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Nerfherder

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Join date
3-Jan-2010
Last activity
22-Aug-2011
Posts
139

Post History

Post
#480223
Topic
Max Rebo band SE
Time

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

I agree. Jedi Rocks is the single most egregious change to the OT, and the one segment of the SE that is absolute unwatchable junk. While I disagree with all of the changes, I can understand them. But this one is incomprehensible to me.

For one thing, it is inconceivable that music in Jabba's Palace, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, that they would have the exact same Vegas show music as we have, with blues riffs and Tower of Power horn arrangements. And secondly, the CGI is utterly embarrassing. The fact that it is actually in the movie is the most solid proof of George's insanity, IMHO.

 

You're so right! What I loved about the Cantina sequence in Star Wars was it SOUNDED other-worldly (even with the steel drums lol!). Lapti-nek didn't in Jedi (which I was slightly narked about even in '83), and Jedi Rocks sounds completely Vegas. They didn't even attempt to 'disguise' the sound of any instruments to make it sound like it was from some other galaxy. Very very lazy and beyond cheesy in its execution!

What bugs me even more than the OTT snootles is the frankly SHITE costume of 'Lady Greedo'! I remember seeing production stills from before the SE came out (when I was still excited by the prospect of the SEs and Star Wars back on the big screen at last!) and marvelling how BAD that costume looked. They should have left her out completely. You can SEE the wrinkles in the suit in some scenes. It was obviously slightly too big for the dancer - Terrible!

If they'd only replaced Snooty with a photo-realistic CGI update, but kept Lapti-nek at least, and not gone OTT with in your face close ups I think I would have been fine with the updated scene...

The ONLY SE change I like in this sequence is the red-haired dancer. Whroaarrrr ;)

Post
#479820
Topic
.: LeeThorogood's Original Trilogy Replica Technicolor Project :. (Released)
Time

Wow those shots look even better than before - bravo!

It's almost worth doing the whole film with those settings, and just re-colouring the title crawl, if need-be. Lest we forget that the opening crawl plus first shot of the SD flying overhead from the GOUT is from a different source to the rest of the film (i.e. the spliced in original pre-episode IV crawl), so it's probably not surprising that portion would be out compared to the rest of the transfer. I doubt Lucasfilm did much - if anything - to match it to the rest of the GOUT, given their track record with this release...

Post
#478374
Topic
.: LeeThorogood's Original Trilogy Replica Technicolor Project :. (Released)
Time

At the risk of playing devil's advocate here, I personally think the colours look great now! Very VERY close to the colours from that Technicolor film print (which afterall was the intent of this project/thread) and also many film stills I have from various publications. I think the film did have a bit of a green tint towards it.

My only nit-pick is there seems to be rather a lot of DNR on that shot of R2 and 3PO in the corridor, but perhaps that's just bacause the screencap is fairly small?

I'd say keep the colours personally!

 

- John

Post
#477508
Topic
Puggo Strikes Back! (Released)
Time

Oh wow awsome news! I love watching the Puggo Grande so this has me very excited indeed!

I think a DVD-9 is definitely the way forward. Those mpeg encoders have a hard enough time of it with clean film stock; with all the dust and dirt on these 16mm prints (meaning the image is always moving as far as the encoders are concerned... always in motion is the Puggo - Ha!) I think those encoders need every ounce of disc space possible to keep the bit rate as high as possible.

I'd love to see the Puggo Grande on a DVD-9, though I realise this would take yet more time to do. Uh - us greedy Star Wars fans eh?!

Watching the Puggo Grande is so evocative of how I remember screenings at our local flea-pit, with Star Wars of course being the screening which stands out in my memory the most. That disc bought it all back :)

Post
#476934
Topic
THX 1138 "preservations" + the 'THX 1138 Italian Cut' project (Released)
Time

msycamore said:

Just wanted you guys to know that, Nerfherder kindly offered to send me his capture of the UK LD of THX 1138, so now we have all three letterbox transfers to work with! according to him, the UK transfer should have less haloing and edge enhancement than the US transfer, so it could prove to be very useful! Thank you, you scruffy looking Nerfherder! ;)

No problem - hope you guys find it of some use. Was watching it last night and it really doesn't look too bad at all. Was transferred using a Pioneer CLD-2950 LD player, and a Panasonic stand-alone DVD recorder. Pretty good quality Pro-fi Gold video interconnects, and Van Den Hul 'The Name' for the audio. Wish I could remember the model number of the DVD recorder but that's long gone in the old memory banks alas.

Well send that off to you tomorrow.

- John

Post
#476154
Topic
.: LeeThorogood's Original Trilogy Replica Technicolor Project :. (Released)
Time

It must have been from a less than ideal video source then - something they found in 'the vaults' -  rather than freshly minted for the GOUT release...

Anyway I digress - it's just always bugged me and I'd never seen it mentioned before. At least I know now my eyes aren't deceiving me ;)

I bet it looks fab, and that bit sharper when actually moving unlike a screen capture.

This is the kind of fan restoration I bought my video projector for ;)

 

Post
#476142
Topic
.: LeeThorogood's Original Trilogy Replica Technicolor Project :. (Released)
Time

Is it just me, or is there evidence of halo-ing and a little video colour-shift (smearing to the right) going on with the engines of the Tantive IV at the very beginning of the GOUT? I noticed this when I first got the DVDs, and it's only evident on the section containing the original crawl that was spliced in...

- John

Post
#476103
Topic
.: LeeThorogood's Original Trilogy Replica Technicolor Project :. (Released)
Time

Well that being the case I think you should be congratulated for finally showing what the GOUT is capable of given the video tools currently available.

I still remember the day I purchased the Empire 'Faces' LD back in 1995 and being quite crest-fallen how drab it looked (probably the worst of the bunch in terms of its drained colour palette) after all the hype. I remember Star Wars was a little better, but now it looks as it should have done all those years back...

I bet it looks even better still in motion ;)

Post
#476090
Topic
.: LeeThorogood's Original Trilogy Replica Technicolor Project :. (Released)
Time

Awsome-zilla!!! However  - and please don't think I am nit-picking - I think just a TAD more colour would bring it closer to those Technicolor print shots, unless it's my laptops screen of course...

At any rate it's leaps and bounds better than the stock 2004 GOUT, and shocking that Lucasfilm couldn't even be bothered to do a basic colour correction to it like you have here for its release. Just goes to show what some love for this film and technical competency with video tools can reveal.

I salute your technical prowess, Sir!

:D

Post
#476021
Topic
Wanted: The 1983 'TVS' UK Premiere of Star Wars
Time

none said:

There is a clip of the intro/promo bumper on youtube.  Can ask the user if they're up for a trade.

 

Haven't had much luck with this process but you never know.

There's a preservation which pulls together a bunch of these television broadcast intros/bumpers into dedicated SW commercial breaks:

http://noneinc.com/SWUE/SWUE-FAQ.html

 

Good luck with your search, am also searching for old televised broadcasts.

Hey None!

Thanks for that link and sorry for the late reply, I haven't visited this site for a while.

Still searching for anyone with a VHS or Beta recording of the TVS premiere of Star Wars. Please PM if you have a copy, or would like yours transferred.

- N

Post
#476019
Topic
What does the blu-ray set have to offer?
Time

msycamore said:

pittrek said:

To see the Biggs scenes in "normal" quality is for me a reason to buy it.

I do not blame you, but unfortunately that is one of the reasons Lucasfilm can continue on with the suppression of the original films.

Anybody else think it's sort of twisted/weird that they'll not release the original trilogy, BUT will release deleted scenes from the OT and most likely in HD too!!!? Just makes no sense, unless it also contains the deleted scenes that were changed for the SE's!

I'm still clinging to the idea that perhaps - just perhaps - they may include as deleted scenes all the original shots they cut out for the SE changes. This could well appear on the extra bluray disc available only with the 9 disc set. These extras would then ensure that many of us OT fans would end up buying it just for those scenes. So we wouldn't get the original trilogy versions per-se, but we would have all the un-changed scenes in HD quality. At this point this is the only way I can see George grudgingly giving people what they want, but not the way they want it.

Yeah I know it's probably wishful thinking... but surely George must realise he's running out of ways to keep selling & re-selling the same old shit time and time again.....

Fingers and toes crossed!

Post
#459063
Topic
Star Wars coming to Blu Ray (UPDATE: August 30 2011, No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!)
Time

digitalfreaknyc said:

Nerfherder said:

I can't believe people are judging a future (a year off still?!) bluray release on some screen caps from a documentary! There's every chance they - the makers of the documentary - grabbed what was available AT THE TIME when making it. Wouldn't surprise me if Lucasfilm are going through the films in order, or at least prequals first as they'd need less work than the originals in terms of bringing them to bluray. They're probably working on the originals now which is why they had to use the current transfers in that documentary.

It's not over till it's over, and a lot can happen in a year.......!

To pronounce you know what the new bluray transfers will look like from watching a documentary is pretty far-fetched IMHO and more than a little reactionary!

 Awww...how idealistic of you.

If you don't think the films from this set are done at this point, you're kidding yourself.

...and how very paranoid of you.

To be honest I'm done with this place - it's no longer fun to hang around here as an old-school fan. Very cliquey and utterly obsessed with fault finding, even to the point of ripping apart a set that has yet to be released and is a year away.

Enjoy your nit-picking folks (cue smart ass retort or oh so funny facepalm gif or animation from the usual suspects). I think I've just had enough of it all for now, the changes to the OT, AND the constant whinging too... off to read the news and get things back in perspective.

Clear skies!

Post
#459062
Topic
ATTENTION: Dayv needs our help
Time

PaulisDead2221 said:

I did not appreciate somebody's comment about "karma" that seemed to be insinuating that the proper karmic "balance" to this situation is for you to actually get cancer

That wasn't my attention at all - I meant if you lie about something, it'll catch up with you in the end - that's what I meant by the Karma comment. And how dare you insinuate that I would wish cancer on anyone, especially after I posted that I know people that have died from it (people I loved). I'm awaiting an MRI result myself...

This whole situation is a mess, as is this thread. I gave a donation in good faith. The next day it's apparently refunded. I go onto the forums and read all about this situation. A situation to me that smells fishier by the minute I have to say. So far no proof has yet been posted - I know if it was me in this situation I'd go and get some scannable proof asap to clear this up like a docs note or something especially since its gotten to the stage of donations/refunds...

Out of here for good.

Post
#458936
Topic
ATTENTION: Dayv needs our help
Time

Came on here earlier as I'd been send a PayPal refund email by a David *****. Didn't recognise the name until I saw the mangler bros email address.

Then I came here and have just finished reading up about all this - wow!

Not sure what to think at this precise moment, but having known people that have died from Cancer, and people that have also managed to beat it, I am stunned that anyone could have the audacity to accept donations on a forum if they were faking it. Of course by the looks of things some members - including myself - have been refunded. I'm not sure what to make of that either - admission of guilt, or not?

If Davy has indeed got cancer then I still wish him all the very best with the treatment. If he hasn't... well I guess Karma gets there in the end.

J

EDIT: Had a PM from PSYCHO-DAVY asking me to edit his full name. Have to say this has increased my suspicion about this whole situation, but I've done what he asked. Anyone who fancies doing their own google search on his name can check their PayPal refund notices.....

Post
#458525
Topic
ATTENTION: Dayv needs our help
Time

Very sorry to hear about this Davy. It's disgraceful that you can't get the healthcare. We often moan about our NHS here in the UK, but at least we do get some free care - it's put things into perpspective for me as I'm suffering from a long-term illness at the moment & unable to work.

One thing I would say, don't take your prognoses as gospel. Western medicine rules out 'miracles' but they can/do happen. As someone else posted, Dirk Benedict is living proof of this. Change diets, and more importantly (and hard to do, I realise) try your very best to be positive and say to yourself, "I'm not going to let this get the better of ME". Fight it. Science does begrudgingly concede that there is a link between your mental wellbeing, and your physical. So arm yourself with that knowledge.

Wishing you all the very best, and I'll go make a donation now.

Diet & positive thinking, plus all the good vibes being sent your way from this forum - you'll make it ;)

 

- John

Post
#456603
Topic
Star Wars coming to Blu Ray (UPDATE: August 30 2011, No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!)
Time

I can't believe people are judging a future (a year off still?!) bluray release on some screen caps from a documentary! There's every chance they - the makers of the documentary - grabbed what was available AT THE TIME when making it. Wouldn't surprise me if Lucasfilm are going through the films in order, or at least prequals first as they'd need less work than the originals in terms of bringing them to bluray. They're probably working on the originals now which is why they had to use the current transfers in that documentary.

It's not over till it's over, and a lot can happen in a year.......!

To pronounce you know what the new bluray transfers will look like from watching a documentary is pretty far-fetched IMHO and more than a little reactionary!

Post
#447639
Topic
Info Wanted: Some questions about converting vinyl records to digital....
Time

I'm afraid for decent LP to digital transfers one must forget those USB turntables. You really need to do research into proper hi-fi decks using sites like www.vinylengine.com and http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/ as well as others.

The mistake MANY people make is using an average turntable, a cheap needle and then expecting miracle results by using software to 'fix' the noise and problems. This WILL NOT result in a decent sounding transfer. It's FAR better to get a very good deck and cartridge, into an average soundcard and do little to no digital tweaking to get the purest sound. Many people use shitty decks, and good soundcards expecting miracles - I'm afraid this won't work.

All turntables are not the same, and you need to spend money to get good sound from them unfortunately. At the VERY least - and we are talking a budget deck here - you need to look at something like a Rega P3 turntable and a Rega or Goldring cartridge. If you want better sound go on to something like a Michell Gyrodec, though those are considerably more expensive. When I did the original 7FN transfers I used a Garrard 301 which is a 50s deck and is still considered one of the very best even today once serviced. To get a deck that good today you'd need to spend around £2000...

Of course one can go second-hand to get good sound - look at decks like Thorens TD150 or Technics SL-10 for reasonably priced superb decks, and ask on hi-fi forums about decent cartridges. LP is INCREDIBLY sensitive and is not like CD. Pops, clicks and rumble CAN be almost non existant with a decent deck and cartridge (and a clean record of course!). Unfortunately many cheap decks emphasise the faults of vinyl. You need the most expensive deck you can possibly get to get decent sound. It needs to be setup correctly too which means decent support shelves which stop vibration getting to the sensitive needle. Cartridge aligned properly which is an artform in itself. Again this costs money. There is no cheap way around this unfortunately. People spend thousands on turntables to get decent sound.

Next you need a decent phono-stage (plugging a turntable into a normal input you'll get very faint sound. You need a special stage to correct this). Again cheap stages = cheap sound. You need to spend at least £50 as a bare minimum to get a decent sound. I use a Trichord Dino + and even this is considered by many to be a budget item...!

The last thing is the vinyl itself. You need to search for a mint pressing. And once you have one you need to get it professionally cleaned (Google is your friend here - google Keith Monks or Nitty Gritty cleaners). I was lucky to get a brand new, sealed pressing of Empire recently and I'll be using that for 7FN v.2 transfers at some point in the future. After buying 3 copies of Star Wars I have one I am happy with now and will be using that also.

There really is no substitute for a decent deck, and I hope the above has been of some help. Lastly, here's a few links of decent turntable manufacturers with decks that don't cost tooooo much:

http://www.rega.co.uk/index2.htm

http://www.project-audio.com/

http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/hfw/featureshtml/turntableroundup.html

http://www.decks.co.uk/products/technics/sl1200

Remember: Deck first, Arm/cartridge second, Phono-stage third, digital processing (if any) LAST! Not the other way around. Digital trickery cannot be a substitute for the original sound with a decent turntable...

Happy spinning!

Post
#434317
Topic
Star Wars coming to Blu Ray (UPDATE: August 30 2011, No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!)
Time

I'm starting to think - with all due respect to this website - that this shouldn't be the place to air our misgivings about the impending Blu-ray release. We're arguing in a vacuum on this site - we need to discuss this on EVERY blu-ray review site that's out there, as THAT is where the powers that be look to gauge public reaction. As far as this site is concerned they'll just consider it the whinging of a few hardcore fans that are impossible to please and would congregate here anyways. If the discussions are spread the length and breadth of blu-ray internet land I think we have a far better chance of possibly instigating some change.