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Harmy's STAR WARS TRILOGY "Partly Despecialized Edition" HD. !!! These version are now obsolete - Look for Despecialized Editions instead!!!

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 (Edited)

!!! These versions are now obsolete. !!!

My new Despecialized Editions of STAR WARSTESB and ROTJ and are now available. The new Despecialized Editions are of higher quality in all aspects:

Picture quality: Although the PDE is 1080p and the DeEd is only 720p, the DeEd actually contains more detail due to using higher quality sources and having less compression artefacts:

Click to enlarge


Sound quality: Some of the sound mixes in the DeEd are encoded at higher bitrates from higher quality sources than the PDE.

Quality of Despecialization: Where all the original shots in the PDE were only upscales of low quality souces, in the DeEd the original shots were painstakingly reconstructed in order to better fit within the HD footage:

Click for bigness:

 

 

 

 

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STAR WARS TRILOGY - PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION



When burned to a DVD9, this should play in PS3 and most Blu-Ray players.


After Adywan made his TESB theatrical reconstruction DVD I thought: "Hey, this would be a cool thing to have in HD," and asked Adywan if there's gonna be an HD version. The answer was no, and quite understandably, too. We all know that Ady's a perfectionist (and we love him for it) and he wasn't satisfied with how the original scenes (recreated using a cobination of GOUT, Ady's AVCHD and hi-res matepainting scans) blended with the HD ones and he wouldn't want to release anything that he felt to be half-arsed :-). While I must agree with this to a certain degree, I personally don't mind a few shots being a slightly worse quality, if I get a good cut of the movie with an over-all great picture. So I decided to do it myself and since some other people expressed interest in it, I decided to let you know that using the recreation DVD and Ady's AVCHD I made a partly despecialized HD version of TESB and than proceeded on to make partly despecialized versions of SW and ROTJ, which I decided to make available because Adywan gave me a green light and enough people expressed their interest even after they've heard the BUTs...

...So, there are two BUTs to this:

1st BUT is the version: It is not a recreation of the theatrical realease but only a partly despecialized version, i.e. I just removed the IMHO most offensive changes. You can read the full description bellow. This is why I wasn't sure whether this should go to FANEDITS or PRESERVATIONS but I feel about it as being more of a preservation.

 

2nd is the quality: As I said before, the reinserted OOT shots do not blend perfectly. But they blend OK, unlike obvious CG in an othervise non CG movie. You really only notice the difference in quality if you're looking for it. I played the scenes to my friend and asked him afterwards if he thought there was something wrong with them and he didn't notice anything.

 NOW TO THE FILMS:

 STAR WARS - PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION

I used the 2.0 soundtrack from GOUT and adjusted and trimmed Adywan's AVCHD to fit to it, so I virtually recreated the theatrical cut. Then I also replaced some of the most glaring CGI and other offending changes with  the GOUT.

Most of the despecializations done can be seen in this video: SW:PDE

Although there is a quality difference, I still prefer watching this over any other version out there as it’s HD for the most part and it’s a lot closer to the original.

I also adjusted the original Czech dubbing to this because I want my little brother (and some time in the future my kids, although I'm hoping that by that time there will be a proper Blu-Ray release of the OOT) to be able to watch STAR WARS in a better way than the old fullscreen VHS.

I used the same fox logo as for TESB (see bellow) even though it is not the right one but it's close, it's high quality and at least for me it gives it the vintage feel all the same. And also it will then be the same for the whole trilogy.


In v2.0 I fixed the framerate issues and I used a different way of upscaling the 2006 DVD than for the first version and I think it looks a lot better (you can check for yourselves here, there are basically all the changes that I made in that video, exept for very minor stuff like trimming a few frames here and there). This time I used only Adywan's AVCHD and the 2006 DVD. For v2.1 (now avaiable on RS, if you are interested PM me - check out the sample videoI did some very minor tweaks like sharpening the GOUT shots a bit.

In addition there are 5 different audio tracks.

and here's an nfo.


[RELEASE TiTLE ]..[ Star_Wars_1080p_PARTLY_DESPECIALIZED_EDITION_v2.1_Harmy ]   

[ FiLE SiZE ]......[ 7.9 GB -- DVD9 ] 
      
[ RUNTiME ]........[ 121 mins ]

               
[ GENRE ]..........[ SCI-FI | FANTASY ]

        
[ RESOLUTiON ].....[ 1920 x 1080 ]


[ SCAN TYPE].......[ Progressive ]

    
[ FRAME RATE ] ....[ 23.976 ]

      
[ ViDEO ]..........[ AVCHD @ 7448 Kbps ]
 
   
[ AUDiO 1 ]........[ AC3 6ch @ 448 Kbps 1977 70mm English 5.1 (Hairy_Hen's 70mm reconstruction 5.1 upmix) ]

[ AUDiO 2 ]........[ AC3 2ch @ 256 Kbps 1993 English 2.0 (2006 Bonus DVD sourced) ]

[ AUDiO 3 ]........[ AC3 1ch @  96 Kbps 1977 English 1.0 (The mono mix restoration thanks to Belbucus and Moth3r) ]

[ AUDiO 4 ]........[ AC3 2ch @ 192 Kbps Descriptive Commentary for the blind (VHS sourced) ]

[ AUDiO 5 ]........[ AC3 2ch @ 256 Kbps Czech 2.0 (VHS sourced dubbing) ]

[ SUBTiTLES ]......[ English -- not hardsubbed ]

[ SOURCE ].........[ Adywan's colour corrected SE AVCHD (HDTV sourced), 2006 Bonus Original Theatrical Release DVD (Sourced from 1993 Laserdisc master) ]

I used the 2.0 soundtrack from 2006 BONUS DVD (GOUT) and adjusted and trimmed Adywan's AVCHD to fit to it, so I virtually recreated the theatrical cut. Then I also replaced some of the most glaring CGI and other offending changes with the GOUT. Han, ofcourse, shoots Greedo in cold blood. 

Version 2.1 improves on the first version in several aspects: It is a 23.976 AVCHD, there are no more framerate issues, the upscale of the GOUT footage is superior, there is more different soundmixes available in this version and it contains English subtitles.



THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION

 

 

Version 1 was never released due to framerete issues, so I'll just give information on v2.0: Here's a video of the changes. I made v2.0 the same way as the others - adjusted Adywan's AVCHD to fit to the GOUT sound, only for Empire of course I used Ady's reconstruction DVD for the original footage.

Thanks to using Ady's reconstruction instead of GOUT, the difference between HD and SD isn't as obvious as in the other two. I think that to someone who wouldn't know about the changes it would be practically unnoticable (not invisible, but if they were following the story and not focusing on picture quality, they simply wouldn't notice).

I tweaked the colours of the reconstruction footage in two places: Deblued the Wampa cave shots to fit with the AVCHD colours and returned the pinkish/orange tint to the Cloud city mate after Luke leaves Dagobah, I know it doesn't make sense in the context of the story but it was like that in both the 1980 original and 1997 SE and I simply like it that way.

Also I found out that Ady's reconstruction 5.1 mix syncs perfectly just as I demuxed it from the DVD. So there will be Ady's 5.1, GOUT 2.0 and Czech 2.0.

 

RETURN OF THE JEDI - PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION


 

 

RETURN OF THE JEDI - PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION 1080p AVCHD v1.2


VIDEO: 

Resolution: 1920x1080p 

Codec: AVC 

Frame rate: 23,976 fps 

Bit rate: 6795Kbps


AUDIO:


1) 5.1 EN 448Kbps

2) 5.1 EN 448Kbps

3) 2.0 EN 384Kbps

4) 2.0 CZ 256Kbps



SOURCES:


Video:


HDTV (1080p broadcast of the 2004 version)


DVBt (anamorpic PAL broadcast of the 1997 version)


DVD (2006 nonanamorphic DVD of the 1983 original version)



Sound:


1) hairy_hen's 5.1 custom mix based on the 1993 mix, with the Special Edition LFE chanel added, and deleted music restored to the Obi-Wan scene


2) hairy_hen's 5.1 purist mix based on the 1993 mix, with the Special Edition LFE chanel added, but without the restored music


3) Belbucus' 2.0 1993 LaserDisc PCM capture


4) Harmy's 2.0 1992 Czech VHS dubbing capture




What has changed:


The whole cut was conformed to be in sync with the soundmixes of the original 1980 version.


Over-all basic colour correction was done with special care to restore the original look of the lightsabres.


Lapti Nek, the original Sarlacc pit scene and the ending celebration (including the Anakin ghost) were restored very close to the original version.


 

Here are some videos:

Lightsabres test and a splitscreen comparison

Musical Number

Sarlac (it's a bit different in the final version)

Ending celebration

 

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Please note that due to YOUTUBE compression the samples are not a true representation of the actual quality.

 

PM me for the links.

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That's really awesome Harmy!

Hope you get the approval and help you need. :-)

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 (Edited)

I don't want to be an asshole but that Fox logo wasn't used on Empire, that one is actually the slightly newer one used on Jedi. Adywan already had the correct one in place. Strange that HD Alien using it, my DVD has the original logo on it.

Love the original Emperor on the reworked poster. :)

We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions. 

Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com

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The correct logo for ESB has the tilted 0.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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Oh, right, I see, didn't compare them.

Well the HD Alien is the Director's Cut so maybe that's why it's different. Also what do you mean, the original logo?

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I'm probably gonna use the poster as a coverart for this version, although it is a bit of a joke. I thought while I'm making the PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION I could take the SE poster and partly despecialize it :-)

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Harmy said:

Well the HD Alien is the Director's Cut so maybe that's why it's different. Also what do you mean, the original logo?

The original Alien had the same Fox logo as SW and Empire, that's why I found it strange that Alien used the logo from the eighties, even more strange if it was attached to the Director's Cut. Both are original logos of course, what I meant was that my DVD used the "correct" one.

We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions. 

Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com

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Oh, I just wasn't sure whether you meant this or the new logo. That is weird though, because the DC was released in 2003 so one would expect it to be either the originally used logo or the new CG one, that's why I didn't even consider that it could be a different logo as Alien is one year older then TESB.

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OK, I still have not heard from neither Adywan nor any sound editor willing to help.

Also it seems that people are not interested in getting this but I'm happy to at least share information about my efforts.

I've now finished a similar project with STAR WARS and will post about it soon.

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I'm interested but haven't really had anything to say.  Nor do I have any sound editing skills.

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Thanks Frink, I'd already known you were interested, the sad part is that you seem to be the only one. Oh, and maybe EvilSupes, I might consider uping the 720p version even just for the two of you but I'd really like to get the sound fixed first. And also ofcourse I want Adywan to approve.

 

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Sorry i haven't replied sooner but i've only just come across this thread as i have been staying away from the PC recently as much as possible.

What tools and methods are you using to create this as you haven't given any information? I noticed you mentioned that the program you used to rip the DVD couldn't do 5.1. Any DVD ripper worth using can rip the AC3 5.1 audio track without problems so i would ditch that program as soon as you can. Are you re-encoding the video too when ripping? If so what codec are you using and are you removing the 2:3 pulldown on the DVD? Another thing you haven't mentioned is your method of upscaling the DVD to your HD format

The main problem i see is the huge jump in quality between the 1080p source and an upscaled DVD. Even using the uncompressed source files i created for the reconstruction DVD it was too much of a jump for me between quality differences and that was at 720p, so it would be even more at 1080p (i am using 1080p because that is the res your screenshots are). And you are using a re-compressed 480p source that has already lost some detail. I was working @ 1024x576 and then scaled down for the DVD so there is some quality in resolution lost already. I wouldn't even be able to make these shots available because the uncompressed files are HUGE so uploading them would be a problem especially with my limited bandwidth. For example that wampa cave shot is just under 1GB.

Here are some screenshots that are upscaled to 1080p from my original files and i added links to the screengrabs you posted too so if each one is opened in a new window/tab you can easily switch between them and clearly see what i mean

Your Wampa cave
Wampa cave upscaled from original source file

Your removed window
Removed window upscaled from original source file

Your apartment matte
Apartment matte from original source file upscaled

 

As you can see the quality difference is very noticeable. This isn't anything against what you are doing but a result in having to use lower res/ compressed source.

Another thing i noticed is there is a colour difference between the original colour in the DVD and the files you posted, especially in the wampa cave. Is this due to the program you are using or have you altered the colour in any way?

What SE scenes are you keeping in because you haven't mentioned that also.

Please don't think i am knocking what you are doing in any way at all, because i'm not. 

ANH:REVISITED
ESB:REVISITED

DONATIONS TOWARDS MATERIALS FOR THE REVISITED SAGA

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OK, that's a lot of questions to answer, so I'll start from the begining.

OK, I'm really a total amateur so I don't use much professional tools. I used a freeware DVD ripper to rip to uncompressed AVI and then used a program called AVI Recomp to upscale. I cut in Power Director, which is not a professional tool but it's got many usefull functions and it is quite user friendly. I tried Sony Vegas but for me it was just too f**king complicated. From Power Director I saved a 25 GB Mpeg2 and then compressed that with RipBot X264.

I'm making this mostly for my own use and I'm quite satisfied with the results, I only wanted to share it with anyone who'd be intrested, I'm not pretending it to be a professional work.

And to the screenshots, yeah I kind of figured the source files would look better (and that goes to the HD files as well) but I must work with what I have.

I've made both a DVD5 720p version to watch on my computer and a DVD9 1080p to watch on my tv.

And yes, I did tweak the colours  here and there just to make it fit with the rest of the footage. I mostly just worked with the contrast as the AVCHDs are a bit more contrasty than the DVD. Only in the case of the Wampa cave I deblued the shots a little and also applied a denoise filter because there wasn't much detail, only grain (and the GOUT kind of grain at that,) so I felt it fit better if it was just smooth.

And as to what SE scenes I'm keeping, well I kept all those I didn't change, so all those not mentioned in the first post. I only forgot to mention that I did ofcourse remove Luke's scream when he falls down the shaft.

Also, I managed to fix the sound, so it is now fully 5.1 and there should be no dropouts anymore. It was a pain but once I figured it out it was doable.

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Oh, and I'm not sure what exactly the 2:3 pulldown means but the ripped videos are 23.98 FPS.

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OK, here's an interesting thing, I'm adjusting the 97 SE Czech dubbing to this, for my little brother to watch and they apparently used the same translation as for the originals, Luke says "you're lucky you don't taste very good" and Vader says "bring my shuttle." I always thought I remembered Luke saying "you're lucky you don't taste very good" in the SE and now I know why :-)

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Looking good.  Any chance it might be pitch-corrected, by any chance?

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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I'll take a copy out of curiousity if that's ok Harmy :-)

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bkev said:

Looking good.  Any chance it might be pitch-corrected, by any chance?

Oh, no, sorry, I din't touch the sound.

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 (Edited)

Harmy said:

RETURN OF THE JEDI - PARTLY DESPECIALIZED EDITION


 

I didn't really start working on Jedi yet but the plan is to work the same way as with Star Wars; i.e. take the GOUT audio and adjust the HD version to it.

The plan is to restore the original musical number and the original ending.

There are two things I might try, I might try giving mr. Shaw his eyebrows back (probably not) and I'll try to partly despecialize the Sarlac:

But I'm not sure if that'll work.

If you have any suggestions, please comment.

If you didn't notice the change in the first post...

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I assume this will be waiting on the eventual AVCHD of Jedi by ady?

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Oh, no, that would be ages from now, Ady just moved the release date of ESB:R to 2011 and he won't be doing Jedi AVCHD until after that. I'm just gonna use the HD broadcast I have now. I will do some basic colour correction myself, it won't be as good as from Ady but it should be better than watching the 2004 version or GOUT.

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It is only a work in progess version. I'm still hoping for a higher quality source for the Anakin ghost, so if someone could please upload a HQ clip of the ending celebration in ROTJ from TB or GKAR SEs, especially the ghosts and PM me the links, it would really help me. Thanks.