Anakin94

I looking forward to this.
I’m a fan of the first Special Edition.

Hi,
i’m trying to upscale the first Special Edtion trilogy from the GKar release.
First thing was to fix the slightly wrong aspect ratio, which was easily to do by using my 2004 DVD as reference.
But i applied the fix in the last step at upscaling.

Also the image is very flat and sometimes dark.
I tried to add a bit of saturation which is okay for me.
Doing more will make the MPEG-2 compression artefacts more visible and make them strange colorful.

I cropped not the complete black bars from the video, otherwise it will crop parts from the alien subtitles.

My main problem is the upscale.
I tried Lanczos and Super Resolution and adding a bit of sharpness.
But i only had to do a very slight sharpness, otherwise it gets really blocky.
With 1920 width it still looks very bad, but with half size (960) it looks decent.
Anyway it’s hard to see a difference between picture quality.
I have to think about it.

Did anyone has experience with upscalers and can help?
Are there any recommendations with blocky unsharp MPEG-2 recordings?
I saw Topaz AI upscaling for example.
It looks clean, but also unnatural to me.

Other issues with GKar is:
In some scenes there is dirt on the picture.
And it’s unsure if it has the original german 97SE intro crawls.
In TESB im sure that’s is not the 97 one, because it has the fisheye- ,Krieg der Sterne" logo and after the first scene change, the black bars are out of center due from a different scan.
Otherwise im happy with the release and very thankful, that it was captured.
It reminds me of my experience with the Special Edition in german TV.

Planned outputs will be:

1. 1920x870 slowed down from 25 to 23,976 fps, 2-pass H.264 4:2:0 (Placebo preset + Film tuning + Blu-Ray compatibility) ~7,9 GiB to fit on DVD-9 + stretched FLAC Audio
2. 1280x580 slowed down from 25 to 23,976 fps, 2-pass H.264 4:2:0 (Placebo preset + Film tuning) <4 GB to fit on FAT32 devices + stretched AC3 640 kbit Audio

The top screenshot is always the original and the bottom one is the result.

Hello,
when i saw some LD preservations from Star Wars, the most are captured with FBAS (Composite) or S-Video.
I’m interested how a PAL Laserdisc will look, when it’s captured with an RGB signal through an SCART cable.
Did someone have some screenshots from it an can show them?

Thanks.

I remember watching Episode 1 (DVD Version) every weekend in 2003 and i was noticed 2 shots were the CGI looks bad.
Firstly the first shot what you posted from the AAT’s and secondly the texture from RD-D2 and the N-1 Starfighter.

At the other scenes i did not noticed the bad looking CGI, also we had a CRT.
But later when i got the Blu-Ray Edition and watched it, all CGI was looking horrible.
I think it’s due the higher resolution, missing grain and missing MPEG-2 macroblocks.
I also got a 1080p TV rip from the old DVD master and this looks a bit better than the Blu-Ray, because it has the grain.

If you could choose from all official releases from the original trilogy and build a custom edition:
What things would you choose visually and audio-wise?

My OT Edition:
Episode 4:
The first Special Edition from 1997 as basic.
I like many things of it, even the ugly Jabba.
But i would replace the shots from the lightsaber training in the Millennium falcon where the lightsaber can be seen.
It’s mostly white with a little bit blue in it.
The shots can be replaced with the original 1977 ones.
Secondly the fly one the lens for some frames was removed in the 2019 SE.
So i would take them from it.

I like the 1997 audio mix, but i prefer the 2011 mix, because the sound quality from the german voices were greatly improved.
And 2 missing sentences from Luke were restored, when Luke talks to Han and tries to convince him not to leave the rebellion.
But i dislike the Krayt dragon sound change.
That is what i revert.

_
Episode 5:
Visually i’m 100 % happy with the 1997 SE.
I don’t wish any change to it, but with the audio, i have some problems.

As basic i would choose the 2011 mix for the better voice quality.
But Vader has due to the dialog change 2 different voice actors in the german release.
In the 2004 mix it were 3 different ones…
But anyway in the 2011 mix, i would revert to the original dialogs.
Good thing to the mix, it don’t has the Emporer scream when Luke is falling.

_
Episode 6:
As main part i choose again the 1997 SE.
I would replace the complete Jedi Rocks CGI scenes with the 1983 Lapti Nek scenes.
I like Anakin’s eyebrows removal from the 2004 SE and later, so this is my choice for the unmasking scene.
For the last thing visually, i would readd Naboo in the celebration scene from the 2004 SE and later and mirror it, that it fits to Episode 1.

The 2011 audio mix is my prefered one, again due the sound quality.
And Obi-Wan’s lisp in the german release is a bit reduced, what i like.
Ofcourse i want to listen to Lapti Nek, so that is my change.
What i totally dislike is the Nein (No), before Anakin grabs the Emperor.
It should be removed.

Btw. i don’t have the Special Edition from 2019.
I don’t know anything about the sound quality at the moment.

YAREL_RGP said:
There is no 2K scan of the special edition trilogy, the restoration was all analog and physical,

And how the 2004 SE was made?
AFAIK it’s based on the 1997 SE 2k scan.

Thanks for the reply.

I did not find a comparision that i wanted.

But here are comparision for GOUT, TN1’s Silver Screen Edition, 35mm Grindhouse LPP, 2011 Special Edition Blu-Ray and Harmy’s Despecialized Edition.

Star Wars EP4 - A new Hope:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIPNormrPwg

Star Wars EP5 - The Empire Strikes Back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFK0MyM9NfQ

Star Wars EP6 - Return of the Jedi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onLvy7bPTaI

Hi,
are the credits of the Special Edition 1997 and 2004 the same?

I think non of them using the German 97SE intro.
The 97SE Gkar release and the 04SE Premiere release using older sources.
Because the 35mm scan from “The Aluminum Falcon” from the 97SE has different looking intros.
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-A-New-Hope-1997-35mm-Calibrated-Scan-Donations-Needed/id/104442

Are there any preservations of the german subtitles?
Btw. i don’t even know if there were subs in the german release.
I can’t check if it’s on my VHS tape.

Hi,
did someone can recognize from which release the intro crawl of the german 2007 Premiere Full HD broadcast of the 2004 Special Edition is?

It seems to be earlier than the 2004 DVD release.
The “Es war einmal…” (A long time ago…) text seems to be similar to the 97SE from the Gkar release, but a bit different.
Then it shows the “Krieg der Sterne” logo, but for the 2004 DVD release it was changed to “Star Wars”
And it says “Neue Hoffnung” (New Hope) instead of “Eine neue Hoffnung” (A New Hope).
This was also in the 97SE Gkar.
At The Empire Strike Back is the typo “Das Imperium schlägt züruck”, and in the 97SE Gkar it was fixed “Das Imperium schlägt zurück”.
So the crawl what is used in the 2007 broadcast is pre 97SE.
A New Hope and The Empire Strike Back have sharp intro crawls.
But Return Of The Jedi has a low resolution intro crawl and it changes to high quality after the first scene swap.
It still has the “Tattuin” typo, this was fixed in the 2004 DVD release.

I made screenshots from:
-Harmy’s Despecialized (German version from Laserschwert)
-Gkar german Special Edition 1997 (Upscaled and aspect ratio corrected)
-German DVD Special Edition 2004
-German Premiere Full HD broadcast 2007 (Special Edition 2004)

EP4 - A New Hope:

Es war einmal…:

EP4 Harmy Laserschwert

EP4 Gkar 97SE

EP4 DVD SE04

EP4 2007 SE04

Logo:

EP4 Harmy Laserschwert

EP4 Gkar 97SE

EP4 DVD SE04

EP4 2007 SE04

Text:

EP4 Harmy Laserschwert

EP4 Gkar 97SE

EP4 DVD SE04

EP4 2007 SE04

EP5 - The Empire Strikes Back:

Es war einmal…:

EP5 Harmy Laserschwert

EP5 Gkar 97SE

EP5 DVD SE04

EP5 2007 SE04

Logo:

EP5 Harmy Laserschwert

EP5 Gkar 97SE

EP5 DVD SE04

EP5 2007 SE04

Text:

EP5 Harmy Laserschwert

EP5 Gkar 97SE

EP5 DVD SE04

EP5 2007 SE04

EP6 - Return Of The Jedi:

Es war einmal…:

EP6 Harmy Laserschwert

EP6 Gkar 97SE

EP6 DVD SE04

EP6 2007 SE04

Logo:

EP6 Harmy Laserschwert

EP6 Gkar 97SE

EP6 DVD SE04

EP6 2007 SE04

Text:

EP6 Harmy Laserschwert

EP6 Gkar 97SE

EP6 DVD 04SE

EP6 2007 04SE

That is amazing.
Also to see the german SE intro crawl.
I never knew your project existed.

The first Special Edition of the OT is really a special thing to me.
I prefer it over the later ones.
This is the version which i often saw on TV as a kid.
I liked it when the preview shown and they said “Krieg der Sterne - Special Edition”
I noticed that Vaders lightsaber was white when Luke shoots the door button and the light blue white lightsaber at the training in the Millenium Falcon.

Then we got the german 2004 DVDs and i was confused about some things.
Jabba looked different and i asked me why Lukes lightsaber was green in in the falcon.
Then it switched to light green, then light blue, then white, then to blue.
And the same DVD box contains a bonus DVD which has this scene as a menu and there his lightsaber is perfect blue.
But Vaders white lightsaber was fixed to red.
In ESB, Vader has 3 different voices and the original emporer was changed to the 2005 one.
Btw. Adywan did it correct and used the ROTJ one.
In ROTJ the lightsabers are missing the white core in many scenes.
I did not like the change to Hayden Christensen, because Anakin did not die physicly in his young years.
And many other things i noticed.

When Star Wars was shown in the TV, i watched it anyway and noticed the differences.
Because the 1997 Special Edition was shown up to 2010.
After the change to the 2004 one, i don’t watched it anymore in the TV.
I prefer the first one, because i grew up with it.
The time has so much magical feelings.
Many Star Wars video games were released like Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, X-Wing Alliance…
And Lego released in 1999 many sets.
In the early 2000 iirc in the TV are shown infos about the Special Edition before the movies began.

I also did not really have a problem, that Greedo shoots first.
But i can fully understand the reason why it’s hated, it changes Hans character development.
The change is unnecessary.
Jabba looks ugly i know, but i like how he looks.
It’s a bit funny to see him and that this was really released.
I also like the most other changes except Jedi Rocks in ROTJ.

I have the german VHS box, but not a player to watch it and i don’t like the PAL speed up.
I want a 1080p Blu-Ray release of the first Special Edition.
But only if the german 1997 intro crawl is used for the german release.
So i want to see the ,Krieg der Sterne" logo, instead of ,Star Wars" like the 2004 DVDs and later.
If not, i would not buy it, because i have to swap the intro and burn it to a blank disc.
That would be useless to have the official german release if changes were made.
Original colors are also a must.
And please no Disney logo on the box or other places or in the movie, menu…
So an 1:1 release how it was for every country is needed in my opinion.
Accuracy is important.

alexp120 said:
How ‘not accurate’ are we talking about?

When you are using Audactiy and lining-up the two files—a reel from the DTS audio file and 1997-reference audio file—how ‘out-of-sync’ is the DTS audio file away from the 1997 reference audio file?

At beginning it’s just perfect, but later on reel 1 it’s 31 ms.
And at reel 4 it’s 124 ms.
To the end on reel 6 it’s 84 ms.
But it differs every time.

Btw. i don’t care anymore, because this Audacity plugin works fine.
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/change-speed-stretch-audio-to-a-specified-length/23332

alexp120 said:
If it were me, I would go with the easiest and match the duration of the DTS audio files to 23.976fps. I would use the audio from the 2011 Blu Ray cut as a guide to sync up the speed of the DTS audio, because

With AudaCity i can only adjust in 0,001% steps and this is not accurate enough.

alexp120 said:
Then, check the frame rate of the Gkar version—you can use the free app, MediaInfo. If it is at 23.976fps, then all you have to do is mux the audio and video together and you should be good–again, presuming that the Gkar version is 1997 frame-complete.

Gkar is PAL, so it’s 25,000 fps.
But i can simply slowing it down to any framerate without re-encoding by multiplexing it to a MKV container.

Hey,
i wanted to sync the german cinema DTS audiofiles for the ROTJ Special Edition.
The video is from the Gkar release.
I cutted the 7 audio reels good as i can.
But i have 4 problems.

1. The framerate.
   The DTS files doesn’t seem to be 23,976 or 24,00 fps.
   It’s more like between 23,998 and 23,999 fps.
   Why is this happen, is that a known issue?
   And also every reel seem to be a bit different.

2. Did i have to stretch the audio with pitch correction, so that the pitch be same as before stretching?

3. The volume levels between the reels are different.
   But i’m very unsure.
   For example reel 5 is ~2 dB quiter than reel 6.
   This can be noticed at the end of reel 5 and the beginning from reel 6.

4. Channel volume levels.
   I have read, that the channel levels have to be adjusted when using the APTx-100 foobar plugin.
   But the topic is more than 3 years old, is this still have to be done?
   https://fanrestore.com/thread-3767.html

I like to watch Harmys Despecialized version with the german edits from Laserschwert and the 1995 THX LD audio track.
After that i watch the Special Edition 1997.

My personal canon would be like:

-Episode 1 to 6 with all changes.
-All other things what George Lucas create and said to Star Wars.
-Clone Wars (2003).
-The Clone Wars (2008) S01-06 but only episodes which not conflict with the 2003 series.
-Many Expanded Universe stories like the Thrawn trilogy, Labyrinth of Evil, Dark Lord The Rise of Darth Vader… and many other.
-Some parts of video games pre 2014.

I prefer the canon system before Disney changed it.
And nothing from Disney Star Wars is canon to me.

I took again a look at the Gkar 1997 ROTJ track.
Strange is that at the point where it gets async the voices get much louder on the left and right channel.
Before this, the voices are just noticeable on the center channel.
So that is why it sounds like a can, what i mentioned in my first post of this topic.
The voices in the center channel are not sync with them in the left and right channel.

If i trim or stretch it, it gets async at a different point.
So i’m still not able to fix it.

Hey,
is there a higher quality version of ,Behind the Scenes" of the Special Edition 1997?
Because through the YT compression it loses quality.
And the file i found in a archive was a YT rip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzApL8nUyT0

Edit:
It’s on Usenet as a bonus in the 97SE cinema trailers.

Hi,
the 4KSE or 2019SE was released under Disney.
But as i read in a YT comment, the movies were scanned 2012 before Lucasfilm was sold to Disney.
The scan was planned for 3D versions but cancelled and the changes were arranged by George Lucas.
Is that true?

Are there any updates to this project?
Btw. some people donated money.
It’s a bit sad if it’s abandoned.

alexp120 said:

While waiting for the authentic German sound-mix of Special Edition 1997 to turn-up, here is an alternative you can use from the existing 2011 Blu Ray mix.

Both the 1997 and the 2011 Blu Ray cuts are of the same length for the first 2 hours, 5 minutes and 55 seconds. It is when you reach the Victory Celebration that the cuts go out-of-sync with each other as the 2011 cut adds 5.626 seconds during that sequence–it would be in the Naboo footage where a gungan says, “Me’s a free!”.

All you would have to do is trim-out those 5+ seconds, apend the two parts together, and boom!–instant 1997 length–provided that the G’ker version is frame-complete.

Thank you for the info, but i already done this, but with the 2004 Mix.
And also i slowed it down from 25 fps to 23,976fps, because i don’t like PAL-speed up.

Is there any update for a source?
Or some preservations which include it?

Thanks for the answers.
Yes the list on Wookieepedia ist very interesting.