44rh1n

canofhumdingers said:

I’ve never understood copying someone else’s calibration settings (which seems to be very common on A/V forums and groups). It doesn’t account for the variance from set to set, even if they’re the same exact model. And it completely ignores the fact that each tv is in a unique environment with its own lighting.

If it’s the same model, you’ll get in the right ballpark. And the point is to calibrate the panel… not the “unique environment.” A room with the lights dimmed down shouldn’t be much different from another room with the lights dimmed down. And if you have something in your room that’s crazy enough to affect the image on your TV that drastically, then you should probably fix that thing and not adjust the display to counteract it…

No TV modes are accurate to spec. And tuning by eye can only get you so far. Hopefully the upcoming “filmmaker mode” will change that. But right now, it’s best to use a calibration device to get you closest to industry spec as possible.
If you happen to have an LG B7 OLED, Steve Yedlin has shared his calibration settings, which should get you in the right ballpark.
http://www.yedlin.net/171030.html

JawsTDS said:

A post from the colourist on Instagram. Lucas approves!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4xQgHpB0uW/

Looks like the post was removed. I wonder if he was asked to take it down? Did you by chance get a screenshot of it?

JawsTDS said:

Harmy said:

Can that be done? And would it yield a 10 or even 12 bit image? That would be awesome!
As for whether this changes anything for Despecialized, yes, the change is that I will now definitely be waiting for the 4K Blu-Ray or at least a full bitrate 4k web-dl as a source.

If you’re asking if it’s possible to extract the flat image? Yes. The HDR grade is stored as metadata on UHD discs, so you can easily retrieve the flat image. As for the bit depth, I believe they’re all 10bit video files.

Well, technically it’s the HDR Output Display Transform (ODT) that’s included in the metadata, as well as the individual shot-for-shot metadata tweaks (HDR custom trims). But the grade itself is actually performed on the log level of the image, so the flat image still has a grade applied to it (just not the HDR ODT). In other words, the “log” image is a graded log image, but it just doesn’t have a contrast curve applied to it yet.

nl0428 said:

pat man said:

nl0428 said:

If anyone here went to go see the 3D release of The Phantom Menace, please tell me what the master and color grading looked like. Did it look like the 2011 Blu-ray, or this new Disney+ version?

I didn’t see the 3d release. But skimming through the movies the Prequels are just upscaled Blu-ray. I.e. nasty teal shift in Aotc.

I seriously would like to understand why people who do 4K HDR remasters have such a love for adding unappealing teal filters to their older films. Especially when it’s not the accurate color grading the movie had when released.

It’s not a “teal filter” but rather a fairly standard Kodak print emulation, which happens to have some more analogue teal-like blues that make their way into the midtones and shadows.

It’s an interesting debate, because early digital releases of films were often scanned from the negative and then given a digital grade back when digital grading was very primitive. So they have a very digital look. (The OT 2004/2011 SE is a perfect example of this). So for years, we’ve gotten used to how old movies shot on film look after they’ve been colored for SDR screens.

But lately, studios and colorists have started to take a different approach: rather than going with a purely digital grade on top of the scanned negative, they now will oftentimes seek to emulate how the films would have looked in a theatrical setting, with an actual print.

I’m not sure where my opinion rests on the matter. But it’s not just someone saying “hey let’s just make this teal for no reason.” It’s an actual discussion that happens as to whether or not they should run with just a correction applied to the negative, or if they should emulate a print stock. There’s a great argument to be made for both methods.

In this case, I quite like it. The prequels now look a lot more like how they appeared in theaters, and the new look really brings down the harsh digital aesthetic. I personally dig it.

I’ve hated the alteration of colors for various other 4K HDR versions, though. I guess it just depends on the film for me.

DominicCobb said:

Maybe I’m biased because I always loved those original posters, but Serif Gothic always felt quintessentially Star Wars to me (moreso than the fonts used for the later films) and I was very happy when they went back to it.

You’ve expressed my feelings exactly. Every time I see that font I think of Star Wars, and only Star Wars.

nl0428 said:

Mocata said:

44rh1n said:

JonathanArthur19 said:

I don’t think that Titanic would get a teal tint to it, it was mastered at 4K and Dolby Vision so I don’t think it’ll ever get a teal color grade

The standard 1080p Blu-ray already has a teal tint compared to the original DVD release. The colors were altered for the 3D release in 2012.

Uh yeah exactly it already happened.

Except the 3D release only happened for The Phantom Menace.

We’re talking about Titanic. The teal tint appeared in the 3D release, and then in the subsequent Blu-ray release.

SomethingStarWarsRelated said:

I think it’s the one directly below Comic Sans 😛

Uhh, what? This font has been used on Star Wars artwork since the beginning - 1977.

JonathanArthur19 said:

I don’t think that Titanic would get a teal tint to it, it was mastered at 4K and Dolby Vision so I don’t think it’ll ever get a teal color grade

The standard 1080p Blu-ray already has a teal tint compared to the original DVD release. The colors were altered for the 3D release in 2012.

I just noticed that the Disney+ artwork recently changed. The horizontal thumbnails now contain artwork with new logotypes, now including the episode numbers in the titles (previous releases under Disney didn’t include the episode numbers in the titles). Interesting!

This looks great! What was your method?

In DaVinci Resolve you can quite easily overlay the chroma of one video source onto the luma of another video source. The only thing you have to do is line up the shots first. I did it for some scenes in the Fellowship of the Ring restoration.

I think it’s just the sequels that are scheduled for release on Disney+, if I’m not mistaken.

For those interested, forum user Dwalin has used my restoration as one of the sources in his own new restoration of the film. He used my grades of the extended scenes, but went even further by completing a shot-for-shot regrade of the rest of the theatrical footage from the extended Blu-ray as well (unlike my release, which uses the theatrical Blu-ray for those scenes).

I haven’t watched it yet, and I haven’t done a side by side comparison with the DVD yet either. So I can’t yet verify the integrity and consistency across all of its shots. But a quick scrub through of the film looked pretty good to me! (There are a few shots that I noticed have some banding and other compression artifacts though. It’s unfortunately only available in a 24GB version).

Anyway, feel free to go check his out his version too! I think it’s really cool that there are multiple restorations out there now! Hopefully Warner/New Line will see our demand for a proper release!

Here’s Dwalin’s thread:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/LOTR-EE-color-re-grade/id/61304

I just discovered these fanedits, and I just read Smudger’s post about his failed hard drive too. 😦 Maybe we could set up a donation page to get his drive repaired by DriveSavers in California. Those guys are miracle workers and can recover just about anything. (They’ve recovered data from drives found in ships sunken at the bottom of the sea, and drives that were burned in fires. They can do anything, it’s crazy). Smudger, if you send it in and get a free quote from them, let us know what it costs. I think there’s a lot of us on here who would be willing to pitch in!

This looks amazing!

This is interesting. But just one question… Why 1.5K? I know that the film was originally 1536 × 922 (at least according to Google), but that’s not a consumer resolution so I’m struggling to understand why you’d want it mastered in that resolution today. Just for kicks and giggles so that it matches the original? And if that’s the reason, then why bother with 3D if the original wasn’t ever 3D? I’m just confused… We’d have to re-encode it to burn to a Blu-ray…

To me, if you want menus and special features, just make a Blu-ray folder/ISO. It’s already standardized, and it does pretty much everything you want. The only difference is it requires standard resolutions and framerates. But no normal person would want non-standard resolutions anyway… so that should be a non-issue. People can play it on their computer if they want, or burn it onto a disc if they so choose. It makes way more sense to me…

And as a “home video standard,” most people on here just use a media server, like Plex or Kodi or something similar. That’s really the way to go if you don’t want a BD folder/ISO, IMO.

Like Chainsaw said, not trying to rain on your parade either… but I just don’t get it. The standardized formats already have the important core features you’re describing.

Classic kk650! Always turning movies purple! 😉

darksteel1335 said:

Has anybody brought up that transition during the beginning with the maps that goes green? It happens a few times during the prologue.

Comparison image (bottom is 44rh1n’s regrade believe it or not): https://i.imgur.com/dv98iXc.png

I am very aware of this shot, yes. But this green tint during the fade to black exists on the DVD as well, which is why I left it there. (Remember, this release is a color restoration of the DVD’s color, not just a fan regrade). In fact, that shot isn’t even taken from the EE Blu-ray; it was taken from the theatrical Blu-ray. (I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to correct that shot though!)

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Anyone want to over-analyze their choice of thumbnail art for SW77 with me?

Way ahead of you 😉

Hah, nice. Guess I was too slow! 😃

Bob Iger posted a sneak peek of the Disney+ UI today on Twitter. And guess what! The artwork used for A New Hope is the original theatrical artwork (minus the words “a new hope” of course). Could this be a hint that the theatrical version will get a legit re-release?

Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/RobertIger/status/1116468755180036096

PS, the Mandalorian artwork is dope!

McConnor said:

Thank you very much 44rh1n, this looks utterly fantastic! I remember my first moment when watching the HD Version of the fellowship after I upgraded from my DVD set: I thought someone at the studios must have accidentally turned some color-wheel and went on mastering without realizing the desaster… After all I read that Peter Jackson had a say in every scene they did like that but to be honest I dont agree with him that being an upgrade. The color toning totally didn’t match the cosy hobbiton atmosphere at the beginning any more. All this green all over the place. If it would have been done more subtly it probably would have been good but like this… Now the movie is restored to original with much love and I cant think how this is supposed to look even better with the Netflix source. But if 44rh1n says so it must be so… I am looking forward to this.

Many thanks!

And I completely agree! The color on the official extended Blu-ray release legitimately looks like a major accident. It’s objectively bad. I can’t fathom how anybody could have approved it.

This is a cool idea! I’ve personally been toying with the idea of fixing the opening Disney logo on the Toy Story Blu-ray release. I hate that Disney added their “new” logo. The original 3D Renderman Disney castle (with its music) is SO iconic and special to me! The only problem is, I haven’t been able to find a single HD 16:9 (or 1.85:1) version of that opening logo ANYWHERE! Out of all the Pixar films, the only Blu-ray releases that have the original 3D castle are The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille. But all three of those films are 2.39:1, so the framing doesn’t match up with how it should look on Toy Story. Every other pre-2006 Pixar film has had the logo replaced, unfortunately. 😦 Any leads on where to obtain a 16:9 HD version of the opening logo? I’m worried I may up needing to composite the 2.39:1 logo with the top and bottom of the SD logo from the Toy Story DVD… but I really would rather not use any SD sources! It just won’t look as clean.

YoshiKiller2S said:
Holy crap man thanks I’ll tell Notelu you’re interested, just as a reference do you have any past work I can see that you can link me? You know to see how good your work is.

Yeah, like stretch009 mentioned, my Fellowship of the Ring Color Restoration is the big one. https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/44rh1ns-The-Fellowship-of-the-Ring-Extended-Edition-Color-Restoration/id/61952

I may not be able to help much during weekdays, but I should be able to help some on weekends or days off, if that works. 😃

NeverarGreat said:

That can’t be from the blu-ray. Is it compressed? What? No.

I don’t disbelieve you, it’s just astonishing how much better the Netflix version is.

Yes, the Theatrical Edition Blu-ray really does look that bad. What you’re seeing is not a result of compression on my end. That’s legitimately how it looks on the Blu-ray. Although, to be fair, this is one of the worst examples of the Blu-ray. Most scenes are acceptable, but this particular scene is really bad. (Also, the Theatrical Blu-ray source looks much better in my Extended Edition Color Restoration because I’ve diluted the artificial sharpening and also layered film grain on top).

There hasn’t been a great Blu-ray release of Fellowship EVER – neither the TE nor EE Blu-rays are acceptable quality. It’s pretty sad. That’s why my color restoration exists. It’s much higher quality (and therefore it simply looks better) than any official release.