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SpacemanDoug

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Join date
3-Nov-2018
Last activity
18-Mar-2024
Posts
554

Post History

Post
#1581479
Topic
Info/Help Wanted: Dracula (1931) with original ending?
Time

crissrudd4554 said:

By most accounts there aren’t any surviving prints of the film with the epilogue intact. What little has survived is not enough for a full restoration. This is why the epilogue is only shown in brief clips in the documentary on the DVD/BD.

In fact it was actually a miracle that the flower girl scene from Frankenstein was found fully intact, considering it was cut from the negative and destroyed soon after

What was used in the current restoration was from some print in the UK that happened to have it, it has noticeably worse quality than the rest of the movie and you can even see the quality shift in the next scene after it cuts back to the lower generation footage (idk what element they used for the rest of the movie)

Post
#1580103
Topic
Info Wanted: Duel Aspect Ratio
Time

It works both ways, however the 4K has some issues with it

The theatrical cut being the shortened 2003 cut used since the DVD release, with various small trims throughout, but unlike before the mono mix this time was excluded as an option so you’re now stuck with the remix

The TV cut is also included in its first ever home video release but an SD source was used and it was AI sharpened really badly

Post
#1573742
Topic
Drake and Josh - Missing Episodes Preservation
Time

It’s very well known that, while it varies depending on whatever platform the show is on, there are a total of 7 episodes that have consistently been missing on any platform (Paramount+ as of now is the most complete in this regard, as it’s only these 7 that are missing). The reason each of these episodes are missing varies, either featuring a song, a song performance by a guest, or a guest appearance of a celebrity. Two of the missing episodes are from season 1 and five of them are from season 2. Now while TV captures of these episodes exist, they’re marred with problems like station logos and how they’re all missing their end credits sequences (with the exception of a capture I found of the pilot). The reason for the latter is due to how they’re captured mostly from US broadcasts and those broadcasts almost never aired the full credits sequences, despite airing with them intact internationally.

Missing Episodes:
-Pilot (released on DVD minus one song change)
-Dune Buggy (released on DVD minus one song change)
-Guitar (TV capture required)
-Number 1 Fan (released on DVD)
-Driver’s License (TV capture required)
-Blues Brothers (TV capture required)
-The Gary Grill (supposedly released on a Latin American DVD but otherwise a TV capture would be required)

My goal is to possibly acquire captures of these episodes with their credits sequences intact and hopefully logo free. This should be easy for at least a few of these missing episodes, as there were a couple of DVD editions released that contained them (though the pilot and Dune Buggy each did have a song change so I’ll still need a TV capture for the audio of at least one scene from both). If anyone has any source then please feel free to respond or PM me with your sources.

Post
#1568414
Topic
Beverly Hills, 90210 - with original music (Released)
Time

aubrelynn said:

Can anyone confirm that they have actually received the “link” everyone is asking for? I’ve PM’d SpacemanDoug also but have doubts this is legit. Sorry for being a skeptic… just seems odd you have to sign up for the platform and send a private message just to get the link that he’s giving out to everyone who asks? Why not just post it here on this thread for everyone to see?

It’s against policy to publicly share links like that on the forums, I rarely ever check this thread anymore which is why I prefer people PMing me over responding to this thread

Post
#1564817
Topic
The Terminator (1984) - Original Theatrical Mono Preservation (Released)
Time

David Jay said:

MGM recently published this clip on YouTube and I thought it might be of some interest to members here. These clips from The Terminator look very different to the current Blu-Ray master; some good detail but overall looking rather soft, lacking contrast, and with a heavily desaturated colour palette. The black level looks greyish and “milky.” The colour grade lacks the teal emphasis of the 2012 Blu-Ray.

I wonder what elements this was sourced from. It almost looks like a totally ungraded scan from the camera negatives or perhaps an interpositive. The overall look is vaguely reminiscent of some of the early home video masters, but in widescreen HD.

Perhaps this is the raw scan done for a 40th anniversary reissue due next year. If that’s right, I hope a high quality copy of the original theatrical mono soundtrack will be included too. I’d also welcome an isolated soundtrack option for Brad Fiedel’s synthesizer score.

The Milan CD includes the wrong version of Escape from the Police Station, and the mastering for some reason is quite rolled off in the high end. Maybe an attempt to reduce tape hiss, but I think they went a bit overboard in that regard leading to an overly dark tonal balance. It lacks top end sparkle compared to the earlier Edel CD, which I think is better in terms of sonics… but wrong artistically as Fiedel has pointed out. He had no say in the mix done for that CD, and the end result didn’t reflect all the detailed editing he carried out during the postproduction and dubbing process back in 1984 for the film itself.

https://youtu.be/aQaHOqFGrgg?si=UUEqWf9jzMjKQfN8

That is not what it is at all, that’s very much a very poorly SDR converted version of an HDR grade, I’ve seen the effect before

However that could only mean a 4K master was completed

Post
#1564809
Topic
Michael Jackson - Long Live The King (Complete Videography) [4K Upscale] - Work In Progress
Time

I can see how the AI program is making it sharper and better in some places but it’s also hurting other parts

The biggest example is his sweater in the second cap and his smaller figure in the third looks like watercolors now, so I’d suggest just being careful of the amount of times you use it

Post
#1552645
Topic
Info: Mono soundtracks that were butchered with 5.1 remixes in later releases
Time

Conanne said:

Sorry for bumping a thread with no activity in months, but I figured I might share some extra context regarding the mixes of Akira (1988) some brought up earlier.

Akira had 2 mixes prepared for it’s theatrical release. A Dolby track for 35mm screenings and 6-track mix for 70mm screenings. Neither of which were ever released on home video, there are a few rare screener VHS copies that were probably based on the theatrical Dolby mix distributed to various employees within the industry, but that’s it.

Akira was also released practically unfinished as there were a lot of photography errors that had to be gradually fixed after the initial theatrical release. Along the way changes were also made to the film’s sound mix, the Electric Media dub released in the US by Streamline was based on this revised version too. So even the most early offical LD release is not 100% accurate to what the initial release was like (though it is the closest). The unfinished theatrical version has actually been screened in Japanese theatres at least a few times according to Twitter users who’ve attended those screenings. Some even said the initial version was going to be included on the 4K Blu Ray, but something happened to prevent it happening, I’d have to go looking for some of the posts though…

Some others I’ll add:

Thunderbirds (1965):
TV show was remastered in 5.1 surround in the early 2000s. Replaces sound effects such explosions, rocket engines, crashes and car engines. Only official releases with the mono tracks are of poor quality because they’re from inferior sources than what was used for the remasters. Some foreign dubs like the Swedish dub are based on the pre-remaster M&E tracks though. The 2 films were thankfully not affected by this because their copyrights are owned by different distributors IRRC.

Genma Taisen (1983):
5.1 track adds extra sounds into scenes with explosions and extra foley. Japanese BD has the theatrical track but I haven’t been able to find a copy of it myself. English dub is based on the pre-remaster M&E track though.

One thing I did find out about Thunderbirds was the original mixes were restored to the Shout! Factory releases

Post
#1550507
Topic
American Graffiti - Original Cut Restoration (Mechanical Assistance/Telecine Experts Needed!) (* unfinished project *) - lots of information...
Time

MarkQ said:

I new here and it’s obvious I’m not in the right thread. That said, the discussion is about alternate versions of the American Graffiti so I have a question related to the various copies of this film. The version I saw in a theater in 1974 differs slightly from the Blue Ray print I recently purchased from Amazon. The difference I noted is that in the closing sequence where Suzanne Somers calls the pay phone at Mel’s Drive In, Richard Dreyfuss is gone and the camera pans in on the ringing phone which is never answered. Was there ever an added scene version where he does answer the phone? From the other postings I note the clouds were added and Ford’s song in the car appears in different versions. Can some of the expert editors weigh in on this? Thanks in advance.

Idk what you’re talking about because he answers the phone in the 1973 and 1978 cuts

Post
#1549280
Topic
Idea & Info: The Exorcist (Original Theatrical Release)
Time

SlacktoryRecords said:

The forthcoming 4K disc from Warner is not looking promising, if the trailer they released is anything to go on. The final sequence is even BLUER than on the Blu-ray. I expected this for the Extended Director’s Cut, but some are saying it’s likely they used the same color grade for the “Original Theatrical Cut” (what a misnomer THAT is, if true). Apparently nothing is sacred.

Any hope for a 4K reconstruction once the discs are in-hand? At least it comes with the original mono this time.

Don’t ever rely on a YT video for the color grading of a 4K master

Yes it does look like the blue grading is still present but I bet the 4K disk itself will be a lot better

Post
#1545396
Topic
The Terminator (1984) - Original Theatrical Mono Preservation (Released)
Time

gameinn2 said:

Can anyone help me get my head around this? Am I right with the following:

So in early 2000s the MGM DVD of this had the mono track but it was deemed slightly different to the Laserdisc version.

In 2006 the Terminator came to Blu-ray (MPEG-2) without the mono tracks and this annoyed people. Was it not a direct sync with the MGM DVD either?

In about 2012 again the film got put out on Blu-Ray but this time it was a MPEG 4 AVC with much higher bitrate. This is the version people want the mono track for?

The 2001 MGM DVD utilizes the international mono mix rather than the US one

However, outside of the 1991 laserdisc (which contains the US mix), it sounds the best regarding fidelity, all other mono mastering (including the 1995 and 1997 Image releasee) have noise reduction and sound noticeably worse

Post
#1545016
Topic
Friday Night Lights (Extended Episodes)
Time

DJPitaB said:

UPDATE:
While looking over these episodes with @SpacemanDoug, we discovered that there are extended versions of every episode in season 3. There is also an extended version of the series finale. However, the rest of the episodes (all of season 4 and all but the final episode of season 5) appear to have the same episode runtimes as the versions that were released on blu-ray. (I’ve edited my original post to reflect this.)

That being said, every episode I’ve checked from seasons 3, 4, & 5 has altered music on blu-ray (& streaming) compared to what originally aired.

I have started the process of restoring season 3. I’ve completed the first episode, and I have mixed feelings about the end result. I’ve tweaked the upscaling settings to achieve the closest possible look to the 1080p versions on blu-ray, and many of the shots look very good; a few shots definitely do not. (When upscaling low resolution footage, close-up shots tend to look great, medium shots are hit-or-miss and wide shots with people’s faces in them often get weirdly distorted.)

As a proof of concept, I can make the completed version of episode 301 available to whomever is interested.

If there is enough interest in the complete season and/or seasons 4 & 5 with the original music, I will continue to work on this project. (It will certainly take a lot of time, as the process is quite tedious.) If not, I’ll probably put it on the back burner or abandon it. The additional footage and extended scenes are interesting to have access to, but they’re clearly not necessary for the enjoyment of the show. In my opinion, having just done the one episode so far, most of the DirecTV exclusive content adds very little.

For those interested in what was changed for episode 301, I’ve included the list of changes below. (Note: In order to preserve the original music, I used the stereo TV audio for the entire episode, except where noted.)

List of changes:
00:00:30-00:00:35 - Extended shot
00:03:37-00:03:40 - Extended shot
00:03:46-00:04:58 - Extended shots, additional footage
00:08:36-00:10:39 - Extended scenes, credits adjustments (the beginning of this section is perhaps the best example of how bad certain shots look when upscaled)
00:13:03-00:13:08 - Extended shot
00:14:26-00:14:29 - Additional footage
00:17:37-00:17:41 - Extended shot
00:18:37-00:18:41 - Additional footage, extended shot
00:19:54-00:20:27 - Extended scene
00:25:52-00:26:02 - Used ADR audio from blu-ray, which was recorded to correct a continuity error in the original dialogue
00:28:04-00:28:44 - Additional scene
00:41:17-00:41:36 - Extended shot, re-ordered scene
00:41:36-00:43:29 - Extended scenes
00:44:19-00:46:21 - Extended scene

For the altered opening credits, are you using the full frame or are you cropping the TV footage and overlaying it on top of the BD footage?

Post
#1543838
Topic
Taxi (1978-1983) - Seasons 4 and 5 uncut episodes preservation
Time

heathen3017 said:

OTRest said:

SpacemanDoug said:

DawnShadow said:

Jim’s Marios is still edited on Amazon via Paramount+ - I assume the regular Paramount+ version is edited too unless you can confirm otherwise?

Edit occurs at 18:05 - all of Alex playing the piano, singing etc. is gone

I guess that’s the unfortunate acception because P+ is edited too

Do you have a TV capture of that scene by any chance?

Good news! The missing scene in Jim’s Mario’s is included in Pluto’s free streaming version:

https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/series/613a6a0462aa0500144ef1d1/season/5/episode/6398f7491f9a4e0013885494

Can anyone confirm that there are no other cuts on the Paramount+ versions?

Can anyone capture this in 1080p and make it available?

it’s been released on myspleen

Post
#1539884
Topic
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Just Stupid Enough (Complete Videography) [WIP]
Time

Mango said:

After closer inspection of the 4K version of Eat It, it seems al was barely able to remaster that video, as the film elements were in poor condition. It seems to be a one time thing that was apparently only done for his new movie. The remaster is also missing a sight gag where Al’s breath causes the camera lens to fog up.

I’m sorry for the abrupt cancellation. That was my mistake. Project is still underway, and I hope to have some things ready soon.

Also as a result of the video being in 16x9 (including the black bars), all of the optical transitions are now in the 16x9 frame rather than the original 4x3 frame (most noticeable with the final “eyes” shot zoom, but it occurs a couple of other times before too)