frank678

Thanks for the feedback Dunedain, unfortunately I havnt been able to systematize what I'm doing. What I do is push one picture darker and one lighter and then find the right percentage to overlay them (so the darkness and lighness from one picture 'adds on' to the darkness and lightness of the other - the trick seems to be to get it so the two ends align with the mid range so you get a seemless transition in the picture from top to bottom). It works either by having two distinct layers or adding a duplicate layer in another measure.

I have been working on one universal setting for each source, but you could tailor each overlay to each scene to get the most information of whats there at any given time (variables over constants, but establishing a constant first might be a good idea to give a starting base line). I have only tried it with two layers as I am still operating theory-blind - someone who knew how to adjust highlights, midtones and shadows separately might be able to stack 3 or more subtler layers. The thing however with soft undetailed sources it starts to look too "painted" if I start adding too many layers.

As far as I can tell even if the Gout/Blu Ray is damaged it would be possible to paint whats missing back in (if the information is missing it can't be recovered). I tried this with the Luke in the Judland Wastes picture a number of posts back , this was done through thinning out the original picture to thin midtones, duplicating it, then adjusting the new duplicate layer with a different colour curve (so you are not adding back in a linear way but reshaping the boundaries of the original picture - I think [?]). The Luke picture had several layers, I got the 3D effect I was after but it looks too painted.

Duplicate layering technique, with the 1984 tv broadcast.

That clip does look good. Nice clean icy whites. No distracting red shift!!!!

@msycamore = it's more a case of my mind won't let me put this stuff down. I keep playing with stuff in Gimp and then five minutes after I've done it I think the envelope can be pushed again. Even though my logical brain understands these laserdisc/vhs sources are limited containers for a 35mm print, that much has been filtered out through the transfer, that correcting one range in the picture will throw out something else in the picture (or in the next scene) - I still keep hoping for a miracle tweak, because I want to be able to see Star Wars in a semi-analogue form (meaning retaining some of the special qualities of organic film photography not an over CGI'd form (apologies to those who grew up with the special edition and GL but that's not MY film!!!). I posted my tweak not because I doubt you were working towards the best overall balance for the film (I wouldnt want to watch my tweaks for very long because I always end up creating harsh contrasts and blown out whites just so I can get to a fleshtone I like which lies in the mid range - sacrificing everything for skintone). I post some stuff a) to rally the experts b) to see if anyone knows how to produce the next tweak to gain a new bit of ground. Tweaking is addictive at first because you can see something magically improve but then it becomes diminishing returns of what you can squeeze out. I have a hard time learning theory and tend to learn some things better through repetition and pictures/diagrams. Unfortunately with Star Wars there's no 100% definitive visual example to point to unreservedly say this is the full or near to full cinematic experience... yet (?). I saw the special edition at the cinema in 1997 and I was really disappointed not by the CGI additions but by the cold / modern colours. It felt like a completely other alien film to me. This was more depressing to my world view than the Phantom Menace. Having seen the Senator screening media I then realized I had never even seen the film properly in the first place. What cruelty! :O) I'm hoping a newly finessed laserdisc, vhs or even gout version will give me at least a semi decent semi authentic film experience back!!!

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My extremely crummy, recently discovered, capture of an early empire pal vhs (accidently used the lowest quality settings) VS. GOUT. To me as the Gout print has lots its sheen its swallowed up some of the original colour.

msycamore said:

Maybe that 100% divine timing you seek doesn't exist.

I'm pretty sure you're right. I think the chase is for something that maybe didnt exist even in 1977. :O(

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I took a shot at colour correcting the frame you were working on a while back. I've blown out the whites a tiny bit (for a change!) but I wanted to ask have you had any luck on lifting some of the darkness out of the Technidisc or is it just too embedded?

http://i.imgur.com/Ko3Si.png

Here's my quick subjective adjustment to the PS78 frame

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watching that clip i realized i have become a over serious nerd around this subject...!!

With this as a reference for more accuracy of skin tone:

To me all the VHS transfers have varying signs of red shift. Accepting Han's shirt is originally white then his shirt looks varying stages of dyed pink. The ITV is still distorted but to me I can "see thru" to more of the original white, if that makes sense?

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My 1982 dated tape

For me although its pan and scan and over-brightened and has a green/yellow tint the 1982 Starkiller Laserdisc Preservation looks it has less distortion of the original colours to me than technicdisc or GOUT, based on how flesh tones register to me. That german 8mm film looks even better to me though. Again this is subjective- I invite anyone with a big collection of various releases from different countries and years to double check!!

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AntcuFaalb said:

I'm beating my head against the computer.

Unlike with raw capture #5, QuickPar'ing the raw capture #4 RARs consistently fails with the message: "Failed: Could not allocate output buffer". This is supposedly caused by having too much memory available, so I tried running it with 1/2 of my 4GB in use, but it was still a no-go. Similarly, I tried running it with a minimum amount of memory in use and, as expected, it was a no-go.

>:-O

Hope you are able to solve this - I'm eager for the blended/merged version release, but I realize you are laying the groundwork for future developments thru posting up these raw captures. damn these technical hiccups!!!