Love this movie. I'm sorry, did you say you synced the English audio to the Mondo already? Where did you end up getting the audio, and is it BitPerfect? Sorry for the multiple questions, but, if it is finished, I'd love to see it.
Chewtobacca said:
_,,,^..^,,,_ said: but a second version using the laserdisc as color reference could be interesting nevertheless!
It would certainly interest me.
I didn't mean to say up there that such a project would be useless, btw. If you're willing to do two projects of the same movie, Godspeed sir... it was only if you needed to pick one that I would say the THX should be the only project.
I'm impressed by the BBC's ability to keep their surprise Doctor Who projects under wraps. The lost episode rumors weren't specific or credible until about a week before the official announcement. And this just came out of bloody nowhere. Hope there are more surprises like this... Would really have loved to see Matt Smith regenerate completely unexpectedly, I guess they can do that when it's Peter Capaldi's turn.
They've done Night, and they're going to release Day: I hope they do Dawn of the Doctor :)
Dear Andrea, I believe that the general consensus is that the THX color timing is the one worth pursuing. Though the THX is probably not completely accurate to the 1978 color timing (in fact it may be quite revisionist), many seem to agree that it looks aesthetically the best. It seems using this timing would please most people.
The laserdisc, while possibly more accurate, does seem a bit brightness-boosted. Also, the colors are not as rich and vivid as the THX release, which all of us seem to love so much.
I'd recommend just sticking to the timing of the THX. Only do a second release if you really feel like it, but let the second definitely be the LD-based one.
My 2 cents: a menu is not necessary. Your other releases have been perfectly all right without them, and they might end up taking up room that could be given to the movie or alternate audio tracks. Of course it's up to you, but I think people are pumped enough for this project, as is.
That was such a good episode! Paul did a great job. Much better acted than the TV movie... very happy he could have at least one good video episode to his canon. Loved the young John Hurt regeneration... nice.... classy. I'm really excited for the 50th.
Sounds very exciting. No idea you were so far in on the project. I hope you are able to get those soundtracks soon. The mono PCM is floating around, though I'd understand if you'd want to capture it yourself.
Stamper said:
Bizarre, I burned the disc, but it won't start on the ps3. It plays otherwise fine in the computer.
Anyone knows a solution?
Weird. It plays in my PS3. How long has it been since you've updated? Mind you I don't know how long it's been since I've updated.
Sent you a PM. I completely agree with the fact that the Italian video looks better. The colors are wonderful and look more similar to the RHV FOD and Mondo GBU. Also, most of the detail in the DE BD is EE, really noticeable in a western.
DTS track merely would not play on my main player... strange. I played it in my PS3, and it was fine.
Andrea, you've really done something great here. I'm not going to talk about the movie. I assume you've all watched it. But, Andrea, you've taken a screwed up BD master and taken it to its full potential. It's really such a big improvement and made me realize how terrible the commercial BD was. The colors are wonderful and a huge improvement. Your script has done a much better job than any general color correction would ever do. The colors look pretty dead on to both the DVD and my pre-release tape. The only issue though is the BD's contrast boosting. Frankly, they really pushed it to too much of an extreme: it gets far too shadowy at times and occasionally gives the colors a slightly different appearance. This effect is seem on most contrast-boosted transfers. It's unfortunate you're not working with an okay master like The Thing. The audio is good but I'm having problems playing the DTS.
Should you do a 2.0 version with the HDTV clips, I would look forward to it. Frankly, the HDTV is much better than I think it's given credit for. I made a custom BD of that myself with 1080p video and the 1999 DVD audio. Would that be something you're interested in, as a resource? I have no doubt though that people might be able to do 1080i base files more justice than I can.
That being said, anyone should really check this out. It's really good: heads and tails over the commercial BD.
The original 10GB 1080i is also on RuTracker in three parts and is still seeded I believe. Although, the only track is Russian. The original DVD's audio syncs to it though without any re-encoding.
I'm very excited to hear about this. Sounds like a good project coming up.
_,,,^..^,,,_ said:
Dr. Sapirstein did a wonderful job, I forgot I read about it months ago... will be de-listed immediately!
No please don't stop! Unfortunately Sapirstein's version can be greatly improved upon despite being 1080p. It is based on an upconverted most of the time and also the encoding is quite blocky at times. It makes for a very disjointed viewing experience. No doubt your LD preservation audio track will be higher quality. Worst of all, Sapirstein matted a moon in one scene (the one with the piano teacher killed by the dog) as a watermark for his version. It sticks out terribly.
Very excited about the future releases list. Look forward it all the good releases. Definitely plenty of good films that need fixing, in full 1080p HD to boot.
Fantastic that you're willing to share. Thanks mate. Good to hear about the lack of forced subs.
About the color timing, there is tael but I wouldn't try to remove it too aggressive. The master for the SE DVD and BD is a bit too red-pushed I think.
Interesting. Do you plan to share it, dvdmike? The DTS discs may be synced to it for quite a presentation. Any hard subs?
Muxed this audio and the new commentary to a custom 30mbps video I made from the 35th Blu with improved color saturation and better skin tones. Burned to a BD25. Very happy. Thanks to all involved! (Still need to watch fully but I don't tend to be too sensitive to sync'ness).
captainsolo said:
I'm seriously thinking that the most immediate way to address the original films is to do a GOUT V3 styled project designed to get the most out of the flawed DVD image, overcome the transfer issues and add LD PCM audio.
Well, judging by the wonderful results of Andrea's The Thing project, couldn't the same technology be applied? The main issue of the Lowry transfers is the color timing; even with their whole controversial degrain-regrain process, there's more detail than the bitrate starved and badly compressed DVDs (probably worse than the GOUT in some ways).
Have you tried Handbrake?
Tell us how well integrated the footage is, please, d_j!
Fantastic!
Chewtobacca said:
Thanks for the info on the night filter. I'll have a look at my R1 disc of FAFDM.
I don't believe that the old MGM DVD of TGTBATU is correct though. It looks very faded compared to the Italian BD. My money's on the Italian BDs of all three films being closest to the intended looks.
Thanks, captainsolo, for the input on the escape scene for FFDM.
The Italian BDs look quite similar to the look of the restored Italian FOD: colorful, saturated, beyond what it might look like in real life. I'd support the Mondo too.
On the topic of Leone films, what's the intended color timing for Once Upon a Time in the West? The BD looks colorful but slightly (only slightly) less so than the LD.
My two cents. I think the 1999 color timing is certainly revisionist, honestly; however, it's a damn good look. In other words, it's aesthetically pleasing to me. The new one looks like a fairly accurate representation of the negative.
The true mono, though, is definitely worth preserving.
I've said this before for Alien, but a good color reference to see how prints looked would be the Horror Documentary "Terror in the Aisles." It's scanned in HD at the Halloween II Universal BD. It features a bunch of clips from horror and action movies that likely were taken from 35mm prints. As I recall, it has loads of Halloween clips.
PDB said:
Chewtobacca said:
For the extras scenes, I would rather have a mono downmix of the English DTS-HD MA than the Italian mono. As far as I'm concerned, it's better to have the actors sound older than not sound like themselves. If there is a remaster, however, I hope it's the US theatrical because that's my preferred cut of the film.
Yeah I think that is what I'm going to do
Thank you! Thank you so much! I second the request for the downmix. Switching language and actors is far more jarring to me.