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Info: 'Star Trek - The Original Series' (Unaltered in HD) (Idea + info)

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I’ve been thinking about working on a restored version of the original Star Trek series. Can somebody provide me with the source material needed so I can do it?

Goals:

To remove all dirt from the special effects shots that weren’t cleaned up on the Blu-Ray version and do an overall color correction.

Covering the changes that were made to the Blu-Ray with the DVD version

HELP WANTED

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Didn’t the Blu-Rays also have the original shots cleaned up as well as the new shots?
I thought you could choose the version when playing them?

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SleepyBear said:

I’ve been thinking about working on a restored version of the original Star Trek series. Can somebody provide me with the source material needed so I can do it?

Goals:

To remove all dirt from the special effects shots that weren’t cleaned up on the Blu-Ray version and do an overall color correction.

Covering the changes that were made to the Blu-Ray with the DVD version

HELP WANTED

So, you want somebody to give you a free copy of the blurays?!!

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poita said:

Didn’t the Blu-Rays also have the original shots cleaned up as well as the new shots?
I thought you could choose the version when playing them?

That is correct but the quality of the shots are a bit rough. I honestly think it wouldn’t be worth the trouble because there’s more wrong with those shots than just the occasional speck of dirt: you’ve got grain, loss of detail, matte lines, sometimes the ship is opaque and you can see the stars through the ship…

Honestly, you just have to realize that these effects are not going to look like a modern show and should enjoy them for what they are.

What’s the internal temperature of a TaunTaun? Luke warm.

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When rewatching some select episodes (on Blu) recently, I was disappointed to see noticeable DNR in every episode. I never noticed this on the first viewing back in 2009, but that was on a 42 inch, 720p display. With my 1080p projector the lack of fine detail was apparent.

I remember seeing a screenshot comparison between the season 1 Blu-ray and HD-DVD, which revealed slightly more DNR in the Blu-ray, but I can’t find it now.

Perhaps HD-DVD rips would be the best starting point? (At least for season 1).

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Actually, folks. Here’s what I mean by this. I was actually going to restore the 2 Star Trek episodes Arena and The Naked Time since they never looked like the original versions. Please be noted that I do not have the Blu-Rays. I saw Trekkie Channel’s comparison videos with the Blu-Ray version and the 2004 DVD version. If I am right, both the first DVD release and the 2004 DVD releases are much like the original versions.

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Video Collector said:
When rewatching some select episodes (on Blu) recently, I was disappointed to see noticeable DNR in every episode. … I remember seeing a screenshot comparison between the season 1 Blu-ray and HD-DVD, which revealed slightly more DNR in the Blu-ray, but I can’t find it now.

A quick search and I couldn’t find such a comparison (definitely post a link if you come across it again). Could the different encoding, from HD-DVD's AVC MPEG-4 to Blu-ray's VC-1, have been a factor? I once noticed a hi-def screenshot (early HD-DVD days) that looked startlingly grainy and paint-program experimented with various procedures to tone it down. Maybe they did the same.

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SleepyBear said:
… both the first DVD release and the 2004 DVD releases are much like the original versions.

DVD Blu-ray

Definitely check out Trek Core's sequential screenshots of episodes for both versions. If you can find any non-faded film (probably not; beware “restored” clips), and/or on-the-set color photos, those may be the best reference for a restoration.

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Having looked at the Blu-Rays of unaltered TOS, the following episodes need some color-correction:

1x23 The Return of the Archons

2x25 The Omega Glory
2x26 Assignment: Earth

3x05 And the Children Shall Lead
3x12 Plato’s Stepchildren
3x13 Wink of an Eye
3x19 The Cloud Minders
3x21 Requiem for Methuselah
3x22 The Savage Curtain
3x23 All Our Yesterdays

These episodes have a yellowish tint on the Blu-Rays.

Another thing that could be corrected is the opening title and credits after the teaser (the “Space: the final frontier” bit) of the 2nd and 3rd season episodes. The red-green-blue is misaligned on them.

All episodes are zoomed in a little on the Blu-Rays (outer margins trimmed off). DNR is apparent when comparing the standard episode of the 2nd pilot (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”) against the unaired pilot version which is included unrestored from film. Near the end when Gary is zapping people, the zaps are partially removed by DNR on the standard episode. The zoom framing can be seen by comparing these two titles, too.

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SleepyBear said:
I might have to agree. Never mind.

I haven’t tested with Blu-ray's own non-cleaned-up originals, but from the DVD (screen-caps snagged from TrekCore – _The Enemy Within image gallery), some excellent results can be obtained by eye (proof-of-concept in a paint program) with simple normalization (estimating & setting black to black [~016], white to white [~240], and grey to grey [~128]), judicious DNR, mild sharpening, and a little more saturation:

standard DVD “corrected” DVD
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Some of the Blu-ray mono tracks are obviously downmixes of the 7.1 tracks… as indicable by the new theme music and some sound effects missing. Someone will have to sync the older DVD audio to the new BD video.

On the subject of special effects, I hear tell that The Roddenberry Vaults has restored versions of some VFX shots. They might be a good starting point.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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I just started watching TOS on the BDs, so far the mono is all original and certainly not the remastered 7.1 track folded down. Sure the effects shots are dirty and not perfect but the episodes look stunning on my xbr960.

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Oh, you’ll run into them soon enough. The Menagerie Part I and Balance of Terror come to mind.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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Balance of Terror? I won’t even be able to enjoy my favorite episode of the entire series in HD with it’s original audio because… why? Were they just too lazy to go back and grab the old audio?

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Buggered if I know. I should’ve been able to hear the photon torpedoes firing, but - nothing! It’s only on the 7.1! There’s gotta be some sort of conspiracy going on.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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Oh maaaaaan. Come on…for once I thought “oh hey, no work needed here”.
Can we just rename this section: Board of official research to see just how lazy or mucked up studios can get.

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Would the LaserDisc audio be useful for fixing the episodes with down-mixed 7.1?

LDDB says that the releases that included Balance of Terror had only an analog mono track, so I’m assuming most if not all of the episodes would also have only analog tracks. I’m not extremely knowledgeable about audio formats, so would that make it lossy, or in other terms, a bad source?

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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From my general research IIRC there are TOS Japanese LD releases in boxset form that have digital audio but are hugely rare and very expensive.

Analog mono on LD is surpringly good but still technically below what you could get via VHS hifi or Beta.

My thought would be to use DVD mono if possible as it would be easy to find and likely is the source of the other BD mono tracks anyway.
Edit: I didn’t realize the DVDs are all 5.1.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
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How do you know what is the original mono and what isn’t? You guys have to have much better ears than I do, the only change in the “original” versions I noticed are the opening credits - on the DVDs the first episodes have a different take(s) of the opening theme and earlier versions of the credits (different, bigger font and Leonard Nimoy is not “also starring” yet), however on the Blu-ray all “original” versions have the later version of the credits.

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As I stated before, the torpedo sound in Balance of Terror is missing. Also, the computer voice is missing early into The Menagerie Part 1.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.