Editdroid's SW 1977 DVD (Mysterious 720p Anamorphic LD Preservation?) (Released) — Page 3

The DVD itself doesn't look that way. The frame was squeezed when I exported it from Virtualdub. The proportions when I play the disk are as it should be, the way Apt Irrelevance shows it.

Red5 said:

zombie84 said:

Moth3r said:

From closer examination of the screenshots, I believe this is actually another GOUT-sourced Custom DVD, and not a laserdisc capture at all.

 Why is that?

Also, if they had taken the GOUT and re-worked it, why wouldn't they just state that, as that would, on the surface, seem like a more sensible solution to most people?

 

The screenshots are framed exactly as the NTSC GOUT DVD although upscaled to 16:9, and they show the exact same amount of picture information.

The known LDs (faces and DC) have slightly less picture information left and right and slightly more up and down compared to the GOUT.

Maybe the term "LD source" or "LaserDisc version" have been somewhat confused by LFL GOUT 'DVD' release as they used the old 1993 master that was in fact only intended for LD and VHS releases.

 

ED2 top, GOUT bottom

 

See, this is what I meant when I said ED2 was more detailed in some shots. Look at the dirt marks on R2. Look at the scuffs on his right arm--ED2 clearly has more detail there, while in GOUT it is soft. Look at the dirt under his front blue chest pannels--ED2 again shows more detail while the GOUT has them smoothed. Could it be possible to get this extra detail from the GOUT as a source? I know the GOUT is the LD, but it's a transfer with it's own qualities,  which makes it an intermediary just like the LD, which means the LD could in theory offer an advantage of more detail to be pulled. To me, this shot looks like a whole new transfer itself, rather than a spruced up GOUT. Anyone else?

Also, the GOUT has way more aliasing on R2's red glowy thing. Look at ED2--a tiny bit, but only a bit. But ED2 clearly had zero aliasing filters done to it. This again tells me that ED2 started from something different than the GOUT. But then there is the Leia framing issue. So maybe it's an LD base with certain GOUT shots? I don't know now.

zombie84 said:

Also, the GOUT has way more aliasing on R2's red glowy thing.

Aside from OT.com's rule on discussing custom DVDs, I can't see why the Editdroid team would lie about the source of this capture.

Aside from OT.com's rule on discussing custom DVDs,

"Then I'd say it has nothing to do with Editdroid - someone somewhere wanted some kudos without the hard work, I guess. Fail ;)"

Perhaps. I don't know why they would want to represent Editdroid, though, if you have a decent thing then you will get the kudos, look at everyone else.

What I don't get is why does the technical description get into some very, very specific information in deriving from an LD? If this is just the GOUT, it seems to reason that they would just state this; most people already seem to assume that it's better than any possible LD capture anyway, so it might even make you seem more legit. And even if you used the GOUT, why fabricate a fairly elaborate process of capturing from an LD? There's no way there could be "confusion" here--either this is more or less as it says, or they simply fabricated it all, and why would they do that? The description of the audio is correct at least, it is the 2004 5.1 with 1993 surround patches, and a mono mix from the Mono Restoration Project.

Something really doesn't add up here.

Moth3r said:

zombie84 said:

He said it was done by a professional editor, who restored the film himself from the LD using professional-grade tools.

This is what your friend said. Not very specific at all.

The DVD video was created using the 1993 non-anamorphic LaserDisc version...

This is the text from the disc itself. Note it say "laserdisc version" and not just "laserdisc". I take this to mean it is sourced from the GOUT DVD.

 Hmm, possibly. A bit misleading if true.

Okay, so I think I have this figured out. It IS the GOUT. Basically, what they did is ripped the GOUT and put it into photoshop, where it was uprezed to 720p and made 16:9. The gate weave was filtered out, the grain was reduced a little bit, they boosted the fine detail by 75%, and color-corrected it to better match the levels of the Laserdisc itself (a little less saturation, a little less contrast, and a hair red shifted; possibly the black levels were brought down a bit, but the caps I have posted have been black-level crushed in the caps, not the video itself).

So, that's what the video is, as far as I can tell.

I also just finished watching the LFL Pwnage edition, thanks to Kurgan.

I can tell you that IMO, I would prefer ED2. In terms of grain, I would say they are close, Pwnage may be a bit less, but the difference is not really that noteworthy IMO (I was actually a bit disappointed at how little grain reduction Pwnage had, they could go about 10-20% further). However, Pwnage has much too much saturation, at times it pops and becomes distracting like in 2004 SE, which disappointed me and I like the levels of ED2 much more, even if its saturation is a bit washed out at times (I actually thought GOUT was the best representative of color--more than the LD, but not to the point where it was popping); Pwnage has a better luminance to it, but sometimes the black levels crush out detail that ED2 and GOUT preserve. In addition, Pwnage still has aliasing issues--they are reduced, but still there (an improvement, nonetheless though). The clincher for me is the detail level though. ED2 still has more detail in most shots than any other version I have seen. See the example listed before (R2). Pwnage has the exact same detail level as the GOUT (naturally), but ED2 gives some scenes more fine details, such as the extra dirt smears on R2 that are less apparent (or not apparent) on the GOUT/Pwnage since it was treated in Photoshop. Also, because Pwnage is single layered, I definitely noticed some subtle compression artifacts; ED2 is dual-layered and has none. Obviously we are splitting hairs here, but both transfers are so good that this is what it will come down to.

So, I guess whether you like this or LFL Pwnage depends on what is more important to you--a little bit more detail in ED2, or a little less aliasing in LFL Pwnage. But IMO because Pwnage has a bit of compression, too much saturation, and still-apparent aliasing, in addition to its lesser detail, I would still say ED2 is the best transfer of Star Wars to date. I do like that Pwnage has the 2.0 soundtrack though. If someone re-authors ED2 with hairy_hen's 70mm mix in place of the 5.1 here we would be all set.

Molly said:

Could just be using the name EditDroid to lend an aura of authority to it...

Did the disc have the EditDroid logo on it or in the introduction to the video?

I know they have used it in some of their other projects.

The only thing that really bugs me about the Pwnage custom is the verticle "shaking effect" that's so apparent in certain shots.

Does the "ED2" or whatever you want to call it, have that?

Moth3r said:

zombie84 said:

Okay, so I think I have this figured out. It IS the GOUT.

Can I suggest then that you edit your first post to remove the misinformation (or "bobbins", as DE put it) from your friend about it being a LD capture in 720p, etc.

The screen caps are definately from the GOUT, but there could be some scenes which were taken from other sources perhaps, that just aren't represented in these caps? I'd like to see the scene were R2 is captured by the jawas to see if it's daylight again, or the GOUTS terrible murky darkening of the scene, as well as the infamous '4 eyed stormtrooper' to see if there's any changes there.

p.s. incidently I remember reading an interview with the folks at Lucasfilm when the VHS remasters were first released here in the UK (the set that came out just before the 'Faces' edition, which were actually the same mastering, and came out just after the DE LD set). One of the technicians says that the scene with R2 being captured was always meant to be set at dusk, but the colouring of the previous releases hadn't been addressed. So they colour-timed (badly) that scene for the LD/VHS releases from 93.