Predator (1987) Open Matte / Dolby SR 4.0

Title: Predator
Runtime: 1h46m33s
Video format: x264 1920x1080 23.976fps open matte 1.78:1
Overall video bit rate: 14.4 Mb/s
Audio format: AC3 4.0 384 Kb/s English
Subtitles: English
Release notes: Video source is a WEB-DL. Audio comes from the French Blu-ray edition.
Release format: MKV
Size: 10.7 GiB

Screenshots: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/131138/  (Contains 7 screenshots)

Special thanks: Mass_5160 - Muxing the file / BlueBird - Ripping the video

Hey buddies, I managed to grab on the russian tracker an open matte 35mm scan of Running Man. It looks like it comes from a russia only DVD.

I know it's a scan because it looks nothing like the bad video scan that as existed now for about 20 years, and there are points flashing at the reel changes. It was in Pal so I resynced it at 23.976 both image and audio which was off pitch.

The audio is weird, it's 5.1 but sounds nothing like the Blu-ray / DVD 5.1 and looks mangled but doesn't have the weird effect of the remix where you can hear differences of sources in Arnold's dialogue dubbing and the gunshots sounds OK instead of being in a bin. I fixed the pitch and speed and re-authored in AC3 640kbps.

I think the remix was made from the stems and the separate music because on this version the music sounds nearly mono whereas it's spacious stereo on the remix.

I would be happy if someone take my work as is now and resync the Dolby Surround track from the Olive Blu-ray (which I don't have), and also the french track plus subs. PM and I'll send you a link when I up it later tonight.

Here are some grabs: You can see the old scan isn't has clipped in the whites as the DVD/Blu, in fact this old scan looks like I remembered the movie. The crap DVDs and Blu-ray look like it was shot on DV video.




Incidentaly, there is a french version with localised intro that has been on youtube for years and is never disturbed. It looks to me this movie might be in legal limbo in France due to the plagiarism trial by the french director who did the film adaptation Le Prix Du Danger based on the novel Stephen King also took inspiration from.

https://youtu.be/sC8t26QXyYE

The Terminator (1984) Open Matte / Mono

Title: The Terminator
Runtime: 1h46m59s
Video format: x264 1920x1080 23.976fps open matte 1.78:1
Overall video bit rate: 14.6 Mb/s
Audio format: DTS-HD MA Mono English
Subtitles: English
Release notes: Video source is a WEB-DL, the Cinemax logo at the beginning has been removed without reencoding. Audio was originally PCM.
Release format: MKV
Size: 10.9 GiB

Screenshots: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/131028  (Contains 7 screenshots)

Special thanks: Mass_5160 - Muxing the file / BlueBird - Ripping the video / Dark Jedi - Ripping the LD audio

As spoRv suggested, here's a thread where we could share our discoveries regarding Blu-rays, HDTV broadcasting or DVDs, for lack of better sources, that use textless and free of burnt-in subtitles masters which would help for international localization projects.

As it happens, Braveheart was released by Paramount in the US and by Fox in Europe. So, while there are burnt-in subs for foreign parts on the US master, there are none on the French Blu-ray for example:



The same thing happens between Lionsgate in the US and Metropolitan in France. Here's the example of Rambo/John Rambo:



Or even with The Expendables (screen is from the Poland open matte):



Expendables 2, Lionsgate. On the French Blu-ray, no burnt-ins:



Live Free or Die Hard (screen not taken from US Blu-ray as it is the HD Unrated version I have here) uses a different master in Europe, subfree that's even entitled Die Hard 4.0.



Now there's the case of many Universal catalogue titles that use US masters with texts and burnt-in subs that are fully free of those on the master used in Europe.
Such as Carlito's Way :





Or Scarface :






Or the Jason Bourne original trilogy. Here's The Bourne Identity:




Yes, in Europe, they even have used a master free of those fancy inscriptions.

Here's The Bourne Supremacy:



The Bourne Ultimatum:



Speaking of fancy insciptions, John Wick has a very fancy use of subtitles on top of regular ones. In the US, Lionsgate uses them in English obviously. In France, Metropolitan uses a French master that have them in French. However, in Scandinavia, they have a fully subtitle free master.





There's also the case of MGM that has used on DVDs textless and subfree masters in Europe, but has returned to US masters for Blu-ray.
The Terminator, The Silence of the Lambs and The Usual Suspects are good examples.




The same goes with Universal's Schindler's List. The European DVD is textfree.



In the same vein, Die Hard with a Vengeance, not a Fox title in Europe, but a Disney/Buena Vista one, has used in France a subfree master but has returned to the US master (minus the Fox intro) on blu-ray. However, the Web UHD remaster is subfree.




Stargate (Studio Canal in France) has used a subfree master on DVD, but has returned to a US master on Blu-ray, and I wish it was subfree 'cause they're probably the most hideous burnt-in subs I've ever seen, with that thick black border...



Men in Black on DVD used a subfree master (in France at least) but has returned to a US master in both Blu-ray releases (original and mastered in 4K). However, the UHD is subfree.



There is obviously the missed opportunity on The Force Awakens Blu-ray, while Rogue One did it properly using seemless branching...




And finally, there's the case of foreign HDTV broadcastings that can have their own burnt-in subs with different placement on the frame, that can be used to erase the original ones to create a subfree master.

Batman Begins :




Independence Day:








I wish there was a way to get rid of those in The Dark Knight, but the French broadcast uses a French master that has the French subs with the same placement and done as poorly as the original English ones.



There's also the case of The Incredible Hulk, a Universal title in the US that's a M6 release in France. I'd have to check the status on the French disc, as M6 may have burned the French ones on their own master as they did with Lord of War. The same could go with Iron Man, from Paramount to M6...




Feel free to add your own discoveries.

From yesterday, if I visit FanRes using Firefox, pages takes forever to load... while on Edge, and also on my Android phone, it works perfectly... Firefox version is 58.0.1, and seems to work with any other sites.

Anyone else noted this behaviour?

A little regrade project. I always found the colors in Shaun of the Dead a bit boring and dull and thought the movie deserved a more exciting look.

I regraded the movie with a couple of 3D LUTs which I generated using DrDre's ColorMatch tool and some snaps of 35mm film cells on eBay. 

No idea what those film cells were taken from. Likely trailers. Either way, there is little consistency in them. Sometimes the same scene is present with two different gradings.

But, for what it's worth, I was able to figure out two basic looks with a few variations. The one is a normal kind of warm film look. The other is something that looks like some extreme kind of Bleach Bypass. 

I don't know which one of these looks is more theatrically accurate, so I decided to use them both depending on the current scene/context/music/score. Neither really fits in all the scenes, so a blanket LUT doesn't make much sense. Bleach Bypass look usually when zombies are involved, the normal film look in more calm scenes - especially in the beginning of the film, at Shaun's workplace etc.. And then there's one that looks a bit like pushed slide film and on the colder side, which is good for the indoors shots in the bar; but I think that one is just a variation of the normal film look.

Here's an screenshot comparison of thumbnails: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/130893

Here is a screenshot comparison of a few images I semi-randomly picked for demonstration: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/130894 (it has multiple tabs!)

I don't think there's a big chance of me ever finding out the "true theatrical" colors, but I like my results so far and I think it's a step up from the boring standard colors which look not much more exciting than some random TV show. After all, it's a zombie apocalypse movie and should be a bit flashy/fancy/gritty.

This whole thing also pushes out the grain of the movie a little more, especially in the final scenes.

Will be rendering the movie out soon.

I've been spending the past few too many months on a personal project cleaning up a whole film by digitally removing dirt from more than 1000 frames, dot by dot, splotch by splotch, scratch by scratch. All dirt that Universal never ever bothered cleaning (and probably never will) before dishing it out in blu-ray.
I wondered how I could convey the amount of work that is spread all through-out its 98 minutes running time so I came up with the idea to make one single image with all the patches fused into one single layer and here it is:


I called it "Universal dirt", post-modern art of sorts.

And I made this image when the frames fixed were "only" 660. I ended up fixing 1000 frames in total... probably there are many dots that ended up behind the bigger patches but you get the idea. Each element is a little patch that covers seamlessly some type of damage or dirt on the original film. It's what Universal should have done in the first place, honestly.
I figure it would have taken me only 3 weeks if that was my actual job, probably a lot less with different tools, but I learnt an invaluable lesson: never promise to yourself "I'll just fix a couple of things" if you know you're OCD

For now, I'll plan a single aspect ratio version in 70mm, seeing that I've not yet found the best way to get rid of that damn ghosting in the open matte version that isn't incredibly time-consuming even by the standards of time-consuming methods. Needless to say, preliminary specs are as follows:

VIDEO
Resolution: 1080p (BD), 480p (NTSC DVD), 576p (PAL DVD)
Aspect ratio: 2.20:1

AUDIO
English (Viz dub, THX Surround EX 6.1, main feature only)
English (Viz dub, Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1)
English (Viz dub, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
English (Cloverway dub, THX Surround EX 6.1, main feature only)
English (Cloverway dub, Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1, main feature only)
English (Cloverway dub, Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0, main feature only)
French (Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1, main feature only)
French (Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0, main feature only)
German (Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1, main feature only)
German (Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0, main feature only)
Italian (Mediaset dub, Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0)
Italian (Shin Vision dub, THX Surround EX 6.1)
Italian (Shin Vision dub, Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1)
Italian (Shin Vision dub, Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0)
Japanese (THX Surround EX 6.1)
Japanese (Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1)
Japanese (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
Castilian Spanish (Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1, main feature only)
Castilian Spanish (Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0, main feature only)
Mexican Spanish (THX Surround EX 6.1)
Mexican Spanish (Dolby Stereo Digital 5.1)
Mexican Spanish (Dolby Stereo Digital 2.0)

SUBTITLES
English
English (rhyming)

English SDH (Viz)
English SDH (Cloverway)

French
French (rhyming)
German
German (rhyming)

Spanish
Spanish (rhyming)
Italian
Italian (rhyming)
Dutch
Dutch (rhyming)
Hungarian
Hungarian (rhyming)

Japanese
Portuguese
Portuguese (rhyming)

The above spec list is not final, which is most true for the subtitles; I might have to drop some of the subtitle options, ultimately, and I have no illusions that I'll be able to get everything I want for this project. But I'll do my darnedest with what I do have.

This thread will cover a project I'm currently considering: the restoration of the classic Saturday morning cartoon adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, from Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Group W Productions. The release would be structured as follows:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half-Shell (the full pilot movie, approximately 110 minutes in length)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 1 (the pilot movie split up into five individual episodes)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 2 (all thirteen episodes of the second season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3, Part 1 (episodes 1-12 of the third season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3, Part 2 (episodes 13-24 of the third season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3, Part 3 (episodes 25-36 of the third season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3, Part 4 (episodes 37-47 of the third season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 4, Part 1 (episode 1 of the syndicated fourth season and the Vacation in Europe arc)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 4, Part 2 (episodes 1 and 2 of the Saturday morning fourth season and the rest of the syndicated fourth season, plus Beyond the Donatello Nebula)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 4, Part 3 (the rest of the Saturday morning fourth season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 5, Part 1 (episodes 1-9 of the fifth season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 5, Part 2 (episodes 10-18 of the fifth season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Planet of the Turtleoids
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 6 (all sixteen episodes of the sixth season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 7 (all fourteen episodes of the seventh season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 8 (all eight episodes of the eighth season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 9 (all eight episodes of the ninth season)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 10 (all eight episodes of the tenth and final season)

And this is the order I propose, based on the order proposed by Mark Pellegrini of the TMNT Entity blog:

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: HEROES IN A HALF-SHELL

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 1
Turtle Tracks
Enter the Shredder
A Thing About Rats
Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X
Shredder & Splintered
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 2
Return of the Shredder
The Case of the Killer Pizzas
The Incredible Shrinking Turtles
It Came from Beneath the Sewers
The Mean Machines
Curse of the Evil Eye
Enter: The Fly
New York's Shiniest
Splinter No More
Invasion of the Punk Frogs
Teenagers from Dimension X
The Catwoman from Channel Six
Return of the Technodrome
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 3, PART 1
Beneath These Streets
The Old Switcheroo
Burne's Blues
Turtles on Trial
April Fool (or, April Foolish)
Sky Turtles
Attack of the 50-Foot Irma
The Maltese Hamster
The Fifth Turtle
Enter the Rat King
Turtles at the Earth's Core
Attack of Big MACC
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 3, PART 2
The Ninja Sword of Nowhere
20,000 Leaks Under the City
Take Me to Your Leader
Four Musketurtles
Turtles, Turtles Everywhere
Cowabunga Shredhead
Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers
Camera Bugged
Green with Jealousy
Return of the Fly
Casey Jones: Outlaw Hero
Mutagen Monster
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 3, PART 3
Corporate Raiders from Dimension X
Pizza by the Shred
Super Bebop & Mighty Rocksteady
Beware the Lotus
Blast from the Past
Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp
Michelangelo's Birthday
Usagi Yojimbo
Case of the Hot Kimono
Usagi Come Home
The Making of Metalhead
Leatherhead Meets the Rat King
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 3, PART 4
The Turtle Terminator
The Great Boldini
The Missing Map
The Gang's All Here
The Grybyx
Mister Ogg Goes to Town
Shredderville
Bye, Bye, Fly
The Big Rip-Off
The Big Break-In
The Big Blow-Out
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 4, PART 1
Plan Six from Outer Space
Tower of Power
Rust Never Sleeps
Venice on the Half-Shell
Ring of Fire
Shredder's New Sword
The Irish Jig Is Up
Elementary, My Dear Turtle
April Gets in Dutch
Northern Lights Out
Turtles on the Orient Express
The Lost Queen of Atlantis
Artless
A Real Snow Job
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 4, PART 2
The Dimension X Story
Son of Return of the Fly II
Turtles of the Jungle
Michelangelo Toys Around
Peking Turtle
Shredder's Mom
Four Turtles and a Baby
Turtlemaniac
Rondo in New York
Beyond the Donatello Nebula
Planet of the Turtles
Name That Toon
Menace Maestro, Please
Superhero for a Day
Back to the Egg
The Turtles and the Hare
Once Upon a Time Machine
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 4, PART 3
Raphael Knocks 'Em Dead
Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer the Universe
Raphael Meets His Match
Leonardo Lightens Up
Were-Rats from Channel 6
Funny, They Shrunk Michelangelo
The Big Zipp Attack
Slash: The Evil Turtle from Dimension X
Donatello Makes Time
Farewell, Lotus Blossom!
Rebel without a Fin
Rhino-Man
Michelangelo Meets Bugman
Poor Little Rich Turtle
What's Michelangelo Good For?
Donatello's Degree
The Big Cufflink Caper!
Leonardo vs. Tempestra
Big Bug Blunder
The Foot Soldiers Are Revolting
Unidentified Flying Leonardo
Raphael Drives 'Em Wild
Splinter Vanishes
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 5, PART 1
My Brother, the Bad Guy
Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko
Enter: Mutagen Man
Donatello's Badd Time
Michelangelo Meets Bugman Again
Muckman Messes Up
Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps
Raphael Versus the Volcano
Landlord of the Flies
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 5, PART 2
Donatello's Duplicate
Leonardo Cuts Loose
Pirate Radio
Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces
Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle
Zach and the Alien Invaders
Welcome Back, Polarisoids
Michelangelo, the Sacred Turtle
The Ice Creature Cometh
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: PLANET OF THE TURTLEOIDS
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 6
Leonardo Is Missing
Rock Around the Block
Krangenstein Lives!
Super Irma
Adventures in Turtle-Sitting
Sword of Yurikawa
Return of the Turtleoid
Shreeka's Revenge
Too Hot to Handle
Nightmare in the Lair
Phantom of the Sewers
Donatello Trashes Slash
Snakes Alive!
Polly Wanna Pizza
Mr. Nice Guy
Sleuth on the Loose
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 7
Night of the Dark Turtle
The Starchild
The Legend of Koji
Convicts from Dimension X
White Belt, Black Heart
Night of the Rogues
Attack of the Neutrinos
Revenge of the Fly
Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter!
Invasion of the Krangazoids
Combat Land
Escape from the Planet of the Turtleoids
Atlantis Awakes
Shredder Triumphant!
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 8
Get Shredder!
Wrath of the Rat King
State of Shock
Cry H.A.V.O.C.!
H.A.V.O.C. in the Streets!
Enter: Krakus
Cyber-Turtles
Turtle Trek
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 9
The Unknown Ninja
Dregg of the Earth
The Wrath of Medusa
The New Mutation
The Showdown
Split-Second
Carter, the Enforcer
Doomquest
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SEASON 10
The Return of Dregg
The Beginning of the End
The Power of Three
A Turtle in Time
Turtles to the Second Power
Mobster from Dimension X
The Day the Earth Disappeared
Divide and Conquer

Specs for the whole series will include:

VIDEO
Resolution: 1080p (BD), 480p (NTSC DVD), 576p (PAL DVD)
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

AUDIO
English (stereo)
French (stereo)
Italian (stereo)
Castilian Spanish stereo)
Mexican Spanish (stereo)

SUBTITLES
English SDH
French
German
Italian
Spanish

There's a plain reason why I'm not using the German audio track this time around: it's the censored version, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. My restoration, should it materialize, will be based on the full, uncensored version.

I started to hear something about this lately, that most wanted actors/actresses had received a digital "anti age" treatment on film, to let them seem younger, and let their career last longer (and the studio earn more!)

Don't know exacly who is involved, nor which films are "polished", until I discovered myself this:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/130552
(note: BD image is untouched; top white "garbage" was still there!)
OK, blu-ray.com screenshots in in JPG, but that doesn't remove so much details, and think that the trailer has a meagre 9mbps bitrate, and a more active image (1920x912 vs 1920x800) compared to BD... (also, the trailer JPG size is four times less than the BD one!); take a look at the eyes, and other parts of the face, where the details are the some; but there are clearly a manual blur under the eyes and somewhere else; these kind of things would pass unnoticed in motion, of course.

By the way, I LOVE Milla - I'd marry her, if only I was a millionaire movie director!

What do you think?