TheHutt

After some tweaking I have made a video clip of Part 1.
The upscaled LD footage is the final two shots as well as the end credits. I kinda like how they worked out.

The color matching is somehow difficult as the LD footage seems to have some “warp” in it, making it quite difficult to match with BluRay and TV material without having weird color artifacts (especially on titles).

Youtube has removed all the grain, but for the first sample it should do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qRtbGTjtC0

Two questions:

1. How?
2. Why?..

Small status update;
Part 1 has been color-matched and upscaled. Of course it isn’t the same quality as HD, but it looks quite okay when color-matched.
I experimented with several options (color-matching prior to upscaling, adding noise before/after color-matching) and I seem to have found the result I like best.

So right now it’s this:
-Upscaling and adding grain first,
-Color-matching in AfterEffects after that.

Next week I’ll try to get Part 2 done. Though I am still missing the end credits for Part 2.

Small update:

DrDre’s color matching tool works like a charm! Too bad one cannot use it with AviSynth (or can one?) and thus I’ll need to render a color-corrected intermediate.

The following piece of code doesn’t work, unfortunately:

fields=last.AssumeBFF.SeparateFields()#.DFMDeRainbow()#remove # to turn on, beware of unwanted desaturation
backward_vec2 = fields.MVAnalyse(isb = true, delta = 2, pel = 2, overlap=4, idx = 1)
forward_vec2 = fields.MVAnalyse(isb = false, delta = 2, pel = 2, overlap=4, idx = 1)
fields.MVDegrain1(backward_vec2,forward_vec2,thSAD=400,idx=1,plane=3)#reduces color noise with no negative effect

AviSynth reports an error that MVAnalyse cannot be found (although it works fine if called standalone, but not as a fields method). Strange.

Hello RidgeShark,

Muchas gracias for the precious information! I’ll check it out. 😃

Also, the end credits of the BluRay are not identical with the end credits on Part 2 of the TV series (in fact, the BluRay credits look like they’ve been redone for the BR from scratch, as they feature an entirely different font). These will have to be replaced as well.

TV end credits: http://www.thehutt.de/it/tv_endcredits.jpg
BluRay end credits: http://www.thehutt.de/it/blu_endcredits.jpg

Hello,

I am having some trouble with color matching the LD footage to the BluRay footage. In Part 1, two shots need to be inserted from LD to BluRay footage.

1. The full shot of the wife yelling “No” twice (this shot is faded out on BluRay).
2. The “IT” writing on bathroom wall shot with “To be continued” title card.

I used AviSynth and the script ColourLike to create two histograms:

1. from the beginning of the wife yelling scene
2. from the previous shot of the “IT” writing on the wall.

The first shot works quite well.
BluRay footage: http://www.thehutt.de/it/02_blu.png
LD footage (upscaled + added noise, no color correction): http://www.thehutt.de/it/02_ld_nocorr.png
LD footage (upscaled + added noise, color correction): http://www.thehutt.de/it/02_ld_corr.png

However, on the final “IT” writing, I have some trouble. The histogram I lifted from the previous “IT” writing (a couple of shots before) and it looked quite okay.

BluRay footage: http://www.thehutt.de/it/01_blu.png
LD footage (upscaled + added noise, no color correction): http://www.thehutt.de/it/01_ld_nocorr.png
LD footage (upscaled + added noise, color correction): http://www.thehutt.de/it/01_ld_corr.png

However, if I apply this histogram to the final shot missing on the LD), there are some unwanted artifacts. Also, as this shot ends in a fadeout, applying color correction here results in some really weird artifacts (especially where the black isn’t actually black).

LD footage (upscaled + added noise, no color correction):
Frame 001: http://www.thehutt.de/it/03_nocorr_frame001.png
Frame 200: http://www.thehutt.de/it/03_nocorr_frame200.png

LD footage (upscaled + added noise, with color correction):
Frame 001: http://www.thehutt.de/it/03_colorcorr_frame001.png
Frame 200: http://www.thehutt.de/it/03_colorcorr_frame200.png

Here is the AVS script I am using (for the final shot which has these problems):

Import(“d:\Anwendungen\Multimedia\AviSynth\plugins\QTGMC\QTGMC-3.32.avsi”)
AviSource(“d:\video\It\EndofPart1DV.avi”, fourCC=“CDVC”)
AssumeBFF()
ConvertToYV12(interlaced=true)
QTGMC( Preset=“Slower” )

Pulldown(0,3)
Trim(2237, 2484)

Crop(12, 0, -4, -0)

eedi3_rpow2(rfactor=2, cshift=“spline36resize”, fwidth=1440, fheight=1080, threads=1)
AddGrain(10)
AddBorders(240, 0, 240, 0, $000000)

ColourLike(“d:\video\It\IT_1a_hist_s.txt”, “d:\video\It\IT_1b_hist_s.txt”)

So my question is: is there a way to make ColourLike work even with the fadeout? Or are there any better alternatives?

My French steelbook is scheduled to arrive on Saturday. Looking forward to delve into it. 😃

I’m still waiting for my steelbook of IT.
The front part of the intro credits looks the same, so that HD intro credits could be used for beginning of part 2 (as far as I see, only the last photo in the credits is different).

@JayArgonaut, could you send them to me as well? I’d like to give it a shot, too, in case RidgeShark is busy.

Hello @JayArgonaut,

Any news on Part 2?

Looks great!
The logo can be probably patched up by LD footage. The squeezed part of the credits could probably be lifted from BluRay.

The recent “Eight Days A Week” documentary contained excerpts from Let It Be (the roof concert) in quite a great quality.

Thanks for the info! Then original credits they are.

Of course it does.
For example, if there will be identical footage on BluRay, then I will try and re-use it. For example, if the end credits of Part 1 are identical to the BluRay end credits, I could use these instead. Same for the opening of Part 2 (if it is the same as Part 1, that is).

I am curious if the 576i source will be of better quality than the (very good) NTSC LD by RidgeShark. 😃

My next step will be gettin the BluRay (the steelbook I preordered is scheduled for Oct 12th) and match the colors, the noise level and the framing of the LD source to the Blu.

I am not sure this version was ever released in PAL.

@RidgeShark: much obliged!

Still, it was a nice demonstration of what can be pulled from this SD material.

RidgeShark said:

I was able to take a crack at it a little sooner. I have no idea what the blu-ray will look like, so this has only been adjusted per my personal tastes to improve the appearance of the laserdisc when upscaled to 1080p.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5eEa2k1FrDHSDg5cm54UDMwT1k/view?usp=sharing

File size is bit large (517mb) to better preserve the light film grain I added to give this a more natural look. I appreciate any critiques and recommendations. I’d especially like to hear from others who have worked on laserdisc transfers.

Looks quite nice at first glance! I’ll check out how it’ll play with the BD footage once I have it.
By the way, could you also rip the end of Part 1 from LD for me as well? 😃

Also, it’d be nice to have a version without added grain (for the reason stated above) for both clips.

By the way, the amount of different fonts used for Soviet (and dubbed foreign films) was quite limited. I am pretty sure to have seen this very font in many films already. There might be a TrueType version of it as well. I can also ask around in font identification communities.

Thanks! I’ll check it out. 😃

I hope @RidgeShark will be able to get footage from his LD. 😃

Why do a composite of LD and 2 tape VHS? The LD is the uncut version (192 min). No need to compose it with VHS.

Also - I noticed you used my clip on youtube. 😉 That’s actually taken from a VHS rip by another user over at the internal organ place. It’s a bit overly filtered for my taste, but it got the job done. You may have noticed I upscaled it to 1080p for better viewing. There’s also a laserdisc rip there but it has been deinterlaced by simply throwing away half the resolution which makes for a very ugly upscale to 1080p. If anyone else out there wants to tackle a laserdisc transfer, you can do a lot worse than using this avisynth script to get proper 24p:

Wow! Small world. 😃
Thanks for the info and the potential help with the LD footage.
One user at Blu-ray.com offered to make a recording on US TV. If it is indeed in HD, I would try that. Else, I would fall back to the LD as the best SD source.

The movie “Stephen King’s It” (1990) originally premiered as a two-part TV mini-series. However, for quite some time, it was only available in the form of one long movie (at least since the DVD).

The difference is that some footage has been cut out from the end of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2 - most notably, where there are on-screen credits. Basically, in Part 1, the final shot of bloody “IT” written on the wall and the end credits are removed. In Part 2, the entire intro and opening scenes have been removed. Additionally, the BluRay had the end credits redone in a different style.

The currently known cut versions:

• German VHS (4:3)
• UK VHS (4:3)
• Worldwide DVD (cropped to 16:9)
• Worldwide BluRay (4:3)

The available uncut versions:

• US VHS (4:3)
• US Laserdisc (4:3) (Amazon link)
• A UK TV airing.

Source Materials:

• The picture was taken from the BluRay. It has been remastered in great quality and offers the original 4:3 aspect ratio.
• Footage from the uncut NTSC LaserDisc has been provided by RidgeShark. This footage needed to be upscaled and regraded, as the colors and contrast of the LD were rather murky.
• An entire digital PAL SDTV recording in 544x576i was provided by JayArgonaut. It has better color and contrast but was suffering from an intrusive TV logo and bad compression.

What has been done:

• Upscaled the LD footage shot by shot and regraded them with the ColorMatch tool.
• Recreated the intro credits for Part 2 by merging the BluRay footage with LD footage.
• The end credits for Part 2 were only available in the SDTV source, however, they had voices and a squeeze effect applied to a part of them. Missing credit titles were recreated by using LD footage from Part 1 and re-animated.
• Audio editing to reconstruct the full version and the (shorter) end credits for Part 2. Reencoding in DTS-HDMA 2.0.
• Reconstruction of the Lorimar logo. 😃
• Resync of English subtitles for the new runtime and added dialogs. Subtitles are available both as normal and HoH versions.
• Resync of the existing and addition of new chapter marks (based on the original BluRay ones).

Result is a 22.1 GB MKV file.

As always, no download links here.

Media info:

Unique ID                                : 175785817997259163523193354472887051179 (0x843F1DF82A53DF149A2FC4AFC45663AB)
Complete name                            : Stephen King's It.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4 / Version 2
File size                                : 22.1 GiB
Duration                                 : 3 h 11 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 16.5 Mb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-09-17 06:09:05
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v8.2.0 ('World of Adventure') 64bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.1 + libmatroska v1.4.2

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, RefFrames               : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 3 h 11 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 14.8 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 30.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Original frame rate                      : 23.976 (23976/1000) FPS
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.298
Stream size                              : 19.8 GiB (90%)
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile                           : MA / Core
Mode                                     : 16
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 3 h 11 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable / Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 711 kb/s / 1 509 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        :  / Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless / Lossy
Stream size                              : 2.29 GiB (10%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration                                 : 3 h 9 min
Bit rate                                 : 54 b/s
Count of elements                        : 2201
Stream size                              : 75.7 KiB (0%)
Title                                    : English
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #2
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration                                 : 3 h 10 min
Bit rate                                 : 59 b/s
Count of elements                        : 2470
Stream size                              : 82.9 KiB (0%)
Title                                    : English for the Hard of Hearing
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

BTW, Jaws 3D has been released on BluRay.