CatBus

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Actually Harmy hasn’t ever released anything on MySpleen (he typically uses uloz, which is like MySpleen except way more inconvenient!), but other people put it there anyway.

Looks like SW DeEd 2.5’s checksums are here:

File Name: Star.Wars.Despecialized.Edition.v2.5.mkv
CRC32: 42A67CC6
MD5: E52CC005E48931EF3DF336361DD1A142
SHA-1: 6CA73976E347CD6791DC31B4FCC758F0E5AD265E
SHA-256: 31C4BA98D4A14A71B6DA13830F1C3C508CBF93C89A348D382F76070A23588D6B

And 2.7 is here:

File Name: Star.Wars.Despecialized.Edition.v2.7.mkv
CRC-32: 86C303FB
MD5: 5D26CD805E0E6AAAA3E031A9712E5E2B
SHA-1: F7DAF6EB6292F867D18DBFB1C55C19A13450C696

You didn’t say which version you had, but I’d recommend 2.7.

This tool lets you verify file checksums on Windows (haven’t used it personally):

https://download.cnet.com/MD5-SHA-Checksum-Utility/3000-2092_4-10911445.html

Well, you’d need to know what you were comparing against first. Typically there’s an MD5 or an SHA-1 checksum of the download either in the first post, or you can ask about it in the thread. Then, depending on what type of checksum it is, you’d download some appropriate tool and it would tell you the checksum of the file you downloaded. If it’s a match, the file is correct.

I’d say it’s a bad source file. There are a lot of re-encodes of DeEd out there, mostly to reduce the file size. If you verify your checksums for your original download in the DeEd thread, that would rule that problem out. The only other option would be a bad burn, media problem, or something like that. Layer change transitions should be irrelevant in the Blu-ray world. Also don’t try to load up your Blu-ray with too many optional tracks – Blu-ray does have limits, and there are enough audio and subtitle tracks out there that it’s possible to go over them.

FWIW, I feel that Sanjuro’s grade is reminiscent of the flushed hues of the THX home video remasters. A lot of people like that look (either due to a true preference or simply a positive association with the most common home video releases) and may consider the target look to be somewhere in that neighborhood.

DrDre’s reminds me more of the pre-THX look, which is presumably more closely aligned to the 35mm sources. Given DrDre’s method’s though, his personal “target” look likely isn’t nearly as relevant as what the colors simply are like in the source. 95% of the color is just what the math says it should be, 5% is finesse. Not that the 5% isn’t critical, but it’s the difference between two slightly different yellowish hues, not the difference between red and yellow.

Thanks DrDre. Those look closer to Harmy than Sanjuro IMO – I see some of the desaturated Rancor, but Luke looks great throughout. It may just be that the original elements weren’t all that consistent with each other to begin with – and that’s fine, if that’s how it really looked. So far Harmy’s grade has been my favorite, but this is definitely looking to put 4K83 in the top spot color-wise.

I’d be interested in seeing more examples of the Rancor differences, if you have them. I like the frame you showed, but it doesn’t appear to be the exact same frame as the Sanjuro example.

Also, I know there seems to have been a great deal of difficulty making some of these Rancor shots color-consistent, possibly because they simply aren’t very consistent. In particular, there’s a one shot (Luke starting to hide under rocks as the Rancor lumbers into the frame in the foreground) where Harmy’s correction showed realistic skin tones for Luke, at the cost of the Rancor looking extremely desaturated. Sanjuro got the Rancor looking consistent with the surrounding scenes, at the cost of Luke looking unnaturally red-faced. I wanted to see where your correction landed with this one, considering your skin tones in general seem to line up better with Harmy’s color correction.

Have to say, as far as I’m concerned this is looking to be the authoritative color grade for 4K83. I know that nothing’s ever 100% perfect and there will always be room for minor refinements, but it’ll be close enough for a lot of people. “We’re all done with color now, everyone drive carefully. Bye!”

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It’s a long-simmering opinion held by a decent number of regulars here though, nothing really new. The idea of preserving a film for future generations without also distributing it to people in the present rubs them the wrong way. And I get it, they’re fans and they want it now. Hey, so do I. And it’s weird, so kill it with fire.

The very moment this project started, when Mike very clearly and unambiguously announced “…aaaand nobody’s going to actually be able to see this thing unless Lucasfilm explicitly allows it”, people started complaining. “Put up or shut up” was a common refrain. My own initial reaction wasn’t so charitable, to be honest – it was something along the lines of “Yeah, I see you’re preserving history and bully for you, those future generations, and your ethical high ground, but… why exactly are you here? Is it to tease us, to brag, or both?”

Since then I’ve learned that Mike has been an extraordinarily helpful member of this community, whose contributions most certainly dwarf my own, even if they’re often not as apparent to the average viewer. His inactivity here makes me sad not because we’ll never see his contribution, but because his long history of meaningful contributions will have stopped.

Sometimes I like to visit old abandoned barns just to take a peek at what state of collapse they’re in today.

Yep, that’ll do me for another year.

That’s a very familiar story here. I came here shortly before my second child was born, also wondering if either of my kids were ever going to be able to see the Star Wars trilogy. I initially came here just looking to see if there was an anamorphic version of those 2006 DVD’s, or instructions for how to do it myself, I swear…

…but seven years and change later, and I’m still here, with an altered mission. If once you start down the geek path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Best of luck in your endeavors.

And for the record, my first kid is kinda meh on Star Wars, but my second loves it. Kids these days.

Has anyone ever made any attempts to re-insert the snake reflection into a project like this?

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^^ what he said. SRT is text and timestamps, SUP is images and timestamps, essentially.

To be honest, SRT is probably truly fine for almost everyone. But, especially with other languages, having your player so much as select the wrong subtitling font can be a very serious problem. For non-English subtitles, the player-positioned SRT subs might overlap the Greedo subs, and so on. SUP subtitles look how I designed them to look (they look exactly like the screencaps in Project Threepio’s first post). But SRT may be close enough for a lot less effort, so I can’t blame people for using them (who knows what they look like, but they’re the right words at the right times, so there you go).

And also, I’m the first to admit my “matching” subs are a total gimmick, but that whole concept is pretty much impossible with SRT.

Yeah, I honestly listen to it downmixed all the time with no issues. But he’s proud of what he created and wants it shown in the best possible light. I’m sure there are minor phase issues on a stereo mixdown that some careful listener with high-end headphones and a critical ear may pick up, and he doesn’t want the blame for that falling on him, and I understand.

Kinda the way I’m always telling everyone to use Project Threepio’s SUP files and everyone just uses the SRT files and I just privately cringe. It’s the difference between as good as the creator intended and good enough for most purposes.

Also, most theatres in 1977 showed the film with the mono mix, so while all three can fairly be said to be the original theatrical mixes, probability is on the side of the mono mix being the one any given person actually heard. The stereo and six-channel mixes are so similar, that, if pressed for space, I’d be tempted to jettison the stereo, except that the stereo mix may work better than downmixing the six-channel for people using stereo-only setups. Pick your poison.

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Darth Lucas said:

Or maybe (here’s me: forever the optimist) he was forced to take it down by Disney cuz they’re gonna release it.

Ah to be so young and starry-eyed.

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