The major differences between DVD and wowow are in exposure. The DVD has almost perfect exposure, nothing is blown out or uneven and shadow detail is good (even though several scenes were brightened, probably at the print stage). The color is also more balanced overall (not surprising since it uses a 2nd generation timed print for the scan). However they are similar and I think that is simply because the restoration shown on wowow was intended to recreate the theatrical version timing.
I am curious as to the red cast in the bar. It is definitely not there in the 35mm print but does seem to be in every home video version to some extent. It’s also not there in the footage shown in the 1981 Making of documentary. I wonder if they re-timed that scene for the 1983 theatrical re-release? Maybe they did and that timing was used in successive video transfers.
I will make a separate thread for a comparison between the WOWOW, the DVD, and the 35mm. This way we can get a good sense of the differences between these three versions. This will also allow me to do some tests, to see how much detail can be pulled from the WOWOW. It’s interesting to note, that I have the PAL versions of the DVD, which should provide a better color reproduction.
Also, here’s a little update on the 35mm LPP regrade. The opening shot is a bit of a challenge, as there actually is some subtle color variation within the shot for the WOWOW, so I’m currently doing a frame by frame regrade. It’s also an incredibly long shot of roughly a 1000 frames.