OmegaMattman

msycamore said:

Also, if you have access to the PAL discs of the GOUT, you could restore the few missing frames in the NTSC transfers and get rid of a few interlacing errors

Yes, I ordered the 6-disc PAL trilogy to use with my Hyperspace set, mainly for Jedi.  At the time, it was the same price as importing Jedi on its own.

I knew about the interlacing error in Jedi with the few frames of the Ewok, but hadn't spotted those two from Empire.  I wonder if my manual IVTC eliminated them.  I'll go back and check my Hyperspace masters to be sure.

Not sure if I'll fix the missing frames, since I was planning to sync the video up to the audio tracks I used on my Rebellion and Hyperspace sets.  Since I only have the AC3s and not my original WAVs, I really don't want to redo all of my audio from scratch.  A lot will depend on how quickly I can fix the various color and scanline problems.

Thanks for posting all of these screengrabs, msycamore.  I hadn't spotted anywhere near this many color problems.  The guys at Lucasfilm who worked on these original transfers should be embarrassed :/

I just started downloading the TBs on MySpleen.  I'll post some fixed samples whenever I'm able.

You read my mind, msycamore.  I'd been planning on fixing the Tie lasers in Empire, but wasn't aware of all that stuff in Jedi.  Nor had I seen those lights in SW behind Threepio.

Unfortunately, I don't have the TBs of Empire or Jedi, just the Flunk edition of SW.  I was planning to use the '04 discs, since I'd just be borrowing from the chroma channels while leaving the luma untouched.  But, I'll have to see about hunting down the TBs.  The more sources, the merrier ;)

Also, here are some early samples of the repaired Emperor hologram (with scanlines) in Empire.  The new source for the hologram is the luma from the "Faces" LaserDisc merged with the chroma from GOUT.  It's then integrated into the Anniversary video master via very generic rotoscoping (cookie cutter effect).  The lastest color revisions have also been applied.

Here are my latest tweaked samples for the previous screengrabs.

Thanks to everyone for the input.  Yeah, the current settings are a bit too green.  I'm still tweaking and will post revised samples later this week.

Although, I am still leaning towards increases in both the cyan and yellow ends of the spectrum instead of going purely white-balanced.  When I look at both GOUT and Hyperspace, that's what my eyes tell me are missing.

According to The Digital Bits, an official BD of The Abyss is in the works and may be available next year.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa202.html#031312

If you're not in a major rush, you may want to just wait for that release.

bkev said:
I kind of wish you would do your more recent corrections on an AVCHD...

I had thought about it...and I may still opt for a separate AVCHD companion set.  After all of the playback problems so many people had with Hyperspace, AVCHD left me a bit uncomfortable.

Since, I finished the Hyperspace Collection AVCHD last year, I'd been intending to release a standard-def DVD of that set, especially given all of the playback problems experienced by some users.  But, life got in the way...weeks turned into months...and I had "misplaced" the raw AVI masters.  So, I decided to leave things as they were.  Between Rebellion and Hyperspace, I was ready to move on to other projects.

About a month ago, I saw a video with political commentator Bill Whittle explaining the motivations behind Lucas' "Greedo shoots first" decision, as well as highlighting a few other comments Lucas had made comparing the Ewoks to the Viet Cong.  Well, it got me even more p***ed off about the official Blu-rays and lit a brand new fire under me to try my hand at GOUT one more (hopefully last) time.

After scouring through my backup hd, I found the raw AVIs for Hyperspace, but down-scaling them wasn't enough.  I wasn't happy with the color correction decisions I'd previously made and I really wanted to fix some of GOUT's bizarr-o problems (missing scanlines on the Emperor and split sabers).  Oh, and I wanted to try and reduce the aliasing a bit more.  But, Hyperspace was a better source to start with than straight-GOUT.

Anniversary Collection is currently a work in progress, though it should be available before the year is out.  If not, I'll need to rename it for obvious reasons ;)

Final specifications are far from being fully determined, but it will be NTSC DVD format, 16x9 enhanced.  Audio will be the same mixes used on the Rebellion and Hyperspace collections.  And, like Rebellion, it will include both the '77 and '81 cuts of Star Wars.

As for special features, I'm undecided...but it will at least have the same extras found on Hyperspace.

So far, I've completed the downscales of the Hyperspace material, improved (slightly) the anti-aliasing, and finished the bulk of the revised color timing (stil tweaking).  Obviously the color changes won't please everyone, but they do please me ;)

Early color comparison screenshots:

msycamore said:

OmegaMattman, thanks for the screenshots, I guess Laserman only talked about the first film then.

No problem.  This has me curious to double check my Faces copy of Star Wars as well.  It's in my pile of stuff to backup, so hopefully I'll know for sure in the next week or two.

I've been slowly making new backups of my LDs and just finished ESB Faces a few days ago.  Sorry for the ugliness.  These are taken from a raw capture.

ESB Faces LD, US Edition, NTSC:

myscamore said:

I'm not entirely sure about this but I think the Faces LD of Empire doesn't have the artifacting seen here: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Whats-missing-from-GOUT/post/463309/#TopicPost463309

I can confirm the saber artifacts are also in the NTSC Faces LD.  I was running a test combining their luma channels with the chroma from GOUT.  With exception to the scanlines on the Emperor, everything in Faces looked just about the same at first glance.

Thanks for the offer, djchaseb.  However, I just found them.

https://rapidshare.com/files/3026208319/HYPCover.rar

Shame about MegaUpload being shut down.  It was always my favorite spot for file uploads :/

Infinity said:

OmegaMattman said:

HYPERSPACE ART:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DJCJ4MBK

 

Any chance you could reupload these?  

 I'll have to find them on my back-up harddrive and get them uploaded again whenever I'm able.  My files are a bit disorganized at the moment.

If you can't wait for a new upload, they should be a part of the torrent on Demonoid.

Thanks for the feedback, djchaseb.


By the way, if anyone's interested, I will be releasing SD DVD versions of Hyperspace sometime in the next few months.  I was planning to put them together a while back (as an alternative to Rebellion), but became distracted with some other projects...that failed to turn-out the way I'd hoped :/

...these will be getting an offical Bluray boxset remastered.

Maybe in the UK and other territories, but not in the US.  Mad Max in Region A is owned by MGM/Fox, while The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome are Warner properties.

I have a feeling Warner is prepping a BD double-feature for movies 2 and 3 (since Road Warrior is now OOP in the States).  But, given how MGM's catalog is generally treated like leftovers by Fox, I wouldn't expect a real reissue of Mad Max anytime soon...save one of those "digibooks" Fox is so fond of :/

I've never understood why there have been so many playback problems with this set...but it reinforces why I do not ordinarily make AVCHD titles.

There are some solutions to the playback issues further back in this thread.  It's only a few pages, so they shouldn't be too difficult to find.

If all else fails, MKV versions have been released (Demonoid).  Their elementary video and audio streams are identical to the AVCHD versions, but they do not have the chapter stops.

Hyperspace and Rebellion both use the same 5.1 mixes.  They were created using a program called V.I. Stereo to 5.1 Converter.  The stereo source tracks were the '93 "Definitive" mixes.

So, I was looking these over...and I think I'm gonna go ahead and call this set done.  Apparently, "work in progress" now means "one more day" ;)

I made one minor tweak and double-checked the spelling...and unless someone spots an error, I'm satisfied with the final product.

Eventually if anyone is interested, I may upload a template for the 3rd cover, since some of these bonus discs may not be in everyone's collection.

I know the text is kinda small, so here's the break-down of what discs the set is currently designed for.

Cover 1 - Prequel Trilogy:
- Episode I Blu-ray
- Episode I DVD Disc 2
- Episode II Blu-ray
- Episode II DVD Disc 2
- Episode III Blu-ray
- Episode III DVD Disc 2

Cover 2 - Original Trilogy:
- Episode IV Blu-ray
- Episode IV DVD Bonus Disc (GOUT)
- Episode V Blu-ray
- Episode V DVD Bonus Disc (GOUT)
- Episode VI Blu-ray
- Episode VI DVD Bonus Disc (GOUT)

Cover 3 - Additional Features:
- Episodes I-III Archives Blu-ray
- Episodes IV-VI Archives Blu-ray
- Documentaries & Spoofs Blu-ray
- Trilogy Bonus Material DVD (from DVD boxed set)
- The Story of Star Wars DVD (Walmart exclusive)
- A Musical Journey DVD (packed with Episode III soundtrack)

Anyone who's interested can PM me for a download link.

Unfortunately, no.  They were low res scans I stumbled upon from the Executor boxed set that I tweaked in Photoshop to hide their defects.  If you want the original low res files, I'm sure I can upload them somewhere.

I've been working on a custom cover set for both the BDs and DVD bonus discs (mostly because I abhor that book-style cover we were given stateside).  I'll be happy to upload a full-resolution copy when it's finished if anyone is interested.  Right now, it's just a work in progress.

The final set will be designed for three 6-disc Vortex BD covers.

It's interesting that you bumped this thread now, Falcon.  I just noticed the other day that Warner's US Blu-Ray has drifted out-of-print.  I could be hoping against hope, but maybe they're planning a better edition.

I seem to remember reading some years back that a genuine Special Edition was being prepared...but then it never materialized :/

HYPERSPACE ART:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DJCJ4MBK

REBELLION ART:
http://rapidshare.com/files/438142856/CVRS2.rar

Thanks, Falcon :)  I'll see about getting in touch with them when I get further down the road.

Probably a 16x9 upscale to start with, since LD doesn't exactly scream HD.  Although, I'm not going to rule out something that uses the H264 compression, even if it's still standard-def.

As for sound, I'm not sure if the US LDs offered 5.1 audio.  Wasn't that only on the later Japanese copies?

In any case, my LD player doesn't 5.1 have 5.1 output.  So, if and when this proposed Rebellion follow-up starts rolling, I hope someone will be willing to help me get my hands on those '97 5.1 mixes.

However, I still have a few other custom-projects I've been working on in my downtime, so it will be a while before I ever get to these '97 cuts.