Anyone keen on tackling the FEMALE PRISONER/CONVICT SCORPION series that Arrow put out on blu ray towards late '16?

The colours and contrast of the transfers were just off and a radical departure from previous releases.

http://screenanarchy.com/2016/08/have-yo...-blue.html

Apparently they get worse as the series progresses (I haven't brought myself to view them, yet). So, who's to blame?

From Arrow:

"A set of low-contrast 35mm prints struck from the original 35mm film elements were supplied by Toei Company, Ltd. These prints were scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered 4K Northlight Scanner. Picture grading was completed on a DaVinci Resolve and thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratches were removed using PFClean software. Overall image stability and instances of density fluctuation were was also improved. All restoration work was completed at Pinewood Studios.

The images on all four Female Prisoner Scorpion films favor a noticeably cyan/blue look throughout. This look was inherent in the film materials supplied and relates to how these lab materials were created, as well as how the original elements have faded over time. With these restorations, we have aimed to present the films as close to their intended original style and appearance as possible."

Fair enough.

I found this example of somebody's quick attempt to mimic the look of the DVD, which suggests something can be done:

[Image: gAv7neb.gif]

For comparisons of the individual 4 films, see here.

I will personally* suck the toes of any one who can rescue these movies from a fate worse than death.

And, of course, I'd be happy to help out with source materials if/where necessary.





*may not actually be me. May be a (poorly) paid proxy in my stead.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who has a copy of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on Laserdisc could post screencaps of how the alien subtitles look (during the opening Klingon scene and during the Kolinahr). The HDTV and the Director's cut use burnt-in subtitles in the Star Trek II font, and the BD uses generic soft subs. A quick search shows the the laserdisc has the original subtitles using a font from the Bauhaus family.
At some point I'm going to do an updated version of my TMP Director's Cut Recreation (I already made new opening credits with a title card animation to match the DVD). It would be nice to have a reference for the subtitles with the exact font and its placement on the screen.

During these days I worked a lot onto this project, because I spent so much time in previous versions, that I wanted to give it another spin...

Previous versions:
The Arrival [spoRv] *BD-25* - OriginalTrilogy - FanRes
The Arrival (1996) [Fundamental Collection™ #008] - FanRes

I did also an upscaled fullscreen 1.33:1 version, but as it seemed nobody cared about this, I deleted the file - that wasn't that great, indeed; still, has a lot of potential, as the BD frame is mainly the center of the fullscreen frame, obviously cropped, with a bit more image on one or both sides, apart few shots where the added image is bigger, but not so much.

So, I thought to do a UAR version (Hybrid Vs UAR - a simple guide), that will do justice to the fullscreen. Of course, as source for the latter the PAL Italian DVD is used, while for the letterbox version I had the BD, what else? Well, yes and no... yesterday I've found a letterbox DVD, so it is there as well.

Let's see one frame in particular, randomly chosen, but with vertical lines to see better the alignment between the two sources used in the UAR:



as you can see, fullscreen and letterbox DVDs are almost identical, while BD is very different regarding colors and contrast.

So, first attempt was to combine FS DVD and BD, as I had no other LB source (at that moment); of course, BD was regraded to be as closer as FS DVD as possible... I was sure to get a good result, as previously tested UAR projects: WRONG! Yes, BD it has a lot better detail than DVD, but the image doesn't align perfectly, as well as color grading:


Then, I found the LB DVD, so I thought to regrade the BD using is as reference; this should be better than using the FS DVD, which has a different aspect ratio, hence now color matching could be as good as it can be; I was sure to achieve the right result: WRONG! Yes, now it's better than previous attempt, color wise, but still not aligned:


I gave up, end using the LB DVD instead of the BD, as they both have the same contrast and color grading: RIGHT! Yes, alignment and color grading were OK, as expected; as well as inferior resolution due to SD sources:


I was almost happy with it, when suddenly I had a flash of genius: why don't I reform the BD, to be as closer as LB DVD? So, after various resize and related crop trials & errors, thanks to WarpedResize, that stretches only sides or center of the image, I finally get a version that is almost right for the whole film (I hope, still finish to test):


Then, feed both to first pass of the AutoOverlay plugin, to get the BD better aligned with the LB DVD, then result was used to feed the second pass of the AutoOverlay align:


I was almost there; a little tweak to colors, a grain plate... et voilà le jeux sont fait!


Comparison between fullscreen DVD and UAR: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/133547

About color grading: after few days of testing, I realized that slightly corrected DVD colors are not that bad, and *may* be more theatrically accurate than BD - due to some clues like fullscreen format, dirt and speckles and the fact that at the time was not infrequent to use interpositive prints as sources instead negative.

Hey, guys.

I've been trying to install DaVinci Resolve, since I just learned that there is a free version, so I was like "let's give it a try and learn color correction to see if I can do something with Die Hard With A Vengeance myself". But although it's "successfully" installed, I cannot launch the damn thing! I have an api-ms-win-core-synch-l1-2-0.dll alert that I can't seem to correct. All my attempts at googling solutions have failed so far. I even download the f***ing .dll file and pasted it in the right folder as I read here: https://www.dll4free.com/api-ms-win-core...0.dll.html, only to find out that I already had the damn .dll and even a more recent one! Why the hell is it not working?! I hate computers!!! This is exactly the kind of things that, about 10 times a year, makes me want to throw the f***ing thing out the window!

OK, I confess... I like this movie - shoot me now (with one of the badass guns found in the flick)!

Well, BD has a very lifeless, dull color grading... everything seems sad, colorless, dead. But I discovered the German DVD is live, colorful, happy in comparison! Yes, clipping whites, I know... http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=1776&d2...=7&l=0&a=0

I thought to use is as guideline, retain more BD contrast - to avoid white clipping - but at the same time get its colors.
And, as it's not enough, release it in UAR - actually, a lot of shots are full open matte, so in reality it will be mostly hybrid, with some UAR shots.

Rough test, still not in sync; a compromise, I know, but it gave good result IMHO - single setting for the whole movie excepts last, only scene in daylight; few examples - top BD, middle DE DVD, bottom HDTV (which has the same BD grading) regraded as DVD:

Around the time of Patrick Swayze's death there was a TV broadcast of Dirty Dancing extended with deleted scenes. The timing seemed mercenary, but the extra scenes worked pretty well.

I've never seen that edition re-aired, turn up on the net, or get an official release.
I believe one of the many DVD releases had those scenes as a bonus feature, but never inserted in the film.

Anyone come across either an HDTV rip or fan edit?

Sometimes you encounter a movie with slight differences in contrast, colors, aspect ratio, that you asked yourself: "Is it worth making this into a project?"

Well, here you can post your thoughts!

Simple rules for the poster:

Movie title (in bold) (year needed only if there are two or more movies with the same title)
Versions (source and reference)
Link to screenshotcomparison.com related page
Comments (at least few words on differences)

Simple rules for the commenters:
Movie title (in bold)
Comments

that's it!

Ready, steady, go!

Hybrid:

• 300 (2006)
  
• Apollo 13 (1995)
  
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) [IMAX Edition]
  
• Bourne Identity, The
  
• Broken Arrow (1996) – Cinema Polish
  
• Casino - in progress
  
• Cell, The
  
• Chronicles of Riddick, The
  
• Dark Knight, The
  
• Departed, The (2006)
  
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
  
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The (TV version)
  
• Gladiator
  
• Good Year, A (2006)
  
• In Bruges (2008)
  
• Iron Man
  
• Jurassic World (2015)
  
• Limitless (2011)
  
• Martian, The (2015)
  
• Oblivion (2013)
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
  
• Quest, The - in progress
  
• Ronin (1998)
  
• Showgirls (1995)
  
• Siege, The (1998)
  
• Taxi 3 - in progress
  
• Terminator 2 (1991) - custom open matte, experimental
  
• Watchmen (2009) - custom open matte, experimental
  
• Waterworld (1995) - in progress
  

• Alien 3 - 1.78:1+2.35:1 - preliminary test, small image added
  
• Alien: Resurrection - 1.78:1+2.35:1 - advanced test, added image also on both sides
  
• Arrival, The (1996) - 1.33:1+1.85:1 - advanced test, maybe ends up in a fullscreen hybrid version
  
• Creep (2004) - 1.78:1+2.35:1 & custom color grading - in progress
  
• Dark Tower, The (2017) - 1.78:1+2.35:1 - preliminary test
  
• Deep Rising - 1.78:1+2.35:1 - advanced test
  
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - preliminary test
  
• Iron Man - 1.78:1+2.35:1 - released
  
• Jurassic Park III (2001) - 1.33:1+1.78:1 - preliminary test
  
• Matrix, The (1999) - 1.33:1+1.78:1+2.40:1 - new color grading, in progress
  
• Matrix, The (1999) - 1.33:1+1.78:1+2.40:1 - old color grading, test version released
  
• Resident Evil (2002) - 1.33:1+1.78:1 - SD test version released, HD in progress
  
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2004) - 1.33:1+1.78:1 - preliminary test
  
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2010) - 1.78:1+2.35:1 & custom color grading - in progress
  
• Silent Hill (2006) - 1.78:1+2.35:1 & custom color grading - in progress
  
• Terminator 2 (1992) - 1.33:1+2.35:1 - preliminary test
  
• Terminator 3 (2003) - 1.33:1+1.78:1 - advanced test
  

• Alien: Covenant — 1.78:1/2.35:1 — [Fundamental Collection]
  
• Bad Education (2004) — 1.85:1/2.40:1
  
• Biutiful (2010) — 1.78:1/2.40:1
  
• Brainstorm (1983) — 1.66:1/2.40:1
  
• Brother Bear (2003) — 1.75:1/2.40:1
  
• Dark Knight Rises, The (2012) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  
• Dark Knight, The (2008) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  
• Enchanted (2007) — various
  
• Galaxy Quest (1999) — 1.33:1/2.40:1
  
• Grand Budapest Hotel, The (2014) — various
  
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  
• Horse Whisperer, The (1998) — 1.85:1/2.40:1
  
• Hunger Games, The: Catching Fire (2013) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  
• Incredibles, The (2004)
  
• JFK (1991)
  
• Life of Pi (2012)
  
• Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
  
• More American Graffiti (1979) — 1.33:1/1.85:1/2.40:1
  
• Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) — 1.33:1/2.40:1
  
• Paddington (2014)
  
• Prometheus (2012) — 1.78:1/2.35:1 — [Fundamental Collection]
  
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) — 1.66:1/1.85:1/2.40:1
  
• Serious Man, A (2009)
  
• Seventh Son (2015)
  
• Simpsons Movie, The (2007) — 1.33:1/2.40:1
  
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) — 2.39:1/1.78:1
  
• Superman: The Movie (1978)
  
• This Is Cinerama (1952) — 1.33:1/2.60:1
  
• This Is the End (2013)
  
• THX-1138 (1971)
  
• Tombstone (1993)
  
• Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) — various
  
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  
• Tron: Legacy (2010) — 2.40:1/1.78:1
  

I've put together what I call a 'watchable' HD version of Breakdown from a HDTV broadcast. The original file had heavy vertical aliasing baked into the master which I've mostly removed using nnedi3 in avisynth. Some moire remains buts it's the best that can be done considering the source. I then regrained the whole film using a custom RGB grain plate. 

The project is synced to the Region 1 DVD. The movie is 100% HD bar a logo in the end credits for which I upscaled the DVD in order to maintain DVD sync.

Release Format: MKV containing blu ray compliant x264, Average Bitrate 26Mb/s. File size 18.7GB

So far the project includes the following soundtracks:

PCM 2.0 and AC-3 5.1 from the US Laserdisc
AC-3 2.0/5.1 English, AC-3 2.0 French from the R1 US DVD

Included subtitles (MKV compatible only): English, Spanish, French

If anyone wishes to contribute additional audio tracks I ask that they are already synced to the R1 DVD.

Some screenshots: