Harmy's STAR WARS Despecialized Edition HD - V2.7 - MKV (Released) — Page 667

shaunvis said:

Harmy said:

Hi, guys, I know I haven’t updated you in quite a while and it’s because I haven’t really been working on Despecialized.

One reason was that I have been waiting for the new 4K Blu-Rays to come out and now they have and together with the 4K77 project, they should be a great source for a version 3.0 - they do seem to offer have more detail than the 2011 BDs, even though the DNR is pretty awful, but I will definitely try to add grain to them - ideally real scanned 35mm grain, which I might even be able to extract from Star Wars scans to keep it super-authentic.

Right now there are several problems with using the new UHD masters though.

1. The UHD Blu-Rays haven’t come out in Europe yet, as far as I know.
2. They are really expensive, so I’ll have to think twice before purchasing them when they do.
3. Even if I buy them, I don’t even have a UHD player, let alone UHD BD drive, so I haven’t got the ability to rip them or even view them.
4. Even if I could rip them or get them in some other way, I have no idea how to properly work with HDR streams.

So, if someone could help me with the proper HDR workflow, it would be appreciated. I don’t even really want to make the final result 4K HDR - I’d like the result to be a regular BD, as I feel like this way the sources will match better and there shouldn’t be a significant loss in quality anyway but would like to source the HDR BDs to use the better dynamic range for color-grading.

But maybe, in the end, it would be best to just use the regular BD versions of the new transfers, which would eliminate all the above problems and I could work as I am used to.

The main reason work on Despecialized has slowed down significantly in recent years is that I have a full-time job in the visual effects industry and, frankly also more of a social life, so I have far less time to work on Despecialized and, to be honest, also less drive, because after coming home from work, where I stare at a monitor all day and work on VFX, I seldom feel like doing the same thing at home.

Another reason is that the 4K77 version is wonderful and for my own viewing pleasure it is quite sufficient and I actually really enjoy it for its retro-charm.

But it is still more of a preservation of what the experience of watching a slightly beat-up print in drive-in theater would have been rather than what a proper modern transfer of a milestone film should look like and that’s what Despecialized v3.0 should supplement, when it gets finished.

In my country, the COVID-19 crisis, at least so far, hasn’t reached a point where it would prevent me from going to work, so I’m still working, albeit, since there’s no new productions being made, the post production side of things is winding down as well. But after the current big work-project is finished, which should be at the end of may, I’d like to take some time off and finally get going on Despecialized again. I’m not sure, though, if, given the current economic climate, I’ll be able to afford to do that.

If it would help at all, I can rip the UHD disks and you can download from my server. Let me know if interested.

That would probably be considered piracy. Harmy wants to do things the legal way.

This might have already been answered, but what exactly are power windows? It seems impossible to find the definition in this context on google.

In a proper preservation, I definitely agree power windows shouldn’t be used. But again, that’s what 4K77 is for.

Hello, guys. So, as I said before, I’m getting this month off from work and I’m planning to work on Despecialized.
Now, the reason I’m writing this post is to ask you guys for donations. I hate to do this but as I’m a freelancer, being out of work means I’m not gonna be getting any income and right now, the VFX industry is kind of f*cked, because all filming has stopped due to COVID, so I’m not even sure there will be much payed work for me in the future. Luckily, if it comes to that, I can survive on savings for a while but I will have to cut any extra expenses, so I could really use some help with the software and hardware expenses for Despecialized.
Any donations to harmypaypal@email.cz are welcome and, of course, any donors will get their names in the credits.

Just to be upfront about this, I can’t actually promise any delivery date on Despecialized - I’m starting over with an all new set of sources and right now, I’m still trying to figure out how to properly work with the HDR sources and it’s a bit frustrating. But I’m talking to some guys about possible collaborations, including oohteedee and DrDre, so hopefully, we’ll figure it out together.

Harmy said:

Hello, guys. So, as I said before, I’m getting this month off from work and I’m planning to work on Despecialized.
Now, the reason I’m writing this post is to ask you guys for donations. I hate to do this but as I’m a freelancer, being out of work means I’m not gonna be getting any income and right now, the VFX industry is kind of f*cked, because all filming has stopped due to COVID, so I’m not even sure there will be much payed work for me in the future. Luckily, if it comes to that, I can survive on savings for a while but I will have to cut any extra expenses, so I could really use some help with the software and hardware expenses for Despecialized.
Any donations to harmypaypal@email.cz are welcome and, of course, any donors will get their names in the credits.

Just to be upfront about this, I can’t actually promise any delivery date on Despecialized - I’m starting over with an all new set of sources and right now, I’m still trying to figure out how to properly work with the HDR sources and it’s a bit frustrating. But I’m talking to some guys about possible collaborations, including oohteedee and DrDre, so hopefully, we’ll figure it out together.

Can’t wait. Thank you.

I decided to go 4K in the end 😃

Definitely

Thank you! I will be posting a small video later today 😊

44rh1n said:

I was finally able to send you a small donation today, Harmy.

Hey, I was just popping on to ask how I can do the same!
I’ve checked the OP & Harmy’s sig. I’m probably missing something very obvious…

Just read the quote in 44rh1n’s post 😉

Here’s the promised video: https://youtu.be/5ByflKACiBQ

ray_afraid said:

I’m probably missing something very obvious…

I knew it!

Love the video comparison! Looks GREAT!

Harmy said:

Just read the quote in 44rh1n’s post 😉

Here’s the promised video: https://youtu.be/5ByflKACiBQ

Fantastic. Thanks for your excellent work - can’t wait to see more of it.

The story of Despecialized is much like the story of Star Wars in many ways. Except with fewer ugnaughts.

Harmy said:

Just read the quote in 44rh1n’s post 😉

Here’s the promised video: https://youtu.be/5ByflKACiBQ

A couple shots in there had me wondering: what’s your plan/process dealing with the heavy cropping in the UHD versions? Are you restoring out to the edge of the 4K77 frame, the BD/DeEd2.x frame, not restoring cropped areas, or case-by-case?

If so, how does that work out? There were a few cropped shots in the 2.x series that you restored to a less-cropped version, and that seemed to work pretty well in most cases.

Unless it’s shots like the Falcon cockpit shots in Empire, where the frame was zoomed in a lot for creative reasons, I’ll be leaving the framing as it is in the UHD version. It would be way too much work to go shot by shot and restore the edges in the whole movie. If someone else wants to do it, I’ll be happy to use their project as a source but looking at some comparisons, the croping looks fine to me,even if it is slightly tighter in places than the 2011 BD.

IIRC there are a few places where the heavy cropping has a significant impact on content. I think ESB is worst affected of the three films, and I think there’s one scene where Leia is cropped out of the image altogether. But as far as I know, nothing of that scale in Star Wars.

CatBus said:

IIRC there are a few places where the heavy cropping has a significant impact on content. I think ESB is worst affected of the three films, and I think there’s one scene where Leia is cropped out of the image altogether. But as far as I know, nothing of that scale in Star Wars.

Ah, well, I guess where that’s the case, it would be worth doing.