Max_Rebo's '97 SE superset' preservation (* unfinished project *) — Page 4

I think Making Magic DVD is the best extra DVD you can get for SEs. MM was a CD release which includes videos about making SEs and that's just converted to DVD. The DVD also includes 3 trailers which were extras so you can get them there. They're my favorite trailers, minus the SE "surprises". :P

Next to the X0 project , this is the second most important project being attempted here....

Max_Rebo said:

However the '97 version isn't without it's colour problems, for example Hoth is possibly more blue that on the '04 DVDs.

I didn't know Dark Jedi had done a '97 extras disc, I'll PM you about a trade. I haven't thought much about extras, as a minimum I'd want the 'making of' stuff so it has everything the VHS has, but I will think about this more later on.

Wow that's a really messed up capture, I'm doing a load of VHS transfers of home movies at the moment which is unfortunately slowing down progres on other projects, but I have a PCI capture card so I don't know anything about DV boxes, good luck getting that sorted out.

 

Do you have any examples of the color problems on the '97 versions? Even my reliable Sonic Record now is not copying discs lately. Well, not discs that were made with my dvd recorder. Ones that were burned from a computer might work.

Believe it or not, I've have the PDI capture card. But I've had even less luck getting that to work and DScaler which I downloaded to use it likely was the cause of the hard drive going bad about a year ago. I think I'm going to take it back into the shop (again) but I first want to upload one of the high school hockey games I recorded to my youtube account.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Knightmessenger

Do you think the color problems in the 1997 special edition have anything to do with how several faded the negative was.  I know they did a complete photo chemical restoration.  This was done by Pacific Title and YCM labs.  The final color was done by matching it to a technicolor 3 strip dye transfer print in Lucas private collection.

Until someone gets there hands on a 35mm print of the special edition the color problem only being a symptom of the home videos releases will never be solved or proven.

The gout  colors are so washed out im not even sure they are a proper source for saying this is how the films should look and looked in cinemas way back when.  Especially when you consider the DVNR.

I think the colors on the japan special collection are more acurate.  Too bad the image is soft and interlaced and is from a grainy old master again with washed out colors several generations away from the original.

Yech, and here I thought the '97 SE was closer than the O4.  Especially the "binary sunset" scene there... @_@

skyjedi2005 said:...

 

I think the colors on the japan special collection are more acurate.  Too bad the image is soft and interlaced and is from a grainy old master again with washed out colors several generations away from the original

I could try to caps some shots from the Japanese LDs over my USB Video Grabber.

The sharpness isn't the best with my LD Player and the cheap usb grabber, but maybe it could tell the color correctness.

Edit:

I just checked my personal rip of the first side of Star Wars 1997SE from the japanese LD. It also has the color issue. So it would not be a help.

I hope the project is coming along smoothly. This has totally made my day. If these are completed, all I can say is: eat your heart out George!! The 97 SE's live on!!

Is there any update on the project? I been living off my letterboxed VHS tapes for too long!

skyjedi2005 said:

I think the colors on the japan special collection are more accurate.  Too bad the image is soft and interlaced and is from a grainy old master again with washed out colors several generations away from the original.

 The 1993 master probably would have looked worse, in terms of color fading, had it not been color corrected by THX. So the gout may not have been the original color but it seems like the first major attempt to faithfully restore the color back and it turned out pretty good. Besides the canyon, the binary sunset has color differences between the THX and pre THX releases.

Those are some good comparisons. I've said it before but someone should upload caps from a 1997 transfer to the screencaps page.

The Gout look really sharp too in those caps. 

Any updates?

captainsolo said:

Any updates?

was wondering the same thing. just curious

vbangle said:

captainsolo said:

Any updates?

was wondering the same thing. just curious

 

Is this project still ongoing?

This would set me up for life. I cannot bear to watch the 04 versions, and I bought the GOUT out of sheer desperation. My attempt at converting a VHS set of the 97's did not go so well. An anamorphic transfer with the laserdisc 5.1 would finally help me relive my original childhood experience. The best thing I've been able to manage was finally obtaining a widescreen VHS set, but that is simply way below par nowadays-the resolution is almost unbearable and the wonderful restored 97 mix is down-converted to some weird 2 channel THX mix that sounds tinny. (at least this is how I describe it-I may be wrong on some of the technical details.)

When SW EP IV SE came out in the theaters I took my first born son, then 3 and a half yrs old, and my wife, who pregnant with our second son. It was thrilling to Star Wars again in a theater setting after twenty years of waiting.

Thank you for the update Max_Rebo. It seems that there is a core group of very talented people here at OT.com, of which you are one.

Thank you for your time spent making these as best as they can be.

Wow. No wonder this project is taking so long to finish. I always thought the 97 of Jedi looked a bit different (sharpness, etc.) than ESB. When this project is finished I can finally say goodbye to my VCR and well worn VHS tapes. This looks absolutely fantastic. I can hardly contain my excitement-especially over the 5.1!! Beautiful work!

Why would Jedi be filtered like this?

Max_Rebo, I just want to say thank you so much for doing this project. It is essentially the last project really of interest to me on OT.com (sad but true), and I have been closely following it. Any time I come here and see that this thread is back on the front page it makes me happy. The way I see it, is, that for the 77/80/83 versions, I have the GOUT, which is, contrary to many's beliefs, good enough for me. Then we have of course the 2004 versions. Missing has always been a viable preservation of the 1997 versions, which has always been a problem because that is what I grew up on. I was raised on that VHS box set, and it has been killing me that I haven't really been able to have a good copy. Also different than what a lot of people think is that, to me, the 1997 and 2004 versions are fairly different, enough that it is a big deal to me. So keep up the great work, we appreciate the time and effort, you are really doing a great job with it.