Flexicon9

This is yet another great looking presentation of Empire… giving us even more options to enjoy one of the most important films ever committed to celluloid and cinematic history. I enjoyed this very much… many thanks for the tremendous effort by all involved. This is a great way to experience 1980 once again. Call me crazy, but I still also love Harmy’s first version of Despecialized with those strong vibrant colors. He toned them down with his later version, but I would love to one day see them again with this new D+80 in all its glory. Great work and looking forward to future collaborations from all you wizards making Empire look better than ever.

… somehow I really prefer Silver Screen Edition because it has just the right '70s theater grainy look consistently (can’t explain why) and it strikes me just the right way. But with 4K77 I had to go with the DNR version upon evaluating the various choices. I don’t know what it is, but the grain doesn’t hit me the same way with 4K77… something’s different about it in my mind. It sort of varies from sequence to sequence. But then switching to the scrubbed 4K77 with DNR, the experience is quite enjoyable. Strange. Maybe SSE is the right amount of grunge and 4K77 DNR is the right amount of pristine. So glad to have these choices available though and that’s important. Many thanks to TN1 for their herculean efforts. I’m old so it’s good to see these before I die.

Yes, and for many years Cinemax HD played the red push Star Trek II as well… Showtime features the newer blu-rays of all the Trek films. TCM is a lot like HDNet Movies (Channel) because their vault is full of old HD transfers. You never know what you’re gonna get. MGM HD same way.

… side note, Star Wars is on TCM again right now (5pm - 7:15pm PT) … not that it matters cuz it’s just the cropped special edition. It just hits me in the feels when Star Wars is hosted by a smoking hot red-head with an Australian accent… or New Zealand (whatever she is) but you know what I mean.

… the MGM HD broadcast does NOT have the over-boosted contrast. That was thee worst part of the Lowry blu-ray… next to the awful color-timing. I don’t know what they were thinking. The MGM also didn’t window box the credits. The MGM HD presentation is perfect in every way… it’s brilliant.

… yes, my favorite too. My heart skipped a few beats when I realized MGM HD had the goods and didn’t tell anyone. They just snuck it into a Bond marathon one holiday weekend… the color timing is exactly correct circa 1969. God bless Peter Hunt!

… My DVR now has three rare broadcasts… (TCM HD) Looking For Mr. Goodbar in a pristine high definition broadcast that even host Ben Mankeiwicz said was a TCM premiere (this was 2 years ago) … (MGM HD) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service… not the Lowry transfer, but actually the original print from EON with the proper color timing… rare as it gets, without question. And now, Star Trek II… and I have the SKY broadcast (European) of the director’s cut which is AWESOME. The TCM is better. My DVR is magic… but alas, I have no way to share it with the world. No capture card or a nerd to do it for me. But I will own this magic for the life of a hard drive dvr cable shit box. Thank you and good night.

… on a side note, right after Star Wars they showed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The print they used seemed to be unique to TCM. It wasn’t blue like the original blu-ray. And it wasn’t bland/dark like the later Director’s Cut blu-ray. It was quite nicely color balanced (leaning more to a warm earthy amber color) … they must’ve had that archived from way back somewhere. But at least CNN used some original Star Wars clips for their broadcast, which was super cool.

… yes, they pushed the frame slightly. At the very end, there’s a clip of Halloween 1978… and you can see it’s cropped. Most of the content was adjusted in a similar manner. Super curious about TCM and Star Wars tonight…

Wow, I think you’re right!

Yes, I saw it last night… also DVR’d it to rewatch. CNN is on-demand on my system as well… also in HD. I examined the footage several times. It is definitely NOT an upscale of the GOUT. This is the original version of STAR WARS 1977 that is used… source unknown, but it is the original version. Han and Greedo scene original. Death Star explosion and escape original. At first I might have thought it was Harmy’s but now I think they have an HD restored source. Also, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is showing a '70s Sci-Fi marathon starting July 30th at 5pm EST. They are showing Close Encoutners, Star Wars and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan… among many others all night long. Curious as to which version of Star Wars they will show… keep watching the skies

Bond Marathon on MGM HD announced for May 14th… just saw the promo for it.

The GOUT isn’t even anamorphic… it looks like hell on a widescreen display. It has faded colors and image smear, as well as being pretty soft and without fine detail.

Even with all the effort to make it shine… it just can’t compare to a proper transfer from a quality source. The TN1 project of the '77 film is far superior to the 2006 bonus disc GOUT.

What an incredible group of people you guys are… my compliments. It restores my faith in humanity. Kudos.

Hallelujah.

No worries, Captain… MGM HD seems to be doing these Bond marathons more often… I’m sure in a couple of months OHMSS will be back in the rotation. The good news is that we now know this version exists, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

KK650’s project simply removes the bluish green cast over the entire image, to my eyes… this new project will actually put the reds back in and warm the whole thing up… looking much more like the original DVD which is a good thing. My two cents, anyway.

Awesome news, my friend!

Thank you, Andrea… your efforts are Greatly Appreciated by the fans.

Looking forward to this Andrea… I believe you can strike a balance with the colors that would satisfy long time fans of the THX. Thank you.

Greetings, Andrea! … Glad to hear you’re still working on these classics. The Thing will always have people interested… lots of Carpenter fans around here. Hell, I wouldn’t mind a Halloween version 2 down the road either… maybe even with the television scenes added back in for a super edition! Your Escape From New York (HDNet Movies) project is still my go to edition cuz it’s Awesome… The Best Ever!! You da man!

As you can see, even from a rough shot taken with my camera, it looks like morning and no blue cast over the image…

…my camera makes it look brighter, so take that into account as this is by no means a proper screen cap and won’t convey brightness and contrast as they actually appear on screen.

Thanks, Harmy… you da man.

So I decided to do a detailed color comparison between the original DVD and the MGM HD broadcast of OHMSS… because I was convinced the colors were a bit different… but in fact, they are incredibly close. I’d say the MGM HD broadcast is 98% in line with the rich and vibrant color palette of the original DVD presentation. And that includes the brilliant shadows featured in the original cinematography… after all, this film was shot with a darker, more moody look than other Bond films. Lowry not only introduced a new color scheme to the frame by frame restoration (way too blue), they also brightened up the presentation way, way too much for the BD… everything is blown out hot white. So I am pleased to say that the MGM HD transfer is absolutely my go to version from now on because the colors are virtually identical to the original DVD. That is how OHMSS is supposed to look. The beach scenes in the opening of the film are supposed to look like dawn, not dusk. Lowry screwed all that up, among many other aspects of their transfer. The MGM HD version solves all of this. If anyone ever captures it, you really don’t have to worry about color correction after all… beyond adding the Laserdisc mono as a bonus (the broadcast audio is quite good by the way) I think this new alternative from MGM HD is the best available presentation of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Fire up your dvr if you have MGM HD channel on your system… you’re gonna want to hold on to this version.

MGM HD broadcast (sorry for the bad photo - my camera is making those wavy lines, not the transfer of course)

As you can see, the aspect ratio is correct and the credits are NOT window boxed as they are on the Lowry BD

MGM HD Logo below…