I think the real issue here is that I really need a frame perfect rip of NTSC GOUT to use as a reference. I used v1.0 as a guide and only changed those frames that differ between PAL and NTSC GOUT.
Well, ROTJ v1.0 was PAL GOUT based and 2.0 is NTSC GOUT based - but it’s only a couple of frames difference here and there, so for subtitle timing, it shouldn’t really matter at all.
I’ve just heard from a guy who made one pretty well known Star Wars fanfilm and wrote for Clone Wars and he says he just watched Despecialized with a bunch of writers from Rebels 😃
Well, the question is whether by the end of the next shot it’s in sync again - if it is, that’s good enough for me.
I’ve already made a video explaining this, if they didn’t watch that, they won’t watch a new one.
I think, if the 2004 version is actually sourced from the negatives, they could still be used for a restoration but it would be expensive and it’s questionable whether it would even be better than Legacy - maybe if they scanned what’s left of the negative and gave it to Mike to use as one of his assets, it could really improve the detail in Legacy.
Also, most of the comparisons in that article are either sourced from 35mm in the DeEd, or they only have small, pretty seamlessly blended SD elements, so it doesn’t only show off Despecialized but it actually shows SE vs. original, where both are true HD quality. Even so, I still get comments saying “What’s this about? The original is out on DVD just the way it looked like before they remastered it for SE”.
I still think the GOUT was released because of the laserdisc transfers that were being shared here, so this will hopefully be the next step - and I think they would be really stupid not to use Mike’s version for Star Wars - there’s a meticulous, well-researched 4K restoration, with stunning image quality that they can have for free - maybe they could give Mike some percentage from sales, because he f*cking deserves it and it would make them look good and then they could include Mike’s making-off with it and make it like a thing.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/restoring-star-wars/6994818
Yeah - there are some slight color differences in some 35mm shots that will still need to be polished, but I think none that can be called jarring at this point.
Acknowledging that current version is a workprint that most are choosing to not burn onto a disk, I decided to try creating a BD anyway since I’d like to watch this version with some friends.
For whatever reason, the BD creation with tsMuxeR (2.6.12) results in files that are not functioning correctly. MPC-HC will start playing the video, but freezes if you try to change anything (skip to another track time, enable subtitles, etc.). BD players won’t even open the file, saying that it’s not supported.
Confirmed that I’m able to make functioning BD folders from the official MKV’s for SW (v2.5) and ESB (v2.0), so this seems to be an issue limited to ROTJ (v2.0 workprint). Not sure if there’s something off about the file itself, or if I’m doing something wrong, but I thought I should go ahead and raise awareness to this potential issue.
That’s strange. You could try first demuxing all the tracks with MKVextract first and then remuxing them in TS MUxer.
It’s not been overlooked - in fact that was the 1st glitch I noticed even before releasing the workprint but since, like I said, all subtitles will be redone for v2.0, it’s quite irrelevant 😉
I chose a very clean frame on purpose for the comparison - there are sections that are more damaged than others and the ends of reels are really beat up. Also, just to clarify - cleaning up a whole big section like this is a pretty big task, so it’s not likely to be swapped for a print scan in v2.0. In v2.5 though, I’ll definitely at least try.
So, you guys remember this?
In the ROTJ Blu-Ray there’s this whole section which is extremely soft. Here’s a comparison of a shot of Han aboard the shuttle and the same angle from a couple of minutes later:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/150516
And this drop in quality persists for several minutes up until the speederbike chase and I’ve seen some HD scans of prints, which clearly show that this drop in quality wasn’t there in the theatrical prints, in fact, even the theatrical prints actually have much better detail in this section than the BD, so it’s definitely a problem specific to this transfer and it may seem too careless even for Lucasfilm but that’s what happened - my guess would be that the scan did actually go a bit out of focus in that section, but because the master was being done for DVD and for DVD the detail was still fine and they were in a big hurry, they probably just threw a sharpening filter at it and it looked ok on DVD. But this transfer should never have been used for an HD release.
Also notice what I call the carpet syndrome - thin vertical lines running through the whole image, making it look like it’s being projected on a carpet - this is actually present throughout the whole transfer but it’s most obvious in this segment, (which only goes to prove they sharpened it more than the rest, which would make this kind of artifact more visible). It can be dealt with using a slight horizontal blur, which is why it’s not visible on the HDTV captures, which are quite a bit softer than the BD but I’d really love to know what caused this, because I’ve actually seen this effects on many studio masters I’ve worked with in my job and it’s a bit of a mystery to me.
Here’s a quick and dirty fix for that carpeted shot:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/150537
Well, hold on to your hats, because I finally got my hands on a scan of reel 3 from an LPP print and here’s a comparison with the Blu-Ray:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/153998
The difference is shocking!
By the way, this problem is present pretty much exactly throughout the second half of reel three and definitely ends precisely with the last shot of reel 3 and since the negative is actually split into smaller ten-minute reels, it definitely points to them just mucking up the scanning of what would be reel 6 of the negative and instead of re-scanning with proper focus, they just threw a sharpening filter at it.
I’m not sure if this works with the SUP subtitles, but for the SRT, just rename them to the same name as your video file but with .srt instead of .mkv and put them in the same folder - this way it will work on most devices - like both my BD players and my TV can show subtitles that are muxed in but my parent’s BD player and TV can only show subtitles if they are added the way I described above.
Also, someone put the workprint on myspleen, which I’m completely fine with, though it would have been better to check with me first.
Hey Harmy,
I’m sure you’re already aware of this, but there is a closeup of Luke on the Tatooine Skiff that looks worse than a TeleSync. It only lasts a few seconds, but man does it shock the eyes!
No idea what you’re talking about - there is only one such shot of Luke at 0:30:34 that’s been replaced with a 35mm source, because a big chunk of it was missing in the SE but it looks awesome - you can tell it’s a bit less detailed than the other shots, if you’re really looking for it but to me it seems to fit in perfectly, so you can’t be talking about that one.
Harmy: Have you gotten a better source for the “At last we have the mighty Chewbacca” shot, that you originally did some neat smoke effects for to mask the GOUT? I know you dropped 1.0 shots in for most of the subtitles in the workprint. So, not sure if it will be upgraded.
Of course I have - I mean, have you seen the workprint?
Avisynth.
Well, the credits are sourced from 35mm and are on the tail end of a reel, so there will be some damage - I’m not going to go through them and paint out every little piece of dirt 😃 You should see what they looked like before I touched them up. 😉
Awesome! Thanks!
Now what about h_h’s 5.1 and theatrical stereo in DTS-HD? Anyone got those? Also, a music only track? Am I forgetting something?
This reminds me - I’ll need to start collecting all the audio tracks for the final v2.0 release - so how do I get hold of the best quality NTSC synced audio versions of all the available tracks for Jedi? I will conform the commentaries myself, as usual, but I’ll need everything else.
Here’s the subtitle file, which will patch up the missing Jabba subtitles in the ROTJ workprint:
https://mega.nz/#!Ll03BZyY!3YEdAOXEKXJ4yj-wIfnXgWfnQmf0m5YH4i-bnlYrqSU
Big thanks to CatBus!
Thanks all for the constructive criticism. I will probably try to stabilize the worst shots for v2.0 - the problem is that sometimes the stabilizing algorithms go haywire when there’s a lot of movement on different planes in the shot, so it’s not always easy - the final shot before the credits is one of those and it’s missing a big chunk in the SE, so I can’t use that but I’ll see what else I can do. Also, for v2.5, I should also already have the full 4K scan (only had the first reel and the eyebrow scene for this version), so a lot of the current 35mm stuff may be replaced completely.
As for the recomps - I will try to replace all of them, including Obi-Wan, in v2.5, when I have time to give stabilization and cleanup proper attention.
Sudden color changes are normal during wipes. But thank you anyway - better to get reports of stuff that doesn’t need fixing than not get reports of stuff that does.
So far, a few mistakes were caught - some missing subtitles (CatBus, do you think you could make a subtitle track that only has those subs that are missing? Just for this workprint - I will be replacing all the subs for the final version) and the shot of R2D2 from the 2011 Blu-Ray with the silly extra gadgets added (I fixed one but didn’t know they did it for two shots) - watch for the Ewok eyes - I might have missed some of those too.
As for the re-comps, I think those I will leave for v2.5. The plan is also for v2.5 to have a more careful restoration of the 35mm shots, like stabilization and manual cleanup - in 2.0, they’ll probably stay as they are in the WP.
Do you have to fill in captchas for the mega links as well?
This workprint is absolutely the version you should watch - no contest - the glitches that could happen (and it’s even possible that there aren’t any) are all of the blink and miss it variety, like the last frame of a shot being a bit differently colored or stuff like that.