logo Sign In

Fantasia Special_Edition Laserdisc Restoration with Sunflower v2.0 — Page 2

Author
Time
Post link

Sthunderrocker said:

You fixed Fantasia! This audio sounds how it’s supposed to. I immediately went to Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria. It sounds like my vinyl and the rears are the way I remember from 1990 (and as described in accounts of Fantasound). Made me teary…
Thanks.

If you have seen it in the theaters back then in 1990, do you remember by any chance anything further on how it looked? Were the colors identical to the LD or bright as the 35mm release and Blu Ray? (Well actually 35mm is even brighter and more detailed than blu)

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working”
-The wind in the willows

Author
Time
Post link

CMGF said:
If you have seen it in the theaters back then in 1990, do you remember by any chance anything further on how it looked? Were the colors identical to the LD or bright as the 35mm release and Blu Ray? (Well actually 35mm is even brighter and more detailed than blu)

I was a teenager… But to me the laserdisc restoration looks the way I remember it. Of course that was just one reissue in 1990, but they put a lot of work into it. And I was excited to get the VHS at the time. One interesting thing about it was that Disney installed extra screen at the top and bottom of our AMC Theater locally so that they could show it at full size in original aspect ratio. That required a special lens on the projector as well. Of course we got those really nice program books for attending. I just know that I’m a very big proponent for the absolute most modern technology but nothing has been more unsatisfying to me then the Blu-ray release of Fantasia. If you want one example of why the laser disc is better, the fact that the choir enters from the rear of the theater during Ave Maria is all you need to know. The Blu-ray doesn’t do that and I can’t understand for the life of me why not.

Author
Time
Post link

Yeah I was talking about the video, audio wise the LD is absulutely way better than the blu ray. Video wise, the Blu Ray was retouched to not look filmy, which caused it to loose some details, so in many aspects the Blu Ray is really messed up. But color wise if you compare it to the recent Thunderbean 35mm release it looks surprisingly close to it, most of the time. This is why I asked. I know the laserdisc is better, especially because the audio in it is a recreation of the original Fantasound.

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working”
-The wind in the willows

Author
Time
Post link

Sthunderrocker said:

You fixed Fantasia! This audio sounds how it’s supposed to. I immediately went to Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria. It sounds like my vinyl and the rears are the way I remember from 1990 (and as described in accounts of Fantasound). Made me teary…
Thanks.

Glad you like it. In case you haven’t seen it I PM’d you links.

Author
Time
Post link

Fascinating. I haven’t seen the Thunderbean 35mm release, and will look for it. But my memory of 1990 is more in line with this laserdisc presentation than the bluray visually. I fully acknowledge that may not be the most accurate color grading if a 35mm print suggests otherwise.

CMGF said:

Yeah I was talking about the video, audio wise the LD is absulutely way better than the blu ray. Video wise, the Blu Ray was retouched to not look filmy, which caused it to loose some details, so in many aspects the Blu Ray is really messed up. But color wise if you compare it to the recent Thunderbean 35mm release it looks surprisingly close to it, most of the time. This is why I asked. I know the laserdisc is better, especially because the audio in it is a recreation of the original Fantasound.

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

Sthunderrocker said:

Fascinating. I haven’t seen the Thunderbean 35mm release, and will look for it. But my memory of 1990 is more in line with this laserdisc presentation than the bluray visually. I fully acknowledge that may not be the most accurate color grading if a 35mm print suggests otherwise.

Interesting to hear, even though it might be a little tough to remember how it looked after more about 32 years. A lot of hard work went into the 1990 release, and if it wasn’t made, who knows if we had to live with that 1982 Kostal recording till this day. The thing that made me wonder is that the LD colors are seems to be darkened, and sometimes details are lost as a result (for instance, missing clouds during the toccata and fugue segment). In addition, Fantasia was a technicolor feature, and technicolor is known for its highly bright and saturated colors. But in any other aspect I have no doubts the LD is way more accurate than any other release, at least to the 1946 version.

CMGF said:

Yeah I was talking about the video, audio wise the LD is absulutely way better than the blu ray. Video wise, the Blu Ray was retouched to not look filmy, which caused it to loose some details, so in many aspects the Blu Ray is really messed up. But color wise if you compare it to the recent Thunderbean 35mm release it looks surprisingly close to it, most of the time. This is why I asked. I know the laserdisc is better, especially because the audio in it is a recreation of the original Fantasound.

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working”
-The wind in the willows

Author
Time
Post link

I see what your saying. I don’t remember it as dark. I’m more referring to the saturation levels. It was colorful… Moreso than the bluray. I just skimmed your new version and I have zero complaints. You did a great job.

Author
Time
Post link

JadedSkywalker said:

They almost never use a laserdisc for a DVD or Blu-Ray except in rare cases. They are usually component or composite masters. Star Wars was D1 component for Gout. I have no idea if Fantasia is D2 composite or the former.

I don’t think you can even use a laserdisc for Blu Ray because laserdiscs are not HD.

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working”
-The wind in the willows

Author
Time
Post link

Watched v.1 on Archive, was quite thrilling to hear and see it more or less how I remembered it. Any chance for a PM for V.2?

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>