DrDre

It struck me recently that, ever since the Special Editions, Star Wars movies have really been struggling with their tone. In fact George Lucas seems to have become tone deaf. 

In the original 1977 Star Wars we realise Tatooine is a dangerous place, when Luke get's attacked by Sand People. Soon after this his aunt and uncle are brutally murdered. Luke decides to join Obi-Wan on his quest and the adventure is on it's way. Obi-Wan introduces Mos Eisley as a hive of scum and villainy. We meet assassins, smugglers, and just generally dangerous people and aliens. Han Solo is introduced as a shady character. There is a sense of danger when we enter Mos Eisley. 

George Lucas has said while introducing the Special Editions he always wanted Mos Eisley to be this bustling town. He also introduced tonal inconsistency. We now have slapstick humor when we enter Mos Eisley (just after we've seen Luke's aunt's and uncle's burning corpses). We have a "funny" beebing droid when when our heroes are interrogated by the stormtroopers. 

The same thing happens in Jabba's palace in ROTJ. In the 1983 version Jabba's palace is a dangerous place, where people are fed to monsters. From 1997 on this tension is undercut by a "funny" musical interlude with cartoon characters.

Some would argue that the changes are only small and cosmetic in nature, and that it is essentially the same movie with some digital effects added in the mix. I disagree. I would argue that George Lucas deliberately tried to make the tone of the original films more kiddie friendly. The most obvious example being the "Han shot first" scene. In the end he only succeeded in making the film's tone inconsistent, and it ultimately becomes a less great film, a watered down version of Star Wars, with less sharp edges. 

What do you think?

SRV = super resolution version

Sounds great! Empire is my favourite movie. It's also the first I saw back in the early eighties on VHS. 

Certainly! 

I have to say this last sample looks really great. The color, depth and detail are all there. To me at least, this sample looks much better than the one for the first reel (apart from the cleanup, which is terrific for all the samples you've shared). 

I think the SD question has been answered :-). I use QTGMC to further enhance the SR output. I will check whether it helps to correct the chroma bleeding. If not we'll just have to come up with a solution. 

Any preview is very welcome! :-)

Having watched the last preview a few times, I'm beginning to see your point with regards to the LPP. It does have an interesting quality to it. I'm really curious about how it will look after the color correction. There's plenty of detail at least.

Yes, you never know when your system crashes or something...

Here's the script for SRV10 raw. 

orig=AviSource("Star Wars.avi")

orig=ConvertToRGB24(orig)

edi0=nnedi2_rpow2(orig,rfactor=2, cshift="spline64resize") # edge directed interpolation

edi=edi0

sr1=SR(orig,1424,548) # super resolution in RGB space

sr1=ConvertToYUY2(sr1)

yuy2=ConvertToYUY2(orig)

sr2=SR(yuy2,1424,548) # super resolution in YUY2 space

rev=Reverse(orig)

sr1r=SR(rev,1424,548) # super resolution in reverse direction in RGB space

sr1r=Reverse(sr1r)

sr1r=ConvertToYUY2(sr1r)

yuy2rev=ConvertToYUY2(rev)

sr2r=SR(yuy2rev,1424,548) # super resolution in reverse direction in YUY2 space

sr2r=Reverse(sr2r)

s64=Spline64Resize(orig,1424,548) 

s64=ConvertToYUY2(s64)

edi=ConvertToYUY2(edi0)

Average(sr1,0.5,sr2,0.5,sr1r,0.5,sr2r,0.5,s64,-2,edi,1) # combine SR in both directions for additional detail, and combine details from SR with nnedi2 to reduce aliasing 

ConvertToRGB24()

sr=last

edicd=ConvertToYUY2(edi0)

edicd=ConvertToRGB24(edicd)

Average(sr,1,edi0,1,edicd,-1) # correct colors

nnedi2_rpow2(rfactor=2, cshift="spline64resize") 

Spline64Resize(1920,816)

By popular demand: 45 days it is... :-)

Sorry to hear that piota! Hope you get better soon!

Since the rendering of these movies now takes a stunning 45 days at least, I've decided to release the socalled SRV10 raw first. These only take about a week to finish and have maximum detail, while reducing aliasing compared to the raw GOUT. This means the trilogy for this version should be finished in three weeks. I will also post the script for SRV10 raw at that point, such that you can make your own improvements if you wish. These versions will be available as 1080p mkv and DVD9.

Thanks for that great explanation RU.08! I couldn't have done it better myself. 

Here's a sample for SRV11 for those that are interested:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8_LYKyZDiajam0wVHZRblFrVjA/view?usp=sharing

Scientists publish their methods, but not while it is under development. As I've said in the past, I will post the script when the project is finished. The detail recovery is indeed a combination of details taken from neighbouring frames and deblurring. The deblurring also enhances existing detail in the frame. 

towne32 is doing a substantial cleanup of the GOUT Star Wars as we speak and should be finished in a few days, so I will be using that as a starting point for the rendering of the whole movie. In the mean time I will try to make a short sample for SRV11 and post a few screenshots for TESB. 

Welcome back g-force! There are certainly artifacts, there's no denying that. However, there have been plenty of comparisons to other upscaling methods that show that there is a substantial amount of detail recovered. Whether the gains outweigh the losses is a matter of opinion. You obviously don't like the outcome, and that is fine. Many members are pleased with the results or feel the methods applied are useful to their own upscaling projects. That's good enough for me.

I've been making some backups. The rendering of the full movie is next on the agenda. That will probably start tomorrow. 

I will try to do a short clip of SRV11 raw during the weekend. 

All the best piota! Hope you get well soon! 

Here's a split screen version of the sample video. Left is SRV12, right is a PointResize upscale of the source.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8_LYKyZDiajVEtVRkRwNXlCYkE/view?usp=sharing

I couldn't agree more!

Those are very nice clips piota. The mouldy print has surprisingly vivid colors and a lot of detail. 

Amazing scan, despite what you say is an inferior print. If this is inferior I'm realy looking forward to what you have in store. :-)

Yes, that is in the GOUT as well, so it's not caused by the script. Glad you all liked the sample. :-)

I think you meant you have Faith that they are exacty that... ;-)