This is not a particularly sophisticated project, and indeed although it's watchable I'm not necessarily finished with it. It was basically my first shot at mucking about with AviSynth (with some advice from this forum, actually) because I couldn't see a better way of doing it.

This is the 1997 featurette ANATOMY OF A DEWBACK, about the process of doing ungodly "Special Edition" CGI modifications to the "look sir, droids" sequence in STAR WARS (1977). It was originally released in five very short (~5 min) "episodes" exclusively on the official Star Wars website (and yeah, this was 1997 so it was a really really awful 240p, 24fps RealPlayer stream) and although later released in its entirety on Blu-ray in both 2011 and 2020, they screwed it up pretty badly both times, which annoyed me enough to try to fix it up a bit.

The original 1997 web video is long since deleted, but I kept a recorded copy of the files and recently dug them out to have a look. The video appears to be 320 x 240 pixels (4:3) but this includes black letterboxing; without the letterboxing it’s more like 320 x 192 px, which is a somewhat unusual aspect ratio of 5:3. Although this is the native aspect ratio of 16 mm film, this featurette seems to have been shot on video so it’s probably more significant to note that 5:3 was used in some countries as an early “widescreen” format for a while, presumably as a compromise between theatrical 1.85:1 and 1.33:1 (a.k.a. 4:3) home video. This original version looks something like this, if you crop off the letterboxing from the top and bottom:



On the 2011 Blu-ray, the featurette was for some reason encoded to display as (almost) 5:3 “widescreen” on a 4:3 television screen. The trouble is, even in 2011, those were a dying breed, and definitely aren’t anywhere near as prevalent in 2020. The result of this is that the vast majority of people will watch this on a 16:9 screen, but the “widescreen” image will not even come close to filling the display on account of being restricted by the 4:3 box. The actual image is a very rough looking 700 x 430 or so pixels, inside a 720 x 540 pixel 4:3 frame. It’s “open matte” to some degree as it hasn’t been framed correctly for this release, but it’s also skewed toward one side, with the left side not cropped enough and the right side slightly over-cropped compared to the old web video. It also appears to have been slightly squashed horizontally. That one looks like this:



The 2020 Blu-ray is different again, with the image being about 720 x 440 but this time it’s been cropped much more noticeably on the right-hand side than the 2011 transfer was. As a result, it can’t be restored back to an accurate representation of the original framing, and to be honest, it looks like crap overall when compared to the 2011 version. It’s also noticeably stretched horizontally, from less than 700 px (I’m guessing 640 px) to 720 px:



Since the least cropped (and least aliased) reasonably modern source seems to be the 2011 disc, I cropped and upscaled that (without sharpening the hell out of it) to fill a 16:9 screen, in order to ditch the letterboxing and attempt to fix (as far as possible) the slightly deformed aspect ratio. Since a bit had been cut off the right hand side, I also cropped a little bit off the left to recentre the image, adding equal borders on the left and right to fill a 16:9 screen and upscaling to 720p. Since the source was interlaced, standard definition NTSC, I deinterlaced it with QTGMC. Do not expect this to look like HD footage, because it’s not, and it shows… but it’s a heck of a lot better than the 56k web streaming version and is framed better than either of the official Blu-ray Disc versions as well.

Here’s the 1997 web version with the letterboxing removed, then the remaining frame upscaled to fill a 5:3 frame inside a full-screen 16:9 display, to show what the ideal framing would look like:



Then the same thing but cropped in slightly on all sides to better match the available picture information in the 2011 Blu-ray version (since the 2011 BD version is slightly cropped on the right as well, I cropped in on all sides to restore the original 5:3 aspect ratio):



This was used to work out the most accurate crop and size adjustments for the 2011 video.

The end result is a precisely 5:3 frame with black bars at the sides to fill a 16:9 screen at 720p, instead of a tiny 5:3 frame inside a 4:3 box in the middle (which would have been great when we all used 4:3 TVs but is extremely inconvenient nowadays). It could most definitely look better and the image is still not 100% accurately re-warped to match the exact aspect ratio of the web vid but then it's entirely possible that was wrong in the first place anyway; if I knew more about upscaling and had access to tools like AI sharpening (rather than simple AviSynth filters that create ringing artefacts worse than what you already see below) then perhaps I could achieve better results. I did try just about every resizing filter I could find any info on, and this appeared to be the one that produced the least artefacts. I've also left it in the original BT.601 NTSC colour space rather than outputting BT.709, which may or may not be wise (open to suggestions, would be easy to re-render out BT.709 instead).

Anyway, here's how it ended up after the above:



THIS IS A FAN-MADE PRESERVATION OF BONUS CONTENT FOR A FILM I CARE DEEPLY ABOUT (AND HAVE LEGITIMATELY PURCHASED MANY COPIES OF). I DO NOT ENCOURAGE PIRACY. If you are downloading this, then I consider it a prerequisite that you already own an officially released version of what you are downloading. If you don't, then you should purchase a copy before downloading, as long as that item remains available for purchase. If it has gone out of print, then perhaps a digital copy is available. If no physical or digital copy is available to purchase and you don't already own one, then you are downloading at your own discretion. At time of writing, both the 2011 and 2020 box sets containing this video are still available for purchase.

Furthermore, THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOWNLOAD MUST NOT BE PARTIALLY OR FULLY REPRODUCED FOR PROFIT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER.

Thank you for understanding.

Sorry for the noob question but I'm not 100% sure what Cinema DTS actually is and it seems to be regarded as the best type of soundtrack.

I assume it's the DTS soundtrack used in the cinema but then that makes me wonder why it isn't used for the home release of movies.

And then I wonder how you guys come about these tracks.

Thanks in advance.

Here Is the Dolby Surround AC3 2.0 Mix of Mission Impossible (1996) ripped from the Special Collector's Edition DVD. 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/aso5p7wtx...x.ac3/file

The delay for this is 1700ms. This syncs perfectly with the remastered 4K UHD BD , so enjoy!

Hello!
Thanks to spoRv, I now have two perfectly in sync sources that I can overlay. I did some manual editing of one to make sure it was frame perfect, but even though I did that it's a few frames out of sync.



Is the fact that I'm using VirtualDub2 instead of AviSynth an issue? I couldn't get it to run in Avisynth 2.6 or AviSynth+. When this plugin works it works excellent! Hopefully I can get this finished and I can start to contribute instead of just asking questions.. 
Any help is appreciated. Thanks

So I was poking around out of boredom and scrolling through a 35mm print inventory that was posted on another forum–where I've been more recently been able to make scanning efforts for some of the listed titles–when I noticed something that caught my eye.

Apparently within that collection, there's an Italian 35mm print of Dario Argento's Inferno with a 4-Track Stereo Mix.

I have a new Macbook Pro and unfortunately it no longer comes with an Digital-In. So I need a USB Soundcard that gives me this option, especially for Bit-Perfect Captures.

Any recommendations? Anything I should look for that could be a problem?

Looking forward to your feedback

To give it its own thread. It's confirmed:
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/zack-...234611928/

I just really look forward to seeing this. I'd followed the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement for a little and was fascinated by all the infos about all the things the movie could have been. Didn't doubt the existence of the cut but I did seriously doubt that it would ever be released. Glad to be proven wrong.

With the successful financing of The Keep, I thought I'd go back to that StrawPoll to see what was next on that list and start up another one and see what happens. If it doesn't get funded, oh well. If it does, then cool, another preservation available on the list.

(2017-10-13, 12:31 AM)Beber Wrote: Right when the truck enters the alley, it's very blue. Then it's mostly greenish. The lightning effects are cyan-blue. Overall, the movie is mostly greenish. The beginning credits are very blue, and the Budha statues area at Lo Pan's place is quite blue, mostly because of the carpet.

(2018-06-07, 09:28 PM)zoidberg Wrote: The new colour timing is quite something isn't it? I was lucky enough to catch a 70mm screening in April and sure enough it was dark, moody and blue blue blue. It looks like the Netflix was a genuine attempt to go back to the theatrical colours, although the Netflix timing has more consistent orangey skin tones whereas the 70mm tends to vary going from pinkish to orange to brown sometimes, but that's photochemical colour timing for you. The 'green flames' on the 70mm were genuine vivid green whereas the Netflix has somewhat tealer greens. If anything the 70mm was bluer than the Netflix which surprised me.

zoidberg Wrote:I like to think my memory of the screening (70mm, not 35mm) is good but no-one's memory is perfect, it was very blue in much the same way I describe T2 as blue, inasmuch as it's very present throughout but not at the expense of other colours (ie not a blanket tint).

A friend of mine tracked down an old 35mm intermission clip that used to play in UK cinemas. He collects and regularly watches 16mm films but had no way of watching or preserving 35mm, so when he heard about my Highlander 2 scan project he asked if I could help him get it scanned. 

In the end the scanner I used for H2 was more than happy to scan the short clip along with my reels, so it's now been preserved for posterity. 



My friend has great nostalgia for this clip, he's got a lot of memories of seeing it playing in cinemas when he was a kid in the 70s. Apparently this particular version was specific to Odeon cinemas, but there's also a version for ABC cinemas that has different narration, music and Coke instead of Pepsi. My friend remembers seeing the ABC version right through to 1992! 

The clip was pretty faded and red so I did very quick and basic correction to bring the colours back so thought I'd share the results here. If anyone wants to see it just PM me for a link. 

My friend is a editor by trade so now that he has the raw film scans I'm sure he'll come up with a much better restoration. When he does I'll encourage him to share it here.

@jrodefeld, gaining profit from fan projects is strictly prohibited here on fanres.



Note: I figure many people here already know about our releases, but I wanted to post about them for people who are not familiar with our work.






Brand new November 2018 release!  

Restoration and Color Correction:  

We used two sources to restore the original theatrical version. We used two genuine HD sources, one uncut and the other heavily edited. After careful inspection we concluded that the edited version had superior colors and detail, but it was also dirtier. The uncut version looked okay, but the colors were washed out and the color grade was too blue.  So we removed the dirt from the edited source using Digital Vision Phoenix and spliced in the missing scenes from the uncut version. Then we had to carefully match the color grade to make the two sources look as seamless as possible. The results are very impressive.  Finally, the original opening titles had to be restored by combining the two sources. Similar to what we did with Drunken Master 2, but with even better results. This single thing took several weeks and many hours to end up looking seamless.  The result is the best looking version of Armour of God that is available.  

Uncut Hong Kong Version 

Audio Tracks:  

1. Original Cantonese 2.0 LPCM (HK Star Laserdisc)  
2. Original English Dub 2.0 LPCM (Pony Canyon Laserdisc)  
3. New English Dub 5.1 Dolby (Hong Kong Legends DVD)  
4. Cantonese Surround Remix 7.1 (Kam & Ronson BD)  
5. Mandarin 2.0 LPCM (Deltamac DVD)  
6. "Podcast on Fire" Commentary    

Miramax Version 

Audio Tracks:  

1. Miramax English Dub 2.0 DTS-HD (Miramax BD)  
2. Original English Dub 2.0 LPCM (Pony Canyon Laserdisc)  
3. Original Cantonese 2.0 LPCM (HK Star Laserdisc)  
4. New English Dub 5.1 Dolby (Hong Kong Legends DVD)  
5. Cantonese Surround Remix 7.1 DTS-HD (Kam & Ronson BD)  
6. Mandarin 2.0 LPCM (Deltamac DVD)    

Ending Credits Song and Lyrics Subtitles  As we've previously done, we got proper English subtitles created for three songs that play during the film. Those songs are: "Friend of Mine", "Lorelei" and "High Upon High"  Additionally, you can choose whether you prefer to have "Lorelei" or "High Upon High" play during the ending credits/outtakes. The reason for this is that some versions of Armour of God had one song or the other playing over the credits depending on the country it was released in.  This is the only version of Armour of God that provides both versions, for both the original English dub and the original Cantonese audio.    


Disc 2 Special Features  

1. Image Gallery (HKR Exclusive)  
2. Restoration & Color Correction  
3. Under the Armour (HKR Exclusive)  
4. Jackie Chan Interview 
5. Willie Chan Interview  
6. Outtakes  
7. Trailer Gallery  
8. Promotional Archive  
9. That Same Question  
10. Fan Tributes  
11. Traces of a Dragon  
12. Jackie's Oscar  
13. Officially Amazing  
14. This is Jackie Chan  
15. There is Only One  
16. Comedy Special  
17. HK Cinema 101  
18. Charitable Chan  
19. "Sing Lung" Sings  
20. Working with Jackie  
21. Hong Kong Rescue    

Too much great stuff to mention individually, but as always Darren's exclusive material is incredible. Two 50gb discs have been filled to capacity. The entire project has been tweaked and polished to perfection, or as close as I can possibly come.  You'll love it.



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