Originally posted by: Dufusyte
Gentlemen of the XØ Project, I would be interested in your thoughts on this approach. My dream project would be to record the SE version being televised this November in HD, then color correct it using the GOUT, and for frames where the SE is divergent (extra cg critters etc), use restored frames from the LD or GOUT (which ever cleaned up better).

I applaud the concept of preserving the best LD possible, but I think we are all primarily interested in preserving the original Movie, as opposed to preserving a particular media (LD/DVD/VHS/reel/etc). You are such a talented crew on the XØ Project, I am mildly concerned that strictly limiting your focus to the XØ LD transfer may no longer be the best strategy, as far as restoring the original movie is concerned, not to mention it is an extremely time consuming and tedious approach. Are you guys primarily concerned with restoring/preserving the Movie (regardless of source media) or are you more interested in preserving the LD (even if you recognize it is not the best way to produce the highest quality restoration of the movie)?

Thanks again for your great efforts. I hope they are spent in the most efficacious manner.

I posted an answer of sorts over in that thread also, there will be an article shortly on a similar approach that we have been messing with for a while.

As to your last question, my main aim is in preserving the movie.
The problem in the past was the laserdisc and DVDs were far too far apart in terms of quality to do a hybrid style project like ocpmovie attempted. I applaud his attempt, but I found the result unwatchable, as I did with my own attempts to do the same type of thing. (i.e. mix the LD caps with the official 2004 DVD).

I realised early on that the only real hope was to get the original elements in whatever form possible and find ways to squeeze the highest possible quality from them.
So although from the outside we look obsessed with sticking with the laserdiscs, the fact is for some scenes the laserdiscs are the only source you can find them (other than a 35mm print). The blackmagic system and some other tools are a direct result of us sticking with working with laserdisc technology and working out ways around its all too obvious limitations.
Hopefully the resulting images will be of a quality to make a hybrid project possible. At the very least we need the SCs and other disc sets captured, cleaned up and stabilised to be able to use them even as an 'automated colour reference' for other sources such as the official DVDs for example.
No matter which way I look at it, it always seems to come back to needing the laserdiscs processed as part of the equation, so we might as well finish that task before moving on to other restoration projects.

Like in production, we are building up toolsets that will be valuable for the next phase whatever that might be.

My hope is that when we are finished with the LDs we will have a suite of tools (and a selection of scenes) that will allow us to tackle a hybrid restoration with a detail level close to or exceeding the 2004 DVDs.
The truth is that a year ago, we didn't have enough to do much more than an archive and touch up of the DC. Embarking on anything else would have been premature and have resulted in something interesting but probably not watchable along the lines of OCPs sets.
It would have been a case of "You're all talk, Hamill. You never even finished Jedi school."

The road has been long, but the lessons learned have been very useful, and the input and ideas from everyone here have been indispensable.
So yeah, I intend more than just a laserdisc restoration, but I still think it is the necessary first step.

I'm looking forward to the HD broadcasts in November to add to the mix...