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4K restoration on Star Wars — Page 171

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Fang Zei said:

TerranGuy93 said:

Fang Zei said:

SwissArmyTin said:

UHD seems like a bit of a gimmic to me, but I can understand the appeal of 4k in general. It’s just still a tad too expensive right now for most people to upgrade to a 4K TV and 4K blu-ray player. Heck, I didn’t jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon until around 2012 when player prices started falling under $100 a piece.

It’s just such a shame streaming is slowly edging out physical releases. Video quality (and audio, in some cases) just isn’t up to par yet with physical media, at least from what I’ve seen on Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube. Internet speeds can absolutely nuke any and all enjoyment from watching a film the second it starts stuttering and buffering, then crushing the resolution down to 360p until it catches back up for 1080p.

My nightmare scenario is Disney deciding to sit on it until the winds are clearly blowing in the direction of downloads/streaming and physical media is declared dead (or at least on its way out) by the industry, and only then releasing a restored OOT you’d need to download/stream and would never be able to physically own a copy of.

I feel like it won’t come to that, though. They haven’t even released the unaltereds on regular blu-ray, and we’re about to hit that magic seven-year mark since the last revision of the SE anyway. If they wanted to, they could dip on a 1080p disc release now (or next year if they want to keep to the seven-year pattern although that’s probably been coincidence more than anything else) and simply wait until 2020 to dip again on 4k. It’s the UHD release that’s going to need added incentive for people to buy, and May 2020 conveniently coincides (more or less) with the conclusion of the sequel trilogy.

If they stick to the current plan, Ep9 hits theaters in May of 2019. They could put it out by itself and (and possibly in 4k as well, with TFA, RO and Han Solo also having been released on 4k in the meantime since they’re 100% owned by Disney). Then, a year later in September of 2020 they release the I-XI box set you have to buy in order to get the unaltereds in all their 4k hdr glory.

We don’t know what Lucasfilm/Disney has planned for 2020 in terms of a new movie, but presumably there will be one. Whether that movie is a May release or they revert to December, I think the I-IX UHD set is a likely possibility, either hitting stores in September the same day as that year’s movie or simply as part of the cross-promotion if they go with December.

Part of the problem I think is the distribution rights with Fox. If I remember correctly, Fox has the rights until 2020 to the first 6, save for ANH which they get in perpetuity. I’m betting once all they can distribute is the original, Disney will cut a deal for a mega pack with all of them.

Yup, it’s just a simple matter of giving them their cut.

In the meantime, they’ve already reissued the 2011 discs twice since the Disney deal. That should be proof enough that Fox and Disney aren’t at odds with each other.

The question is whether they’ll just keep reissuing the same discs for the next three years or if Disney will see the money-making potential of releasing a remastered OOT on regular 1080p blu-ray before then. If they decide it’s worth sharing some of the profits with Fox they’ll go through with it. They’d still be able to dip yet again with a 4k HDR OOT release after May of 2020.

Well, this is pure speculation on my part but it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney’s deal with Fox might be heavily weighted in Fox’s favor currently since they have the rights til 2020 so Disney is holding off on a 4k HDR OOT release until they have a stronger bargaining position and more of their own films under the belt and can release a very expensive set and keep most of the profits. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if once Disney has more leverage to see something akin to the Harry Potter wizards collection.

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Disney could authorize an OOT release on regular blu-ray now and save the 4k for when they (mostly) get the rights back in 2020. The only potential problem from a business standpoint is that a regular blu-ray of the OOT might be “enough” for many fans who never plan on upgrading to 4k.

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I’d still buy a 4K OOT for future proofing and I currently have no plans to upgrade for several years at least, but maybe I’m just a corporate shill.

.

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SilverWook said:

If it’s needed, it has to be a timely response while the iron is hot, so to speak.

Here’s my thinking:

If they don’t even so much as broach the subject, such as saying “we’re actively working on it / we won’t release it until 2020,” then we should assume there is a chance they have no plans at all to ever restore the OOT.

That is when we need to make our voices heard loud and clear to let them know “yes, we want this and we will pay top dollar for it.”

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 (Edited)

Continuing the discussion of non celebration topics,

[by the way, if you have them post here:]
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Celebration-2017-Speculation/id/54702

As mentioned before the test samples that were seen of the restoration
were from star wars, and the empire strikes back.

Here is one frame from the Star Wars restoration:
http://imgur.com/rpr6YVG
alt

Here is one frame from grain tests on The Empire Strikes Back:
http://imgur.com/3i60nEH
alt

Note the upper left diagonal has grain, where the lower right has it removed
and reduced.

The video file attributes:
Video: APCH 1920x1080 23.976fps 173777kbps [V: Apple Alias Data Handler [eng] (prores, yuv422p10le, 1920x1080, 173777 kb/s)]

R1

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I suspect this will all be over soon…again. And I’m not talking about anything related to the thread.

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JawsTDS said:

These screenshots seem to have come from a higher bitrate video than the Vimeo upload. They look much better when not subject to web compression.

I don’t think that showed their grain reduction technique as well. I think it was about their 4k mastering process.

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MisterRey said:

rogue1-77 said:

Celebration, and GMA talk here:
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Celebration-2017-Speculation/id/54702/page/6#1064412

The frame captures are taken from some of the samples used to show other industry insiders when the restoration was being done.

Tests were made on Star Wars, and The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, the clips are higher quality than the Vimeo ones.

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And you have said clips? Are they from the SEs?

I believe they stated that they’re from the 97 SEs.

“That said, there is nothing wrong with mocking prequel lovers and belittling their bad taste.” - Alderaan, 2017

MGGA (Make GOUT Great Again):
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Return-of-the-GOUT-Preservation-and-Restoration/id/55707

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JawsTDS said:

These screenshots seem to have come from a higher bitrate video than the Vimeo upload. They look much better when not subject to web compression.

I haven’t looked at this site in many months. Care to get me up to speed on all these references to a Vimeo clip and stuff supposedly shown to industry insiders?

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lurker77 said:

JawsTDS said:

These screenshots seem to have come from a higher bitrate video than the Vimeo upload. They look much better when not subject to web compression.

I haven’t looked at this site in many months. Care to get me up to speed on all these references to a Vimeo clip and stuff supposedly shown to industry insiders?

I’ve seen that diagonal splitscreen degraining shot somewhere before, probably way earlier in this thread. Maybe JawsTDS can provide more info.

Anyway, here is the vimeo reel:

https://vimeo.com/95919913

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I can’t confirm the Star Wars clips are from the SE, since they don’t contain those scenes,
however in most likely scenarios, they are in my opinion.

I will post some other shots from them, and more from the ESB clips.

They aren’t publicly available in the higher bitrates, and are scaled down to 1080p.

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rogue1-77 said:

I can’t confirm the Star Wars clips are from the SE, since they don’t contain those scenes,
however in most likely scenarios, they are in my opinion.

I will post some other shots from them, and more from the ESB clips.

They aren’t publicly available in the higher bitrates, and are scaled down to 1080p.

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Didn’t we determine beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s still the SE?

The lightsaber flashes during the Vader/Kenobi duel was the giveaway, IIRC.

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 (Edited)

rogue1-77 said:

I can’t confirm the Star Wars clips are from the SE, since they don’t contain those scenes,
however in most likely scenarios, they are in my opinion.

I will post some other shots from them, and more from the ESB clips.

They aren’t publicly available in the higher bitrates, and are scaled down to 1080p.

R1

Best series

of accounts

ever.

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Fang Zei said:

rogue1-77 said:

I can’t confirm the Star Wars clips are from the SE, since they don’t contain those scenes,
however in most likely scenarios, they are in my opinion.

I will post some other shots from them, and more from the ESB clips.

They aren’t publicly available in the higher bitrates, and are scaled down to 1080p.

R1

Didn’t we determine beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s still the SE?

The lightsaber flashes during the Vader/Kenobi duel was the giveaway, IIRC.

I think that assumption was made prior to the SSE being released. I honestly think the lightsabers look like how they appear there.