msycamore

Thanks erri, will wait for Leo's confirmation on that line.

Moth3r said:

(Slightly off topic, but interesting - at least to me, anyway.)

The pattern above, from the Jason LD, is actually the BBC's Test Card G. A slightly modified version of a pattern from the Philips PM5544, it was first broadcast in 1971, and was the first electronically generated pattern to be used by the BBC.

The frequency sweep (the waveform pattern below centre) ranges, I think, from 1.5 MHz to 5.2 MHz. The upper limit of LD bandwidth is listed in various places as around 5.5 MHz (or an equivalent resolution of 440 TVL) so any player that shows some definition in the 5.2 MHz region is doing very well. The D925 shows a little definition here when using the s-video output, but it's still almost flat.

(I've also since found the PM5544 pattern used on a clock and a pillow!)

That's a very good and helpful test pattern, some TV-stations in Sweden is still using it sometimes and have done so for as long as I can remember.

Ah, OK. Thanks for the info.

Interesting, what about these then?

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/37365/113035/Star-Wars:-La-guerre-des-étoiles-(1977)

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/37366/142535/Star-Wars:-L'Empire-contre-attaque-(1980)

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/37367/147835/Star-Wars:-Le-retour-du-Jedi-(1983)

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

By the way, I have not any LD based on a smear-free master, based on what Moth3r replied some posts before... or not?!?

So I decided to find the truth, because, as Mulder says, "the truth is out there"... and finally I found this thread.

Reassuming all, it *SEEMS* there is a smear-free (so, AFAIK, DVNR-free too) master that is not "shrinking"... ANH LD with cat.#1130-85.

Now, it happens that my french PAL LD has cat.#113037... maybe it's just a coincidence, but... check the following comparisons (all the first three images are just taken from the former thread).

 

Then, to me, the PAL LD master is the same of the smear-free edition, that is, if I'm not wrong, the Special Widescreen Edition (SWE).

Now, I'm sure Moth3r is more expert than me about these things, because he said the PAL master is NOT DVNR free, but in the linked thread he's not talked about this issue...

At the end, is the PAL master DVNR-free or not? If yes, then the SWE should be the same, and so not smear-free, as it seems they have the same master...

I'm lost now... please save me ;-)

Waiting for your comments!

The THX PAL Laserdiscs had DVNR applied like the US THX LD's (GOUT), it isn't entirely smear-free, it's just less agressive on the PAL-transfers, like Moth3r pointed out, there is motion trailing artifacts on your Landspeeder screen-caps albeit nowhere near as horrible like on their US counterparts.

The unique smear-free Laserdisc talked about in Mallwalker's thread is an entirely different beast, it's a NTSC LD mastered just before the Definitive Collection LD set in '93.

The Spanish LD seems to have very nice colors. :)

Yes, the 2003 Director's Cut was were Ridley revised the colortiming, including the golden hue in the landing gear room.

Nice! Of course you should continue on with this project, IMO there's still not a truly solid transfer out there in LD-resolution, some of them come close but all have their own unique problems. A capture from an X9 is very welcomed. :)

As Moth3r said, the THX PAL LD's had DVNR applied as well, fortunately you don't have the same amount of smear like you have on their US counterparts.

erri_wan said:

...although if you want I can ask a friend of mine (the same who removed the folding lines from the poster image)

Sure, why not. :) 

There are also other nasties in this transfer, so I may actually try this out myself.

Harmy said:

That sounds like a plausible solution for the white hair. I tried fixing it in after effect but I can't get it to work without creating side effects that are worse than the hair itself. The only possible way would be to do it frame by frame and I definitely don't volunteer for that ordeal. But painting it out using the DC could work quite well and as far as I'm concerned, it could just stay in those two remaining shots.

As to the anti-aliasing, I vote for unfiltered, it's so minor, that it doesn't seem to be worth softening the picture.

Damn, thank you so much for giving it a try, though. If MeBeJedi doesn't chime in I'll check out this Combustion myself and see if it's something I can manage.

SilverWook said:

The clip looks pretty darn good! I'm amazed you can filter out the "rolling bars" the 8210 has that are all too visible on modern displays. 

I only boosted the colors and the black level on those clips, maybe that is what makes it disappear, unfortunately I think they will be slightly visible in the "white prison".

SilverWook said:

IIRC, there are only two altered shots in the DC where the white hair thing plagues the LD. Is it possible to paint it out where possible using the unaltered shots from the DVD? Then use the heavy digital guns on the remaining shots?

There are actually seven altered scenes in total and a different colored computer display.

We'll see what magic MeBeJedi can do... Maybe he have already started on it, I guess it will take some time to get rid of it all, it's almost 15 minutes in length afterall.

You mentioned these six minutes of new scenes. Are you one of these guys like George Lucas who likes to go back and tinker with their old films?
I’m not into revision. I think every film should be exactly as it was executed in the moment. We’re not changing the rest of the film, we’re just dropping these scenes in. I actually don’t believe…like when George went back and put new creatures into the original Star Wars, I find that disturbing. It’s a revision of history. That bothers me. I certainly wouldn’t go back and do that to any of my films. A film I made in 1984, it’s what it is. It’s a creature of its time. But with these new scenes we’re adding, I think people certainly had an appetite for more Avatar than we gave them. Nobody complained about it being too long. The scenes we’re putting back are righteous scenes, they’re not Jake sitting around talking about his childhood.

Original:

Anthology:

Continuity: Near the end when Ripley is on the dropship, she is seen arming herself. We see her grab a flamethrower from the weapons rack. She then lays a pulse rifle on the deck. Next she pulls a pulse rifle from the rack, and lays down a flamethrower. (The 2010 Blu-ray is slightly re-edited to remove this error.)

Where do we draw the line?

doubleofive said:

This is never going to end, is it? ;-)

Maybe someday. ;)

Here's another '97 SE change:

Original

Notice the bad cockpit-matte, the black part covering the window to the right of Threepio.

SE

Just a few screen-caps from the JSC if you like to use them instead.

The correct green lasers:

The smear-free Falcon:

The smear-free X-Wing:

One positive thing is that there's very little aliasing compared to various SW LD-transfers out there. The jaggies are so minor that I'm not sure if I should apply anti-aliasing or not, as the tradeoff will be a slightly softer image. I need your opinions on this.

These are actually some of the worst examples of jaggies in the film, it says quite alot of how good it looks in that regard. I suggest you click and save so that you can swith between them to see the difference. Let me know if I should post before and after video-samples instead.

Unfiltered

Filtered

Unfiltered

Filtered

Unfiltered

Filtered

Unfiltered

Filtered

You can clearly see that it is a recomp on the starfield. It's a '97 alteration btw.

erri_wan said:

All I'm saying is, try to make an accurate list of all versions (and differences between them) to be added to the DVD extras.  

I'll see what I can do.

SilverWook said:

It's impossible to know, as the idiot who did the video transfer panned the frame all the way over to THX standing in the sunset, chopping the credits off completely.

Ah, now I remember. To be fair, it must have been a tough decision on how to do it for the operator. But it's a little weird, they used to squeeze or letterbox end titles.

erri_wan said:

Msycamore I've just seen the sneak-peak you linked, I LOVE what you did with it.

Harmy said:

Yeah! Hell! That might be one of the best LD transfers I've ever seen! Love it.

Yeah, SilverWook made a fine capture, several in fact. :) It does look ok, at least there's no dvnr-smear on it as far as I can see, but there is some major problems, don't know if you can see it that well in that sample but the edge-enhancement is pretty bad sometimes, there also is some ghosting and it is quite dirty in some parts. But I don't think I'll do so much with it, as I think it will hurt the quality more than it will help.

Here's a more uglier side of this transfer including the dirt stuck in frame:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lfiptj

Erri_wan, that was something I just wrote to include in one of the folders to help some people that is not that familiar with the film, I don't know yet...

Just a preview: http://www.sendspace.com/file/1lz1n8 so that you know what to expect from this project, just IVTC'd and resized, no audio though.

Nice! Really looking forward to Jaws on blu.

"The new philosophy..."  ;)

Yeah, I fully agree. The original film were shot very grainy on purpose but then again this isn't the original film so I don't really care unless the same thing were done if they were going to restore the real film by some miracle. But with todays audience they probably would remove any trace of the Techniscope format, really sad.

Thanks for posting, interesting that they mention that the opening titles were in the wrong color.

I'm currently working on combining all the best parts of your LD-captures, that weird artifacts on the end titles in the 8210-transfer also appear on all computer-screens, so I will replace them with another capture as well.

I'll post a few video samples in a while so that you'll know what to expect from this.

SilverWook, could you do me a favor and check how the color appears on the end titles on your Betamax tape? The DC titles are yellow, the LD's are white, I'm curious.

SilverWook said:

That so looks like a Heavy Metal cover. :)

 Very much. :)

SilverWook said:

I wasn't aware Lucas personally shot new footage, but you know more about THX than I do.

Was the final '96 VHS release the letterboxed PAL video?

Well, I don't know if he was doing it personally or not but he apparently let new footage be shot for some of the CGI-sequences. I'll have to check were I read that part.

As I understand it, the last video release was the US VHS in '96, the UK letterboxed tape I own was released in '95.

Another German edition of the novel, this one from 1975.

Yeah, I am working on a little version history and that was something that just occured to me. I know there was 16mm prints to be seen in libraries around 1978, but if those were the same cut Silver has is anyone's guess.

VERSION HISTORY

When THX 1138 was originally released in 1971, it was in a hacked apart - 81 minutes long version after the studio Warner Bros had taken the film away from George Lucas and cut 4-5 minutes from it, mostly scenes in the "White Limbo" and some of the films bizarre humor were taken out, in addition, Walter Murch's sound design had also been altered.

Even though THX 1138 was released in UK and France in 1971, it wasn't released in Italy until 1976, then under the title "L'uomo Che Fuggì Dal Futuro" ("The Man Who Escaped From The Future"). How much this cut resembles the "Warner Bros-cut" released five years earlier in terms of editing is hard to tell, but both are approximately 81 minutes in lenght. This version opens with a flashback sequence narrated by THX himself. In addition, the usually excellent Italian dubbing in films is sometimes very poor and even alters the story in more than one way. In comparison to the later released restored cut, it includes a slightly longer "SEN talking with kids sequence" and re-ordering of scenes. This editing could very much be a leftover from the "Warner Bros-cut", but the other story differences that occur in the dubbing is more likely liberties taken by Societa Italiana Distribuzione Films which was the distributor for it in Italy. This was the only version available on video in Italy until the "2004-Director's Cut" was released.

It wasn't until after George Lucas' enormous succes with Star Wars in 1977 that Lucas was able to finally release a fully restored cut of his THX 1138. This version restored the previously cut scenes, making it approximately 86 minutes in length.

A German televised version and an American/English 16mm print has revealed that yet another version exists, it is almost identical to the original restored cut but it includes the slightly longer "SEN talking with kids sequence" and the same re-ordering of the arrest, seen in the Italian version.

THX 1138 was finally released on video rental in 1982, it was then in the form of the original restored cut. This version was widely available on Betamax, VHS and Laserdisc, the last release was on VHS in 1996, it has not yet been released on any new formats.

Finally in 2004, a new version was released in theaters for a limited time and released on DVD and later Blu-ray under the banner "The George Lucas Director's Cut". This version is approximately 88 minutes in length, have a much different editing which even alter the story in subtle ways, using alternate takes etc. In addition to using modern CGI, Lucas shot new footage for this version and even reshoot several scenes using computer systems to insert the actors and replace existing footage.

Have I missed anything, how is my English, can I complement with anything?

Yeah, I am starting to suspect that the "restored original cut" released in theaters after the SW-success could have been slightly different than the version that was later widely available on Betamax, VHS and LD.

The reason:

The different order of the arrest scene

Slightly longer SEN scene

(I bet both of those are leftovers from the "Warner Bros-cut")

I mean, your 16mm version do have the 4-5 minutes that the studio cut - restored, so why does it share the same editing that appeared on the Italian version, and the German version seems to be identical to yours.

SilverWook, do you have any idea how old your 16mm print is? Is it possible to track down which years these prints were released?