Disney's Beauty and the Beast [spoRv] BD-25 (Released) — Page 7

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

The fact is, the raw capture is 31GB, and it will take another ten days to upload... don't know how many will need this, though, even if now I'm pretty sure what you have in mind... "grained BATB, perhaps?!?" (-^,)

 No, I wouldn't add grain to the laserdisc rip.

it's just that in some points I like the filtered Bluray better, but in other points I like the raw rip too.

Ok, I understand.

Well,  if more people ask for it maybe you could consider it.

Also, maybe you could make it to mkv (eg. with handbrake) and reduce the file size to 6-10 Gbs. But i don't know if that would be a time consuming procedure, and wouldn't like to burdern you with more on this film, as you already did too much! :-)

well, I'm not sure how to explain it. I think when you'll see the full Bluray you'll see it.

If you can see those 2 Gaston screenshots and go back and forth between them and draw your attention to a specific spot eg. the tree on the right.

In the original the backgrounds are sometimes blurry, so as to create different depth levels, but with the filter they aren't blurry anymore.. This effect is lost.

By the way, did you see the photos in full? (right click and view image)

Finally finished downloading this, and took time to watch the movie.

Thank you so much for all the work and effort you put into this project. And for making it available!

This is, in my opinion, the only acceptable version of Beauty and the Beast available on a digital format today.

For years now I've been annoyed by the way Disney has presented this film, first on dvd and later on blu ray. The blu ray was a bit better, but still suffered from alterations and, most important, the general look/color of the film felt off, to the extent that I could hardly ever make myself watch the movie, although I actually like it.

This hasn't happened to me with any of the other Disney films created with the CAPS system, and subsequently released on dvd direct from the digital source. Even though some have been altered more or less, they still look like the originals.

In fact the only film I have similar issues with on dvd is Cinderella. 
I have the vault breakers preservation of the laserdisc, and this is my default playing option when watching this movie.

Maybe it's not a coincidence that both BATB and Cinderella have more Direct To Video sequels then most of the other films. And it's possible that some people at Disney were afraid the originals looked too different from their (cheap) sequels. And decided to go for a more equal look.

We might never know. 

Fact is that BATB was brand new when it was released to laserdisc.
Where one might argue that over the years we have gotten used to old, dirty and worn out transfers of some of Disney's older classics, and therefore need to get used to the cleaner, more colourful look of their restorations. We can assume that Beauty and the Beast's transfer, used for the laserdisc was top notch, and therefore closest to what was seen in theatres in 1992. 

For years I have been trying to find a rip of the BATB laserdisc. I eventually purchased one myself (although I don't have a laserdisc player) with the idea of transferring it myself one day.
This project is more then I ever expected to come across. 
It looks and sounds wonderful. It is amazing to see the video quality you managed to get, knowing the laserdisc is the source.
Most importantly it preserves the original feel and look of the movie. 
For the first time in years I will be able to watch BATB and enjoy it!

I would still be interested _,,,^..^,,,_ in your original LD capture if you can find a chance to upload it. ;-)

RU.08 is interested too so that makes 2 of us.. :-)

I'm sure, that once uploaded there will be more that will be interested too..

I have no idea if you would take requests, or if something like this has been done by someone else already, but being a Disney fan, I have a few other Disney movies in mind that, in my opinion, would merit a similar fan restoration effort.

Apart from the before mentioned Cinderella, (that really has been tampered with too much for it's dvd and blu ray release) the first one in line is The Lion King.

The original theatrical version has never been released on dvd or blu ray. Although, in my opinion, it doesn't suffer from major colour/contrast issues like BATB did. Still certain scenes were re-animated for the IMAX release and are present as such on the dvd (crocodiles, waterfalls, SFX removed from the dust cloud) Also the original blue castle logo at the beginning was replaced by the black/golden "special edition" one.
On blu ray, on top of these changes, some rolling clouds are missing in one scene, possibly due to a mistake. 

Anyway enough to merit a restoration of the original theatrical version, possibly from the laserdisc.
I am not a technical expert, but because TLK doesn't suffer as much from major colour/contrast issues on dvd and blu ray, would it be possible to only cut and paste the changed scenes into the dvd or blu ray?

Another one that I have been looking for is the so called "work in progress" version of BATB.
This was released on laserdisc and later announced as a viewing option on the platinum dvd. What ended up being on the dvd was actually not the original "work in progress" version, but merely one that jumped back and forth by means of seamless branching between the movie and some pencil animated or story boarded scenes.
Then on blu ray "work in progress" was again a viewing option. This time by means of Picture in Picture, so you watch the movie and see the work in progress on a small screen within the screen.
This time it seems that Disney used the original "work in progress"-print for the PiP.
Is there any way to take the "work in progress" out of the little screen of the Blu Ray? And make it full screen? 

@mvd24

Check out AMPS, and you will see that there is a discussion regarding Cinderella and The Lion King.

Also, I extracted the WIP from the BD, and it is on AMPS as well.

nirbateman said:

@mvd24

Check out AMPS, and you will see that there is a discussion regarding Cinderella and The Lion King.

Thank you, I will check it out.

Also, I extracted the WIP from the BD, and it is on AMPS as well.

 That's great, looking forward to see it!

Doctor M said:

Wow, just wow.  Your source is just a steaming pile, isn't it.

I cannot believe what you got out of it.

Now I'm curious about the grain that was present in the other screenshot:

It certainly doesn't look like it came from the source.  Is that some sort of debanding addgrain sort of thing going on?

Don't get me wrong, I like grain, but it's too fine to have been present in the raw capture.

(And yes, I was calling you Catman, since copy-pasta-ing your username gets old fast.)

 Isn't this my screenshot?

I added the grain as an experiment..

Out of this project, why not create a good tutorial on to achieve it and how, perhaps, to improve it ? It might be a good idea and it'll give you a break so you can continue on your other projects.

About the "grain" & flatening image story, I think that, based on people's opinion, maybe this project (and probably others) could be revisited to correct those two problems, especially the loss focal lenght with the background.

In my own opinion, for acuracy's sake, unless proven otherwise, I think all Disney modern animations post Toy Story were all transfered to film for their initial release. So the "grain nostalgia story" in Disney animations shouldn't go any further than that. So, should the grain in BATB be back as an important element ? Yes I think so, especially if the reved grain flatened the image to the point of losing focal lenght with the background.

Well, it's not just the grain, obviously the transfer to film was made with color changes that would occur to the animation in mind.

I really don't mind if a straight, grainless CAPS transfer is made, provided a film print is used to color correct it.

Since LD's and VHS tapes are low res formats, the grain really isn't very noticeable, since it is mushed away because of the low resolution.

Grain became really noticeable only when BD's came along to reveal all that detail, so I don't think it should be re-inserted.

I do recall, when this project was just starting, that there was a lot of video noise. Perhaps that can be attributed to the capture card, and maybe that would be a way to improve the video, using less filtering later.

Posting a comparison pic between LaserDisc 1 that we had, and the current LaserDisc rip:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/86496