Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
I think you all should be realistic about how great this 16mm transfer could be. Let's remember that the GOUT is the result of a very high end scan of a 35mm print. Yeah, I know it also got a bit mangled along the way, and it's not anamorphic. But can we really expect to give a 16mm print to the local shop (or even to me) and have it come back better than the GOUT? Like I said, it is likely to be VERY interesting for research, is likely to have some pleasing qualities, an intriguing soundtrack, and who knows what cool little surprises here and there... heck if it has the original crawl, who knows what else it has? But it also is likely to have some noticeable film grain, color fading issues, problems on the borders, scratches, inferior sound, uneven lighting, poor blacks and whites, and who knows what other imperfections.
The whole reason I do my own 16mm/8mm transfers is because after years of hiring a variety of shops do them for me, I finally decided if you want something done decently you have to do it yourself. Now I see all the flaws in my own work, and worse when I see the horrors other people get back from the "local pro". So all I have to say is, although I know I can produce something very cool out of a decent 16mm print, don't expect the holy grail no matter who does the transfer - unless someone here has access to a real meticulous Hollywood top-end film scan (which I highly doubt). For one thing it would cost considerably more than the print itself, if you could even get such a shop to do it.
That said, I hope someone from this forum wins. It would be a REALLY fun project.
I understand what you're saying, and I would hope most people wouldn't be looking for a DVD of just the transfer, and see that as a victory against both the GOUT and the 2004 DVDs. I personally see a massive amount of potential in an aged, yet sharp and focused, transfer open to work throughout the community. Imagine if the GOUT was captured in 1993 in 1080i, yeah the transfer needs work, that's what digital film restoration is for, but the clarity and digital surface area available to us is way better than before. Remember the good ol' days?--when everybody was engaged in transfers of their old laserdiscs? We were on this crusade for the best looking LD transfer we could get. Somebody captured the video, they put it through the filters, they put together a sound mix, and they released a DVD to the community.
I think getting something like this together would be like going back to the good ol' days. Yes the overall quality of this transfer will not be in great condition. There will be noticeable film grain, avisynth has--like--20 different options for removing film grain. There will be color issues, that's what color correction is for. I know I, myself, will be doing it the easy way, with histograms, but there are many here who would take careful time to do it right. There are problems with the border stability, that's what stabilization is for. Sound quality will not be all the way there, but user Belbucus has done extensive work on three or four different variations on the theatrical mix for Star Wars that sound fantastic, and are available freely throughout the community. There are poor blacks and whites, that's what the level's function is for. I remember looking at the screen-shots on eBay. My immediate reaction was "start with adjusting the levels." We can rebuild it. We totally have the technology.
I hope I don't come off as argumentative. I'm excited about getting this transferred because it's fantastic source material, open to a variety of interpretations on how to get the best out of it. Anyway, I agree it's a long shot, but it's not re-named A New Hope for no reason.
