CatBus

To follow up on the status of this project a bit:

At the moment, I am re-timing the alien subtitles to match theatrical timing. For Star Wars, this isn’t a very big deal, and Empire has no alien subs, but for Jedi, the difference is actually pretty big. In Jedi, the timing of the subtitles varies quite a lot between theatrical prints and various home video releases. At least as far as I’m aware, until recently, we’ve never had a complete, authoritative reference for exactly when these subtitles appeared onscreen–we were able to get a few from the Empire of Dreams documentary, but the rest involved either some guesswork or just using Laserdisc/GOUT timing. Now that we have a good reference, it’s easy.

The problem is that if I release the re-timed project before any preservations actually use theatrical timing for the alien subtitles, then Project Threepio’s timing will just seem off, sometimes badly so. So while you may hear a bit about various updates being in the pipeline (improved Finnish subtitles, for example), I’m not likely to make any of these updates available until closer to the release of a major new preservation of Jedi, whenever that will be. I imagine all future preservations will use theatrical timing for the alien subtitles, because now there’s not much reason not to.

RDPlissken said:

Doctor M said:
Man it blows.

big time

That post filled up my entire screen.

The most baffling phrase in the whole rant was “they chose to cater to you guys”. We want exactly one thing from Disney, and not only have they not done it, but they haven’t announced anything that even resembles a plan to do it. All we have gotten is more breathless, baseless Internet rumors, reminding us very much of how little has changed under new ownership.

I’m pretty meh about the whole Lucasfilm/Disney deal on the best of days. But if half of what fullmetal777 is true, then maybe I’ve been too critical.

When the day comes when Lucas finally passes away, the first thing they’ll say is, “Good. Hopefully now we’ll finally get the originals!” I guarantee it.

If it will help you with your guarantee, can this thread be where we can sign up to say this? Also, is yelling from a mountaintop the same thing as saying? That part’s unclear to me.

Marielle Schwengel had much more of an impact on our cultural history than George Lucas, though their methods were similar.

PM sent.

PM’s sent. For a status update, I now have files that will help me with one of our longstanding big-ticket pending changes, and I might get some help with the other one soon. Also, we now have an improved Finnish translation for ESB pending, and it looks like ROTJ is in the works as well (thanks LexX!)

timdiggerm said:

DVious said:

If they can be shrinked to DVDs that would be even better.

A big part of the point of this is that it’s better than DVD quality

I always liked the DVD downscales myself. I didn’t prefer them, but I liked them. First off, the DVD downscales are still a huge improvement over any official release you’ve ever been able to purchase in any home video format. Just because the GOUT was released on a DVD doesn’t mean it was anywhere near a DVD-quality release. Secondly, they’re portable. Bring 'em over to friends and family for the holidays, vacation rentals, what have you, and it’s guaranteed to work with the equipment there, no fuss. Third, by placing a cap on the image quality, it actually evens out some of the more jarring transitions between HD- and SD-sourced footage. In other words, the eyebrows don’t look as blurry when the whole face is slightly blurred up too. There’s actually really a lot of good things about the DVD downscales.

PM sent. As for MySpleen, apparently the source of free invites has dried up. There’s a thread here about that, but it’s not as helpful as it once was.

PM sent.

analog said:

I was wondering if nanner split ever re-appeared?

Nanner, no, he just… well, split.

PM sent.

Looks like you’ve already posted in the other (correct) thread, so I won’t point you over there. You won’t find anyone selling copies of the Despecialized Editions because they are fan preservations, not pirated films–and we actively seek and shut down anyone we discover trying to profit from this. You should own the original source material (in the case of the DeEd’s, the official Blu-rays) before you have any fan edits derived from that source. As for working links, check the other thread. The first post in each thread is a good place to start.

PM sent.

PM sent.

PM sent.

PM sent, and feedback appreciated.

TV’s Frink said:
Nothing to fear.

I think that’s exactly the problem.

As one of my favorite songwriters once wrote: “If you believe in nothing, honey, it believes in you.” There really is a substantive existential issue here to come to terms with. Dismissing it entirely isn’t really in the cards for a lot of people.

I hope there was no harm in trying, and that you find a way through this for yourself.

DuracellEnergizer said:

I’m afraid that there may be no afterlife. That’s the long and short of it.

Look at me posting in offtopic.

So, here’s where I think a reframing of the issue could help. Take the lack of your traditional metaphysical afterlife, consciousness of any sort after death – just take that as a given, not a mere possibility (big help so far, I know, just hold on a sec while I get there)

If “what’s past my death” is as important to you as it seems to be, then try to focus on what does without any question outlast your body. Your works, your friends, relations, younger people you have influenced, everyone who will have a memory of you. How will you be remembered? Not in an egotistical sense like “Shit you mean I have to discover a cure for cancer or nobody will remember me in 500 years?!” More like “When I’m gone, I’ll have left my corner of the world a slightly better place. My passing will be marked, and I’ll be missed” sense. If you’re not sure this is true, that’s the good news–you’re still alive. You can do this. Even if you’ve made some phenomenal mistakes and you fear your net effect on the world is negative, you have time to turn that around (even if it means not changing what you do, so much as thinking about what you have done less negatively).

And, back to the first point, let’s say the metaphysical afterlife turns out to be real. If you’re already at peace with yourself in the sense described above, I don’t think that could do anything but help.

Full disclosure: I’m atheist, but not of the Dawkins ilk. I totally see the appeal and helpfulness of many religions in dealing with this and many other difficult issues. I don’t intend to dissuade you from faith if that’s the path you decide to follow.

Well it’s a great improvement even if it’s without a reference. And just in case I haven’t harassed you enough about this–if at some point you are sure you have theatrically-timed subs (different from 1.x), even if it’s incomplete with ugly-looking placeholder subs and a crap 240p 2Mbps encode, I’d still like to see that. The appearance of the subs is nice to know too, but it’s the change in timing that’s going to give me the bulk of my work. And just to dangle this in front of you: Jabba the Hutt speaking Thai. It is awesomely awkward.

So if you’re fixing BD coloring mistakes, but you don’t have what you’re considering to be your final color references yet, how are you determining the mistakes? Are you just counteracting the purple, or are you doing something more complicated using color-boosted GOUT or something?

Harmy said:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/150542

The stars were BLUE? Jeeze, Harmy, just when I thought the Blu-rays couldn’t have been shoddier.

…and that was my reaction before I saw the fake grain failing to align with the video frame.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned before, but for some reason I’d always thought that the purplish cast in the 04/11SE was just somebody getting a wild hair that the colors should look totally dreadful and nobody speaking up to say maybe they shouldn’t. The video linked below, to me, indicates that the purplish cast may have been an attempt to re-create the colors of the “THX” home video releases, rather than theatrical colors like the 97SE.

Top clip is Japanese Special Collection (pre-THX), bottom clip is Definitive Collection (THX):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqVk9LB-LZo

Maybe this isn’t news to anyone else here. But apparently purple faces have been with us for a long time, not that this makes them look any better. Also, the Japanese Special Collection had pretty good colors, but that’s not a surprise to anyone.

I don’t have links, but if it helps track things down, be sure to read the first post in each of these threads, and also this–Return of the Jedi currently has no official MKV release. The best-quality official release for this particular film is an AVCHD file structure.

PM sent.

Harmy, I think you missed out on another product endorsement–just re-edit the video and emboss the name of what you’re drinking on your glass. “The Official Beverage of Nerd Royalty”.