jimbotron235

supersonic395 said:

Are there any official release blu rays with the original English mono track available? (Lossy or lossless)

EDIT

Was the 5.1 track for this 'redone' in that they used newer foley effects like TGTBTU 5.1?

The US Blu-ray has the mono mix in lossy DD.

I'm working on an edit that incorporates the PCM mono mix.  I'm removing the scene of Harmonica waking up from the gunshot.  Has anyone seen what this is supposed to look like?

Is the long windmill part of original scene?  It either it cuts from the windmill to McBain's shotgun, or from Woody Strode falling down dead to McBain's shotgun.

I use MKVToolNix and its addon MKVExtractGUI2.  That extracts the AVC and audio tracks.  I then import the video and audio into Adobe Premiere, and edit the film.  After that, I combine the video/audio into an MKV again using mkvmerge.

If you send me the synced audio file, I could give it a try.

I'd love to know the status of this.

Any chance the added scene of Harmonica getting up after being shot can be removed?  If someone could provide me with the PCM mix, I can do it myself.

I have both of those German BDs, and they look and sound great.  The mono tracks are DTS-HD 1.0 I believe.  FAFDM is pretty rough when compared to the remastered Fistful and GBU though - lots of dirt and scratches, and it has some artificial sharpening, but not enough to spoil it.  Germany's is the only release which is 'uncut', including an additional shot of Clint being punched in the face.

The opening credits for Fistful are German.  FAFDM is the US master, so it's fully in English, except for the opening card mentioning bounty killers.  A little bit of editing would fix that.

I'd love to include those tracks if someone could provide.

I'm about an hour into Version 2.  In the first go, I trimmed out the added and extended scenes and reinserted the missing scenes, while using the 2002 mix.  This time I'm going backwards, cutting the movie to sync with the DVD mix.  I'm finding several instances where shots are 3-5 frames longer than they were originally, requiring several more edits than Version 1.

Audio options I hope to include in Version 2:

1) DD 5.1 (1997 DVD)

2) PCM 2.0 (LD)

3) DD 5.1 (LD)

3) Isolated score mix (from 1997 DVD, or replaced with Pioneer track if superior)

4) Commentary from the other Pioneer LD

5) FLAC 5.1 (edited 2002 mix) - might be extraneous

(If anyone is interested in version 1, please send a PM)

TServo2049 said:

I wonder if the analog isolated track on the Pioneer CLV disc (and ONLY the CLV disc, not the CAV box set) would sound better than the digital one on the first DVD? Does the fact that it's not digital negate any possibility of it being better than the lossy Dolby track on the DVD?

I assume it would be PCM, yes?  It never hurts to include a lossless track of the original mix.  I'll listen to that and the 1997 mix to see if there are any differences besides the surround.

Though I am uploading it now, I will be making a version 2 which will include the original 1997 mix, and hopefully I can include the LD audio as well.

I'm working on syncing the video to the 1997 mix now.  I created version 1 using the director's cut mix with some 1997 inserts.  Once I do that, theoretically the LD mix should drop right in.

I may be getting that soon actually.

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

jimbotron235, you thought to include the most important tracks; if this is your first fan restoration, hats off! If it's not, hats off, too! (^^,)

Thank you.  It's my second.  I created an extended cut of Superman IV many years ago.  It's fun working on a movie I actually like for a change.

I used primarily the 2002 mix because it is lossless. I borrowed sections from the 1997 mix to clean up the edits. I noted some different ADR in the extended cut, so I replaced it back with the original.

I'm aware that not everyone has the capability of playing FLAC 5.1, so I included a lossy DD 5.1 version of the same mix for added compatibility.

I'm only using Adobe Premiere, which does not have native Dolby/DTS output capability. If I could have made clean edits to the Dolby TrueHD track without uncompressing it, I would have. My workaround has been to output each channel as a mono WAV file, and then compile the 5.1 mix in FLAC. At 16bit, I cannot create a 5.1 WAV that's larger than 4GB.

Now that I think about it, I should have included the 1997 mix as a separate track as a courtesy.

Sad news - Eli Wallach has died, aged 98.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eli-wallach-dead-good-bad-714794

Thanks DoomBot.  I'll get started.  stretch009, I should be able to make your deadline. :)

Back in the good old days, I'd put something like this on Megaupload.  What's a good cheap service where I can upload 25GB?

stretch009, I dig your signature.  I too made the same keyed car analogy a while back to those who think a few seconds of change here and there was no big deal.

If someone can send that to me, I can incorporate.  I spliced in some audio from the 1997 5.1 mix because I noticed some changes in the DC mix.

Updated, thanks.

Amadeus - HD Theatrical Restoration (VERSION 3)

Project background:

In 2002, Warner Bros and Milos Forman created an extended “Director’s Cut” of Amadeus, releasing it in theaters and later on DVD.  This extended cut added 20 minutes of footage to the film (mostly in the first half) which expanded on just how far Antonio Salieri would go to ruin Mozart.

Reactions to the extended cut were mixed.  Critics have called the additions extraneous, ruining the original editing and pacing of the film.  Mozart’s two visits to the home of Schlumberg (the guy with the dogs) are the best example of that as they add nothing to the story and halt the narrative. While the theatrical cut showed Salieri sabotaging Mozart at every step, the director’s cut takes it to an excessively vicious and mean-spirited extreme.

For Blu-ray in 2009, Warner Bros. released the director’s cut only, largely because that HD master was available and that there was no HD master of the theatrical cut in existence.  With WB and Forman apparently disinterested in revisiting Amadeus, we may never see the original version released again.  The last American release of the original version was a flipper disc DVD in 1997.

Mission:

• To reconstruct the original 160 minute theatrical cut in high definition, editing out the added scenes, while using upscaled and color-adjusted DVD footage to restore brief scenes/shots not included in the director’s cut.

Working materials:

• Amadeus Director’s Cut Blu-ray from 2009
• Amadeus Theatrical Cut DVD from 1997
• Amadeus Laserdisc audio track (courtesy of stwd4nder2)
• Opening Orion Pictures logo from RoboCop Blu-ray
• Software used: Handbrake, Adobe Premiere, Audacity, MakeMKV, MKVToolNix, mkvmerge

Entire scenes removed:

• Salieri visiting Katerina’s dressing room to confirm his suspicions
• Constanze pleading with Mozart to submit his samples for the teaching job
• Salieri training a student before Constanze arrives with Mozart’s samples
• Constanze’s late night visit to Salieri’s home, and her grief
• Salieri telling the Emperor that Mozart molested a student
• Mozart visiting Salieri to ask for help with pupils
• Mozart attempting to train the daughter of Schlumberg
• Salieri discussing with another that Mozart is beyond help
• Mozart visiting Schlumberg again to ask for money
• Extended cut ending credits

Several extended scenes were edited to their original length, most notably Salieri telling Constanze about “the price”.  94 seconds of upscaled DVD footage (plus ending credits) were used to replace shots either absent or unusable from the director’s cut.  Overlays from the DVD were used to obscure the “Director’s Cut” title, as well as a castmember added to the credits in the director’s cut.

Technical specs (Version 3):

• Container: MKV
• Video: 2.35:1 1080p 23.976fps AVC @22Mbps VBR
• Audio 1: PCM Stereo (source: 1996 Laserdisc)
• Audio 2: 5.1 AAC (source: 1997 DVD)
• Audio 3: Dolby 2.0 Isolated score mix (source: 1997 DVD)
• Length: 2:39:58
• Size: 26.9 GB
• Subtitles: None
• Chapters: 30

Update 12/15/22: Dolby Digital 5.1 and FLAC 5.1 tracks also available as a separate download if you wish to swap out the AAC. (Same audio mix)

Update 1/20/23: Laserdisc stereo track from Japanese release now available as a separate download, courtesy of Yarp

Changes from Version 2:

• Better encode with higher bitrate. V2 had noticeable macroblocking.
• Less squeezed aspect ratio. The Blu-ray resolution is 1920x794 which is atypically wide 2.42:1. Faces looked squished, so this is being slightly stretched to 1920x804 (more typical 2.39:1)
• Additional 20 seconds of footage from the DVD are used to restore shots replaced by alternate takes from Director’s Cut (reaction shot of priest, Mozart working on Figaro at the pool table while his father and wife argue)
• DVD shots cleaned up to better match surrounding footage: dirt/scratch removal, color timing and contrast adjustments
• New sound mix included: Laserdisc stereo track [PSE96-073] courtesy of stwd4nder2
• Replaced opening Orion Pictures logo with better quality version (RoboCop Blu-ray)

Is the Mondo disc even available for sale anymore? It has been unavailable on Amazon for a while.

MGM went to the trouble of reissuing the trilogy with the remastered GBU, but didn't bother to get the rights to the much-improved remaster of Fistful of Dollars. The one included in the set is awful - zoomed/cropped, bad color and no fine detail.

I've compared the Italian and German BDs for FAFDM. The German version looks just slightly better to me.

Has anyone utilized the German (or equivalent) Blu-rays for Fistful and FAFDM to release improved English versions?

For Fistful (remastered), one just needs to drop in the English opening credits to the movie. That release included both English 5.1 and original mono. It would still say "Fine" at the end though, but no big deal.

For FAFDM, it's the same MGM master but with two differences. It includes the opening text about bounty killers in German (easy to fix), and includes an added shot of Eastwood being punched in the face (making it the only uncut version of the movie). That release included English 5.1 and original mono.

If no one has done that, I was planning on completing those to go along with the recolored/re-monoed GBU.

Just wondering, is kk650's recolored version going to include TheHutt's mono mix? If not, I can mux myself.

I'll also see about editing the film to remove the added scenes. The scenes don't add much, and the elderly Wallach/Eastwood and van Cleef double is too distracting.

I just bought the German BDs of Fistful and Few Dollars More. The Italian Mondo release for GBU looks like it's no longer available on Amazon.it. Does anyone know if the Italian master is available for sale somewhere?

kk650, I dig your work. Thanks for Terminator and Conan. Bad color timing I can live with (except for FOTR EE), but not bad audio, and I was coveting those restored audio mixes. I take that back, I can't live with bad color timing.