RU.08 said:
I put this reply into the correct on-topic thread. :)
poita said:
There is a definite drop in detail from 4K to 2K, quite a lot actually. Even going from full aperture 4K to DCI 4K native loses some detail.
There is still extra detail being resolved at 10K vs 4K, but not really enough to justify a full 10K scan, it is mainly just defining the grain better.
As it is scanning is being done at double the 'standard' 4K, over 14 Megapixels per frame, and with a huge dynamic range, so we really should be getting all the detail that is likely to be extracted from the prints.
This also allows things like stabilisation to be applied without the sub-pixel smearing that you would get if scanning at the lower 4096x2160 resolution, (or the much much lower 2K resolution)It certainly isn't a competition, a lot of sharing of materials, knowledge and techniques goes on behind the scenes that people don't see here. Mike V, Harmy, Adywan, myself etc. all help each other out and none of us work completely in isolation. Work done by anyone benefits pretty much everyone.
Yes, from what you've said before the detail resolves to higher than 2k but lower than 4k. Interesting you mention "not really enough to justify a full 10K scan" that implies you are selectively scanning some scenes at 10k, would that be correct?
And great news on the time-frame, like MikeV keeps saying I hope it motivates Disney/Fox to do an official release.
Yeah, even after all the work I have put in, and the stupid amounts of time and money, I'd be as happy as anyone if Disney would undertake a Criterion-style resotration in 4K of the OUT.
Detail and resolution are funny things, there is detail that is lost if you scan at DCI 4K Flat or UHD resolutions, what most people think of as 4K, scanning 4K full aperture really does seem to pick up any detail that is there.
It is true that the Bluray in some cases has more 'detail' but because of its low resolution, there are places that it has considerably less detail.
For example, there are some explosions on the prints that are 'blown out' at the core, there is very little 'detail' in the explosion centre, it is mostly blown out to white. This appears to be a conscious decision for the prints, but the explosions were exposed wide on the neg, you can see this as there is more 'detail' on the laserdisc release! You can see the details in the core of the explosion on laserdisc that are not visible on the prints. But it was never shown that way in the cinema...
In other areas though, there are tiny details on the print, for example in the stormtrooper uniforms, around the belt area, small details on the costumes and props, that are completely lost on the Bluray, because the detail is smaller than one pixel in size @1080P. In these cases the print reveals details that were definitely visible in the cinema in '77, but haven't been seen since. Only a 4K restoration will preserve those details.
So it is a bit of a mixed bag, but scanning at 'double' 4K resolution by scanning at full aperture '4K', you really do resolve all of the detail that is available and useful. Scanning at 'standard 4K' (i.e. nearly half that resolution) you lose some of that. Going to 10K doesn't seem to bring anything more to the table.