Army Of Darkness Trailer and TV spot HD remasters

This is just a small project I decided to do.  I remastered the original theatrical trailer and 5 TV spots for Army Of Darkness in 1080p HD using the R3 DVD and the Director's Cut on the French Blu-Ray.

UPDATE:  I've updated theatrical trailer and UK/Promo trailer to include a better version of the Dino De Laurentiis logo (thanks bendermac) and increased the bitrate on these two files.  I had to split the UK/Promo trailer into two parts due to filesize limitations.

UK/Promo Trailer v1.5:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/cj5riy
http://www.sendspace.com/file/p6wtj7

Theatrical Trailer v2.5:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4ake9n

TV Spots:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/tf1wn0

Space Kaijuu said:

This is just a small project I decided to do.  I remastered the original theatrical trailer and 5 TV spots for Army Of Darkness in 1080p HD using the R3 DVD and the Director's Cut on the French Blu-Ray.

Theatrical Trailer:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/givhhm

TV Spots:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/tf1wn0

Thanks!

*insert Army of Darkness quote here*

skyjedi: short answer -> no

yes, it's the French one.

*Though only the International and Director's cut are unscathed.

What Aluminum Falcon said.  I just ordered the German ultimate edition but it hasn't arrived yet.  Supposedly, it uses the same transfer for the US version as the HD-DVD release, which didn't suffer from the DNR and EE.  I'm curious to see if the US TV cut has burned-in subtitles or soft subtitles.

Space Kaijuu awesome job on the trailer absolutely love it, thanks for sharing this with us.

Space Kaijuu said:

What Aluminum Falcon said.  I just ordered the German ultimate edition but it hasn't arrived yet.  Supposedly, it uses the same transfer for the US version as the HD-DVD release, which didn't suffer from the DNR and EE.  I'm curious to see if the US TV cut has burned-in subtitles or soft subtitles.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=7377061&postcount=232

German and French are identical 

I have the HD-DVD but I've heard conflicting reports on the German edition.  Those screenshots only show the French, US, and UK version.  Last I heard, the Director's Cut and International Cut on the German version are the same as the French release but the US cut on the German release is the same transfer as the US HD-DVD or UK Optidisc release with a higher bitrate.

Space Kaijuu said:

I have the HD-DVD but I've heard conflicting reports on the German edition.  Those screenshots only show the French, US, and UK version.  Last I heard, the Director's Cut and International Cut on the German version are the same as the French release but the US cut on the German release is the same transfer as the US HD-DVD or UK Optidisc release with a higher bitrate.

As it says in my post 3 posts up the French and German are identical, to the pixel in fact 

:)

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=32741

I just got my German Ultimate edition today and I can confirm that the Directors Cut and European cuts are identical to the French bluray.  The US version is from the same source as the HD-DVD and Optidisc releases with none of the DNR and EE of the US and French BD releases.  I looks like both versions sourced the MGM transfers from the same place but the US version was sourced from the US bluray version for the French release while the Optidisc or original HD-DVD transfer was sourced for the German release.

The TV cut is nice to have and I'm glad they used soft subs instead of burned in subs on that and the other extra features.  The French blu-ray had the trailers, commercials, interviews, etc all hard-subbed in French, which is part of what prompted me to try and do HD remasters of the TV spots in the first place.

the tv version is a joke on the ultimate set. heavy compression artifacts, ntsc to pal tranfer without pulldown removal. a total f*** up for that matter and that's being kind.

is there a better version then this?

The German set is the only time the TV version has been released on video at all, so I'll count my blessings.  The transfer isn't great but it was mastered in SD to begin with and all that exists of the extra footage is that and the videotapes that anchor bay used for the deleted scenes on their DVD release I can't complain too much.  It would be nice to see a better DVD release in NTSC but the likelihood of that ever happening is extremely slim given the way Universal has been handling the release.

I suspect that Koch Media was using a UK broadcast tape for their source.

Space Kaijuu said:

The German set is the only time the TV version has been released on video at all, so I'll count my blessings.  The transfer isn't great but it was mastered in SD to begin with and all that exists of the extra footage is that and the videotapes that anchor bay used for the deleted scenes on their DVD release I can't complain too much.  It would be nice to see a better DVD release in NTSC but the likelihood of that ever happening is extremely slim given the way Universal has been handling the release.

I suspect that Koch Media was using a UK broadcast tape for their source.

The TV cut was never shown in the UK.

It did confirm without me going thru all 100 copies I have that there alt shots in the windmill scene on some of the discs (maybe LD)

The "little ashes" sequence in the windmill was different on a number of releases.  I used to have the Japanese laserdisc and, from what I recall, it had a slightly different cut of the windmill scene from what was on the any of the other versions.  It was similar to the European cut but not quite as edited down in some places.

There's another trailer on the German release that wasn't on the French blu-ray.  It's not all that great but I may have to do an HD remaster just for completion's sake.

Space Kaijuu said:

The "little ashes" sequence in the windmill was different on a number of releases.  I used to have the Japanese laserdisc and, from what I recall, it had a slightly different cut of the windmill scene from what was on the any of the other versions.  It was similar to the European cut but not quite as edited down in some places.

There's another trailer on the German release that wasn't on the French blu-ray.  It's not all that great but I may have to do an HD remaster just for completion's sake.

I was telling people this for years and getting shot for it for aagggeeesss!

I did some more technical comparisons of the German and French Blu-Rays.  There are a number of odd differences between the versions.

The director's cut uses the exact same video track and the same DTS English track between the two but the AC3 tracks are different.  The DD2.0 English track uses a higher bitrate on the German release (320kbps vs 192kbps) and the German version also has the running commentary and German dub in 320kbps AC3.  There is no French dub for the director's cut and the French release omits the running commentary.

The international cut uses a much higher bitrate for the video on the German release than the French release.  It's a higher bitrate than even the director's cut on either release, oddly enough, even though the director's cut gets it's own disc while the international cut is paired with the US version. The German release lacks the DTS English audio track and the French dub AC3 track that are on the French version but has the German dub.  The English AC3 track is a higher bitrate on the German release, the same as the directors' cut.

The US version is the strangest one of all.  Besides the fact that the video is from the same transfer used for the HD-DVD rather than the US Blu-Ray transfer used on the French release, it also uses different encoding.  The director's cut and international versions both used AVC, but while the French version also uses AVC for the US version, the German release uses WVC1.  The bitrate is higher than what was on the HD-DVD, though.  The DTS track on the German release is DTS HD-MA while the French version uses standard DTS.  The English AC3 track again uses a higher bitrate and there is a German dub.

Yeah there are a few little things, but they I feel do not add up to much.

I think if you don't want to spend the extra the french is a great set for the cash, but the German is "Ultimate" edition for a reason

Yeah, the French release is great if you want solid, watchable copies of the different versions on blu-ray.  I did the research on what was included in each version so I could compile the best tracks from each into my own ultimate versions.

Honestly, the German version could have fit on a two-disc blu-ray set with no problems and they could have even offered the TV version at a slightly higher bitrate without the bad NTSC-PAL conversion issues.  The need to include all the films on DVD seems kind of pointless.  I guess they wanted to have one set that they could sell to everyone instead of a 2-disc set for blu-ray and a separate 4-disc set for DVD.

Update: I did some side-by-side comparisons with the German and HD-DVD version and, while not as badly filtered as the transfer that was used on the US and French sets, the US version on the German set does show signs of noise reduction filtering.

Sorry for triple-posting but the forum wouldn't let me delete and consolidate my last two posts.

I've finished creating a remaster of the 2 minute promo trailer included on the German ultimate edition set as well as adding the German audio track to the remastered original trailer.  Here are the links.

Promo Trailer:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/t92a9b

Theatrical Trailer v2:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6703v0

Thanks again Space Kaijuu, i really love the promo version the best. Excellent job on both trailers.

Good job Space Kaijuu. I was about to work on the trailers as well, but then I've seen that you've already done it.

The trailers look they are 100% accurate, correct? Did you recreate the Title for the U.K. Trailer (Promo Trailer) yourself? I was looking for a high quality picture of it, but I had no luck.

Since you've also made the TV-Spots, any chance you'll try re-create the VHS-Promo?

Yeah, I focused on getting them frame-accurate.  I had to recreate the title and credits screens for the UK trailer from other sources because the version available just wasn't usable.  As far as the VHS promo, is that on the German set?  I thought I got all the trailers and commercials but if I missed one, let me know.