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towne32

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3-May-2014
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14-Mar-2024
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Post
#1334007
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

Rodney-2187 said:

These new 4K HDR discs are the best I’ve seen these movies look and sound by several orders of magnitude.
I eagerly await the next Harmy Despecialized!

The D+77 and D+80 releases are quite great if you don’t mind less than 100% despecialization (some recomped shots, etc).

Post
#1333835
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

sade1212 said:

towne32 said:
I’d love to apply the HD color to the UHD image, but I’m not sure how feasible this is.

There are versions available from the group SWTYBLZ which are 2160p 10bit SDR, created by applying a tonemapping algorithm (“using tripple mixed Hable-Reinhard-JJ per scene+frame analysis algorithm”) to the HDR UHD Blurays. They’re not quite 100% identical to the official 1080p SDR colours, but they’re certainly very close, and are very useful if your UHD Blurays don’t look right on your TV for whatever reason.

Looking at the screenshot previews, it seems like these are faithful presentations of the HDR grading converted to SDR. I think this is probably good for anyone who is completely unable to display HDR encodings.

But they capture the seemingly darker grading of the new HDR releases. The official SDR, based on the new Disney+ streams and the blu-ray.com screencaps, are bright, vibrant, and saturated in comparison. I’ve yet to get my discs, so I can’t confirm with the direct comparison on those.

Edit: the mkv previews do look good.

Post
#1333833
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

oojason said:

sade1212 said:

oojason said:

‘Is Disney+ Good Enough? Star Wars Trilogy 4K Blu-ray Review’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGLco4P72TA

All the footage he uses in that video is the 2011 Blurays, based on the colours, no? Seems somewhat misleading.

Are you sure mate?

It may be worth asking him if that is the case - just to confirm, either way?

(He is quite active and helpful in the comment section of that video - so you should get an answer)

I can’t say for sure about all the shots, but some of them sure do seem to be.

Post
#1333788
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

sade1212 said:

towne32 said:
I’d love to apply the HD color to the UHD image, but I’m not sure how feasible this is.

There are versions available from the group SWTYBLZ which are 2160p 10bit SDR, created by applying a tonemapping algorithm (“using tripple mixed Hable-Reinhard-JJ per scene+frame analysis algorithm”) to the HDR UHD Blurays. They’re not quite 100% identical to the official 1080p SDR colours, but they’re certainly very close, and are very useful if your UHD Blurays don’t look right on your TV for whatever reason.

That’s interesting, thanks. Looks like they’ve done 8 bit and 10 bit versions of all the films.

Post
#1333776
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

pat man said:

towne32 said:

Darth Robin said:

The 2020 blu-rays should look like the Disney+ SDR right? Here’s a few comparrissons I found featuring those. Though only in 720p.

https://slow.pics/c/Yxh8oi3h

https://slow.pics/c/Z1WkOdb9

https://slow.pics/c/UzUGdmBf

The blu-ray.com reviews is the only place I’ve seen screenshots from the blu-rays though. I think it defenetly looks like an improvment over 2011.

What Disney+ SDR? They stream the HDR, don’t they? Does it play a properly encoded SDR version on incompatible platforms? It certainly didn’t at launch. IIRC it just looked washed out for people.

It seems to play the HDR fine on my TV app now, though.

But yes, the new 1080p discs seem to have nice color, based on the blu-ray.com reviews that have gone up so far.

They’ve put the SDR on there not that long ago. I don’t have anything HDR. The D+ Stream had better colors when I re-watched some bits a few days ago. Before the colours used to be washed out.

P.S: I did not change any settings on my displays. Color, Brightness, ect.

Well I’ve taken a quick look at the Disney+ ANH and AotC on a 4K device in SDR and wow, the color really does look great. At launch, the device simply failed to display the HDR copies properly.

My disc copies should arrive tomorrow. I was thinking of doing a first SE eatchthrough in many years, but I’m not sure I’d want to watch the HDR version. I’d love to apply the HD color to the UHD image, but I’m not sure how feasible this is.

Post
#1333492
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

pat man said:

towne32 said:

Darth Robin said:

The 2020 blu-rays should look like the Disney+ SDR right? Here’s a few comparrissons I found featuring those. Though only in 720p.

https://slow.pics/c/Yxh8oi3h

https://slow.pics/c/Z1WkOdb9

https://slow.pics/c/UzUGdmBf

The blu-ray.com reviews is the only place I’ve seen screenshots from the blu-rays though. I think it defenetly looks like an improvment over 2011.

What Disney+ SDR? They stream the HDR, don’t they? Does it play a properly encoded SDR version on incompatible platforms? It certainly didn’t at launch. IIRC it just looked washed out for people.

It seems to play the HDR fine on my TV app now, though.

But yes, the new 1080p discs seem to have nice color, based on the blu-ray.com reviews that have gone up so far.

They’ve put the SDR on there not that long ago. I don’t have anything HDR. The D+ Stream had better colors when I re-watched some bits a few days ago. Before the colours used to be washed out.

P.S: I did not change any settings on my displays. Color, Brightness, ect.

I see. I’ll take a look on another device…
Thanks.

Post
#1333484
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

Darth Robin said:

The 2020 blu-rays should look like the Disney+ SDR right? Here’s a few comparrissons I found featuring those. Though only in 720p.

https://slow.pics/c/Yxh8oi3h

https://slow.pics/c/Z1WkOdb9

https://slow.pics/c/UzUGdmBf

The blu-ray.com reviews is the only place I’ve seen screenshots from the blu-rays though. I think it defenetly looks like an improvment over 2011.

What Disney+ SDR? They stream the HDR, don’t they? Does it play a properly encoded SDR version on incompatible platforms? It certainly didn’t at launch. IIRC it just looked washed out for people.

It seems to play the HDR fine on my TV app now, though.

But yes, the new 1080p discs seem to have nice color, based on the blu-ray.com reviews that have gone up so far.

Post
#1333236
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

Broom Kid said:

Your comparison says it’s of the '19 4k UHD disc and the '11 blu-ray, not the '19 blu-ray disc and the '11 blu-ray.

I went through a couple threads at blu-ray.com and there’s more than a few people asking for direct comparisons between the '19 blu-rays to the '11 blu-rays, but the actual comparisons don’t seem to have been posted anywhere as of yet. That’s what I’m looking for.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=17497680&postcount=7181

I’m interested in the same thing. I’ve seen a few of the HDR to SDR conversions posted, different but claimed to be correct (and thanks to those that have shared them). But I’d like to see the official 2020 SDR 1080p disc compared to the 2011.

People have spoken favorably of the 1080p compared to UHD. And whether that’s due to their hardware not displaying the HDR well enough or the mastering, it should be a more straight forward comparison to see the two SDR products.

Post
#1332896
Topic
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020
Time

towne32 said:

From what I can gather about this set, the state of the alien dialog subs is interestingly inconsistent.

I, II, and IV have forced sub tracks.

VI and VII have burned in subs.

(IIRC, the others have no such subs).

To further clarify, subbed scenes have seamless branching. Both clean and burned in versions are on the discs. The variability was based on who reported it rather than the movies.

Post
#1332713
Topic
The Phantom Menace - Theatrical version scanned in 4K (a WIP)
Time

Darth Robin said:

Now I’m confused. The digital bits article claimes both that it was scanned at 4K and that the film has a new color grade. And the say they’re getting their infromation from disney insiders.

Are they just lying?

Does anyone have an image gallery or video that more accurately dislpays the color? We’re not getting the 4K discs here in Finland untill May the 4th so I haven’t seen them yet.

I would guess that they might be carrying info over from their matching OT articles that doesn’t apply to TPM. Not in the sense that they’ve miscopied it, but that their Disney insider might have been speaking to them about the SE trilogy along with TPM, but failed to point out some spots where they differed (i.e., the DVD and Blu-ray sharing a transfer, and the creation of a new transfer for 3D).

The other articles have similar language. With the dates and other details adjusted.

Post
#1286299
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

CatBus said:

Discostu said:

CatBus said:

FWIW, I plan to release a GOUT-synced 4K83 to address all the sync issues with not only dubs, but any other GOUT-synced audio tracks (Laserdisc rips, in-theatre recordings, etc) that people may have collected over the last 26 years since the Definitive Collection Laserdiscs came out and became the primary thing to sync to.

Awesome!

Okay, this is done. Sorry it was delayed a little extra due to the impending release of one of my other projects. In a nutshell, this is what it is:

GOUT-synced 4K83 with the 1.1 color correction, at 1080p (MKV format), using an encoding and filesize that could easily be used to create a BD25. Includes one of each major English track variant (83 6-channel, stereo, mono, and 93 stereo) in DTS-MA, defaulting to 6-channel 83 (which is just hairy_hen’s new track for 4K83, GOUT-synced). Also includes all of the dubs in my personal dub collection (Dolby Digital), which is big but not exhaustive. Also includes 32 subtitle tracks (only 32 to avoid player compatibility issues) chosen to be most useful for most American, Western European, and Japanese audiences. The subtitle tracks are from the upcoming Project Threepio 11.0, which will be available soon, and you can download that or the current version if you need additional subtitle options.

The purpose of this release is to have a version that “just works” for any mix-and-match purposes without having to think a lot about it, the main beneficiaries likely to be people who watch with their favorite dubs, but it could work with any of the random tracks collectors have been accumulating since the Definitive Collection Laserdiscs were released in 1993 and created this long-lasting fan frame standard we now call GOUT.

PM me for a link if you’d like it. I’m checking with admins right now about putting it on MySpleen (I’m also a complete torrent novice, so there may be technical delays)

I’ll take a different approach on how to respond to someone politely:

Thanks, Catbus.

Post
#1284735
Topic
New 4K releases - but are they any good?
Time

In case anyone cares about voicing complaints about that Batman 1989 audio to WB:

I appreciate everyone that has sent an email to WB at whv@wb.com and requesting a replacement disc with the original audio mix as an option. Myself and Paul from Batman-Online.com collaborated on article he published yesterday and we’re hoping to at least make some traction. Even if they don’t cave in, at least we’ll let them know for future releases to not overlook mistakes like this. Who knows, maybe they’ll change their minds for the steelbooks or the boxset.

https://www.batman-online.com/features/2019/6/9/batman-89-on-4k-deserves-better

Worth a quick email. It’s unlikely that they’ll do anything, but replacement discs do happen in some cases.

Post
#1284668
Topic
Info: Comparing the Despecialized vs 4K77 : Dawn of Justice - which is best?
Time

DB2 said:

towne32 said:

SnooPac said:

DB2 said:

Thanks. I’m going to take a look at the 4K77 DNR 1080p version. It sounds like there are different versions with different color timings (Rob, Sanjuro, etc.)?

One see out there is “STAR-WARS-4K77-180p-DNR-001209.$K77.1080p.DNR.35mm.x264-v1.0.nfo-yEnc”

I believe that’s Rob’s release which uses Sanjuro’s colours.
Rob also made a version 1.1 of the same thing (I don’t remember what was wrong with 1.0).

Then there’s a different version labeled 1.2. It’s done by someone else other than Rob (SkyDude) that is also using Sanjuro’s colours, but with some difference in the DNR process.

Not sure if either 1.1 or 1.2 are available on newsgroups…

Don’t quote me on any of that, I could be wrong. But that’s how I understand it.

(I’ve quoted you on that. You may be thinking of 4K83 where Rob was able to use Sanjuro’s grade on the DNR version)

IIRC, Sanjuro’s colors are great, but due to the work flow, not easily applied to the DNR version. Rob’s DNR version has his own color grading. It is maybe not as consistent as Sanjuro’s (which is very professional looking), but it’s a much more neutral grading than the very first release no-DNR. The first release had very heavy tints that people sometimes are after for these technicolor type gradings (like Harmy’s 2.5). That first grade is not my cup of tea, but both Sanjuro’s grade and Rob’s DNR grade are excellent.

So is the 1.0 I noted above Rob’s which uses Sanjuro’s colors?

For 4K77? I guess I wasn’t as clear as I intended to be. What I’m trying to say is that there is no DNR version of Rob’s that uses Sanjuro’s colors (if I’m not mistaken). There was:

The original no-DNR 4K release. It’s graded very minimally and a bit of a ‘refined’ taste in terms of color.

Rob’s DNR version. He also removed the reel change markers. He graded it himself. It generally looks great, even if it’s not necessarily perfect. It’s 1000x better than the previous color in my very biased opinion. I think there’s only one version of this, though the ISO fixes some subtitle sync.

Sanjuro then had a number of color grading versions of the no-DNR version (1.1-1.4). It will take a lot of manual effort, as I understand it, to apply them to a DNR version. I don’t believe that has been done.

Post
#1284662
Topic
Info: Comparing the Despecialized vs 4K77 : Dawn of Justice - which is best?
Time

SnooPac said:

DB2 said:

Thanks. I’m going to take a look at the 4K77 DNR 1080p version. It sounds like there are different versions with different color timings (Rob, Sanjuro, etc.)?

One see out there is “STAR-WARS-4K77-180p-DNR-001209.$K77.1080p.DNR.35mm.x264-v1.0.nfo-yEnc”

I believe that’s Rob’s release which uses Sanjuro’s colours.
Rob also made a version 1.1 of the same thing (I don’t remember what was wrong with 1.0).

Then there’s a different version labeled 1.2. It’s done by someone else other than Rob (SkyDude) that is also using Sanjuro’s colours, but with some difference in the DNR process.

Not sure if either 1.1 or 1.2 are available on newsgroups…

Don’t quote me on any of that, I could be wrong. But that’s how I understand it.

(I’ve quoted you on that. You may be thinking of 4K83 where Rob was able to use Sanjuro’s grade on the DNR version)

IIRC, Sanjuro’s colors are great, but due to the work flow, not easily applied to the DNR version. Rob’s DNR version has his own color grading. It is maybe not as consistent as Sanjuro’s (which is very professional looking), but it’s a much more neutral grading than the very first release no-DNR. The first release had very heavy tints that people sometimes are after for these technicolor type gradings (like Harmy’s 2.5). That first grade is not my cup of tea, but both Sanjuro’s grade and Rob’s DNR grade are excellent.

Post
#1284644
Topic
Info: Comparing the Despecialized vs 4K77 : Dawn of Justice - which is best?
Time

DB2 said:

CatBus said:

IMO 4K77 at 4K has less fine detail than DeEd at 720p, so 1080p should be a fine option. I’m sure this will start an argument though. I don’t know much about 4K77 alternate encodes, so I can’t say much else on the subject.

Next DeEd’s are all planned to be 1080p.

Great. Are these expected this year?

Projects like these can’t really be expected in specific windows like that. I wouldn’t plan on having any of them (certainly not multiple of them) this year.

Post
#1284566
Topic
Info: Comparing the Despecialized vs 4K77 : Dawn of Justice - which is best?
Time

DB2 said:

Thanks, CatBus.

I don’t have my 820 networked. Maybe I will try another 4K77 version. Is there a list of them in a certain thread? Also, is there much of a downgrade from the 4K77 version converted to 1080p?

Yeah, if something could be done to alleviate that clipping (even just tuning down the intensity) would be great.
The next version where this will be addressed…will this be 720p? Sorry, still learning all of these versions. LOL

One of the main 4K77 4K encodes does have a bit of difficulty playing back on some media players and on lesser hardware. I think VLC in particular is known to struggle with it. MPC does well with it, especially with the madVR plugin enabled.

Post
#1284376
Topic
Info: Comparing the Despecialized vs 4K77 : Dawn of Justice - which is best?
Time

I agree that 4k83 is probably the preferred way to go for that film, especially the later release options. It was such a clean print, you get a really consistent viewing experience. The Rancor scene scan used in Harmy’s version is pretty limited in terms of how far it can be color corrected. It has really never looked better than in some of the latest 4k83 versions. These film restorations look as good as many official Blu-ray releases. And the cleanups look better than official ones on the tier of companies like 88 Films, etc.

For the 1977 film, it’s still hard to give a definitive recommendation. Despecialized has some rough moments, and a couple remaining shots with GOUT elements. 4k77 is a very consistent watch as far as picture quality goes, and the original effects never looked better. The color on the original non-DNR release was was not ideal, IMO, but Rob’s DNR color is much better. And Sanjuro’s grade is excellent.

But the print has a lot of minor damage. Their cleanup is insanely impressive. But once you get to the second half of the film, there is often noticeable damage on every frame, and some very unfortunate light leaks. It’s still a lovely watch (and probably my preferred), but unlike 4k83, you won’t be tricking your eyes into thinking this is an official version from an alternate timeline. 😃 Looking forward to seeing how the Skymaster/Skywalker releases are improved. I’d say Star Wars has great options, but no definitive one yet.

Post
#1284302
Topic
New 4K releases - but are they any good?
Time

LexX said:

It seems that they have ruined the new Bat-releases with new sound effects and teal colors. Damn, that seems to be the biggest blow so far for new 4K releases as those got worse release than the BDs.

From what I’ve read:

Batman 89 - Incredible transfer for the video. Audio is massively revisionist. Most of the sound effects replaced.

Returns - Great transfer. Some scenes have bluer grading, but it’s not a blanket change. Most people will be happy with it, but obviously this website will not. A couple of effects changes made to the Atmos audio.

Forever (if anyone even cares) - fine transfer, mild HDR improvement . And Robin (if anyone even cares) - fine transfer with fantastic, reference quality HDR .

I’ll probably pick it after a price drop, and maybe seek out a fan edit of 89 with the proper audio. I’ll likely be just fine with it aside from that blunder.