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  Need help with Frozen final trailer 3D restoration
Posted by: Koopa Luath - 2017-03-13, 10:45 AM - Forum: Recycle bin - No Replies

I don't know of any 3D Blu-ray that includes the final trailer for Disney's Frozen, and the only high-quality version I could find has the text in Russian. There is an English-language version, but it appears to be a camrip. Therefore, after much futile searching at various different times, I decided an English-language restoration was in order. But to do that, I'm going to need assets I don't have. I do know, however, that I have the 3D Blu-ray from the UK, so I can source clips from the actual film from there; I think the aforementioned Russian trailer also has some usable clips. But anything with text in it, I'm going to need from somewhere else. In fact, some 3D conversion skills may be in order, if anyone has them. And no, no cheating via automatic stereo conversion software, I know fake 3D when I see it (*coughClashoftheTitanscough*).

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  Gokigenyou, amici!
Posted by: Koopa Luath - 2017-03-13, 06:03 AM - Forum: Presentation - Replies (6)

Name's Koopa. Koopa Luath. For those of you who don't speak Irish, that's Koopa the Quick. As you can see from the title of this thread alone (I greeted you in a mixture of Japanese and Italian), I'm fairly good with languages apart from my native language, that being English. I graduated from college some years ago with a degree in video editing. For years I've been honing my trade at home. I'd mainly restored old logos to old films and television programs, but at one point I used my 3D Blu-ray of The Wolverine and the Extended Edition that came with it to make a 3D Extended Edition with certain scenes and shots in 2D. Though it didn't come out perfect, at the time I was satisfied enough. I've also done some work on PAL speedup reversal on some stuff, including the old Walt Disney Home Video international logo (which is base don the old Disney anthology intro from the early '80s). As for movie-going tastes, I enjoy 3D and IMAX movies. My favorite TV network is PBS. I collect old VHS cassettes and also DVDs and Blu-rays (mainly Blu-rays and VHS cassettes nowadays), so I have plenty of the films whose fan restorations interest me the most (including The Dark Knight IMAX regrade). I was also hoping to contribute some of my own materials, and also work on a few projects of my own.

In any case, I hope to have a great time here!

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  True Lies HDTV (Film4 HD) Preservation
Posted by: zoidberg - 2017-03-13, 12:20 AM - Forum: Requests, proposals, help - Replies (110)

Many many moons ago Film4 HD (Cable Channel) aired True Lies so I recorded it, watched it, thought 'That looks pretty good, if they released this on Blu Ray I'd be chuffed' so I kept it on the Tivo HDD. Then I got hold of the DTheater rip which like so many of us became my 'go to'. So imagine my glee when I revisited the HDTV airing and found it was better! So I capped it (Lossless LAGS 4:2:2 via HDMI capture card).

Obviously it's not perfect. It's a 1080i50 MPEG2 broadcast so there are compression artifacts, but compared to the DTheater it is less filtered/compressed and is not Hard Telecined, requiring only a change in frame rate to 23.976fps. It's definitely of the same 'vintage' as the DTheater master, showing similar film blemishes/specks although the frame geometry is slightly different. Being a TV broadcast the end credits are time compressed but I would just use the DTheater for those.

Here is a sample clip (with audio, approx. 1:30, 25mbps AVC):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qewbum2blot4q...s.mkv?dl=0

Soundman has kindly supplied me with a Bit-perfect rip of the NTSC Laserdisc PCM which I will sync. Obviously there are a number of 5.1 mixes which could be included.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

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  Laserdisc Preservation Project
Posted by: Colek - 2017-03-12, 12:25 AM - Forum: In progress - Replies (32)

Simple preservation project, nothing fancy. Just digitalizing my Laserdisc collection for the masses Smile

Video captured through S-Video output on my PAL DVL-909 unit via StarTech USB3HDCAP to loseless HuffYUV codec using OBS 64-bit.
Audio captured through RCA/SPFID output via Asus Xonar Essence STX II using REAPER at 64-bit 192kHz (analog) WAV or 16-bit 44.1kHz (digital) WAV, after syncing rendered at 16-bit 48kHz with Ultra HQ resampling quality.
Most likely subtitles for most releases (English).

All releases will be released in AVCHD (DVD9) format, no menu.

For requests on next release, check my lddb profile - http://www.lddb.com/account/colek1

Current releases:

  • #1 - Police Story 2 警察故事續集 ( 1988 ) [G92F0316]
    [Image: 0hgkHig.jpg]
  • #2 - Dog Day Afternoon ( 1975 ) [1024]

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  Minority Report (2002) [Fundamental Collection™ #007]
Posted by: spoRv - 2017-03-11, 11:01 PM - Forum: Released - Replies (19)

Minority Report (2002) [Fundamental Collection™ #007]

[Image: MR_cover.jpg]

From the back cover: “The Blu-ray editions of “Minority Report” have a wonderful image, but colors are restored to natural palette, while the previous DVD edition use the ones from a bleach bypass print.

Kaminski’s most interesting trick was to desaturate and mute the film’s colors by employing a “bleach bypass” system. Normally in negative processing, the film emulsion is bleached. By skipping this step, the film ends up looking like a simultaneous color and black-&-white image, resulting in increased grain and contrast. Kaminski said, “The process pulled about 40 percent of the color out of the image, but we worked to get that back in by adding more color to the lights. Overall, the image has a bleached-out quality with deep shadows and blown highlights.”

We have used the same master of the DVD as color reference, and color regraded the 4K master to be as closest as possible to it, using our proprietary technique ColourMatch™.

As usual, this is a multilanguage edition, and include the following languages, encoded in 24bit DTS: English (full rate), French, German, Italian, Spanish (half rate); there are six subtitles tracks, five for the previous languages, plus the English SDH.”


Screenshot comparison: top Blu-ray, bottom Fundamental Collection

[Image: MR_043223.jpg]

[Image: MR_053945.jpg]

[Image: MR_108617.jpg]

[Image: MR_167651.jpg]

Technical data

Format:

Blu-ray (BD-25)

Video:

1080p High-Definition

widescreen 2.35:1 original aspect ratio

framerate 23.976fps

AVC encoded 17.5mpbs avg bitrate, 32mpbs max

Audio:

DTS 5.1: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

Subtitles:

Full: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish – SDH: English

Notes:

4K master from original negative for main video;
HD master from bleach bypass print used as color reference

Release date: 2017-03-11


Covers and disc label:

https://s28.postimg.cc/65852hx9p/Minorit..._label.jpg
https://s28.postimg.cc/txhge0zal/Minorit..._cover.jpg
https://s28.postimg.cc/tyre7g14d/Minorit..._cover.jpg


Comparison "at a glance":

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/203166

More info here: https://fanrestore.com/thread-1263.html

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  Hard disk configuration
Posted by: spoRv - 2017-03-09, 09:53 AM - Forum: General technical discussions - Replies (8)

I'm waiting for the new 4TB hard disk (finally!) and I'm thinking about the best hard disk configuration to set up, from a project maker point of view.

I'll probably do the following (conventional letters used just to distinguish the discs):

  • C: operating system / temp final project(s) (600GB - think to upgrade to an SSD soon)
  • D: HD sources (4TB)
  • E: SD sources (4TB)
  • F: temp lossless files / final projects archive / analog captures (2TB - would be upgraded to bigger size in the future)
  • G: H: eventual other small HDDs not used for preservations purposes
  • (external disks for backup)
Plan for every projects:
  1. put the sources in D and E
  2. work on them (using two sources from two different drives should speed up the process)
  3. produced temp lossless files would stay on F
  4. final project (that use temp lossless files from F, and eventually other from D and E) will be stored on C until it is seeded/uploaded
  5. temp project will be archived to F
Seems a bit convoluted, but I think it is the best way to speed up everything, from direct rendering to file move/copy; of course, when 4TB SSD would cost the same of mechanical HDDs, this would be not necessary, but I fear many years should pass...

What do you think? And, what is your hard disk configuration?

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  Halloween (1978) [Fundamental Collection™ #006]
Posted by: spoRv - 2017-03-08, 04:03 AM - Forum: Released - Replies (33)

Halloween (1978) [Fundamental Collection™ #006]

[Image: Halloween_small_cover.jpg]

From the back cover: “Despite the fact "Halloween" latest release on Blu-ray restored the original color grading as seen in the theaters, many think that the 1999 THX DVD, which was directly supervised and approved by the film Director of Photography Dean Cundey, has still the best colors. Using the same THX SD master as color reference, we used our acclaimed proprietary technique ColourMatch™ to regrade a 2K mastertaken from the original negative.

We also included the theatrical, untouched mono English audio track in a great PCM 1.0, and added also the French, German, Italian and Spanish tracks in DD 1.0; more, as a gift for the collectors, we added as bonus a PCM 1.0 isolated score & effects track, and a new and old commentary; add to all this six subtitles tracks.


Screenshot comparison: top Blu-ray, bottom Fundamental Collection

[Image: Halloween_comparison_013319.jpg]

[Image: Halloween_comparison_031302.jpg]

[Image: Halloween_comparison_080392.jpg]

[Image: Halloween_comparison_126666.jpg]



Technical data


Format:


Blu-ray (BD-25)

Video:


1080p High-Definition
widescreen 2.35:1 original aspect ratio
framerate 23.976fps
AVC encoded 30mpbs avg bitrate, 35mpbs max

Audio:


PCM 2.0: English
DD 1.0 English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Bonus tracks: isolated score & effects track, two English commentary

Subtitles:

Full: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, SDH: English

Notes:

2K master from original negative for main video; THX DVD master from interpositive used as color reference

Release date: 2017-03-07

Comparison:
[Image: Halloween_FC.gif]

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  "For Your Consideration" VHS Tapes
Posted by: Jetrell Fo - 2017-03-07, 10:25 PM - Forum: Official and unofficial releases - Replies (3)

Hey folks,

What is the deal with promo material such as the "For Your Consideration"? I know they are sent out to people who vote on such things so my question is more about quality. Are they made better or is there anything special about them aside from the voting designation that would make a transfer of one desireable?

The one I'm looking at is Star Trek: First Contact.

Thanks.

Smile

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  Evil dead Blu-ray colour change
Posted by: dvdmike - 2017-03-07, 01:00 AM - Forum: Requests, proposals, help - Replies (2)

Hi all,

I just picked up the prised JP evil dead laserdisc, and was wondering if we could match the colour to the 4:3 newer remaster?
Would the subtitles make this impossible for an algorithm to work?

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  [Fundamental Collection]
Posted by: spoRv - 2017-03-06, 12:18 AM - Forum: Official and unofficial releases - Replies (48)

[Image: FC_site_logo.gif]

Fundamental Collection catalog - updated 2017-12-26

  • spine number - title - release date

Info about remastered versions: https://fanrestore.com/thread-1349-post-...l#pid29424

ABOUT

The Fundamental Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, has been dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality, to obtain an alternative cinematic experience!

Our commitment is to publish the defining moments of cinema for a wider audience, tired of watching their preferred movies with revisioned colors, wrong aspect ratios, excessively degrained, or listening to modified audio mixes.

Each film is presented uncut, in its original aspect ratio, as its maker intended it to be seen, and eventually we include also an open matte version, when this improves the overall entertainment. Every time we work on a film, we track down the best available video and audio sources in the world, use state-of-the-art hardware equipment and selected software capable of reproduce as closer as possible the colors of the chosen reference, and we add the best audio original mixes, in different languages, with their related subtitles.

We aim to create the most pristine image and sound, as closest as possible to the theatrical projection, so to recreate the original, fundamental experience felt when the movie was originally released in the theaters.

FORMAT

Final format chosen for our releases is Blu-ray; video is encoded in 1080p, using the best AVC encoder and settings, at an appropriate bit rate to maintain a great quality and grain structure; audio is encoded in DTS-HD MA, when available, or in DTS, PCM and Dolby Digital; up to five languages are included, when available. NO DVD or other lower quality format are used for our feature film releases.

Video sources used are the best high definition versions, but in selected occasion we could be forced to use standard definition for particular shots/scenes not available in better quality; we use the best upscale techniques to improve the image quality and let these insertions as seamless as possible.

Color references used are usually the older master which, in many cases, retain the original colors found on the released prints: nowadays the original negative is used to produce a master and, albeit the quality is obviously superior, digital regrade often can’t reproduce the original color timing found on the release print. That’s our job to use the best high resolution source, and regrade it with the best color references.

Audio lossless tracks are used when they reflect the original mix; if not, we try to use the best available, high quality audio tracks with original mix, from the Cinema DTS tracks to laserdisc DTS, AC3 and PCM ones.

MISSION

Our mission: to fix the films which need to be saved from modern revisionism.
In particular, what we do is:
  • use a color reference to regrade the film so it could be closer to the theatrical presentation
  • add an open matte version as a companion to the OAR version
  • reinstate eventual cut shots/scenes
  • add a film grain plate when the grain is absent or weak
  • clean the image only when needed
  • adjust the aspect ratio when wrong
  • select the best audio mixes, using the original ones when available
  • include five different languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) when available
and, what we DO NOT is:
  • regrade a film without a color reference
  • add an open matte version when it is heavily cropped, or contains unwanted objects like boom mics and the like
  • use the original shot when director wisely chose to replace it with fixed one, like security ropes deleted, matte garbage removed etc.
  • add always a grain plate even when the grain is right
  • clean always the image even when it is right
  • use the best quality audio mix when it is not the original one, and the latter is available
So, our releases, albeit our best efforts to find and use the best possible audio and video sources, could be not perfect sometimes; still, the spirit of the theatrical experience, which is fundamental, is always there!

FAQ

Which movies will be released in the Fundamental Collection?
The movie genres that will be included are mainly sci-fi, action, horror, fantasy; we can’t exclude other ones, though. Mainstream flicks will be the first ones to be released, but maybe other less known films will follow.

What is the reason of a movie choice?
As written before, our mission is to “fix” somehow movies released before with something “wrong” - color grading, aspect ratio, missing shots, audio mixes etc.

Which languages will be included in each release?
We aim to include five main languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish - with suitable subtitles - whenever these tracks are available; that’s because we want to please a vast public all around the globe!

Do you have a release schedule?
Not yet; we plan to start with a new title each month, and eventually reach twenty releases per year in the next future.
Will bonus material be included? What’s about menus?

We have decided to include only the main feature, and to go “straight to the point”: no fancy menus = no loading time… just put the disc in your player and press play!


Someone may ask "why"? Isn't [spoRv] enough? Well, the nickname will remain, just not mentioned in the project covers anymore... also, I discovered that my projects are hosted here and there all over the web (and I'm happy about this), but I wonder if a "The Thing [spoRv]" would attract attention more than "The Thing [Fundamental Collection]"? Don't think so! Big Grin

I always admired the Criterion Collection and the Signature Editions on laserdisc, and always dreamt about something similar, but... "mine"... so, here you are! And, new computer, new techniques, new ideas... I wanted also something fresh, brand new. That's all! The audio/video quality would be always the same - even better, I can add!

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