Harmy's THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Despecialized Edition HD - V2.0 - MKV & AVCHD (Released) — Page 47

Nah, I looked into it and it was so vastly different from anything I've used before, I decided to pass on it.

You mean my AVS script? I pretty much just use avisynth to put together the pieces, because I always render the lossless movie in several parts, which fit on a BD25, so that I can back them up easily:

Here's the script I used for the ESB worprint:

reel1=AVISource("N:\ESB v2.0 file 1.avi", audio=false)   
reel1
assumefps(24000,1001)      

And that's it.

As to SSD, I actually just bought another 2TB HDD for my system, because I had some trouble having the system on a 3TB HDD and I managed (after quite a fight) to move my system to this new HDD. I really need all the HDD space I can get and I have worked with my friend's PC, who has an SSD and it wasn't all that - yes, his system and programs start faster but the difference didn't seem that huge to me - the longest wait, when I start my system, is before the motherboard beeps and the booting starts, which would be exactly as long with an SSD and I doubt the programs would run much faster once they were loaded because then they're running from RAM and Swap file, which shouldn't be on the SSD and the data I'd be using also shouldn't be on the SSD, so an SSD would probably save me like 5 minutes total every day, which is why I decided to forgo an SSD and just go with more HDD space.

Well, his is pretty new - he bought it this year.  And it did only take like 20 seconds for his system to fully load after the beep but then mine takes under a minute, and the 40 seconds difference isn't worth the money in my book.

It's not really about boot time, it's about overall computer performance. On SSD everything takes less time, and the system is much more responsive. But it can spoil you, coming back to HDD only is very annoying. :)

Yeah, I'm using the BD but I sync it up with the GOUT, so the frame numbers should be the same as v1.0...

So, I finished encoding the workprint of the first 65 minutes of ESB v2.0 at the AVCHD bitrate (6500Kbps) with the slower settings - the results are ok for an AVCHD sized file but I tried encoding a small chunk at the bitrate I'll be using for the MKV and it was of course much better.

I'll probably upload the AVCHD-sized (3GB for 65 minutes) workprint tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are some comparison screenshots between the v1.0 AVCHD and this AVCHD encode - the difference is quite staggering sometimes, especially considering that the bitrate is more or less the same for both files and you can clearly see, why I find v1.0 almost embarrassingly bad at this point:

http://uloz.to/xmzy5R6N/esb-1st-half-v1-0-vs-v2-0-rar

(The 1st picture is always v1.0 and the second picture is always the v2.0 workprint.)

EDIT: The workprint is now out. PM me if you want the links.

Great quality Harmy, thanks for your work!

There are noticeable differenced between the two versions. Are those small things, like the uniform in 0-20-37-16 and 0-20-37-17 Blu-ray release changes?

I really like #41.  You can see Lukes face.

michaelkirschner said:

Harmy why did the imperial officer's badge change sides?

V1 is not as fully despecialized as V2.  As to why they changed it in the first place, only George Lucas can say...

TV's Frink said:

4chan?  Really?

We've hit the big times now. Just wait until they see how well Harmy restores the Pedobear eyelids on Endor.

Well, actually, there were quite a few shots in ESB, which were flipped horizontally and therefore the badges were on the wrong side - they fixed this in the 2004 SE, putting the badges on the side they were supposed to be - most of those shots were already put back to how they originally were in v1.0 but this one I missed. And I had to use the body of the officer from 97SE for it, so that's why there is a loss in detail and the whole thing had to be made a bit darker but the camera is moving the whole time, so in movement, it looks fine.

What's worth noting is how often the blacks are not really black in v1.0 and yet, there's less detail in them than in v2.0 - for example in the screenshot preceding the one with the flipped badge.

The v2.0 will be more completely despecialized than v1.0 but I'm holding out for some better sources before I do a v2.5 level despecialization for a v2.5 version - I just want to get a new HQ version out there asap, even if the despecialization isn't quite complete - for example, I decided that for v2.0, I'll only redo the most obvious re-comps, so many of the re-comps in the Hoth battle will stay and as you can see I decided to go back to the SE on the Imperial fleet as well, because the transition to the low-res sources was too jarring.

OK, the workprint is now up - considering that it's half of the whole film, I can't put the links here but you can PM me for them.

I'm really liking the starfield restoration so far.

Oh, absolutely it would - which is what I'm hoping for for v2.5.