Video Collector

Space Hunter M said:

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

Will you guys be pooling your resources, perhaps? Red Menace is making the most out of what he has, but it appears to me you have even more resources at your disposal.

pittrek said:
And another question - would this “project” be interested for more people than me? I mean I definitely plan to do the restoration for myself anyway, but I don’t know how many Trekkies are here

I’m a Trekkie (not a Trekker, a Trekkie) and proud of it! If the magicians here on this forum can get together and enhance all this footage it would put CBS to shame.

I’m just starting to sample the new 1080p version and the first thing that struck me were the much improved colours! Very well done.
This is the version I’ll be burning to disc.

Much appreciated. I just grabbed them. Many thanks.

Definitely in.

I am hoping you can stabilize the opening credits, as the insane wobble sets the whole restoration off on a sour note. The cropping entailed would be a worthwile trade-off in my opinion.

Excellent! Not much you can do about the lacking resolution of the LD source, but the colours are spot on! Thanks.

I had a thought about the “patches” for location text etc. In those instances where it is very difficult to get a seamless match (the submarine establishing shot for instance), maybe you could do a split across the entire frame, which would be less noticeable than a “blob” in the middle? Failing that, substituting the entire shot with one from the MonstersHD source may be the least distracting option.

I just wanted to let you know I appreciate the work you put into this, and that I am looking forward to seeing the finished result. I have the Blu, but this reconstruction will be my go-to version in the future.

The upscaled LD footage looks like it could cut in very nicely once you get a matching grain plate and colour correction applied.

Good catch on the recreated titles. I hadn’t noticed.

Here are all the Star Wars The Force Awakens Blu-ray covers I’ve made so far. Some of these were made as part of full saga collections, but I thought it might be nice to see them all together.

All are available by PM request. Please specify which one you’d like.

On this first one I switched out Daisy Ridley’s portrait with one from artist Paul Shipper, as I felt the likeness from original artist Blake Armstrong wasn’t up to snuff. This was a relatively easy swap as they both traced the same photo, so Shipper’s Rey fit perfectly over Armstrong’s. I also changed “Young Han”, where Armstrong had used a still from Star Wars '77 as reference. Ford’s nose has grown considerably longer since 1976, so I superimposed the eyes, nose and mouth from the official Force Awakens theatrical poster over Armstrong’s art.

This is another magnificent recreation from Red Menace, bringing us a nearly pristine copy of the AIP version to cherish for years to come. From the rock-steady title cards to the pin-sharp end titles, the entire presentation exceeds a normal restoration. The presentation is technically flawless, with pleasing contrasts, pure colours and clear audio. I can’t imagine an official release, using a scan of any original AIP prints, could ever match nor surpass it.

I came in late, only seeking out Godzilla films since they started being released on Blu-ray in the U.S. and thus have only ever seen those versions. I have no sentimental attachments to the old US versions, but find myself enjoying this and the G84 recreations even more than the originals. On principle I prefer uncut original language versions but, with these two Godzilla films at least, the dumbed down editing and the gung-ho dubbing seems to fit very well, making them more accessible to me as a “casual” viewer.

My small contribution to these projects have been the custom covers. They were meant to complement the vintage of the actual films and so far have been received very well. They are my way of showing support for the continuing efforts of Red Menace, and to express my gratitude for sharing his final results with us.

I was inspired to make a cover for this project as well. Here are two versions of a retro style cover with accompanying disc art. PM me for links.

Yet another Star Wars set of mine. Obviously based on the VHSs from the early 2000’s. These are available by PM. Please specify “The Black Series” if you message me for them. I’ve done so many sets I can’t know which you’re asking for otherwise. If you don’t say which covers you’re after I won’t reply.

puzosep said:

Video Collector said:
I did send the raw files to Antcufaalb but am happy that someone is attempting to make this a little more watchable. Are you doing the entire film?

This RAW files format? AVI/MPEG2/Lossless compressed?.

Yes. Asked from X911 this movie 99% done, fixing minimal denoising/other glitches for 1-2 small (few seconds.) scenes. This movie probably available in future days. (uploading speed very slow.) And sending PM from DL links from future time.

The “Raw” files are the real-time MPEG2 captures from my desktop DVD recorder at +/- 9 mb/s bitrate (roughly 8GB in size).

Your samples look great, and I don’t think there’s much more quality you can wring out of this capture. I would love to see your finished results, so please PM me when you’re done.

Looks better, quite good in fact. If details can be retrieved from within the blacks they are per definition NOT crushed, though. I believe the black level on these films was deliberately set to hide the garbage mattes as much as possible.

puzosep said:
ESB TP sample*: https://ulozto.net/!pACuiHJpE/esb-tp-sample-avi

My reasons for DVD5 source:

1. This movie not properly (over)sharpened --> pixel noise
2. RAW MPEG-2/Lossless digitized --> X --> Authorized DVD5 release not properly resized, (de?)interlaced --> various interlace glitches.

*Interlace glitches fixed (not all! focusing these deinterlace filters from fixing.) And vhs noise removed. (probably ~95% or higher, remained very low noise) Pixel noise very minimalized.

Yes, my capture of this was down and dirty like I detailed at the time in this very thread. No sharpening or other “enhancements” were attempted. The only thing I did was resize the image to the correct aspect ratio (for 16:9 encoding on DVD). This was done at the encoding stage in TMPEG Enc. This is probably where the deinterlacing was applied, but I it could have been in my capture device. I just don’t have the tech knowledge to tell.

I did send the raw files to Antcufaalb but am happy that someone is attempting to make this a little more watchable. Are you doing the entire film?

The labels:

Here’s the last cover (unless I get inspired by something else down the line). I will do labels to match them all too.
GSPP will be making these available with the finished project, or you can PM me for the links.

Yes, watching things on an actual TV reveals much that a PC monitor doesn’t. I watched v0.5 on my 42" plasma and will be putting v0.6 through its paces sometime this week.

As a small token of my appreciation for the work that has been done here, I have created two retro-style covers for the project. I may do a label too, so anyone who burns an actual BD of this can pimp it 😃

PM me for download links.

I sat down to watch version 0.5 yesterday and was again awed by the seamlessness of the presentation. Having never seen the US version in its entirety before I found it a fresh take on the original film, and the editing tightened up the narrative quite a bit. I enjoyed it immensely, and a welcome change to the Return of Godzilla international version I’ve been accustomed to until now.

On the tech side, these are the things I noticed:

• The wobble on the opening credits. Would be nice to have that stabilised.
• Was there an on-screen caption when the sub first appears? Looks like there was a square patch on the bottom part of the screen. (There was one more instance of a noticeable patch, but I can’t remember where I saw it.)
• The upscaling of the US footage was very good, but I wonder if it couldn’t do with a grain layer overlay to make it appear sharper and better match the surrounding footage. I can only imagine the difference becoming even more pronounced when you start using the Kraken Blu as source material.

Still, a stellar presentation and if it wasn’t for the station bug this would be just fine as it is. I can only imagine what the final full HD version will be like.

I’m hoping and anticipating this to be the final,best of both worlds, ultimate version of Raiders I’ll ever need. The pictures look stunning! Keep up the good work!

Downloaded and sampled. (Will try to give this a full watch this weekend). What a gift to the fans! Very impressive rebuild of the US version. The subtitle replacements appeared seamless to me. If I wasn’t looking for it I’d never notice the slight loss of resolution in those parts of the screen. The recreation of the end credits show the dedication and attention to detail that only a true fan would invest (and thanks for the shout-out, I’ll be showing that to all my friends) 😃

The station bug is the only thing that I can see being improved on the next version, other than that version 0.5 is a marvel in itself. Hope you can keep your energy and enthusiasm up so work on the next version goes smoothly.

Thank you!

God Save Pop Punk said:

Well, I’m calling it a night with something like 14 minutes left in the movie. Should be finished and available to download within a week or so from today.

Eagerly awaiting the results. Keep it up 😃

Great job, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the finished product. Looking very good from those caps. I can’t see where the Japanese subs were masked, at least not in those stills. Is it just as seamless in motion, I wonder?

How will you handle distribution once it’s done?

dark_jedi said:

So is it downloadable now? if so we can look it over after all we are doing this up as a “Special Edition” so the more the merrier!

Send me a PM, DJ. I’ll get you sorted. 😃