The Aluminum Falcon

captainsolo said:

Interesting tidbit FF: It is reputed that the wipe at the end of FRWL is actually not present on the initial CBS/Fox VHS release. I'm currently looking for a copy to verify, but it is supposed to be the copy with Connery firing the flare gun on the cover:

My God! There's a possibility some cut 60s Bond footage survived. Hooray! Please keep us informed if the rumors are indeed true.

jero32 said:

So without reading every post in detail, it seems Goldeneye had the framing fixed? (at a "cost" of more tweaking?)

Yeah, but my bet would be that they just used the SE DVD master and scrubbed it. So you're actually paying for a more than 10 year old master, with less detail than it could have if not DVNR'ed. I'd just stick with an HDTV capture despite the cropping: newer transfer, more grain (albeit amidst digital artifacts).

For those interested, these do indeed look different than the HDTV showings. I think I'll take a leaf out of captainsolo's book and do comparisons. I've gotten Bond fever as of late and got a chance to rewatch the HDTV versions. Based on screen caps, here are my comparison thoughts:

BD vs HDTV

YOLT: BD looks far better. The HDTV has the desaturated color of the UE DVD. BD

OHMSS: The color timing's dead on but the contrast blow-out is ridiculous. Keep in mind though that the HDTV version is undercontrasted and has only partial fixed color timing (too much blue still). If I had to choose, I'd go with the HDTV. That detail blow out on the BD's absurd. HDTV.

DAF: The color timing of DAF seems slightly better/tweaked on the BD, but the contrast isn't as blown on the HDTV. HDTV

TSWLM: As captainsolo said, they did a good job with this title. It looks brilliant on the BD. There was still some EE left on the HDTV and dull color timing. BD

OP, AVTAK, TLD and TND: Look the same as HDTVs. BDs for better encoding. BD

GE: WTF? I have to say the HDTV master looks better. There's digital noise in the HDTV, but there's also a level of grain/detail. Bad news is that it's cropped heavily like the UE DVD

The BD looks like the (probably only 1080i) 1999 SE DVD master DVNR'ed to death; here's a comparison of the BD with and without DVNR, even without, there isn't much detail. In other words, MGM did the cheapest thing possible to remedy the cropping situation: go back to an older master than the UE DVD and DVNR it. So much for making it a new one. HDTV.

thunderclap said:

I have re-evaluated my position on getting the AVCHD version up on MySpleen. Keep an eye out for this later in the week.

Look forward to seeing that up there then. Thanks man!

I was one of those who were able to finish downloading. Like Asaki, I got the WinRar extraction errors but the output resulting files seem fine. I've skimmed over it, and it looks absolutely wonderful.

I'm surprised how much cleaner PSB is over PG. Very, very fun to watch! It's got that brilliant 16mm filmic look, which garnered PG so many fans, but just cleaner. As ESB was the worst GOUT release, it's nice having this release. At last, we get a good contrast scheme, much better than that very-crushed 2004 master.

I'm also glad to have two audio options. I'll probably watch the 16mm mono audio track to complete the experience. I think it'll gel better with the video than the cleaner stereo track.

If I was reviewing this in the "Last movie seen thread," I'd give it:

5 out of 5 broken hyper-drives

Really looking forward to an HD version whenever it happens...

Chewtobacca said:

That must be the source of the Canal+ HD version then.

Correct. As well as the old BBC version, I believe.

This must be the Japanese HDTV version, which is probably what I'll stick with, as it's very good (16.2 GiB) and it looks as if I'll be unhappy with the new color timing...

The Japanese HDTV version is somewhere in between.

Yes again, that's the one I mean. It's so brilliant that it's captured in high quality/high bitrate/big size. The Japanese HDTV seems like a good compromise. I might venture a guess that it is, in fact, the most accurate of the three HD transfers. After all, shadow detail is far more visible than in the BD, and not crushed/low resolution like in the Lowry. Color timing's neither too yellow or blue.

captainsolo said:

Aha! Wait, I thought they were still utilizing the Lowry transfers...

Nope. Thankfully they've had the sense to upgrade to LaserPacific transfers. The Lowry transfers did show in HD though on the BBC pre-2008; they're the ones where the CGI cliff shot was experimented with.

Comparisons on TOD and LC look to be the same between sources for DVD and BD.

Again, nope not the same source. It's a 2008 restoration from Laserpacific scanned at 4K and processed at 2K. They appear to have received slight color timing tweaks, much like the new Raiders restoration but less so. Hues have been shifted so flesh tones are less red.

If anyone really has a problem with the color timing of the new BD box set, it's a simple matter of getting the 2008 HDTV Broadcasts. The timing is relatively similar to the Lowry, and it's available in really high HD quality (on the scale of 20 GB something captures).

SilverWook said:

Had the unrestored Vertigo been remastered on LD with a digital track, it would be a whole different story.

Gotcha. Missed that part.

Aluminum Falcon, are you sure your VHS copies are not the restored version?

Positive. I was surprised I found them. Had to pay an arm and a leg though (considering a VHS). The copyright was 1990 for one and unlisted for the other. I checked both for the original gun shot sounds. Color timing was also different than the restored version, but not too radically so (luckily): different hue of blue and such, less bright than the second DVD. I'm not positive if the VHSes Hi-Fi, but I don't see why they wouldn't be.

I'll check this weekend and upload a sample.

Would my VHSes have better quality or equal quality audio to your Betamax?

captainsolo said:

(Not to mention that they seem to be forgoing the Harris-Katz restoration!)

Not sure how I feel about this. There are some pretty bad rumors floating around about the new "restoration." I'll wait for reviews before I pass judgment.

Visually, I thought the Harris-Katz was a decent restoration, very vivid certainly. Having seen a 70mm print recently, I can confirm that the first Vertigo DVD was a more accurate representation color-wise to the restoration. The transfer for the second DVD was too bright.

Luckily, I have an HDTV BD of this with the mono track from the DVD synced: just in case the BD is completely awful.

If necessary VHS or even that Beta might be the best way to salvage it. I only have the restored VHS, but I'll keep an eye out for anything else.

I have two copies of the old VHS with Hi-Fi audio. I wouldn't mind capturing in WAV over RCA cables (not the best method, I know.) I didn't realize that Hi-Fi VHS/Beta audio could be better than the DVD and the old LD; what's the reasoning behind that?

captainsolo said:

I still think the open matte Academy version is superior in many aspects.

Thank you! Agree 1000%. The extra headroom makes all the difference, adds to the creepiness. It also gels with the B&W style. The cropping of the Widescreen version is too distracting.

skyjedi2005 said:

So did they do a third transfer of raiders because the japan hdtv broadcast which i assumed was from the 4k restore had the theatrical colors... I am talking about the transfer that made Lowry's look like a joke.

Yes. They did a third transfer. The first was the Lowry one done at 2K (presumably) then processed at 1080p; it showed on HDTV for awhile, but Spielberg wanted something better for the BDs.

Around 2008/2009, Laserpacific made a transfer of Raiders scanned at 4K then processed at 2K; it's the magnificent one with the original color timing that has been showing on HDTV for awhile.

After that, Spielberg thought it could look even better, and thus, sometime last year, the third transfer was made for the BD again by Laserpacific. It's the new restoration with alternative color timing, scanned at 6K and processed at 4K.

Raiders appears to be the first Lucasfilm scanned at 4k or higher.

Actually, Temple and Last Crusade were scanned at 4K and processed at 2K by Laserpacific in 2008/2009 along with Raiders. These are what have been showing on HDTV. They're going to appear pretty much verbatim on the BD except with mild hue adjustments (less red, like the new Raiders but not as radical).

captainsolo said:

Ahh..I've gone back over these and they're pretty bad.

That's unfortunate. I'd have tried getting a copy and capturing myself, but my LD to DVD results are less than stellar. My player seems to add EE, and there's a ridiculous amount of noise.

I think the best thing to do with TSWLM is to utilize the LD audio with either the THX or SE DVD.

Sorry for being a greedy lump, but do you mind uploading the audio from your rip then? That part should be fine enough quality, and I'd love to hear the original audio. I'd sync it to my SE DVD.

I've gone back and forth between the two DVDs and I think the THX may be slightly-and I mean very slightly-better.

Interesting. I can never find any of the THX DVDs. The open matte versions of some of the earlier films would be interesting for their extra image. Out of curiosity, have you done a proper bit rate/size comparison on your computer, or are you just eye-balling it?

Ziggy Stardust said:

Sometimes the mind can be deceiving, because when I went to see it today, they used to original shot of the truck going over the cliff.

Good, at least one person saw the same thing I did.

By the way, what did you guys think of the Struzan-ish posters?

Loved it! I grabbed 4, and I'm definitely hanging one up in my room. It's a nice design, and a change from the typical Raiders art work.

If I had one complaint, it's that Indy looks very similar to how he does in the TOD poster. They'd probably look nice together though: like bookends.

Thread bump.

Hey, captainsolo, are you planning to release/upload any of these transfers? I'd be interested to see them, especially The Spy Who Loved Me with stereo track. The SE DVD is one of the worse of the SE DVD line, really heavy compression; on the other hand, the UE DVD and the HDTV rip are really sharpened and de-saturated.

captainsolo said:

It did have the original cliff shot.

I don't see why they would replace the IMAX version with the CGI cliff shot if the same restoration is being showcased in 35mm with the original cliff shot. I really hope I'm not wrong on seeing the original... The intermediate LaserPacific restoration also has the cliff shot, which really hasn't been an edition since the Lowry restoration.

That may be due to the over-processing done to blow the film up to 6K for Digital IMAX because I imagine they had to do a lot of scrubbing to eliminate the inherent qualities of the 1981 stock.

Actually, surprisingly little scrubbing appeared to be done: it was filmic 80s stock upconverted: warts and all. I was happily surprised. No DMR EE or DNR for the most part.

There were only two shots that seemed "processed": the transition to the first map and the DC shot. The first was visibly DVNR'ed since it was an optical combined with a transition (would have looked ridiculously grainy). The latter may have been degrained then regrained: something oddly artificial about the grain movement.

Q: Did anybody see the snake reflection in IMAX?

Nope. No, snake reflection in the IMAX screening IIRC.

Trooperman said:

...the truck shot was definitely CGI in the screening I saw.  The camera followed the truck down the cliff, rather than tilting down.  I wish it wasn't true, but I saw what I saw.

it was the bottom shot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_sFW8grQtU

For me, it was the top shot of the video. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to camera movements; I just paid attention to the background, which didn't look as smooth as the CGI, and the composited truck. I still think I saw the original shot because the composite would have been cleaner if it was CGI. I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree... until someone else verifies either one of us that is. :-)

Review posted in the "Last Movie seen" thread. Like I mentioned in the other thread, I believe that the falling truck shot is the original version albeit color timed differently.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The IMAX Edition!

Just came back from seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark myself. It was a very good presentation overall.

The quality was hampered by the inherent imitations of 1980's 35mm film stock, but no bad post-processing prevented it from reaching its full potential. Grain was intact, though there seemed to be one shot I noticed (a transition to a composite), which had DVNR freezing grain; it's the shot that transitions from the plane to the first map, by the way.

Soft-focus shots were emphasized by the IMAX upconversion process. Strangely enough, the black (too light) and saturation (too much) levels seemed to be off for the first few minutes (jungle sequence); I wonder if this is a by-product of Spielberg brightening it. The rest was fine though. The most spectacular shots, for me, were the ones in the streets of Cairo: wonderfully vivid and detailed.

I wasn't too blown away by the audio, like some others here. It was an average mix: nothing miraculous. That may have been because the IMAX I went to didn't have a good sound system.

However, important note...

Trooperman said:

There was only one thing wrong- George Lucas apparently snuck in the CGI shot of the truck going over the cliff in the chase.  When I saw that I was livid.  It took me about 5 minutes to get over it. 

In the presentation I watched, I saw the original non-CGI'ed shot. Sorry, man, don't know what you saw, but, I'm about 80% sure that it was the original shot in the IMAX presentation. I noted it, since the background looked "crinkly"/"folded"/1980s-fake. The truck also stuck out like a composite and wasn't blended like in the CGI version. Though, the shot did seem like it was re-timed. That threw me off, for a second, since the new color timing more resembled the yellowish, less reddish timing of the CGI version. Has anyone else seen the CGI shot at their IMAX showings?

The establishing shot of Washington D.C. also looked extremely blurry and computerized compared to the surrounding shots and I suspect it may have been CG altered too. 

Again, Trooperman, sorry, but I have to disagree with you there. Like Silverwook said, it may have been from another film. It looks like very dupey stock footage to me, rather than a CGI enhanced shot. It may have been DVNR'ed then re-grained. The grain structure was weird on that one.

In conclusion, I give it my top recommendation. My TOP RECOMMENDATION.

10 out of 10 boulders rolling at you

I don't think I like the blur/flare effect that has been put on some of the new covers for the sake of looking modern.

In any case, looking round the net, there are some really nice custom covers for the James Bond Blu-Rays, including the movies not yet released on Blu-Ray. Many of the custom covers look very nice/professional. You can find quite a bit on the EuphoricFX site.

bkev said:

^Good news! I guess if I want to pick up this one I won't have to worry about it.

Alas, I viewed an OHMSS HDTV Rip. The opening isn't as blue as before, but it's still missing that golden/orange color it used to have. The rest of the movie is like this as well. They just did a quick color tweak to the Ultimate Edition DVD master, most unfortunate. Skin tones are a tad pink-ish (think '04 SW but not as bad) as a result of the previous blue cast.

On a more general note, does anyone know whether they will be adding special features or tweaking the already released Bonds for the BD BOND50 Box? Instinctively, I'd suspect a simple repress, but does anyone know otherwise? I'm not buying the set, and I want to know if I should hold off buying a few already-released singles now...

captainsolo said:

Vertigo

There is nothing else like it. Hopefully Robert Harris will be able to fully complete his 1998 restoration with modern tools as he has stated would be ideal. And the 5.1 mix is beyond atrocious. Despite the dropouts and hiss, the 5th gen mono track on the MC DVD is essential. i still feel like the restoration has never been ported to disc quite well as it could, and even RH has admitted they did the best they could with the color but it isn't fully accurate.

The 1998 Restoration is such an unfortunate mixed bag. Video wise, though it is remarkably clean, the color's don't look accurate, compared to an old VHS I bought in a rummage sale. As for the audio, that's a disaster. The 5.1 pulls far too much attention to itself, and the mono is much preferable. Luckily, I managed to sync the mono from the MC DVD to a 1080i HDTV rip I downloaded.

I am excited that I'll be seeing this in 70mm this month! Hopefully, the picture will make the audio more bearable.

Jaws

Don't know why I've never seen this before. I have the laserdisc, but I've never... Anyway, I watched the Blu-Ray, and had a fun 2 hours or so. The story was good; it's basically Moby Dick modernized, but the original elements are definitely interesting. The leads acted admirably. Loved Robert Shaw's nutty captain, for sure. He definitely stole a few scenes for me.

Steven Spielberg's direction was excellent; he sure knew how to mount suspense. You definitely feel his development as a filmmaker from the somewhat-similar Duel. However, the show-stealer of the film is definitely John William's score. Iconic, arguably more than Star Wars's. The main theme is still effective today.

The Blu-Ray transfer was near-perfect for me. The color timing seemed 70s-esque. Accurate, as far as I can tell. There were some soft shots, but it seemed like they were shot soft focus rather than DVNR'ed. Sharpness was astounding for a film of that era. I wish Star Wars could look like that. Hmm... Aurally, it was acceptable. I was glad to have the mono track in DTS; with the 768kbps, I didn't mind too much that it wasn't DTS-HD. After all, it could have been a 192kbps DD transfer.

10 out of 10 bigger boats

skyjedi2005 said:

And Tintin was like a little kids Crystal Skull horrible cgi cartoon fest.

Thank you! I never got why so many people loved the Tintin movie. Of his recent filmography, this stands out to me as the worst. Yes, perhaps worse than Crystal Skull! It's far too light-hearted, compared to the comics. As a fan of the comics, I was horribly let down by the movie. Tintin's ironically more comical in the film than the comic, if that makes any sense. John William's score failed to impress as well.

When Herge proclaimed that Spielberg would be the only one able to direct Tintin, he was referring to the more brash, younger Spielberg of Raider's times, not the more mature Spielberg now.

zombie84 said:

To be honest in all likelihood that was erased by mistake, whether human or computer.

Anyway, back on topic. Apologies about that little rant. You're probably right. Doubtful that they would leave it in another scene if it was intentional, as msycamore's quote suggests. I'm watching the Blu-Ray now, and it looks excellent. I wasn't particularly thrilled by the restoration comparisons made a few weeks ago, but the end result is definitely good. Grain's thankfully intact.

infoleather said:

Would you consider another track with the fixed, the deeper voice of Dalek?

I believe ChainsawAsh is making a fan edit of the movie, as well, presumably from the result of this preservation. Fixed dalek voices will hopefully be in the edit. That did always bug me as well.

captain said:

What? Who has full blu-ray of the USA Version??

DisgruntledFan actually made 2 Full BD25s. One BD is an HD reconstruction of the USA version with video from the official BD, and the other BD is a high quality version of the HDTV Broadcast of the USA version with logos removed. Unfortunately, the torrent he uploaded on MySpleen was taken down.

And what's the deal with the Russian one? US Cut with Eric Serra's score?? That would totally defeet the porpoise!!

Oh, the Russian one is a 720p HDTV-rip of the American Cut. However, it's quality is probably lower than Disgruntled Fan's disc(s). It has multiple audio options. Two are Russian. The other is an English DTS track with Eric Serra's score, edited to fit the US Cut. However, the final audio option is an English Surround Sound version of the USA Cut with Bill Conti's score; presumably it's ripped from the HDTV broadcast. It's a definitely interesting option to be able to switch between the Serra and the Conti score for comparison purposes.

This Russian one is available on the Russian torrent site: RuTracker. I just PM'ed you the direct link.

bigrob said:

any chance i could be included please if there are copys swimming around?

PM sent as well to MKV. Would still love to see your full BDs though, DisgruntledFan! :-)