ChainsawAsh

...

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

Yeah, he changed the whole Gollum chapter in The Hobbit to better match The Lord of the Rings (in the original, Gollum willingly bets the Ring).

Yeah, I'd always thought that Force powers weren't universal.  As in, one of the manifestations of the Force's power in Vader was his ability to choke people - this doesn't mean that no other Force user can have this ability, just that it's not very likely.  The manifestation of the Emperor's power is powerful energy bolts, etc.

It appears that no one (except perhaps you, Bingowings) shares this view, and certainly not George, as he's got Dooku using energy bolts and Luke using choking, etc.

In that case, go with the SE on that shot.

Other than that, my suggestions remain the same.

I think Black Magic was something else entirely, and that's what caused the project to grind to a halt (the member who had Black Magic disappeared, or something, I think).

What you're talking about is basically taking 3 different captures of the same source, then lining them up together and running them through a program that removes things that are different between each capture.  This reduces problems caused by capturing an analog medium.

I believe this can be done in AviSynth.

Again, I'm not too knowledgeable about the whole filtering thing, so I'm not really sure if anything I just said is accurate.

Note that I don't have Final Cut on my computer (I use Avid), but you need to have some feathering on the wipes.

If there's a control in the FX panel (or whatever it is) called "feathering," that's what you need to look for.

My two cents (and this is me trying very hard to be accepting while still wanting to be able to call this my preferred version to watch):

1. SE
2. Original (you can see CGI tentacles below Lando)
3. SE
4. SE
5. SE
6. Original (the R2 recoloring is a well-known SE change; Ady changed it back in ESB, too.  I'd hate to see this change stay)
7. SE
8. SE
9 & 10. Original (the laser blast is a different color; I'd prefer the original, even if it's "wrong," but I guess I could go either way here)
11 & 12. SE

Note that 9 & 10 and 11 & 12 are part of the same shot (well, 9 & 10 is one shot, and 10 & 11 is another shot).

Hey, he may have done a great job as the Emperor in ROTJ, and as Palpatine in TPM and AOTC, and he may be a fantastic actor ...

... but he gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen as the Emperor in ROTS and the 2004 addition to ESB.  Just ... awful.

Well, it's been not-9/11 for 56 minutes here.

You said it, C3PX.  And now all this bullshit going on surrounding the mosque ... it seems every year I get more and more fed up with my country's bullshit.

On September 11, 2001 or nation reeled at the sight of a true tragedy, and that brought us together.  For the next few months, it seemed that everyone was truly proud to be an American.  I know I was.

But I'm not anymore.  And I haven't been for quite some time.

If you look closely at the left and right of the frame, you'll notice that the D-Theater has a little bit more visual information on either side.  And if you look at the top and bottom, the Blu-Ray has a little bit more visual information there, too (but not as much as the D-Theater has on the sides).

Yeah, I'd say do what the X0 team should have done - get the absolute best, untouched raw capture you can get, and release that.  That way, those who are good at cleanup and restoration can get the cleanest possible source from which to work.

I still honestly doubt that the Alien set will look any different in any other region.

The only Blu-Ray I can recall having this issue was Pan's Labyrinth.  The US Blu-Ray looks like fucking garbage, while the European Blu-Ray looks absolutely stunningly beautiful.

No, the first wasn't a great transfer, all I'm saying is that the level of DNR applied to the second transfer in comparison to the first is just horrifying.

Old transfer

New transfer

Now THAT is excessive DNR.  I don't care how bad the first transfer is, it's still better than the second.

"If I had time and a hammer ... "

skyjedi2005 said:

I mean the discontinuities and age difference in the characters between the trilogies is so bad, why not just reshoot the whole original trilogy.

Hey now, let's not give old George any more ideas ...

Skyjedi - the grain thing is difficult.  Every Blu-Ray you'll ever see has had some DNR applied to it.  Period.  The issue is when too much DNR has been applied.

Everything I've seen about this Alien set has led me to believe that the level of DNR applied is very sensible and minimal, and that the grain left over is a perfect amount to keep the "film" look.  The possible exception to this is the third film, which (from the few caps I've seen) looks like it may have been overdone (I haven't looked at any caps of Resurrection, as I simply don't give two shits about the film).

For an example of how not to do it, look at the difference between the two releases of Predator on Blu-Ray.  Now that's excessive DNR.

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About the double posts, that happens because I still don't have a proper Internet connection (it was supposed to be my roommate's responsibility if I took care of gas and electricity), and I've been tethering my Android phone's 3G Internet to my computer via USB.  For some reason, it makes visiting certain sites impossible, and causes double (or triple, or quadruple) posts on forums occasionally.

...and the double post strikes again...

I still think the perception that the grate is blurred more on the Blu-Ray is caused by the new color timing being darker than the original.  I could be wrong, but I saw nothing that led me to believe excessive DNR had been applied in all 3 caps.

I was in middle school at the time.  They told us nothing, so I didn't know anything until long after the attacks had actually happened (around 3:00 in the afternoon when I got home, when the attacks had happened at around 7:30 in the morning if I recall correctly).

I remember being very surprised that two airplanes would crash into two buildings, right next to each other.  It didn't occur to me that it was an attack until my parents explained everything to me after I'd spent about an hour watching the planes hit the towers on CNN over ... and over ... and over ... and over ...

That's all well and good, but I don't see that much of a difference in the amount of grain between the D-Theater and Blu-Ray caps.  The Blu-Ray has slightly less grain, maybe, but there's still plenty there, and I simply don't understand where you are getting the idea that DNR has been overused.

Specifically this grate being "completely blurred."  Well, it's OUT OF FOCUS in the frame, because that's the way it's shot.  Even in the D-Theater cap, it's "completely burred" ... because it's OUT OF FOCUS, as it's meant to be.  It's slightly darker in the Blu-Ray cap, but that's due to the difference in color timing.

Usually I side with the "purist" camp on these issues, but here I just can't see it.  There's nothing at all wrong with the Blu-Ray cap unless you disagree with the new color timing, which I can understand, but as I said before, I personally prefer it.  Even the "cropping" is nearly insignificant.

Everyone seems to be making mountains out of molehills when it comes to this release.

Skyjedi, I think you and I are looking at two different Blu-Ray caps.  The ceiling grate looks just fine to me.  I see no evidence of excessive DNR.

Almost every release of every film ever made (on film) is cropped somewhat.  Hell, when you see it in a theater, it's cropped a bit on all 4 sides, and if you see an open-matte 1.85:1 film in a theater, you're entirely at the mercy of the projectionist when it comes cropping the top and bottom properly (for an example of what happens when this is done improperly, see the original pressings of Back to the Future Part II and Part III on DVD).

It's not that the Blu-Ray is cropped while the D-Theater version isn't.  It's that the framing is done slightly differently.  It's cropped a bit more on the sides, but a bit less on the top and bottom.  I don't see a problem here (unlike, say, the GoldenEye Ultimate Edition DVD - now there's some atrocious cropping).

And fuck, I'll say it - I like the Blu-Ray's color timing more than the D-Theater's.  The D-Theater has way too much of a red shift.

What the hell is "D-Theater"?