CatBus

doubleofive said:

HE'S ALIVE! HOORAY!

I believe the correct term is undead. 

He's just adding to the thread for the v1 Despecialized Edition.  The end of the thread is all about the new version.

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Harmys-STAR-WARS-Despecialized-Edition-HD-AVCHD-DVD9-and-NTSC-DVD5-AVAILABLE-see-1st-post/topic/12713/

Depends on what you're looking for:

Uncompromised fidelity, but low resolution: dark_jedi

Extreme but not perfect fidelity, mostly HD: Harmy's Despecialized

Grindhouse, scratches, hair and mouse droppings: Puggo

35mm restoration: You'll have to wait...

I personally prefer DJ for SW and ROTJ, and Harmy for ESB, but that's my taste.  If you wait a few months Harmy will have a greatly improved SW that's likely to become my favorite.  DJ's v3 DVDs are available now, the Blu Ray upscale is what's unreleased at the moment.

doubleofive said:I was tempted, but I actually just wanted to show deliberate CG changes from the existing comparisons. I may make alternate even more snarky editions later. ;-)

Just to cross-pollinate the threads, I think this idea would work for the "even more snarky" editions: refer to the SE's of Empire and Jedi as the "Executive Producer's Cuts"

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Worst-Edit-Ideas/post/560055/#TopicPost560055

Jaitea said:

The clip looks brilliant Harmy,

On another subject...when I saw this on the news....for some strange reason I thought of your project....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/9055053/Remarkable-discovery-could-shed-new-light-on-Mona-Lisa.html

J

Bah!  I'm not impressed.  They didn't even have to rotoscope her eyebrows back on!

Harmy said:

thecolorsblend said:

-- OT
GOUT. It's just the best option that I've got ready access to. Besides, I've got little or no use for fan edits and such nonsense. 

The choices are only limited if you allow yourself to be limited by blindly condemning fan efforts.

 

In defense of thecolorsblend, the existence of "fan preservations" as a subset of "fan edits" is counterintuitive to many, and certainly unknown to most (even members of this forum may simply never check that part of the forum).  I'm a relatively recent member of this forum and the existence of fan preservations was a major, world-shaking revelation for me.

The whole idea that fans, using (mostly) home video releases, could create a better-quality product than studios who actually have access to film masters and tons of expensive equipment seemingly defies logic.  That's why "the GOUT is as good as it gets" is such an entrenched opinion.  Not to mention that fan edits are almost entirely used to modify films to the whims of the fan and are often dismissed outright without realizing that there can be other motivations.  So yes, there's some blindness here, but I can understand where it comes from.

I'd also recommend dark_jedi's preservations in addition to Harmy's.  Right now DJ makes my favorite SW and ROTJ, and Harmy makes my favorite ESB.  Although Harmy is well on his way to making my favorite SW too.

Harmy said:

What kind of project? It's just a workprint. I'd prefer it not be used for anything other than reviewing the progress of this project.

That being said, if it isn't anything you'll be releasing publicly, it's not a problem and the easiest way to alter the framerate is to remux it with TS Muxer or MKV Merge or something like that and set the framerate to your desired fps. It won't reencode the video.

Excellent, thanks.  I just want to make sure my subs don't overlap the Greedo subs.  It's the sort of thing where a one-frame overlap can actually look pretty ugly.  I know basing anything on a workprint is iffy, but I'm just really hoping the subs don't get changed much from the workprint.  I hope to release my project once I have that and some screencaps from DJ, so you should have access to them if you like before 2.0 is final.

I assume we're also still waiting on new audio from h_h before anything final?

What's the best way to convert the workprint from 25fps to 24 fps?  I'm working on a project where I need to sync it with a PGS stream and it would be helpful to have it at the right speed for that.

INv8r_ZIM said:

Not sure why this is as I'm playing it off the HDD of my Aios which handles BD ISOs fine.

Ran into this on my computer too.  Switched from VLC to MPC-HT for playback and it was smooth.  Not sure what the difference was.

Great to hear!  By the look of things, it should actually be able to finish rendering movies a few minutes before you start.  You'll be left with all this free time... and a brand new computer to waste it with...

I really don't mean to be a downer, but consider this: The 2004 DVD and the Blu Rays used the exact same master, there is already an extremely promising project solidly underway to re-create the originals using the Blu Rays, and the results of that project could easily be downscaled back to a DVD.  If you want to keep exploring this, go ahead, and I hope it works out well, but I imagine most people are already aboard with Harmy's project and are happy with that, even if they just want a DVD in the end.

Please keep in mind that suggesting GL kiss your ass is still kosher; it's just the not buying the Blu Ray part that's objectionable.  They make good Christmas tree decorations and coasters, I see no reason why you shouldn't buy them.

Actually I wonder of someone fitted the Blu Rays with a nice absorbent cork backing, they might be able to resell them at a profit...

Yes.  Sometimes it's bad to be right.

nightstalkerpoet said:

TMBTM said:

But a painter does not sell his work to someone then few years later comes in the customer's house to take it off the wall to draw a mustache in the middle, then ask few dollars more or he'd leave with it.

How many people have had George come into their homes, alter their OUT VHS tapes and laserdiscs, then threaten to take them? 

The correct question is: how many theatre owners with prints of Star Wars have been ordered to return their prints, in exchange for prints of the Special Editions?

I'm afraid the answer is quite a few.  TMBTM's metaphor isn't perfect, but it's close.  Star Wars is a cultural work that was out circulating in the public in better-than-HD quality for decades.  Lucasfilm is actively trying to remove it from the public space, and as far as the best quality versions go, it has been very successful.  The low-quality versions you speak of are not the central issue at all.

nightstalkerpoet said:

We asked for a release of the OUT, and got one.

There's a certain causality you're following that I don't buy.  I simply don't believe the GOUT was released because of consumer demand.  I don't think it even factored in.  As far as I can tell, there were only two reasons the GOUT was released: to shut down the burgeoning bootleg laserdisc business, and to make the Special Editions look appealing when contrasted with a really awful transfer.

Given that, we have nothing to be thankful for, unless that "thank you" is followed by "may I have another!"

Replace all dialogue, but just switch the American and British accents.  Everything else stays the same.

FWIW the rating system was instituted in 1968 so you can see 8 out of the 10 top ten films on the AFI list, uncut.

Not that you'll necessarily like them all.  I can barely sit through Gone With the Wind myself, but they all have a strong appeal to a lot of people and all in all they are mostly very fine films.

And a special plug for #57, which would easily be #1 on my list.

This is a better idea of the consensus, although the consensus can clearly still be wrong:

http://www.afi.com/100years/movies.aspx

I'll admit I was shocked to see Schindler's List in the top ten.  I wasn't surprised Private Ryan failed to make the list at all.  Godfather is placed just about right.

#15 shows we didn't drift offtopic at all...

darth_ender said:

The prequels aren't exactly Saving Private Ryan, The Godfather, and Schindler's List.

Someone's clearly a Spielberg fanboy.  I mean Schindler's List was pretty good, but it certainly doesn't measure up to the Godfather.  And Saving Private Ryan?  Aside from the Normany landing... *spits*

Thread successfully derailed, you're welcome.

ray_afraid said:

Alexrd said:

STENDEC said:

the fact that no one is saying he can't edit his movies,

We both know that that is not true at all.

I've never met anybody who cares about the changes he has made or even future changes he might make. Doesn't mean everybody likes the changes, but if he'd release the original along with his new version, everybody would be happy.

I think this belief stems from the ambiguity of the word "should".  I certainly say "he shouldn't make changes to his movies" all the time, but I really mean "It's not advisable that he make changes to his movies (because he always makes them worse)".  But certainly some could misinterpret such a statement to mean "It it morally wrong for him to make changes to his movies"  This is compounded by the fact that people (including me) definitely feel it's morally wrong for him to suppress the original films.  A "should" in one statement right next to a moral issue in the next sentence is pretty much asking for a misunderstanding (and that's if you even bother to separate the two issues into two distinct statements, which most people don't).

So I can see how Alexrd (and perhaps Lucas himself) thinks people are saying he can't edit his movies.  It's a sad fact that language is ambiguous, and that leads to misinterpretation.  They are still wrong, but I can understand how they got there.

LexX said:

CatBus said:

OK got all my answers.  FWIW all languages except French are okay to use leading ellipses as far as I can tell, so I'll follow that rule regardless of what the burned-in subs did in those languages.  And all languages including French can italicize ship names.

Depends on what are "all languages".

Yeah, sorry.  "All languages" in that post means "the four languages listed in the OP".

Also I already have the Castilian Spanish subs from the GOUT, no worries.

OK got all my answers.  FWIW all languages except French are okay to use leading ellipses as far as I can tell, so I'll follow that rule regardless of what the burned-in subs did in those languages.  And all languages including French can italicize ship names.

doubleofive said:

Harmy said:

That looks good, way better than the official one, I'm considering ditching it and using these instead.

Thanks Harmy, I'd be honored to have provided your covers for the official release! If you or anyone else wants the PSD file to maybe remove my snark or the Ronto Ass, I can upload it somewhere.

Actually the Ronto Ass is the only side-by-side photo I really like.  I think for Empire I'd have chosen a heavily cyanified Hoth shot (I think there's a good one with the probe droid and a walker in your Picasa album), and for Jedi I'd have chosen the Hayden ghost or created one showing Lapti Nek vs. Jedi Rocks, preferably using the ridiculous waggling uvula shot.

doubleofive said:

He also said he's fine with us as long as we let him make his Special Editions. Crap.

Wait, wait.  I see a lawyer-sized hole.  He says we could release the 1977 version as long as we don't put his name on it (maybe he'd also like to be scrubbed from the credits, unsure about that part).

I think Star Wars fans are just fine with those terms, sir (I'm sure the credits scrubbing will cause some whining but we can manage it).  Alert Mike Verta!  Get Lucas to make this statement legally binding and we're all set!

Maybe we could balance the concession of taking his name off the film with being able to charge money for it, since he wants nothing to do with it...