kk650

Hal 9000 said:

For your version of Empire, have you addressed the SE continuity error with the windows on Cloud City immediately prior to the reveal that Lando had been working with Vader?

Hal, I just went to check out what you meant. I assume you're talking about the transparent window that they go past before reaching the door before the Vader reveal? The transparent window as they're going past is actually a more visually interesting shot IMHO than what was in the GOUT, where the window is not transparent at all and is actually a pretty dull background in general for such a well crafted film visually, seems pretty lazy, which is I imagine why GL changed it for the SE. A good change in my book.

They didn't continue that change after the Vader reveal which is a pity, it reverts back to the old windows, but those windows are very much in the distant background of the shot with the viewers eyes focused on Han and Vader, so the lack of continuety is not really noticable IMHO, certainly not enough to jarr people out of the film.

I used the blu-ray footage of the transparent window for this shot in my previous versions of Empire Strikes Back and consider it much more interesting visually than the GOUT window, making Cloud City seem more lived in, dynamic and less of a set, a definate improvement IMHO, so that is the footage i'll be using for this V2.2 release, even if it introduces minor continuety issues with the old windows in the background in later shots, the gains outweight that slight issue for me.

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

nightstalkerpoet said:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/112470

Looks GREAT kk650 :)

Agree! Faces were a bit too yellow in V2.1 (at least, in my uncalibrated small monitor) while they seem perfectly healthy in V2.2! (^^,)

Personally, I think to preserve grain it's better, for a 1080p version, to stay above 16mbps - or more likely above 20mbps; so, a smaller size would not retain all the grain... IMHO of course!

Thanks for the feedback Andrea!

I agree 100% about staying above 16mbps to preserve the grain as much as possible, that's what i've found from experience as well. That said, an 8gb regrained release of TPM will still look much better than a DNRed 8gb release, even if the grain is not fully preserved, so if there was interest in such a release I wouldn't have any problem creating it.

nightstalkerpoet said:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/112470

Looks GREAT kk650 :)

Thanks nightstalkerpoet! Yes I agree, quite the difference and certainly for the better, no more blanket yellow tint.

When I did V2.1 I was kinda fixated on the idea of using pretty much the same settings from Star Wars for Empire Strikes Back, removing as much blue as I did with Star Wars. What it actually did was create a blanket yellow tint as you pointed out because a lot of that blue is actually meant to be there for Empire Strikes Back. Now I know that all three films require quite different settings, with Empire Strikes Back especially needing completely different settings from Star Wars and Return of the Jedi.

It's primarily because of you and your feedback about the V2.1 release that I came to that realisation so thank you! :)

@kane1138: Glad you like it! :)

@Jackpumpkinhead: I was planning to do only a 20GB release, the grain is captured better at higher bitrates but I could do an 8gb release as well if there was interest.

@Melatius: Thanks! I upload all Star Wars Semi-Specialised releases to Myspleen as well so you'll be able to get them from there if you prefer. :)

Here's a comparison for The Empire Strikes Back between the blu-ray and the Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2:

Blu-ray:

The Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2:

towne32 said:

kk650 said:

Okay, good news guys, after many hours and much testing I think i've finally found the right settings to use for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Semi-Specialised Editions! :D

With my previous Semi-Specialised release of Empire Strikes Back I used very similar settings to what I used with Star Wars and in hindsight I realise that that was a mistake, Empire Strikes Back is a totally different animal colourwise to Star Wars and Return of the Jedi, blues play a more important part in the colour scheme than with the other two films.

This latest Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2 will be noticably different from my V2.1 retro release, with the blues being more prominent throughout the film, as I am pretty sure they were in the theatrical release.

This weekend i'll be releasing a 20-21GB release of The Phantom Menace with grain added to counter the extreme DNR of the blu-ray and make the transfer far more filmlike and enjoyable to watch. It'll also include the DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track.

@Jackpumpkinhead: I've replied to you on tehparadox. I should have AOTC up by tomorrow, i'll send you a PM there when its available.

 Hey KK,

I'm familiar with your Episode I version with grain added back. I think it's very useful for distracting the viewer from the DVNR plastic. But are you also adjusting the color on this version or is this your old release?

I'll probably regrade it to adjust the fleshtones so they don't look red and sunburnt.

Apart from that, it will be a larger higher quality version of the old release with better encoding settings and the best audio, the DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track.

Okay, good news guys, after many hours and much testing I think i've finally found the right settings to use for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Semi-Specialised Editions! :D

With my previous Semi-Specialised release of Empire Strikes Back I used very similar settings to what I used with Star Wars and in hindsight I realise that that was a mistake, Empire Strikes Back is a totally different animal colourwise to Star Wars and Return of the Jedi, blues play a more important part in the colour scheme than with the other two films.

This latest Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2 will be noticably different from my V2.1 retro release, with the blues being more prominent throughout the film, as I am pretty sure they were in the theatrical release.

This weekend i'll be releasing a 20-21GB release of The Phantom Menace with grain added to counter the extreme DNR of the blu-ray and make the transfer far more filmlike and enjoyable to watch. It'll also include the DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track.

@Jackpumpkinhead: I've replied to you on tehparadox. I should have AOTC up by tomorrow, i'll send you a PM there when its available.

nightstalkerpoet said:

Create the avchd/bluray with tsmuxer, then load the folder into multiavchd.

The other option could be bdtoavchd, bdremux mode

Thanks for that nightstalkerpoet, very helpful indeed!

I can't get a handle on multiavchd, it seems to require reencoding whatever I do but I have managed to get bdtoavchd to work in bdremux mode like you said, leaving both video and audio untouched, and it allows the forcing of the first subtitle without burning it in.

Only one problem though, it just supports one subtitle. I do believe I have got round that though.

If you take the avchd created by bdtoavchd and open it in tsmuxer and leave the first subtitle as it is, it seems you can add more subtitles and the first stays forced when you create the avchd again in tsmuxer, so you get the first subtitle forced and also a choice of multiple subtitles. I just need to find a dvd9 to test it out with now, to see whether it all works as it should.

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

I had the same problem... no way to have a forced subtitle track using TSmuxeR... maybe MultiAVCHD would work, but never tried!

Yes I tried MultiAVCHD and it seems to have the option of 'forcing' the first subtitle but without burning it in so it can be removed if you want, but it seems to require that you reencode the video/audio file, which i'm not willing to do because it will result in loss of image quality.

Anybody know if there is any way of using MultiAVCHD to create the AVCHD structure with the forced first subtitle while leaving the video and audio completely untouched?

Anybody know how to make an AVCHD with the first subtitle playing as default in tsmuxer? I've been trying to work it out for the Star Wars Semi Specialised Edition V2.2L AVCHD release so the alien subtitles will play automatically but I haven't been having any luck, tsmuxer doesn't seem to have that option like mkvmerge does.

@nightstalkerpoet: I didn't actually regrade episode 1, I didn't feel that it was necessary, I just regrained it to give the DNRed blu-ray a more filmic look. It also had the unexpected effect of drawing out a lot of the detail hidden by the DNR in the blu-ray transfer, at least to my eyes.

As a source I plan to use the regrained bd50 master I created over a year ago, the one that took a week to encode. Is the broadcast version you're refering to the 16gb german hdtv transport stream? That one looks very poor if I remember correctly and its been massively cropped. I'll be sticking with my own regrained master that looks much better IMHO, so no return of creepy puppet Yoda.

@towne32: If you're talking about the german hdtv broadcast, yes if I remember correctly its also been massively cropped on the left and right side of the frame compared to the blu-ray.

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

kk650 said:

As far as i'm concerned this V2.2 Star Wars release looks the best I can make it look and personally for me as a releaser thats always been the most important thing, that I am 100% happy with the release. If others agree with me that's great of course but if they don't it doesn't concern me a great deal, ultimately I make these releases and all my regraded releases for myself and nobody else.

Agree 100% (and more...)

I now have my own perfect version of Star Wars and until a 4k remastered Star Wars release gets announced, i'm going to be a very happy man lying back and enjoying the fruits of my labour and forgetting about the 4 years of work that went into creating this. :D

"only" 4 years? crazy guys these project makers... (^^,)

I thought you might agree with me Andrea :) As far as I'm concerned its the only way one can function as a releaser, to go into creating a release with a different mindset would be insanity IMHO, you'd be getting pulled in all directions at the same time and end up with nothing coherent.

Yeah, 4 years is kind of crazy when you think about it but of course I wasn't working on them in my free time all of those 4 years, there were many other regraded releases in between I worked on as well to allow me to return to these films with fresh eyes.

I never imagined at the start that i'd be working on these Semi-Specialised Editions so long. Its like Peter Jackson said when he was making LOTR, he never focused on the mountain he needed to climb to make the three LOTR films all in one go because he would have been too afraid to start, he focused on overcoming obstacles on a day by day basis, taking step after step until he finally looked up at the end and found himself on the summit of the mountain. It kind of happened for me that way as well, I wasn't focused on when it would end, only overcoming the problems directly in front of me at the time, only to be faced with a new challenge.

It took me 4 years but I finally got there in the end, learning a few things along the way. I just hope that if/when the new 4k remastered OT releases come out, creating these Semi-Specialised Editions from the new sources won't take me quite as long haha

kitt1987 said:

Lol I can only imagine how tired of Star Wars you might be!  I definitely respect your ability to work on these until they're "right." 

I don't think I could ever be tired of Star Wars, I love the film too much!

Being a perfectionist is definately a pain in the ass a lot of the time but when you get it just right, its a very satisfying feeling. I feel that i've reached that point with Star Wars. Others here on this site probably prefer the more red fleshtones of the GOUT, most likely because thats what they're used to, but that sunburnt look is not for me.

As far as i'm concerned this V2.2 Star Wars release looks the best I can make it look and personally for me as a releaser thats always been the most important thing, that I am 100% happy with the release. If others agree with me that's great of course but if they don't it doesn't concern me a great deal, ultimately I make these releases and all my regraded releases for myself and nobody else.

I now have my own perfect version of Star Wars and until a 4k remastered Star Wars release gets announced, i'm going to be a very happy man lying back and enjoying the fruits of my labour and forgetting about the 4 years of work that went into creating this. :D

Thanks nafroe!

Just finishing up the dvd9 AVCHD version of the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2L, then it's time to get cracking on Empire Strikes Back, looking forward to seeing it again with fresh eyes :)

I wish I could oblige guys but I deleted the previous V2.2 release a week ago after I pulled it due to not being happy with the lightsabers so I have no file to take screencaps from.

The lightsaber video comparisons I posted before are still available though in this thread, the ones we agreed looked better were the ones I ended up using the settings of so thats exactly how the lightsabers look in this V2.2L release. I've made the saturation levels of the lightsabers consistent across the whole film with those prefered clips.

The Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2L with much improved lightsabers is now up on myspleen. :)

Here are some screencap comparisons for this Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2L release:


Blu-ray 1:



Regraded 1:



Blu-ray 2:



Regraded 2:



Blu-ray 3:



Regraded 3:



Blu-ray 4:



Regraded 4:



Blu-ray 5:



Regraded 5:

Jackpumpkinhead said:

i havent read through all of the post, so forgive me if this has already been addressed, but can someone put the regraded prequels on the spleen??

I will be creating a new regrained version of The Phantom Menace and i'll possibly put that one up on myspleen. The other regraded prequels can be found on tehparadox by searching for 'kk650' without speechmarks with the title of the film.

I personally like the colours of the JSC the most so that's what I would go with.

Definately having Anakin as a little kid for the whole of Episode I was the first really big mistake by GL. If it has to shown how he was found by Qui Gon (or better yet, by Obi Wan) make it happen in the first 15 minutes to half hour, then move onto when he's an adult, let the audience get to know the character as he will be for the rest of the trilogy in that first film.

Of course making adult Anakin so unlikable was probably the biggest mistake of the PT, impossible to build a story that anybody will care about around a character that nobody likes. That was the real nail in the coffin for the Prequel Trilogy.

The Phantom Menace is easily my favourite film of the PT because little Ani at least you can kind of get behind, he's not unlikable at that point, just a little annoying at times with his exclamations like 'Now THIS is pod racing!'. Liam Neeson is the best thing about the film of course, he adds much needed class and gravitas to proceedings in his role of Qui Gon. The Darth Maul fight is easily the best of the prequels for me, the pod race is actually pretty cool and the real clincher for me is that it was shot on film so it has that Star Warsy feel, it feels like it belongs alongside the OT. The second and third films shot on digital by comparison look incredibly fake and artificial, lacking that organic lived in feel of the OT and TPM.

There isn't a change to the colours over the whole film, just the lightsabers, so I don't think it merits a number change. What I have done is placed an L at the end for the improved lightsabers so the file is named differently from the previous V2.2 release, this version will have V2.2L in the filename.

I have also implemented an audio fix as well when the Millenium Falcon is taking off from Mos Eisley, now you can hear the lasers being shot at the ship by the stormtroopers, I hadn't noticed them missing before. It also makes for a much smoother audio transition between that shot and the next shot.

I'm going to create an AVCHD version of this release as well for those that want to be able to just burn it to a dvd9 and watch it straight off their dvd/blu-ray player.

From the technicolor frames i've seen in his completed and current listings, he/she seems to only have the technicolor print for half the film, from the luke training scene on the millenium falcon  to the very end of the film. I don't know how may reels that would be.

kitt1987 said:

Yep!  I think I'm leaning towards clip 1 as well.

 Cool we're all in agreement! :)

nightstalkerpoet said:

I prefer Clip 1.

Excellent, that's the one I prefer as well, thanks for the feedback nightstalkerpoet! :)

I should have the updated Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2 up on myspleen by tomorrow.

nafroe said:

kk650 said:

Okay guys, almost done with the lightsabers in Star Wars, only one shot left that I still have lingering doubts about. Please check out these two very short clips and let me know which you prefer the lightsaber saturation for, clip 1 or clip 2:

Clip 1:

https://mega.co.nz/#!O9ZXzYLD!HHSTMwf3tDsnxxz8QgkpV4e94nLh82sYDh-CdjcE9Sk

Clip 2:

https://mega.co.nz/#!Lx5lGZSJ!XlRkDoNXh5NE5EOp3mYThP8xSW7s0unRF8L9pcIcuAY

To be quite honest, I am having a hard time finding differences between the two...  Perhaps my eye isn't quite as discerning as others, but I would be perfectly happy with either one.

No that's great nafroe, thanks! That you're happy with both helps me a great deal as well, it tells me that I haven't gone too far. :)

towne32 said:

JawsTDS said:

towne32 said:

Things that I think should definitely be changed:

Vader's Noooo

Ghost Anakin. 

Call me crazy, but I like the whole "no" line, but am indifferent on Hayden as Ghost Anakin. I wouldn't be against putting Sebastian Shaw back in though.

I'll try to do my best on the CG in Mos Eisley, but I don't have an 1080p sources to match it.

Your call is fair enough regarding "no". I'm probably a little more indifferent than many about that. As long as Shaw is back it'll be worth checking out!

Just goes to show how everybody has completely different tolerance levels for different SE changes.

I have no problem with most of the CG in Mos Eisley apart from the stupid stuff like the robot hitting the other one and the swinging jawas, I even see it as an improvement in a lot of ways because it makes Mos Eisley seem more busy like you'd expect a space port to be. Mos Eisley in the unaltered original trilogy seems a little bit too deserted and too much like a set by comparison IMHO.

On the other hand I absolutely hate that 'noooooooooooooo' at the end of ROTJ, its among the worst SE changes for me, makes an absolute farce out of an incredibly poignant moment, one of the greatest and most intense moments in the entire trilogy for me. Darth Vader's silence as hes watching his son get electrocuted makes it so much more powerful IMHO, that 'noooooooooooooo' really ruins what was a perfect scene for me before.

I think it really underlines that its impossible to make a release combining elements from both the theatrical and special editions that will please everyone 100%.