Spaced Ranger: Burning at very slow speed is often also mentioned as increasing the chances of the disk remaining 100% readable for long periods of time. So that seems to help, also.
Welcome back, dark_jedi. :) Superb work the two of you have done, the latest samples are clearly superior to even the blu-ray version 1, and that's saying something. And vastly better than the GOUT before restoration.
You_Too: Not only are the colors in general much better and more properly saturated, the skin tones are a lot more accurate, as well. Not an easy combination to get. Great job to you and DJ! :)
Great news, poita! :) And I agree with you, take your time and go for quality. All I can say is that after you have the highest quality capture possible, make a full backup of the raw capture files on an external hard drive and keep the backup copy in a safe place, just in case. :)
Oh, and please, no cutting of the film to make it fit on different reel sizes. haha =P
Really like the green in the Imperial uniforms. :) Is that the original color for the early theatrical showings of Star Wars?
Since this seems like it might be the best quality source available at the moment for the original Star Wars stereo 35mm soundtrack, has Hairy_Hen used this as the source for his restored/corrected 1977 Star Wars stereo soundtrack?
Thanks for providing the soundtrack, schorman13. :) Hopefully these laserdisk sets will also provide the highest quality sources for the original The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi stereo soundtracks, also. :)
The restored colors and the bringing out of the detail is really nice, great job. :)
Yeah, they are a bit less red, which is great, more natural and accurate. :)
Interesting to see what a scene-by-scene color restoration can do, I think you're the only one to ever try it, Harmy. =)
Indeed it does, nice to see the restoration of colors in the trilogy back to their original appearance. Thank God we have good references for accurate colors like Mike's sources. =)
I doubt anything else is as bad as the new predator blu-ray, that's horrible. :)
http://dragonfishfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2984_2_large.jpg
Arnold looks like he's made of wax and his shirt looks like it was molded from plastic. haha, just awful :)
Harmy: If adding in just a touch of very fine grain helps restore some of the natural film appearance, and perhaps helps the hdtv source blend in a bit better when it needs to be used, while having only a minimal affect on detail, then I agree it's not a bad thing. :)
Yeah, the blu-ray is clearly superior. I just wish they had left the natural grain, and thus detail, fully intact (iirc, that's one thing they did right on the Episode 1 DVD, tried to retain the natural film appearance), but there's still much better detail on the blu-ray.
As far as the color problem goes, that can be corrected in scenes where it affects the picture the most, bringing the colors back closer to the natural warmth that should be there. And if every scene has had that same color filter applied to it on the blu-ray, then it's even easier, because it should be simple to counter-act with a color correction value applied to the entire movie.
If one wanted to use the blu-ray as a a basis for a restoration of the theatrical version, or at least get closer to it, since we don't have a 35mm print to scan, then one could use the hdtv capture in certain scenes, to restore the real Yoda and so on.
I'm not sure if adding grain helps that much, though. Since some of the natural grain and detail have already unfortunately been removed on the blu-ray set, adding artificial grain over it might just obscure some of the nice detail that has been retained.
On the one hand, I was referring to the releases in a general sense, I mean we have the 2004 original trilogy DVD set with it's messed up colors, whites, etc, and now also the blu-rays and how the prequels look (or at least Episode I), and they still didn't fix the original trilogy colors. As to the purplish comment, I was thinking of mainly the first post on page one, with that yucky odd purple coating over everything. It does not look good, and I don't know why they would mess it up like that.
Yeah, I was referring to the screen shots and skin tones in them. :) And we do indeed tend to learn something new about Star Wars all the time, such as how Commander Daine Jir is a distinguished officer in the Imperial army. :)
It's so dumb of them to apply this odd coloration all over the place, gives a weird purplish look to everything. What is it about dvd and blu-ray releases that makes Lucasfilm always want to mess up the colors in both the Star Wars trilogy and the prequels?? It's bizarre..
Very nice, msycamore. :) Getting the faces right when color correcting the Star Wars trilogy is always the hardest thing (dark_jedi and You_Too know all about that :) ). It's so hard to restore that accurate natural fair look with the sources available. Leia isn't too far off, but still red, Daine Jir, more reddish yet, but perhaps that can be adjusted a bit. :)
I can see waiting to release the blu-ray until all menus and extras and so on can be included if you want to realease only 1 version on blu-ray. But will there be a full size 720p mkv near 25 gig in size (single-layer blu-ray disk size) released? This way, high bit rates can used in the video to preserve as much of the quality from the master file as possible, and then that maximum quality mkv file can be burned to a 25gig blu-ray disk that will play on any set top blu-ray player hooked up to an hdtv.
Also, I think hairy hen is close to releasing his new 70mm soundtrack restoration version in lossless. :)
Thanks for the fine work on all this, Harmy. :)
ratpack1961: It doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have treatments, but all those details have to be filled in now and a full script written. And if they want to have Episode VII ready for 2015, they have no time for delays, so getting a writer involved to help makes sense.
As to the live action tv series, I'm rather annoyed. Haven't they been working on that for like 2 years at least? Don't they have at least a few episodes filmed and ready by now? There were so many possibilities with the story during this time period, plus getting to see more of Vader and Boba Fett and maybe Obi-Wan and so on, and now we get nothing?
As far as the Clone Wars cartoon series, it's been surprisingly good, and so if they have an extra couple seasons, I don't mind. And more of Count Dooku is always a good thing. :)
negative1: I was hoping for more at the time, as well. I just wish Lucas had done it back then, a few years after Return of the Jedi. Now we're liable to get some modern hollywood contaminated version. But I guess we'll see, I'm trying to remain positive, but am concerned how it will turn out.
I assume he means dark jedi's new v2 Blu-ray set he's working on.
NeverarGreat: Well, the rebels were celebrating on Endor, so obviously the Imperial fleet must have withdrawn after the battle. And who can blame them, they must have been reeling from the loss of the second Death Star, and the death of the Emperor and Vader. But after the initial shock wore off, they would be looking for revenge and would still have strong control over many systems, even factoring in any rebellions that broke out on some worlds that were inspired by the Alliance victory at Endor.
On the other hand, no doubt more would be willing to aid the Rebellion after the news of this spread, and so they could probably replenish their fleet in a fairly short time. But in any case the Rebels would still have a hard fight ahead against Imperial forces bent on maintaining the Empire with their very large armies and the mighty Imperial fleet. And the Imperial forces certainly have many fine and capable officers and governors to lead their men. I used the term remnant only in the sense of that they apparently will no longer have complete official state control over the entire Empire. But it would still be very tough going for the Rebels in many sectors, and they could still be on the verge of defeat if they let themselves get caught in a major battle with the Imperial fleet.
So this all means there are many possibilities in the story for Episode VII, lots of intrigue and military strategy and tactics and cool stuff like that. Almost makes me tempted to be optimistic about what might come in the story. As long as they keep the Imperial forces as they have always been and don't try to turn it into some fake touchy feely pc joke, I think that part of the story at least will be ok. :)
I *really* hope it's true, but until I hear it from Lucasfilm or at least a well-respected professional in this field or major review site or something, I'm going to try and not put much stock in it.
But if it is true, get Robert Harris on the project and make sure it's done to the very highest standards technically possible, with plenty of time given to allow for the most accurate and precise restoration of the film prints that can be done. No rush job, please. Then scan everything at 4k, or maybe 6k just to be sure, hehe. :) Oh, and lay off the DVNR (digital video noise reduction, for those few here that don't know) when the restored Star Wars trilogy DVD and Blu-ray sets come out. Leave the natural grain and fine detail intact. :)
It makes sense that there would still be an ongoing fight with Imperial remnant forces (who aren't ready to just toss down their weapons because the rebels say so) after the destruction of the second Death Star, as they they try to maintain the Empire and retain control over sectors where they have a solid grasp. The Thrawn stuff would be silly, Imperial forces aren't ever going to answer to an alien, would make no sense at all, so it's good they are going with an original story line and not EU. The Empire has many competent officers that would be eager to crush any effort to fully re-establish the Republic.
There are lots of possibilities, and certainly Luke would be working on rebuilding the Jedi Order, and it would be cool if he appeared (but only if it's Hamill). :)
captainsolo: Except there are a lot of Star Wars fans that would instantly buy a fully restored Blu-ray set like that. They could make a nice collector's set of it. That would make money for sure and gets lots of attention for Star Wars.
Alexrd: Link doesn't work...
I wonder what affect this will have on the live-action Star Wars tv series Lucas has been working on. I'm guessing most of the first season episodes of that have already been shot.
Wow, not sure what to say. On the one hand, it's sad to see Lucas not in charge any more. Yeah, I'm annoyed about still not having the fully restored original unaltered trilogy available, but still, it's going to be weird not having George running the whole thing in his flannel shirt. :(
At the same time, maybe now there will be a proper restoration of the unaltered Star Wars trilogy done. Get Harris on the job and use the finest prints in existence to restore the trilogy to opening day appearance to the greatest degree possible using the finest techniques available and all the time needed to do a first-class job. Then scan the whole thing in at 4k (including fully restored film of deleted scenes, like Biggs with Luke in the hangar on Yavin 4) and put the prints in ideal storage conditions for later. The we can have DVD and Blu-ray sets of the highest picture quality, and with original stereo and 70mm soundtrack options, DTS high bit-rate for DVD, and DTS lossless on the Blu-ray disks. That would be awesome. :)
The other concern is for the new movies. While George may have put some... questionable things in the prequels, there is a certain feel that Star Wars movies have that is still there even in the prequels, a style, an atmosphere. And I wonder if that will be lost in the new movies. But maybe with George there consulting on them, that can be avoided.
On the other hand, I'm kind of dreading new movies, how can you follow the great original trilogy, where will the story go, will they turn into some pc mess? This Thrawn thing sounds stupid, Imperial forces wouldn't follow an alien, they have very strong anti-alien policies and attitudes from the ground up, so I certainly hope they don't do that, that would be absurd. Just ignore the books and focus on fighting Imperial remnant forces, perhaps some threat from Korriban at the heart of a plot against the New Republic? Seeing Luke (has to be Hamill) as a Jedi Master wielding a lightsaber would be really cool if the story were well done, though. :)
Lastly, I'm concerned about the forum here. Hopefully Disney will leave well-enough alone...
Very nice work, Frank. :) I hadn't thought of that, color correct a frame, then overlay it on an uncorrected frame, thus improving the colors, but retaining some of the desirable qualities of the unaltered frame.
The shot of Han at the top is an excellent example. By combining the two, you have greatly reduced the overly bright look of the first and also improved the colors, but at the same time you have not given Han that weird darkish orange/red look that is so hard to avoid in everyone's skin tones when trying to boost the saturation in the home video sources of the Star Wars trilogy, and which does not look good when it happens. Even though it might have made some areas a bit darker, that's a price well worth paying so the people look natural, which is far more noticeable.
You can see that oh so clearly on the first page of this thread. Luke's face looks like he was covered in red mud or something on the Blu-ray, looks terrible and unnatural and definitely very incorrect.
I wonder what your method would yield when applied as a color correction method to the best quality sources available, like darkjedi's 720p upscaled video, or negative1's 35mm film frames. Would be *great* to see what that would look like, it might give some pleasing qualities to the final result. Maybe some test samples can be shown by those involved. :)
Although, being that the 35mm frames need so much correction in the first place, I'm not sure if that would help in that case. But darkjedi's 720p video is the best video (non-film) source I know of, and this method should be applicable to it. And who knows, the end results might be nice.