Super excited for this release, thankyou for your hard work!
I am interested, how does the Upscale process compare to the real 4K releases regarding the process followed?
I have no idea about the original process for the official upscale unfortunately.
For those interested please send me a PM.
Considering the time it took to finish the first part, the second part will likely take weeks if not months. It also depends on some of my other activities.
Superb - well I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow night if I can download it in time!
DrDre, do you recolour and upscale separate parts and then join them back together?
Can imagine this would be an absolute mammoth task if you’re having to break in to small bits, do the work scene by scene and then rejoin - how long has it taken you personally working on this project so far do you think?
No, it’s a number of different processing steps, but all on the first part as a whole. It’s a lot of work nonetheless haha.
The final render of part 1 is complete. The release will be tomorrow. 😃
The rendering is taking a little longer than expected, but we’re getting there. In the mean time here are five 4K sample frames:
It’s still rendering, so a bit more patience. 😉
Will you redo the Theatrical Versions of the trilogy? Apparently, you lost the original files, but will you redo them to be in line with these Extended Editions once these are finished?
No, I was able to recover the 2160p versions. I only lost the 1080p versions in the end.
Here are a few teasers of the new colors of FOTR-EE:
Epic thankyou, can’t wait!!!
Interested to hear of the issues if you were able to elaborate?
Some shots had excessive grain due to a combination of the regrade and upscaling.
What sort of file sizes are we talking for the various release resolutions, and will it just be a case of using Mkvmerge to eventually join together the 1st and 2nd half of the film if we wanted a seamless experience?
They are between 45 GB and 50 GB for each half for the 4K. The HD version will likely be around 20 GB for each half. They are presented exactly as on the DVD, so merging them will require some editing.
(In fairness I quite liked the break point on the original DVD/Blu Ray)
How long do you think it will take to release the 2nd half once the first half’s finished?
Depends on on a number of factors, so I’m not making predictions. 😉
There were a few issues in the last render, that needed to be fixed, so there is a little delay, but once it is done, I’ve decided to release both halfs of the film seperately, so there should be a release for the first half in the first week of June. 😃
The master file for the first half of the film is completed. Now, it will take a few more days to get a high quality UHD mkv. 😃
Thanks for the info Prodrummer and thanks for coming back so quick and for clarifying DrDre, really appreciated and very much looking forward to this! Final question from me - as well as the eventual main 4k release, would you consider also releasing a 1080p version for watching on the go e.g mobile phone screen, or am I just better sticking to the Dwalin / 44rh1n regrade for that?
I will also render a 1080p version. 😃
Hi DrDre, I’d be interested to hear more detail if you were able to share on the specific processes as to exactly how you’re carrying out this work - to confirm, are you using AI (Topaz?) to upscale the original 1080p extended edition FOTR Blu-Ray to 4k and then recolouring the film or are you just recolouring the more recent 4k release of the film?
If it is the former, I’d be keen to understand specifically why you’d upscale the original Blu Ray version of the film and then recolour it as a pose to just recolouring the newer official 4k scans - on the face of it, sounds like it would be more work, so keen to understand the benefit.
The new 4K scans are just 2K upscales with a ton of extra DNR. As a consequence they have less detail than the previous bluray releases. My process starts with regrading the film. Then I use a custom Topaz AI algo to get rid of the aliasing, which is present in the EE bluray. Finally, I use another custom Topaz AI algo to upscale the film, which enhances the detail in the film. Right now I’m about 90% with the colors, so I should be getting to step 2 pretty soon.
Like I said in a PM, this looks amazing! Great work!
theprequelsrule said:
I watched TPM for the first time in over a decade a couple of years ago. I was truly astonished at how bad the dialogue was and/or how badly delivered it was.And why don’t you think the same with regards to the original trilogy?
Dialogue has always been cheesy as hell in Star Wars movies. It’s often badly delivered because the lines themselves are quite ridiculous, and attempts at humor are simply a failure.
I would argue that it has not been such a big issue with the sequels and the spin-offs (which have other issues for the most part), but the OT HANDS DOWN has the worst dialogue out of all SW content.
I, for one, love the prequels more than the OT, because I really enjoy the political subplots that are scattered throughout, something that was sorely lacking in the OT for obvious reasons. It enlarges the scope of the story beyond our main characters.
Yeah, there’s also bad CGI of course…but the OT is nigh unwatchable because of how dated it looks now. I don’t love PM, but I ADORE AOTC (besides the phoned in romance scenes) and really love ROTS as well. All of it was made better by TCW series, in retrospect, but I love the prequels nonetheless.
I’m in my late twenties, and all my friends were very excited when the sequels came out because of how much we loved the prequels. It might be a generational thing, but I feel like people who grew up with the OT are, for the most part, the ones who generally dislike the prequels, and vice-versa. All SW movies have their flaws, but some people are really looking at the originals with rose-tinted glasses. And I do have my gripes with the prequels as well, but some people here genuinely seem to hate them just for the sake of hating them, sometimes for reasons that should make them hate the originals as well.
Looking at the rating data on imdb, which gives you the option to look at age groups, reveals the generational effect you argue explains the difference in perception of the OT and PT are overstated. The 18-29 group rates the OT an 8.5, 8.7 and an 8.2, while the 45+ crowd gives the OT an 8.8, 8.8, and an 8.3. The 18-29 group rates the PT an 6.5, 6.5, and a 7.8, while the 45+ crowd gives the PT an 6.3, 6.5, and a 7.3. So the perception for both generations is pretty similar with both clearly preferring the OT. Neither generation hates the PT on average, though the slightly higher preference for the OT for the 45+ generation likely means there are slightly more who dislike the PT among that generation.
I would agree the PT has too much of Lucas’ quirckiness, but I would argue much of what Disney has put out has much too few. That combined with mediocre writing has made much of it bland and uninspired. You take a series like Andor, which has some of the best writing in Star Wars ever and combine that with some of Lucas’ quirckiness and imagination and you have another TESB.
I think Picard season 3 is great! I didn’t watch the first two seasons, because of the bad word of mouth.
OK maybe not completely Paz Visla does develop some and his death is handled really well, but I think the point still stands.
I don’t think it was handled very well. What do we really know about Paz after these eight episodes other than he is a Mandalorian, a father, and he’s big with an even bigger gun? His death would have real impact, if the show spent any time developing his character, learning more about his history etc, etc. Paz was a cool looking cardboard cut-out like most of the characters in this season.
So that’s still 6 out of 8 episodes that are pretty good if you’re ok with the tone change that the series has gone through. Most of the episodes this season were pretty good, even if none of them were able to reach the heights that episodes in the first 2 seasons did. I think the real disconnect isn’t that this season is a step down from the first 2, most everyone agrees with that, but the extent to which it is worse than the other 2. Other than episodes 4 and 6, I’m not seeing this huge drop in quality that others are seeing. It’s got more problems with stuff not being properly set up, and some setups getting abandoned in the final episode, the fleet, and the dark saber are the big ones. But I think the episode is still pretty good and does a decent job of wrapping up the story. If I was to compare this season to the previous ones. Season’s 1 and 2 would probably get an A, and this season would probably get a B.
I disagree.
Episode 1: Pretty much a recap for what happened in between seasons, except they don’t show Mando’s and Grogu’s reunion for some inexplicable reason. Overall the episode was pretty pointless and repetitive, if you saw TBOBF. The fight against the crocodile-turtle lacked any sense of logic, making the Mandalorians seem pretty inept, and is ultimately just there for Din to come to the rescue. The first step in bringing back IG-11 is taken, another sign, that this show no longer has stakes. Pretty dispappointing for a season opener. Grade: C.
Episode 2: Pretty decent episode, although the way the plot thread regarding IG-11 is dropped in favour of some member berries is weird. The episode had a good cliff-hanger with the Mythosaur, that ultimately led to nothing. Grade: B-.
Episode 3: Longest episode spent on a character we don’t see again, and isn’t a main character. The episode was oke, if not for the fact, that the episode ultimately doesn’t really lead to anything other than to show the Imperial remnants have spies in the New Republic. The good doctor’s research isn’t mentioned again until the 7th episode leading to a huge anti-climax in the 8th episode. Grade: C.
Episode 4: Bad episode with too many plot conveniences and lapses in logic, that doesn’t move the show’s plot forward. Second monster fight in three episodes is repetitive. The mandalorians are again pretty inept this time to get Bo to shine. They leave the kid with the monster over night, and expect him not to be eaten in the mean time. I guess the kid spent a whole night in the monster’s beak, and didn’t suffer any injuries or even got dirty. Grade: D.
Episode 5: Pretty good episode. The only criticism is that the planet of Navarro seems to consist of 30 people. Another good cliffhanger, that we should have got in the first three episodes. Grade: B.
Episode 6: Pointless filler episode with bad cameos. A decent fight at the end, but Din handing over the Dark Sabre was predictable, and a huge anti-climax given the foreshadowing in the finale of season 2. Oh, and why didn’t Din just do this before the fight? Grade D.
Episode 7: Best episode of the season with some interesting world building, but why reintroduce the main villain in the penultimate episode? Why are two dozen Mandalorians such a threat to the Empire? What was the point of the praetorian guard, other than they look cool? What does Gideon want with Din? Paz Visla’s death was a good way to end the episode. Too bad they did not develop the character. Grade B+.
Episode 8: Disappointing by the numbers finale. Some good moments of action. A lot of flash, but no substance. Too bad Gideon is reduced to being a moustache twirling villain. Weird that those jetpacks run out of fuel following a flying monster for a few miles, but carry sufficient fuel to get into deep space and back. Grade C+.
Judging by the individual episodes this averages to a C+ for me, but that’s not the whole story, because the season as a whole is a disjointed mess without a proper villain until the penultimate episode. The show apparently is about retaking Mandalore, except the show again doesn’t introduce any significant obstacale until the penultimate episode. Up until that moment it seemed the Mandalorians could just walk in and take over. The curse had been resolved in the second episode, and observant viewers knew Bo technically had already won the dark sabre by then, so the ending of episode 6 was predictable on top of being anti-climactic. So, I think the season as a whole deserves a C-, about on par with TBOBF, if I’m generous. To be fair, I think the first two seasons are somewhat overrated. I would give season 1 a B and season 2 a B+.
Yeah, the season finale was a lot of flash with little substance, much like the rest of the season. The writing is all over the place, just like for TBOBF and OB1. There’s build ups without proper pay-offs and there are pay-offs that lack a buildup. All in all this season had more bad episodes than good ones imo, and the season as a whole just didn’t work for me. It’s a disjointed mess. A very disappointing conclusion after more than two years of waiting. I think it would be better to move on from Mando and Grogu.
My thoughts on Season 3 after today’s episode:
It looks like things are starting to fall more into place… we’ll see if the finale can stick the landing.
One or two good episodes is just that imo. It doesn’t improve the quality of the rest of the season. It’s for now one good episode, which only highlights the uneven quality of the Mandoverse since TBOBF to be honest. This episode needed a good setup for the pay-offs to really hit home. As it is it feels kind of divorced from the rest of the show much like the Mando episodes in TBOBF. The sudden reappearance of Gideon, who for some reason has lost all interest in Grogu and views the retaking of a wasteland of a planet by a few dozen Mandalorians as a major threat comes out of left field. The show should have spent its time building up to this moment, clearly defining the villain’s motivations, and the secret alliances that are eroding the New Republic’s influence. This episode is a good part of a badly written story in my view.
Re: Rey’s ‘power level’: I think a lot of the disagreement comes from a difference in understanding of how the Force is supposed to work. A lot of Yoda’s teaching in ESB - ‘size matters not’/‘only different in your mind’, ‘do or do not, there is no try’, telling Luke ‘that is why you fail’ in response to his disbelief over the X-wing being lifted out of the water - suggests to me at least it’s more of a binary thing than a linear power scale. Yoda wasn’t entirely just screwing with Luke, right, he really did think it could’ve been possible for him to lift the X-wing himself after what is, in the most generous interpretation of ESB, absolutely no more than a month of training, so long as he truly believed he could do it. After all, that’s how Luke wins in the first movie: he’s had less than an hour or so of training by Yavin, but the whole idea of the climax is that just by truly letting go and putting absolute faith in the Force, he lands the shot. Not because he’s spent six years training in the specific technique of Force-Enhanced Torpedo Accuracy.
Yes, but this argumentation ignores the fact there is some four years between ANH and ROTJ. In ANH Obi-Wan teaches Luke some basic stuff about the Force. By TESB Luke appears to have continued honing his skills over the years between the first two films, but it is unclear if Obi-Wan continued guiding Luke as he did in the final act of ANH. In any case three years have passed and Luke is able to grab his lightsaber with the Force with some difficulty under duress. Luke goes to train with Yoda for some undefined period of time, and subsequently gets his *** handed to him by Vader. Another year of honing his skills sees Luke reaching his potential in ROTJ.
Now let’s look at Rey’s journey, which sees her being pretty much on par with Kylo Ren by the end of TLJ, lifting tons of boulders, over a time frame that seems to be just a few days. There’s no guidance or training apart from a few lessons from Luke, who was intent on teaching Rey about the failings of the Jedi. When I see Rey’s development I’m reminded of a scene in My Cousin Vinny:
"Vinny: [Walks over to Jury, as he prepares his next question] So, Mr. Tipton. How could it take you five minutes to cook your grits, when it takes the entire grit-eating world twenty minutes?
Tipton: [nervously] I dunno. I’m a fast cook, I guess.
Vinny: I’m sorry, I was all the way over here. I couldn’t hear you. Did you just say you’re a fast cook? That’s it!? Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit… faster in your kitchen… than on any place on the face of the Earth?
Tipton: [faltering] I don’t know.
Vinny: Well, perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove! Were these magic grits? I mean, did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans!?"
The ST treated the Force like super powers. Once Rey realized she was Force sensitive, poof! she was an instant Jedi and able to pretty much effortlessly access powers others struggled with for years.
Try making a collage of test frames and reference frames.
Thanks to Dr Dre for this great tool.
I have several questions:
- In your projects, do you apply only one LUT on the film? Or do you use a LUT for each scene ?
If you do it for each scene, it must take you a long time (crop a reference image, and start the process for each scene)Sometimes the results are not accurate on small areas, if I want to fix that I figured I had to do this:
-Relaunch the process, with in test image, the LUT applied (to generate a second LUT on top).
Is this the correct method?
Whether you apply a LUT for the whole film or on a scene by scene or even shot by shot basis is up to your taste and the goal of the project. Some films can be improved with one single LUT, while others will need further adjustment for specific scenes and/or shots.
You can only use a LUT on top if the previous resulting image is used as the new test image.
Agree with everyone here. The Mandoverse has sunk at an alarming rate. The first two seasons were not a masterclass in writing, but it had a very clear throughline, with clearly defined characters, who had an arc. The lone gunman approach served the first two seasons very well. Then came TBOBF, which was surprisingly bad. The only highlights were the Mando episodes, which gave the impression, that TBOBF was just a placeholder for the main event, the third season of Mando. The fact that they undid the story of the first two seasons in a spin-off show was of course a big red flag. Sadly, this new season is every bit as aimless as TBOBF. Like Boba Fett Din Jarin is a side character in his own show. I don’t know why they brought back Grogu, because he’s little more than a prop now. After the writing masterclass that is Andor, the drop in the quality of the writing of this show is all the more jarring.
I don’t know, if I will be watching much more of this season. Mando was never a series with great writing, but I thought the lone gunman approach for S01 was effective, for S02 it still worked although the memberberries became pretty intrusive, but ever since TBOBF the entire Mandoverse feels like a directionless mess with questionable writing. Like Boba Fett in his own show, the Mandalorians act like morons. Given that they’ve been in this situation before, you’d expect someone to be on the lookout for (flying) monsters, and why would you use your jetpacks for a chase knowing full well you don’t have enough fuel to continue the pursuit? Are Din Jarin and Bo the only Mandalorians with space ships? Why did they wait for a day to rescue the kid? Did the monster of the week have him in his mouth all that time just waiting for the moment the Mandalorians arrive? Why was the kid so clean coming out of that thing’s mouth? I have a bad feeling about this…
