Mango

Been working on this project again. Expect a blu-ray iso in the near future.

Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news is, I have made the tough decision to re-do all the upscales and pretty much completely backtrack. I hope you guys aren’t disappointed,I just want to make sure that this project will be the absolute best it can be. This means that the project Has been delayed to late June, or early July.

The good news is that I’ve decided to release the “We’re All DEVO” film as a standalone DVD, just so you guys can have something to hold you over. The film will still be included on the final blu-ray, but I thought it would be fun to make a DVD version as this film has been out of print for many years, and has never been released on DVD.

Below you will find restored artwork, (an uncompressed version comes with the project) and a few screen grabs from the slight upscale I did. (It will look less pixelated on the blu-ray). Please note that side 2 of the source laserdisc had a small amount of bit-rot, but it doesn’t really affect the viewing experience.

Again, sorry for the delay. Please bare with me. I promise it will all be worth it in the end.

~ mango

PM me for a copy of the “We’re All DEVO” DVD.

SilverWook said:

How about the “hidden frame” on the TCTAD Laserdisc? I’m still impressed they made that impossible to view in CAV mode.

Hidden frame? Do tell.

I have decided to not include all the photo galleries, as they really aren’t that important. Also, the “We’re All Devo” laserdisc has finally arrived!

ray_afraid said:

quick mockup of a cover if you’re interested…

far from finished, but that’s the idea…

I love it! I’ll use it for sure!

Here’s another update.

I decided to back track and work on improving the restorations overall. The good news is I won’t have to wait to upscale them again, since I’ve already done so. A bit of troubling news though, I bought a laserdisc copy of “We’re All Devo” specifically for use in this project. Even thought I ordered it at the beginning of the month, it’s still not here. However this could be due to several things.

With this coronavirus stuff going on, I imagine the postal service is running slower, and may be understaffed. It’s just strange because the disc is supposedly at my local post office, but the tracking info hasn’t updated in 4 days. I know it can’t be the seller’s fault, as I’ve ordered many laserdiscs from him and he always ships as fast as possible.

Since I’m doing a lot of backtracking anyway, it doesn’t really matter. This project should still be done by the end of the month or early next month.

• mango

Oops. I just remembered there is a video for the song “Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man)”. It will be included as well.

Hey everyone. Just wanted to give a quick update.

I’ve got most of the main videos restored, 17 out of 26 to be exact, and I’d say at this rate the project should be ready later this month. Still waiting on a laserdisc of “We’re All DEVO” to arrive, but it should get here by Monday.

This may be my most ambitious project to date, and I’m very thankful for all who are interested. Since I have to upscale most of the videos, it has taken longer than it would to restore from HD sources. On my computer, it takes about an hour per minute of upscaling. I have to say the results are turning out very good. Better than I thought they would in fact.

I still have a few of the main videos to finish, then it will just be a matter of doing the bonus features, some of which may be a little tricky. After everything’s ready, it will be released as a Blu-Ray iso, hopefully without too much compression.

Thanks for all your support.
~ Mango

Here’s another update.

2 old DEVO compilations from 1979 & 1983 respectively will be included as bonus features, (in standard def). Here’s the original artwork for each restored for use in the blu-ray menus.

“The Men Who Make The Music” (1979)

“We’re All DEVO” (1983)

Here’s “The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprize”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7W8jaIkEiI

Here’s a comparison of Booji Boy as he appears in “The Truth About De-Evolution”.

“I say Whip It!”

Here’s a before and after comparison of Satisfaction.

jordan200 said:

Mango I sent you a PM about a 1080p copy of Freedom of Choice I capped from TV recently.

I looked at it earlier today, and unfortunately, it doesn’t really look any better than the laserdisc, plus it has titles at the beginning of the video which makes it not usable. I’d like to thank you for sending it however, and it can be used as reference material for the color correction. Thank you so much for the contribution. 😃

Sorry for the lack Of updates recently.

I was just about to ship the reels when the quarantine period started. With this Coronavirus thing going on, I’ve decided to wait until after the quarantine ends to ship the reels. I promise this project WILL happen this year, and I’m very sorry for the constant delays. Thank you to everyone who has donated. I will be sure to include a special thanks to every one of you when the project is completed.

Again, I apologize for the delays. Thank you for understanding.

~ Mango

The blu-ray is ready! PM me if interested in acquiring the edit. 😃

Starting work on new restorations soon. After reviewing them, I agree that they can be improved.

This project will also serve as a memorial for Jack Sheldon, (One of the singers for Schoohouse Rock) who passed away just before the new year.

Work on this project will continue hopefully around Spring. Stay Tuned! 😃

I have started continuing work on this project. I should have the blu-ray ready soon. 😃

Happy New Year! The Blu-ray Iso for this project is uploading right now! See first post for details. 😃

Notelu said:

I personally think the originals look better, in your upscale the aspect ratio is wrong, the colors are all off, the outlines are too thick, the blacks are more of a gray, and it overall just looks blurry. Also you rendered to 60fps instead of 23.976.

1. The aspect ratio is the same, just cropped slightly to remove video artifacting on the edges.
2. The colors are more like technicolor film, and are probably closer to how the original film versions looked.
3. The outlines are sharpened, not thickened.
4. The blacks appear quite black on my screen, so I’m not sure what you mean by that.
5. The blu ray will be encoded at 23 fps, so it doesn’t really matter if the raw file is 60 fps.
6. Denosing can cause a slightly blurry look, but its better than having a bunch of pixellated noise all over the image.

You’re welcome to restore these yourself if mine aren’t good enough for your tastes.

You can now watch the restoration of “The Preamble” on Youtube. Consider this a trailer of sorts. 😃

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byJuKwDuniU

Please note that this is the Enhanced Stereo version. Both Mono and Stereo versions will be available where applicable. Also, youtube’s compression does pixellate the video somewhat, and the raw file looks better than this.

Each short will have a restored mono soundtrack. Color correction is being handled very carefully for each short. They will all be mastered in 2K. The main source will be the Laserdisc releases from 1995. Only shorts from 1973 to 1979 will be included, though Computer Rock will be a bonus feature. Bonus features will be in SD and will not go through full restorations.

Bonus features will include:

1973 ABC Bumper
Emmy Awards Featurette
“The Simpsons” Parody
Computer Rock (1984)

It’s finished! PM me for the link.

Well, I have the money for the scan, but the shipping cost is a little steep at the moment, so I may have to re-open donations for a short time. This time I’d only need about 100. The 200 for the scan is already taken care of.