИДДК in Russian. FYI, the release is dated 2005.

Ah, OK. I just found it now. Do you know which year that specific “Cinderella” video master was made (1988 or 1995 VHS/laserdisc)?

Doctor M said:

GoboFraggle1983 said:

Doctor M said:

Actually, I found two that might be different releases (one in a bundle of several Disney films), but this one had full sized screenshots.  (You can check them out on RuTracker if you want.)

Where exactly did you find this?

Was that really a question?

Yes, and I should’ve made it more clearer by asking where on RuTracker were those screenshots found.

OracleBoy77 said:

Asaki said:

I’m sure it looks just as bad as the home video >_<

No, I recall it was slightly cleaner on VHS (that didn’t came out until the early 90’s I think). I’m sure they went back and did a new transfer with whatever they had by then.

Well, there are four (plus two alternate) main video masters that I found were used. I don’t know which order they were used in or when they were made, but here’s what I can make out:

Transfer #1 (French DVD, 1992 Czech/Argentinian VHS, 1995 Dutch VHS, and 1990s Brazilian VHS by Gota Mágica):

Transfer #2 (Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish VHS, Danish DVD, and 1987 Brazilian VHS by VTI Rio):

Transfer #3 (USA print for VHS and DVD)

Transfer #4 (Non-USA/PAL DVD releases)

Alternate Transfer #1 (1991, Germany; later releases used transfer #4 above)

Alternate Transfer #2 (Russian VHS and DVD from 2000; don’t know if this counts, because this particular print is presented in SECAM colorization, but I think it’s most likely transfer #4 with higher saturation.)

Hi, does anybody have any of these video masters/transfers? I’ve been working on some restoration comparison videos, and it would REALLY help me if somebody has any of the following:

-Dumbo (1982 and 1991 laserdisc editions)
-Cinderella (1988 and 1995 laserdiscs)
-Alice in Wonderland (1981, 1986 and 1991 laserdisc editions)
-The Jungle Book (1990/91 master from 1992 laserdisc)
*Also the 1967 “Jungle Book” theatrical trailer and “Making of a Musical Masterpiece” documentary from the 1997 laserdisc
-The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1982 and 1996 laserdisc editions)
-Pixar’s Knick Knack (original 1989 version from “Toy Story” Deluxe CAV Edition)
-Walt Disney Home Video/Classics/Masterpiece Collection Bumpers in Laserdisc quality
-Plus the original Winnie the Pooh featurette versions (“Honey Tree”, “Blustery Day”, “Tigger Too”, and “A Day for Eeyore”. The fourth mentioned is a special case because I’ve noticed there are three different versions of the opening credits: the first from the 1984 release of “Winnie the Pooh and Friends”, the second from post-1986 to pre-2002 releases, and the third from post-2002 releases of “The Many Adventures” which incorrectly credits Jim Cummings and Ken Sansom, instead of Hal Smith and Will Ryan as Pooh and Rabbit respectively.)

Please PM me, thanks! 😃

Doctor M said:

Actually, I found two that might be different releases (one in a bundle of several Disney films), but this one had full sized screenshots.  (You can check them out on RuTracker if you want.)

Where exactly did you find this?

OracleBoy77 said:

GoboFraggle1983 said:

OracleBoy77 said:

Does anyone still need a 35mm print to this? I do have one myself, broken up into four reels three are on cores while one is on a steel reel. I bought it may years back because it was a favorite film of mine but never done much with it since I don’t have the means to project it, let alone get it transfer to video. The color of it is pretty decent though it’s missing a few frames/seconds between each reel where the cue marks would be seen during the film (this is typical of theater prints often being splice and re-spliced constantly). I’m sure it might still come in handy if someone has an interest in nit.

Well, just out of curiosity, is there any way you could digitize it and PM me a download link?

I really can’t. I don’t have the means or know-how to scan in frames from this.

Also, is there a way I can request a download of the American English edit of the film you did half a year ago? I missed out on getting that as I was curious to see what you did there.

Of course! 😃

OracleBoy77 said:

Does anyone still need a 35mm print to this? I do have one myself, broken up into four reels three are on cores while one is on a steel reel. I bought it may years back because it was a favorite film of mine but never done much with it since I don’t have the means to project it, let alone get it transfer to video. The color of it is pretty decent though it’s missing a few frames/seconds between each reel where the cue marks would be seen during the film (this is typical of theater prints often being splice and re-spliced constantly). I’m sure it might still come in handy if someone has an interest in nit.

Well, just out of curiosity, is there any way you could digitize it and PM me a download link?

Shiaoran said:

Cool. Happy birthday to us XD

Thanks! By the way, I have one other favor for you: out of curiousity, could you please send me image scans of the front and back cover of your Brazilian “Torradeirinha Valente” VHS?

Shiaoran said:

It’s on the 21st 😄

Oh, mine was on the 9th! 😄

Shiaoran said:

Nice! Good news are good birthday presents 😄

Oh? When was your birthday?

Shiaoran said:

Simmo10 said:

togedu said:

GoboFraggle1983 said:

togedu said:

I have already started a restoration of this film based on upscaling the superior PAL transfer and removing de-interlacing and ghosting artifacts. I am converting to 25fps progressive then applying slowdown to get back to the appropriate 24fps and remixing the soundtrack in 6.1 EX using the original theatrical stereo track and the original soundtrack album that was released Fairly recently. After that I am doing spot and dirt reduction using the German restoration software Diamant. Should be done hopefully by March. 

 Cool! How far have you gotten? 

I'm actually fairly far along with it, still using the DIAMANT dustbusting software to remove dirt frame by frame. The main thing that is taking so long is stabilizing the image. So much telecine wobble. I am digitally redoing the titles and correcting several issues. Should have it done in the fall. The images I posted above pale in comparison to what will be the final product. Also was able to create a 6.1 DTS discrete EX mix using the original theatrical audio, the 5.1 DVD mix and the soundtrack CD to create some separation. Artwork is coming together as well.  

Thank you so much for your efforts it will be appreciated. I read on wiki that the UK DVD used a fresher transfer and I live in the UK anyway so I recently purchased it from ebay. I am disappointed this is currently the best available (feel really sorry for the region 1 owners) with no sign of a blu-ray release so i'm looking forward to this restoration!

Would you mind sharing the UK video? I couldn't find it anywhere. I'm in my own proccess of making the best possible brazilian version with the original brazilian dub from the vhs.

 Well, I have a copy of the remastered UK DVD footage, thought the audio's in Russian. I can PM it to U.

SKot said:

GoboFraggle1983 said:

In case any of you are wondering about where I got the DVD footage of the original US opening titles and ending credits; I actually found another rare DVD copy of this dub somewhere on the web, though it actually had the French dub accompanied with a Polish voice-over for the audio. This copy actually has a less rough and more cleaner video transfer compared to the 2008 Televista edition, so I'm assuming that it's from the unofficial "Collector's Edition" mentioned on BlueBuddies website (the cover is below), though I could be wrong. Feel free to reply and comment below! ;-)

Interesting...never seen that edition before!

So, wait...it's got the US opening titles and ending credits, but dubbed in French...with Polish voice-over?  I'm confused...

--SKot

Well, the version made in Polish is the French dub with a Polish voice-over. The particular U.S. copy I mentioned I found on the web was a fan-made edit with the audio from the Polish version synchronized with the video.

ArchiplexTheRealMan said:

Well, I'm here now, so I have to say this:

Isn't there any way of editing and restoring the whole French and 1979 UK dub ending credits of this movie from the 2011 DVD using Photoshop?

 Geez, do you HAVE to follow me EVERYWHERE, Archiplex? And no, I already said that I don't know how to do the entire video yet; this kind of task would involve a more advanced video editing software (not like iMovie).

In case any of you are wondering about where I got the DVD footage of the original US opening titles and ending credits; I actually found another rare DVD copy of this dub somewhere on the web, though it actually had the French dub accompanied with a Polish voice-over for the audio. This copy actually has a less rough and more cleaner video transfer compared to the 2008 Televista edition, so I'm assuming that it's from the unofficial "Collector's Edition" mentioned on BlueBuddies website (the cover is below), though I could be wrong. Feel free to reply and comment below! ;-)

I edited and restored a screencap of the untouched ending scene with Peewit throwing a tantrum from the 2010 DVD, using Photoshop. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do the same thing for the actual video, as I'm unsure how to do so yet.

Supermartyoh said:

GoboFraggle1983 said:

By the way, could you please PM me a download link (or a zip file) to your Chinese DVD of the U.S. version? The more sources, the better! :-D (Also, does your DVD have any other languages, perhaps a Chinese dub as well?)

 

Sadly, I don't have that Chinese DVD anymore because it was a library interloan DVD, plus I don't remember which one I got it from (its been three years since I've attempted a project like this). Odd they would've had such a release; the library prolly didn't know what DVD they were ordering because of the Smurfs movie mad rush when those CGI messes were out.

I'm pretty certain that DVD was a bootleg, because I seem to remember English audio only (only subs for 10 other Asian languages I don't fraken know), LOLing over the engrishy synopsis, and being shocked by the horrid encoding quality. Trust me, i wouldn't use that as it was just as worse as the U.S Shout! Factory port of the U.K release.

Would any Japanese DVD or Laserdisc be worth looking into? These may be the U.S versions, but I can't be certain. I also remember viewing the rare Televista DVD at one point and that seemed similar (read: VHS quality, severe macroblocking) to the Chinese bootleg DVD I worked with.

Well, in terms of a Japanese DVD or laserdisc, do you know where to find one in particular? (I don't know if there's even a Japanese dubbing that even exists, but let's hope so...)

I do in fact have this! It is most definitely cropped top and bottom, and has a  pretty rough transfer of the film. Definitely watchable, and at the time it was the best available. I haven't bought the 2011 DVD, hoping (probably in vain) that a US Blu-ray might appear. You mentioned you were working from the 2011 DVD. What about the UK Blu-ray? I've pondered getting it, assuming it is actually that much better quality than the DVD.

One thing I noticed about your Televista DVD, is that Johan (despite being called "Yohan" in this release) is still called "Sir John" (or simply "John") up until the scene where he, Peewit, and the first Smurf they meet, cross the bridge to the village. Perhaps the rare TV edit (which we still need to find) has "Yohan" in all scenes...

anathema said:

Five of the newly-recovered episodes have now been restored and are available on DVD - contact me if you'd like more details!

 How many more episodes have you found since your last post?

Supermartyoh said:

Good thing you used the 2011 UK DVD, as that was pure 25fps PAL and could be sped down to 23.97fps without any ill effects. OP, did you ever consider using the UK Blu-ray? Was that a proper 24fps transfer or is it a 1080i PAL bump? I tried something like this once with the U.S Shout! Factory release and a Chinese DVD of the U.S version. But the SF disc was a nasty PAL-NTSC conversion with ghosting (now thinking about it, I assume those dimwits just did a sloppy port of the UK Arrow release), and the latter had massive amounts compression blocking that it was unusable, so I gave up.

I actually am planning to use the UK Blu-Ray for my next restoration, which I haven't started yet, but I'm planning to do so. By the way, could you please PM me a download link (or a zip file) to your Chinese DVD of the U.S. version? The more sources, the better! :-D (Also, does your DVD have any other languages, perhaps a Chinese dub as well?)

Video Collector said:

Okay, I stand corrected on the aspect ratio of the recent DVD "restoration". My bootleg was indeed cropped instead of opened up like I thought.

I made a few comparisons with the 35mm print available on eBay, and even though the new DVD's framing is a bit tight here and there, it seems to be accurate to the hardmatted print. 

I also found that the UK and Swedish DVDs were from identical masters. The 2011 DVD is letterboxed widescreen, with hard mattes top and bottom, unbelievable!

--------------------------------------------------

Here are the comparisons: 35mm first, 2011 DVD, and my bootleg from the US VHS.

The title sequence is very different, as you can see.

#2

Some of these don't have a 35mm equivalent, but here you can see how tight the DVD is on the bottom compared to the US VHS.

#3

#4

#5

#6

In this set you can see the bottom of the feet being cut off in both the DVD and the VHS, and how much image detail is hidden in the dark areas of the contrast boosted DVD "restoration".

#7

Too bad we don't have a 35mm frame to compare, but as you can see the UK (and Swedish) DVD resorts to more damaged source material for the English credits. I suspect the French DVD has proper French credits with no generational imagequality loss.

The credits are different between the UK DVD and the US VHS too.

 That's a really good comparison!

Here’s a shout-out to more “Smurfs/Magic Flute” media I would like to see, if anybody has them:

-The original Italian soundtrack

-The original Latin Spanish dubbing of the film