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You_Too

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Join date
23-Sep-2011
Last activity
7-Dec-2023
Posts
1,164

Post History

Post
#1566310
Topic
Lord of the Rings 35mm (FOTR/TTT/ROTK/FOTREXT released)
Time

stretch009 said:

“I remember around that time there were some HDTV version circulating that didn’t have the DNR but they seem impossible to find these days.”

Not impossible. I believe they’re still avaiable on Usenet and Rutracker.

Usenet: Maybe, I’ve never been able to try it since it costs too much for me.
Rutracker: They took them down long ago, sadly.

Either way, I’m a big fan of the extended versions so not a huge loss to me personally, but good if the fans have them for preservation’s sake. Fellowship was done really nicely by both 44rh1n and Dwalin.

Post
#1566237
Topic
Lord of the Rings 35mm (FOTR/TTT/ROTK/FOTREXT released)
Time

Boobafett2 said:

Holy shit this extended edition scan is absolutely amazing.

I can’t imagine ever watching another version of Fellowship. The quality is stupendous, probably because it wasn’t used as much as the theatrical scan.

Many, many thanks. Maybe one day we het TT and ROTK in extended as well, but the most important extended film has now successfully been restored!

I just came back to OT to take a look what was going on. It’s very interesting to see all these 35mm scans that are being preserved. I’m sad to say that having worked a lot with Fellowship in the past, I know with 100% certainty that this is, sadly, the 2011 master. That’s why the quality is so good. I remember reading somewhere, I think it was on OT, around the release of the first Hobbit movie in late 2012 that “there had been a screening of the new master of Fellowship Extended”. I guess they made some prints for the theaters who hadn’t gone digital at the time.

It also makes me especially sad since I’m pretty sure I read somewhere around the time I saw The Two Towers in the theater that there had been screenings of Fellowship extended, which would of course have been the original master that we got on DVD, grain, dirt and most of all the original colors!

And don’t get me wrong, all your work is very much appreciated! The theatrical versions never got proper releases on blu-ray either, just like Fellowship Extended. But in their case they added additional DNR to them instead of using the DVD masters. I remember around that time there were some HDTV version circulating that didn’t have the DNR but they seem impossible to find these days.

And shame on Peter Jackson forever for the “4K” releases. They’re all upscales, and they even used additional DNR. (The Two Towers had DNR already in the original teasers…) Not to mention all the awful tiny changes here and there and the colors that are all over the place.

How hard is it for multi-million dollar companies to properly treat our favorite movies with proper releases?! When you do a 4K release you’d go back to the negative, have a team of people who clean up any dirt and similar by hand, not run it through a frickin DNR algorithm. Then you make sure you restore the exact original look of each frame. If fans can do that, so can the rich companies but all they care about is quick cash-ins.

I’ve lost all respect for George Lucas, Peter Jackson and James Cameron because of their “re-imagination” or complete indifference about their work, every single release.

Long live the fan restorers!

Post
#1426370
Topic
New re-releases of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Time

Lucas the Barbarian said:

I don’t have this set yet, but I hope they’re at least right about the color grading being an improvement over the first Blu-ray.

Fellowship doesn’t have a green blanket tint anymore, but they’ve made new changes like vignette effects and desaturation in flashback scenes and such. Even the shots where Galadriel gives her gifts to the Fellowship have blur around the edges. I think our best hope is to stick to fan color correction projects using old sources!

EDIT: I was just sent this by Dwalin: https://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/13429
Apparently Fellowship has its share of small changes too. Frodo’s pimple is suddenly gone!

EDIT 2: Another one Dwalin found: https://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/13445
I’m just… speechless.

Post
#1426046
Topic
New re-releases of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Time

Yeah, this release in basically crapping all over his legacy.

I remember I was beyond happy when I got the original DVD boxes with the extended versions and bonus material, and by the way, I have never ever seen such interesting documentaries about films before. They made me appreciate them even more. But back then DVD was the standard and I had a CRT TV. It’s sad they messed up Fellowship in the extended blu-ray release but at least the other two used the same masters, or it sure looks like it. When I saw that release I wished there would be some old HD broadcast of the old master but I think none existed.

I’m glad some people around here have been working hard on fixing Fellowship. The news of UHD versions gave me hope but that was lost after taking a quick look at them.

Apparently they’re re-releasing the extended trilogy on blu-ray later this year but I bet that just means it’s pure downscales of their new, awful “remasters”.

Post
#1425853
Topic
New re-releases of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Time

Anyone else who thinks Peter Lu… Jackson has turned into someone familiar?
I was hoping to see the original look of each movie with way better quality. But they didn’t just de-grain them and add edge enhancement, they even went so far as to do small things like remove some smoke here, light up some tiny area there, vignette effects on flashback shots and so on. Of course the biggest sin was to alter the colors yet again. This time not just with the first movie. Not to mention The Hobbit Trilogy which they claim was shot with 4K digital cameras yet the UHD versions are plain upscales of the blu-rays with altered colors and all that other stuff.

“The thing with 4K is not just to go for pristine sharpness,” he says, “it is to preserve the cinematic look of it at the same time as everything becoming crisp.”

https://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/13348

Good job, Peter. 😄

Post
#1422605
Topic
Help with donations for an old member/friend?
Time

DMC said:

Wishing you and your mother all the best. May the force be with you

Thank you and the same to you!

JadedSkywalker said:

I sent you ten dollars. But i had a hard time selecting a donation, so it came up as a purchase for some reason maybe i have no idea what i’m doing. I’m a noob with paypal haven’t used it regularly in years.

Well however you did it, it worked! Thank you so much. 😃

Post
#1422353
Topic
Help with donations for an old member/friend?
Time

Wow, thank you so much to all of you for your donations and kind words. My mother has never been into the internet or computers much but she knows I used to be part of a community where I did some color work and stuff. And even though she’s not as much into science fiction or fantasy as me she still has quite a good taste for movies. Among her all-time favorites are Ben-Hur and The Green Mile to just name a couple. At the time of typing this she’s asleep but I’m 100% sure she’d send lots of thanks and wishes of luck for all of you.

CatBus said:

I’m not really in the position to offer money at the moment, but I can offer a testimonial for those who don’t remember You_Too well.

No worries, kind words can really light up one’s day too. Thank you so much!

CatBus said:

He gave me the initial Nordic language translations for Project Threepio, which are still in use today for Norwegian and Danish.

I only remember I gave you the Swedish subtitles! Glad they all came to good use. 😃

oojason said:

Hi You_Too,

I’m going to move this into ‘Star Wars Preservations’ a little later today - where it may get more traffic and attention (and also where more members likely remember your contributions on here over the years).

Thank you! I put it here since I didn’t even know if it would be appropriate to even post it. But I can clearly see my old friends didn’t forget about me!

oojason said:

You’ll always be appreciated on here.

I don’t know what to say other than thank you. I appreciate still being able to come back after all this time and see the results of the amazing work everyone’s been doing. All the 35mm scans, all the new fan edits and restorations… To think I spent hours and hours every day on the GOUT! I’m glad you all kept the spirit (or the force) alive.

Post
#1422120
Topic
Help with donations for an old member/friend?
Time

Thank you so much! Both of you.
As for the welfare system let’s just say the “official version” is taken straight from the 70’s when it was actually good and not as many were left behind. There are hundreds of thousands like me and my mother, sadly.
Feel free to share our story with anyone. And of course, there are tons of other things that I’d personally love to donate to on gofundme. I wish for a day to come when I can.

Post
#1421965
Topic
Help with donations for an old member/friend?
Time

EDIT: Moderators, feel free to remove this thread since it’s served its purpose.

Things might be looking a little brighter up ahead and I want to send a huge thanks to everyone who helped us, be it by money or kind words. We’re closing the fundraiser since we might be able to make it on our own soon.


Hi everyone.
When I came back and made some comments in the Fellowship Of The Ring color restoration threads some people seemed happy to see me and it just felt great. I got some PM’s too and it all just felt like I was an old friend who returned from a long holiday. With everything that’s been done since I was around I didn’t think many would even remember.

Some may even think I have something against them since I removed all Facebook friends a few years back in an anxiety attack after my half-sister told me she never wants us to have any kind of contact anymore, simply because I’m ill. Society considers me dead weight and so did my own sister which I forgive her for, of course. At the same time I just quit contacting the few people I had a bit closer contact with as well, like Dark Jedi who I worked with a lot here on OT and a few others who I can’t remember the usernames of. Real life was just too much to allow for social things on the internet so I thought: “If anyone really wants to contact me they will.” In fact, the more social contact I had the more tired I got. In the end, what hurt most was that people who used to be my closest friends in real life quit contacting me just because Facebook didn’t remind them of my birthday anymore or whatever. (I don’t care about birthdays but you get it!)

I have no idea how this thread will be received. Probably with mixed reactions. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to post something like this around here but the guidelines didn’t seem to have anything against it.

I tend to type walls of text so unlike what I’m about to link I’ll keep this short: Someone you might or might not remember is in a very, very bad situation right now and it will only get worse. You can read about it here: (Removed the link)

I didn’t create that fundraiser to force people to donate because they might know me or anything. In fact, I haven’t sent it to anyone except I posted it at the Ehlers-Danlos Support Group on Facebook but all members there are fighting the same fight more or less and I think they would all need donations.

I remember people used to donate to Poita to be able to buy 35mm scans from Ebay and then he shared the results with everyone, it was great! I’m not sure if anyone ever asked for a personal donation but here I am.

At the same time I’ll make this very clear: Even if you read my and my mother’s story you don’t have to donate. If you believe in anything, pray for us. Just leave a heartwarming comment. Anything. Money isn’t everything though sadly, it’s needed way too much.

Also, if you wish to donate but can’t use that website feel free to send me a PM for a paypal address.

Either way, kind words, donations, they will all be worth the same and I thank you all in advance. And I thank you all for the past experiences around here. You really made me feel appreciated. Thanks and God bless you all! And may the force be with you. 😉

(Should this thread violate any rules then please, simply remove it)

Post
#1417076
Topic
44rh1n's "The Fellowship of the Ring" Extended Edition Color Restoration (Released)
Time

Hey! While I’ve been too ill and tired to look through all pages I just wanted to post again and say thank you! It’s really nice to have the extended version in higher resolution with its original colors.

It’s been a long time since I worked with restoring movies but if I have any constructive criticizm it would be - mind that it’s just my opinion - first of all: There is a bit too much grain in the highlights sometimes. Like when Arwen appears in light and speaks to Frodo. Maybe it was necessary to cover the DNR in the theatrical blu-ray shots but yeah, in the highlights it looks a bit too visible and sharp. And don’t get me wrong, I’d take this version over any other, any day!

(Dwalin’s version was fine too though it suffers from the downsides of the messed up contrast and colors of the extended blu-ray like the artifacts in the sky of the wide landscape shots after the Fellowship leaves Rivendell, or Aragorn’s skin being cyan-tinted when looking out the window from the Prancing Pony. Dwalin did a great job matching shots anyway though I’d always make sure the black level is always black which can be extra tough.)

And second: Some of the extended version’s shots are oversharpened already in the source. Example: https://i.imgur.com/K7EIZvE.png
Then the sharp grain on top of that makes it look even more oversharpened! I’d blur such scenes just a tiny bit before applying that grain.

Then I saw a difference in two shots of Galadriel that comes after each other. First one looks great and the second looks like a DVD upscale, has slightly different colors and no grain added on top of it. Not sure what happened there: https://imgur.com/a/nv3x9oS

Hope you’ll make a shot by shot correction based on the upcoming blu-ray release! (if it’s like the old extended blu-ray minus all the color changes they made and the awful green tint)

Again, thank you so much for this version!

Post
#1397984
Topic
44rh1n's "The Fellowship of the Ring" Extended Edition Color Restoration (Released)
Time

Posting this here too since it seems there are multiple projects going on:

Hey, just stopping by to say to everyone involved in this, especially the color restoration of Fellowship: THANK YOU!
I found it just a few days ago “by accident”, and I thought it must have come from the guys on this forum.

Back when they released the extended versions on blu-ray, (Around 2011 or so?) I made an own attempt of just doing a one setting for the entire film script in avisynth and it’s pathetic compared to what you guys achieved here. Finally, we can all watch Fellowship the way it looked and should look. I removed my old files with a smile on my face. 😃

I know they released a 4K upscale of both the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies (yes, upscale) but they changed the color timing in every single one, as far as I know. Choosing upscale instead of an actual 4K source is a bad move no matter where or when, but I still lack the hardware to view 4K material so I’m happy with what I have.

Sorry for not being around often anymore. Still having extreme health issues and no light at the end of the tunnel in sight. But glad to see you guys still keep the strong spirit of movie-preservation alive!

Post
#1397685
Topic
The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Color Restoration (a Work In Progress)
Time

Hey, just stopping by to say to everyone involved in this, especially the color restoration of Fellowship: THANK YOU!
I found it just a few days ago “by accident”, and I thought it must have come from the guys on this forum.

Back when they released the extended versions on blu-ray, (Around 2011 or so?) I made an own attempt of just doing a one setting for the entire film script in avisynth and it’s pathetic compared to what you guys achieved here. Finally, we can all watch Fellowship the way it looked and should look. I removed my old files with a smile on my face. 😃

I know they released a 4K upscale of both the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies (yes, upscale) but they changed the color timing in every single one, as far as I know. Choosing upscale instead of an actual 4K source is a bad move no matter where or when, but I still lack the hardware to view 4K material so I’m happy with what I have.

Sorry for not being around often anymore. Still having extreme health issues and no light at the end of the tunnel in sight. But glad to see you guys still keep the strong spirit of movie-preservation alive!

Post
#1258468
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

hairy_hen said:
The best possible version of the 35mm stereo mix can be produced by using the early US laserdisc (since it has the most dynamic range) and adjusting its EQ to match the print/SWE versions. That way you get the best of both worlds; the greater dynamics and the correct frequency balance. This is exactly what I did for the 35mm soundtrack on Despecialized v2.5, but I haven’t yet put out one like this that is synced to 4K83.

You might know this already but it can be done almost automatically in Izotope RX with the “EQ match”. Not sure how accurate the result is though since I don’t have an expensive audio setup to compare it with, but I know that piece of software is amazing.

hairy_hen said:
I will release a track like that at some point soon, but for the moment, I would recommend using the SWE version, because it sounds extremely similar to the print audio, but with better quality.

I’m not sure if the SWE version was included in the myspleen release (is it the 1993 LD audio?) but I think I’m just gonna settle with the optical for now, it sounds great!

Post
#1258352
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

First of all, Williarob: For being home made, I could still swear you had used a real professional scanner for 4K77 and 4K83! Amazing job.

Interesting, the LPP does seem to have a lot more blue in it, but also more preserved yellows.

And Dre, you’re great at what you do as well. I’ll keep an eye on your upcoming color correction projects. 😃

I hope it’s ok I keep asking some things here. It’s just so interesting since I’ve been away from these things for a few years and to come back and see actual prints being restored like this is a joy.

Post
#1258219
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

Williarob said:

Harmy’s Grindhouse was from a different print than our LPP.

I don’t know how much, if any, color correction was applied to our LPP: I received it as a Bluray ISO. I would imagine at least some basic color correction was done, but it would have been applied on a reel by reel (or even one setting for the whole film). I’m hoping to get access to a better version of the scan soon - not for the purpose of restoration, but for use as a color reference.

I see. Your version looks like a great color reference based on those shots at least. Would be interesting to see some other random shots from the entire movie. 😃

Oh and about the audio: What would be the best, technically speaking, the optical audio or that US LD 1983 mix? When comparing them, the optical sounds more “full”, more bass in it.

Post
#1258167
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

I’m sorry, I had no idea that there were two separate prints!
So the one that has been shared before was the LPP and you based your 4K83 on this Eastman print?
The image quality of 4K83 is amazing, but those LPP shots you posted have none of the color errors I noticed in the 4K83. Subtitles are balanced white without any visible tints, the shot of the barge in the desert is warm which I imagined it to be.
So basically, you’re saying that the Eastman print was more preserved than the LPP except for the colors, and you chose to base your restoration on it because of the resolution? Is the scan of the LPP not in 4K since it wasn’t used instead?

What ChainsawAsh said is something that would’ve been nice if it could be done shot by shot, unless someone restores that LPP print in the same way. Really interesting either way.

EDIT: I forgot to ask: Has that LPP print went through any color correction too or is it raw?

Post
#1258063
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

Now that I have the entire file, something that caught my interest is the colors (what a surprise, right?) and how different they are from what I expected in some scenes. I don’t have the grindhouse version since I needed to keep some free space for these new ones, but I’d be grateful if someone could post these frames (or just any frame from the same shots) from the raw scan or grindhouse version:

This one looks more or less the way I expected, just a little brighter maybe.


This one looks quite ok with the subtitles being white with just a tiny green tint to them.


These two have cyan subtitles and whites, this is interesting as well.


I expected this shot to be a lot warmer, and that whole scene since it’s set in the desert. Of course that’s based on all the previous versions of ROTJ!

Overall, the quality of both the picture and audio of this release is simply stunning. Good job everyone!

Post
#1257787
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

ChainsawAsh said:
It should also be noted that while two “1985 Home Video Mix” files are included in the Alternate Audio folder, they’re actually the same as the 1983 theatrical mix, of which Schorman says the one marked “1983 - Stereo (US Source)” is the best quality.

Thanks, so both the Japan and US ones are from 1985 LD releases? Looking forward to compare them.

schorman13 said:
It’s not really an alternate. I just posted it individually in case anyone might like to download the track by itself, without the rest of 4K83. I named it “[Cleaned]” because I worked on it, and I don’t want it to be confused with the untouched audio, which I didn’t share, but could if anyone really wanted it.

Thanks, the ac3 file might work better with my blu-ray player. Good to know they’re the same. The main track that I heard when previewing the mkv sounded great.

It would be interesting to hear some comparison samples of before and after your cleanup though. 😃

Post
#1257588
Topic
<strong>4K83</strong> - Released
Time

I haven’t finished downloading this yet but I have some questions about the audio. Sorry if they’ve already been clearly answered, I’m too tired to read through the thread at the moment.

What’s the difference between the optical audio track packed in the mkv file and the “cleaned” one?
And are there any digital tracks that actually matches the theatrical stereo audio? I see the 1993 LD track is there but weren’t all the 1993 LD mixes altered? The 1983 Japan and US sources, are they from LDs too?

The image quality is great by the way, managed to preview a bit of it. 😃

Post
#1242030
Topic
<strong>4K77</strong> - Released
Time

Anyway, I gotta admit I haven’t checked the other threads so maybe there’s a better place if we should keep discussing color correction? I don’t wanna get too off topic. 😃
On the other hand, it’s really nice that all of the colors are preserved so well in 4K77 that we can even create corrections based on the reference using the 1080p version which is “compressed” both in color space and resolution.

Post
#1241785
Topic
<strong>4K77</strong> - Released
Time

Your corrections are really nice too!
I hadn’t looked at the reference before altering the bar scene shots, the colors are hues are pretty much correct but I chose the gamma curve based on preference. Remember, I’ve watched 4K77 a lot so I’m a bit biased when it comes to Star Wars with strong colors and tints. 😃

When looking at the reference for the bar scene, it should apparently look even darker when projected. A bit too dark for my taste but this is very close to how the shot of Obi-wan and Luke looks in the reference, except I balanced the black and white levels around the mids which makes it look cleaner:

I’m pretty sure I would’ve gone with something brighter if I “corrected” it.

As for the wide shot of the stormtroopers and “the gang” in the speeder, (I’ve always loved this shot for some reason) this is almost exactly what it looks like in the reference: