frank678 said:
This is trying out the idea of taking a snapshot of a still in vlc, then changing the settings and taking a second snapshot, then merging the two together. The idea behind it is to increase the range/depth of a single image by adding additional information to it. Using the 82 LD which does not have a lot of image depth it does seem to work to a degree, the only problem was it added too much darkness where I just was aiming for just adding depth. I wonder has anyone here ever tried merging moving images (i.e. clips/or the whole films) with slightly different settings (i am unable to try this out).
original 82 ld:
settings changed:
the above two merged:
The following stills are the end results only (all using the same settings - i.e. this is meant to be a one step/automated process which either improves on the original in one 'fix' or not.
the sky has a much more vivid blue in it than I remember seeing in the 2006 dvd. I think these are two instances where the older transfer had some benefit of being from a less faded print than what they had to work with when doing the THX mastering in 1993. And while the THX color correction did restore a lot of the movie to how it should have looked without being faded and featured still very good black and white points, these scenes look more colorful than I ever remember seeing them.
Middle: ADJUSTMENT Right: 2006 DVD
The middle shot here is another example of getting much closer to how the film should look on video without being damaged by fading. At least that's what I think. I've never seen the sky look as blue as it does in the middle shot but somehow, it just looks right to me. So this might be another shot that the THX color correction couldn't get quite right.
Seems like the outdoor Tatooine footage either faded the most or was the hardest to color correct to undo fading. But we have better color correction technology on home PC's than THX mastering did back in 1993.
Honestly my reaction to seeing some of these shots is like "when did Tatooine ever have such a blue sky?"