Link plz
I sent you a PM, along with everyone else.
Thanks for the detailed response. Dre got back to me with his reasoning also. I skimmed through his 4K Dremaster and it is definitely going to be the go-to for many many long time fans of this series, no doubt. I will definitely be waiting for his trilogy to be complete before returning to Middle Earth. I couldn’t agree more about the Shire in particular being a place of comfort, warmth and peace.
I’m sure it’s been discussed before, but I’ve heard good and bad things about the Atmos remixes on the official 4K UHD releases. Outside of them obviously being revisionist, are there any pros/cons?
Wooow. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the final product of these! I’m definitely going to have to wait for this for my next marathon viewing. Is it just 35mm that is being used for colour reference, or is DVD also being used?
Curious. With the theatrical cut Blu-ray of FotR in particular not suffering from the overly green tinted regrading and black crush, why not use that video for all theatrical scenes, as less regrading would be necessary? I don’t recall, but is the main issue that the theatrical cut Blu-ray suffers from worse DNR than the extended cut Blu-ray?
Also, I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, but are there shots/scenes from the latest 4K UHD release that are worth salvaging for better quality and/grading, despite the heavy DNR?
Thanks! 😃
This is the best version of T2 I’ve seen.
I compared it to a 4K remux and the colours here have more pop while on the 4K they look bland at times and people’s faces often look waxy.
Many thanks again for doing this project.
I haven’t enjoyed T2 this much in years.
I’m very glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the positive feedback! 😃
Looks like an awesome job, thanks! I’m curious though why you used the 2017 StudioCanal version? Wasn’t that one DNR’ed to death with wax faces? Why not use the 2015 bluray as a basis?
Thaanks. Because despite the 2017 StudioCanal transfer being DNR’ed to death, overall the quality of the scan is arguably better. If the 2015 Lionsgate was used as the main basis, barely any work would need to be done really. Other than a bit of a red push, there wasn’t colour grading revision, over-the-top DNRing or effects tinkering done at all. The 2015 Lionsgate was still used in places where necessary. Check screenshots.
I just wanted to say, thanks matswat! That worked a treat. Appreciated 😃
How is the aspect ratio on the BD incorrect?
Isn’t the OAR 1.85:1?
The framing/letterboxing on the Theatrical Cut and Director’s Cut on BD is consistent. However, the aspect ratio on the Theatrical Cut is stretched and pinched compared to the DVD and 4K transfer (correct aspect ratio). The Director’s Cut on BD shifts between the same amount of stretching/pinching and less stretching/pinching than the Theatrical Cut throughout the film.
The aspect ratio/black bars do shift throughout my version, but that is only because the BD’s should have if they wanted to keep a consistent aspect ratio.
(See screenshots for comparison) I hope that makes sense. 😃
it’s the framing and geometry you’re referring to, not the aspect ratio
framing and geometry can be incorrect but still in the same aspect ratio as presented theatrically
a correct aspect ratio a lot of times won’t mean shit if the framing and geometry are bad
Poor choice of words/wrong terminology on my part I guess, I think what I wrote still gets the point across anyway, especially after seeing the screenshots.
Thanks though. 😃
How is the aspect ratio on the BD incorrect?
Isn’t the OAR 1.85:1?
The framing/letterboxing on the Theatrical Cut and Director’s Cut on BD is consistent. However, the aspect ratio on the Theatrical Cut is stretched and pinched compared to the DVD and 4K transfer (correct aspect ratio). The Director’s Cut on BD shifts between the same amount of stretching/pinching and less stretching/pinching than the Theatrical Cut throughout the film.
The aspect ratio/black bars do shift throughout my version, but that is only because the BD’s should have if they wanted to keep a consistent aspect ratio.
(See screenshots for comparison) I hope that makes sense. 😃
Merry Christmas everyone!
A special (slightly) early Christmas present for you all. Jingle All the Way put together for the best possible viewing experience we can get. I have combined the 2015 Blu-ray with the 2022 4K Disney Plus web stream.
No recent home media release of Jingle All the Way is especially good, the best release was probably the DVD, which definitely shows its age by today’s standards. The Blu-ray’s aspect ratio is wrong in both the Theatrical and Director’s Cut, and it even shifts throughout the film in the Director’s Cut. The colours are really cold and lack any contrast with a very washed out presentation. On the flip-side, the Disney Plus web stream has the correct aspect ratio, a colour palette that more closely resembles the DVD (with a big green push) however the saturation, contrast, etc. are cranked up so much that it looks like vomit. A lot of details, especially darker and brighter sections are crushed to all hell and look a lot worse than the Blu-ray even with the higher resolution and cleaner transfer.
So what I’ve done is combine the Blu-ray transfer’s video and 4K transfer’s colours, pinching any shots from the 4K video that was salvageable and regraded for consistency in colours, contrast, etc. The Director’s Cut scenes are sourced from the Blu-ray, with the aspect ratio fixed and colours regraded to match the rest of the transfer. The audio that is provided is from the Blu-ray.
VIDEO
Regrading of the film, not just scene to scene but in some cases shot to shot in order to restore the film to something closer to previous releases
Fixed 2015 Blu-ray transfer’s aspect ratio
Inserting and regrading of Director’s Cut scenes to match the rest of the film
Fixed a minor visual glitch only present in the 2015 Blu-ray Director’s Cut using the 2015 Blu-ray Theatrical Cut.
SCREENSHOTS
Hiya,
I just wanted to say that we really appreciate all the attention and love you guys have for this film and this project.
Merry Christmas!
Thank you! 😃 Really appreciate the feedback.
Does this preservation have the original Tristar logo at the beginning?
No Tristar logo at the beginning.
Did you ever make any progress with creating a Blu-Ray version of the extended cut or do you still need the source file?
Nope. No luck getting the source file unfortunately.
The mission here is to hopefully provide the best possible viewing and listening experience of T2 that we can get, using the latest 2017 StudioCanal “remastered” transfer as the main source.
First, a big thank you and credit to sanjuro_61 for his release of this film that we used as a basis to work from, found here: https://forum.fanres.com/thread-2885.html
Further alterations from his release as follows:
VIDEO
Painstaking regrading of the film, not just scene to scene but in some cases shot to shot or even single frames where necessary in order to restore the film to something closer to previous releases (This took a lonnng time!)
Restored bendy knife in bar scene
Restored stuntman’s head in the slo-mo bike jump scene
Replaced shots throughout film where lost detail could not be recovered from the 2017 transfer by using the 2015 Lionsgate transfer instead, with additional regrading to match the rest of the film
– We decided to use the 2015 transfer for the first shot of the T800 crushing the skull with the pink lasers overhead, as removing the ridiculous amount of blue was not possible with the 2017 transfer
– The lava at the end of the film has been turned to yellow with too much detail lost in the process, so the 2015 transfer was favoured in some shots
Cropped a shot in the car after the Sarah Connor asylum breakout due to presence of border of projected backdrop being visible in 2017 transfer
Inserting and regrading of Special Edition scenes to match the rest of the film
AUDIO (THEATRICAL)
So, I’m not completely happy with the sync up of the 2008 CDS “Remaster” audio, but it’s as good as I can get it really and is still very watchable. If anyone else wants to have a crack, go nuts.
AUDIO (SPECIAL EDITION)
They botched the timing of the Special Edition scenes with the StudioCanal 2017 audio, so I didn’t include it.
The top three tracks for SE, I put together myself.
For whatever reason, the 2017 StudioCanal release features a 5.1 English track, and a 7.1 German track. No 7.1 in English. Luckily, an English DTS-HD HR 7.1 track exists on the 2008 German Ultimate Edition release of the film on HD-DVD, which Kurtos graciously provided me with. What a rarity!
I found that the volume of the German Ultimate Edition 7.1 was set too high, “brickwalling” it more so than other remixes, so I took the additional surrounds from the German Ultimate Edition 7.1 and synced and lowered the volume accordingly to match the Lionsgate L, R, C, LFE and rear surround channels, which are identical more or less to the German Ultimate Edition anyway, but with a higher bitrate and less brickwalled. So if you want a remixed 7.1 experience, the first track is probably the way to go.
The third track is the theatrical CDS Mix taken from the 2003 Japanese DVD, with Lionsgate 2015 L, R, C and LFE spliced in for SE scenes. I took the surrounds from the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Premium Edition for SE scenes, as their volume levels matched more closely to the CDS Mix without any need for editing. Other than the volume being lower on the Dolby TrueHD rear channels, they’re identical to the Lionsgate. This is as close as it gets to watching the film with original audio, if you’re interested in SE.
The second track is the CDS Mix L, R, C and LFE channels. with Lionsgate 2015 SE scenes spliced in for L, R, C and LFE, combined with Lionsgate 2015 for rear surround channels, and the additional surrounds from the German Ultimate Edition, with volume adjusted accordingly to match the CDS. Most people would consider this blasphemous, but if you want that original mix with 7.1, use this 😛
I have the Lionsgate 2015 5.1 audio as the default selected track.
Sorry if any of that was confusing. Just message if you want any further clarification.
SCREENSHOTS
Yes. I just noticed this on YouTube myself. I plan on splicing this footage into the Blu-ray, but would love the source files to work with. The only way to try and contact the uploader is by commenting on the YouTube video as far as I can tell. Maybe if enough of us comment asking for the source file, then they’ll upload it? 😛