Mango

Announcing PROJECT DEVO: REVIVED.

While Devo is in fact uploading remastered versions of their videos, there are some problems with them. In general there have been MAJOR improvements, but there have also been just as many NEW problems. I’m reviving my old project using the new remasters as a base, and fixing issues with them to ensure that the videos are the best they can be. Hopefully, I’ll have some stuff for you either later today or sometime tomorrow, along with some notes on what exactly was fixed for each video. The rest of the remasters will be gradually released, and are scheduled to be completed in November.

While there have been whispers of a blu-ray, no official confirmation has happened, and the people behind the new remasters seem to be desperate. The majority of work on the new restorations is being done by Peter Coneheim. When I saw a screening of some of the videos earlier this year, he seemed more hopeful than confident that a blu-ray will happen. Youtube may be all we get, and even then, what we’re getting still needs improvement.

Stay tuned for more info.

Duty now, Spuds!
~ Mango

I’m taking a break from this and all my other projects to focus on my mental health. For the past 10 years, I’ve been the victim of an intense case of online harassment, which is partially why I almost never finish my projects. In the past few days, it’s grown to the point where I may end up getting the authorities involved.

I don’t know if this is a retirement or not, but I’m not in a good enough mental state to continue working on my projects right now. It breaks my heart getting requests from people for projects that haven’t even been properly started, let alone finished. I feel like I’m betraying people by making empty promises.

In short, this and all other projects of mine are on hiatus, and any previous projects will no longer available from me.

I’m sorry.

~ Mango

stretch009 said:

Mango said:

Due to some unfortunate circumstances in the past few days, I have decided to no longer give out links to this project until further notice. I’ll let you know when if/when it will be available again.

How’s the Who Framed Roger Rabbit project coming along?

Still a work in progress. Been trying to finish some other stuff first, but I will get back to it someday.

Due to some unfortunate circumstances in the past few days, I have decided to no longer give out links to this project until further notice. I’ll let you know when if/when it will be available again.

Looking forward to this!

New version coming soon for Halloween, along with a restoration of The Making Of Thriller.

Sorry for the long hiatus from this project. I have an update for you all.

I finally managed to get a copy of the 4K release (which was surprisingly hard as it was out of stock on amazon for a long time), but I’ve decided to dial back the project just a bit. In preliminary tests, I was unable to recreate the theatrical color tinting, so I’ve decided to just release this project as the uncensored version in 4K without any additional color correction, (outside of HDR to SDR as per my own preference). It will also still have the original stereo track from the laserdisc.

The release will be sent out as both a 4K MKV file and a custom 1080p blu-ray ISO with chapters and a restoration of the original trailer. The blu-ray will also feature artwork based on the original poster, and the VHS release, with slight variations.

Hopefully I’ll be able to knock out this project within the next few days, and download links will be sent to everyone who has asked so far. I’m so sorry for the delay. I have a tendency to announce more projects than I can finish due to a constantly changing schedule as well as mental and physical health issues. I wish I could release more of my projects more often. From here on out, I wont be announcing any new projects until I’ve released the ones I’ve promised so far. I owe it to you guys for the support. 😃

~ Mango

Is it too late to get a link? Would love to see this.

This project was semi abandoned after the announcement that the Devo films are getting official restorations, but that all depends on what we get. Obviously, there wont be much that can be done beyond official remasters from the original negatives, so here’s an idea.

We know that the first few videos up to the Freedom Of Choice era are being released very soon. Devo made the official announcement at the beginning of the month, and according to Jeff Winner (one of the fellows in charge of the official remasters) they will all be released in batches. I get the feeling by the end of the year, we’ll have all of them.

So how about this. After the official remasters come out, since they’ll most likely be just the videos on their own, what if I were to do reconstructions of the 3 original compilation videos, “Devovision - The Men Who Make The Music”, “We’re All DEVO” and “The Complete Truth About De-Evolution” using the new remasters as a base? This all depends on if the Rod Rooter segments are released as well (and I know at least one of them will be). If not, just a simple matter of enhancing the best quality versions I have at my disposal.

Either way, if no one is interested in this idea, then I guess this project could be officially cancelled. It’s still a major win as we’re at least getting restorations of ANY sort. That in of itself is good enough for me.

Duty now!
~ Mango

ValenStudios said:

Take as much time as you need to get ahold of that release, though with this in mind, I now wonder…

Will the project now be utilizing any type of HDR or will it stick to SDR?

It’ll just be SDR, if that’s ok.

Sorry for the delay. I’ve decided to use the 4K blu-ray as my main video source insted of the blu-ray. But first, I have to buy it! Hopefully this will be ready early next month.

According to the trailer, today marks the 36th anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. What better day then to release a new fan remaster?

This version is color corrected to match the look of the original theatrical release, features all three censored shots in their unedited form, and the original stereo track. Release will come later today as both a folder with MKV files, and a blu-ray iso.

First Al-TV special now available via PM.

Working on this again, specifically the Al-TV and Al-Music specials as they are in my eyes the most important part of this project (these are being mastered in HD rather than 4K). I would use AI for everything, but its just not feasible with my schedule, so only the host segments and Al’s videos themselves are being upscaled for the specials. I decided to go the overkill route and rebuild each special from the ground up. For the first Al-TV, the host segments were taken from the master tape leak (only the first special has this) and upscaled in Topaz AI, a good amount of the videos were official HD versions with further enhancement by me, others were bootlegs of varying quality, some very poor that I did the absolute best I could without AI. I should note that some versions of the videos in my remasters may differ from the broadcast versions. In some cases, the audio had to be replaced from the album versions of songs. Several videos have transitions between them, which are harder to recreate than you’d expect. Finally, the original titles at the beginning and end of each video were remade digitally and timed exactly like the original. The entire thing was based on the only known complete recording of the original broadcast. I want it to be as if the original master were leaked in it’s entirety, not just the host segments. Doing just the first special took almost a day not counting the upscaling. This same formula will be used for the other specials. I’ll upload Al-TV #1 later tonight.

After so many delays, it’s finally ready! Version 2 (technically 3 since we skipped over version 2) is uploading now. PM me for a copy.

Work is resuming on this project. Dialed it back a bit with less intrusive upscales and HD masters instead of 4K. I’ve also decided to NOT use any of the official HD remasters as I don’t want to use as few sources as possible.

In the original theatrical release of Dracula, there was a post end card scene where Professor Van Helsing addresses the audience directly. He appears on a stage with a movie screen behind him and says:

“Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen! A word before you go. We hope the memories of Dracula and Renfield won’t give you bad dreams, so just a word of reassurance. When you get home tonight, and the lights have been turned out, and you are afraid to look behind the curtains — and you dread to see a face appear at the window — why, just pull yourself together and remember that after all, there are such things as vampires!”

Outside of a few stills and a brief clip from the Road To Dracula documentary, I have yet to see a release with this scene intact. I don’t have the 4K release, and I’m quite sure it’s not there either, but I’m inclined to believe there are prints out there with it. In fact, my parents attended a double feature screening of both Dracula and Frankenstein in the early 80s and both recall this scene. In fact, they were surprised to hear that it has never made it to a home video release.

Does anyone know of any collectors who may have a 35MM print of the film so we can see if this scene is included? I would love to know.

Here’s a page on the scene from the Lost Media wiki.
https://lostmediawiki.com/Dracula_(partially_found_epilogue_scene_of_Universal_horror_film;_1931)

Bringing this project back from the dead. See first post for update.

UPDATE: Decided to dial it back a bit to just HD upscales. 4K is kinda worthless without HDR. They’re still look better than the official versions.

When I was in elementary school, I spent many weekdays watching “The Stooges Slap Happy Hour” on SpikeTV. Still remember the catchy bumper all these years later. Of course nowadays, most people just watch Stooges on MeTV., So after wanting it for years, I decided to buy the complete DVD box set of all the Columbia Pictures “Stooge” shorts, only to learn that they were just released in HD for free on multiple platforms.
“I’m a victim of coycumstance! Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk…”

However, there’s only one place to watch them in 1080p (LocalNow), but the 720p versions on Tubi are slightly better quality. So utilizing the Tubi versions, I’m in the process of “upscaling” all the shorts from 1934 to 1959 in 4K. I don’t need to use AI for this project, as the sources are already pretty good, so just a little denoising, contrast correction, sharpening and regrain should work just fine, all mastered in 4K. I should note that I’m using real 4K film grain, with just a hint of digital to make it really look good. This project is much easier then the others I’ve done, so hopefully I’ll actually be able to get it done.

Release will be 4K MKV files separated in folders by year of release.

Here’s the famous title card from the first four shorts in glorious 4K.

I’ve been really manic the past few days. I’m worried something horrible is gonna happen but I don’t even know what. I feel like people are mad at me, but when I ask they say I’m paranoid. Not having a therapist is really wearing me out. I feel like Sarah Conner in Terminator 2, like I have something important to say but nobody is listening. I’ve been so bad today I’m having thoughts of self harm. Everyone is getting all excited for new years, but I feel like everything is about to collapse.

The Museum Of Modern Art is going to screen new restorations of numerous Devo videos in January, along with sneak peaks at upcoming restorations. It’s happening. My project might finally be put to rest.

https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9300

woodsyallen said:

Please, whatever you do, don’t make it 60 fps like every other MJ fan remaster…

I wouldn’t dream of it. They’re all at either 23 fps or 29 fps depending on what they were shot on.

Very little AI is being used, only one pass per video with fairly low settings. These screenshots are not final, so they may differ a little from what will be released.

While I agree AI is not ideal, its the only thing that can somewhat save such low quality videos. None of these are ever going to look absolutely perfect. Just trying my best with whats available.

This is a project I’ve been wanting to do since AI upscaling was first introduced several years ago. The project will have virtually every MJ video released during his career, as well as some bonus features like Making Of’s, Interviews, etc. Obvoiusly, Beat It and Thriller have been officially released in 4K, but I wasn’t too keen on the color correction on either one. Beat It was a little too warm, and Thriller has a strong blue tint that was never present before. Also not a fan of the remastered audio for either as they have a bit of a loudness war thing going on.

All videos will be sourced from numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases, and will include original uncut versions as well as alternate cuts and shortened versions. Below is a list of everything that will be included in the initial release. The bonus features will be done at a later date, but I’m hoping to get the first version out by Christmas.

“Off The Wall” Era:

1. Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough
2. Rock With You
3. She’s Out Of My Life

“Thriller” Era:

1. Billie Jean
2. Beat It
3. Thriller
4. Thriller (Shortened Version)

“Bad” Era:

1. Bad
2. Bad (Shortened Version)
3. The Way You Make Me Feel
4. The Way You Make Me Feel (Shortened Version)
5. Man In The Mirror
6. Dirty Diana
7. Another Part Of Me
8. Smooth Criminal
9. Smooth Criminal (Shortened Version)
10. Speed Demon
11. Come Together
12. Leave Me Alone
13. Liberian Girl

“Dangerous” Era:

1. Black Or White (Uncensored Version)
2. Black Or White (Graffiti Version)
3. Black Or White (Shortened Version)
4. Remember The Time
5. In The Closet
6. Who Is It
7. Jam
8. Heal The World
9. Give In To Me
10. Will You Be There
11. Will You Be There (“Free Willy” Version)
12. Gone Too Soon (Version 1)
13. Gone Too Soon (Version 2)

“HIStory” Era

1. Scream
2. Childhood
3. You Are Not Alone (Angel Version)
4. You Are Not Alone (Standard Version)
5. Earth Song
6. They Don’t Care About Us (Brazil Version)
7. They Don’t Care About Us (Prison Version)
8. Stranger In Moscow
9. Blood On The Dance Floor
10. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Mix)
11. Ghosts (Uncut Version)
12. Ghosts (Shortened Version)

“Invincible” Era:

1. You Rock My World
2. You Rock My World (Shortened Version)
3. Cry

All videos will be released in 4K and HD.

Screenshots:

Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough:

Rock With You:

She’s Out Of My Life:

Billie Jean:

Bad: