After reading about a DVD-quality restoration project for "Robotech: The Movie" undertaken by an OT user called "heartbreaker", I figured I should take things to the next level by doing a restoration in full 1080p HD. I have no illusions whatsoever that it'll be easy, but that's never stopped me before, so I'll do whatever it takes to make a 1080p restoration of a true Cannon film (as labeled by the great Menahem Golan, may he rest in peace).

LIST OF EARLY DVD MASTER DATES

Hey, I couldn't let Andrea have all the fun with master lists, now, could I? But being more serious, I felt I needed to do my part in guiding my fellow restorers to the right media for (potentially, anyway) the right materials, including original audio tracks and perhaps even open matte presentations (for those films shot flat, anyway) or color grades. In any case, the below is a growing list of master dates for the DVDs of old.

12 Monkeys (1997, Widescreen) (Germany - Concorde Video) - January 27, 1997
Amadeus (1997, side A) (USA - Warner) - November 19, 1997
Amadeus (1997, side B) (USA - Warner) - November 21, 1997
Army of Darkness (1997/98) (Germany "Die Armee der Finsternis" - EuroVideo) - November 11, 1997
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1999, widescreen) (Germany - Warner) - July 26, 1999
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1997, fullscreen) (USA - Warner) - February 7, 1997
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1997, widescreen) (USA - Warner) - February 15, 1997
Blazing Saddles (1997, fullscreen) (USA - Warner) - May 23, 1997
Blazing Saddles (1997, widescreen) (USA - Warner) - May 23, 1997
The Devil's Advocate (1998) (USA - Warner - release with unaltered Sculpture Artwork) - February 11, 1998
The Doors (1997, THX-certified) (USA - Live) - July 25, 1997
Eric Clapton: Unplugged (1997) (USA - Warner Reprise) - July 31, 1997
Escape from New York (1998) (Germany "Die Klapperschlange" - Constantin Video) - February 7, 2036!?!?!?
The Fifth Element (1998) (Germany, BMG) - February 7, 2036 (again!?)
Goldfinger (1997, THX-certified) (USA - MGM/UA) - September 25, 1997
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1998) (USA - MGM/UA) - December 5, 1997
Goodfellas (1997, side A) (USA - Warner) - February 19, 1997
Goodfellas (1997, side B) (USA - Warner) - February 20, 1997
The Great Escape (1998) (USA - MGM) - February 26, 1998
Hang 'Em High (1997, fullscreen) (USA - MGM/UA) - October 16, 1997
Hang 'Em High (1997, widescreen) (USA - MGM/UA) - October 16, 1997
Michael (1997) (USA - Warner) - May 1, 1997
The Road Warrior (1997, fullscreen) (USA - Warner) - February 17, 1997
The Road Warrior (1997, widescreen) (USA - Warner) - February 17, 1997
RoboCop (1997) (USA - Orion) - September 19, 1997
Terminator (1998) (France - TF1) - October 30, 1998
Terminator (1998) (Germany - MAWA - FSK 16) - September 7, 1998
Terminator (1998) (Germany - MAWA - FSK 18) - October 24, 1998
Terminator (1997) (USA - Hemdale) - July 26, 1997
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1998) (France - TF1 - Theatrical Cut) - November 26, 1998
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1998) (Germany - MAWA) - February 7, 2036 (very curious, indeed)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1997) (Japan - Pioneer - PIBF-1001) - October 23, 1997
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1997) (USA - Live) - September 16, 1997
Zombie - Dawn of the Dead (1998) (Germany - Argento Cut - German Title Credits - Laser Paradise - Full Frame) - September 22, 1998

The intention of this list is both as a history lesson and to educate my fellow restorers on when the original DVD masters were pressed, based on dates I found on my DVDs when I ran them through MakeMKV (not the best way to rip 1:1 copies of DVDs, trust me). Anyone with an old DVD from before 2002 is welcome to contribute dates they find on their discs.

NOTE: All of the above is based on my best guesses from existing information I could find either physically or digitally; I am in no way 100% certain that those dates mean what I think they mean. As I look through more discs with ancient masters and newer packaging, however, I'm starting to become more and more certain to the affirmative.

Some things just don't add up. I picked up some Warner Home Video DVDs dated 1997 at my local video store yesterday, but one of them, My Fellow Americans, had its master dated 2002 when I looked it up in MakeMKV! I know for sure Michael, another of the bunch, has a master date of 1997, and so I compared their inner rings and discovered a WAMO logo on the 2002 disc and no WAMO logo on the 1997 disc. And yet, both of them were dated 1997 on the packaging, and the 2002 disc looked exactly the same as it would've back in 1997! Extremely puzzling... this new development is going to make our search for discs with original masters quite a bit harder, especially since many of their flipper discs had the relevant area covered by an inner label.

I'll post a thread a bit later on with confirmed master dates for old DVDs based on what I presently have, and those newer masters don't count even if they're technically the same release, they have to have been mastered around the time of their release.

Hello Fan Resers.

I've started this thread as a reference to those (who like me) would like a break down of the entire process of shooting and delivering a movie on film (35mm primarily) as simple as possible so everybody without a career in the film production industry can understand.

This is more based on the era before digital mastering / delivery, but will cross over a little.
I've also kept it super simple as to try and demystify the process. This does not mean it can not get complicated as we go on, but wanted to start on an even keel

I will use this original post to create a step by step guide and update accordingly.

All points have a ? at the end

I will also add photos and illustrations ect like the chart PDB shared



Celluloid film has been shot, and is ready to be prepared for Post-Production. The first thing is to get the film developed in a lab. This is much the same as developing a photo still and is a chemical process. This will be done in a dark room and will lock the negative so that no more light can be captured on the film grain. Your negative is now safe to handle outside of a dark room if needed.

This will give you your OCN - Original Colour Master.

The negative will look like a 4:3 image and depending on the aspect ratio decided during shooting, may look stretched vertically if Anamorphic Lenses have been used to capture the image. If not there may be alot of what looks like wasted screen estate, often containing production equipment and unwanted image ect. This will be cropped / matted out later (in most cases by the projectionist on the final release print) This is what is known as Open Matte and we will get back to this a few times later in the chain.
For the Anamorphic variant it will remain Streched through the process and be projected using an Anamorphic Lense that will stretch the image out Horizontal giving you the desired aspect ratio (2:35:1 or Scope).


OCN - Original Colour Master


Depending on your work process (or what year your in!) Your negative will then be either scanned into a computer or turned into a ‘positive’ print for Editing. In Celluloid Film this will be called a Workprint.


Workprint/s


These will now be files on a Hard Drive or strips of 35mm film in reels, both having corresponding information to your OCN (e,g reel number and timecode) This is because after editing is finalised or ‘picture locked’ you return to your OCN and cut it to your Workprint.


OCN - Original Colour Master EDITED / CUT


This is where things split off depending on your desired workflow. Before the advent of Computer post-production, the process continued as follows.

You now have a fully cut OCN corresponding to your Workprint, with no more editing to be performed. It’s time to Colour Correct or Colour Time your film. This is a chemical process and a Answer Print is created for approval.


Answer Print/s


A number of answer prints can be created until you get the Final Look or Colour Time you are after. Then using the charts that got you to your desired Answer Print a Interpositive is created,


Colour Master Positive (Inter-positive)
Red Separation Positive
Green Separation Positive
Blue Separation Positive


It should be noted that along with your Colour Master Positive (Inter-positive), separate Red, Green and Blue Separation Positive prints are also created. These are color "backups" of the film. It is inevitable that both the OCN and IP will fade over time, even when kept in the best conditions. What doesn't fade is black and white film. So someone had the idea to adapt the old 3 strip technicolor process and create 3 B&W pieces of film, One with a red filter in front of it, a separate print with blue and another with green. That way if the original fades, you can combine the 3 films together and recover the colors of the print.

This is also where we see the first set of 'unwanted' side effects show up, due to the fact we are in the analog world here and everytime you print (Copy) to film it changes the look. No matter how neutral the film stock being used to print to is, there will be changes to grain (added!), contrast, highlights and colour.
This is the first one in the chain as the earlier steps all returned to the OCN, but this process will happen atleast 2x more before the film crowd get to see it.    

The Inter-positive could now be considered your 'Master' for delivery, where Colour Duplicate Negative (inter-negative) Prints can be struck / created or a Telecine / Scan can be performed (This will avoid further degradation for the Home video crowd).



Colour Duplicate Negative
65mm for 75mm release prints
35mm for 35mm release prints
16mm for 16mm release prints


From the Colour Duplicate print the Final Release prints are struck.

[b]Release Print

Telecined / Scanned for Home Video / TV Releases.[/b]

Where Eagles Dare English + German Dub

I'm putting info on this project here, as it seems to have vanished from the surface of the web.

I just think it's interesting enough to have all the details archived in a thread.

so this is Where Eagles Dare (1968, English + German Dub) a project made by internet user Stéphane C., which mixes back the german parts in Where Eagles Dare, original english language track, to give the film the same feel as the french dub, and a much more suspensful, immersive experience than the original which have all the people speaking in english, which makes no sense.

Here are his notes:

Why I dubbed some parts in
German...
I grew up in France and always loved watching "Where Eagles Dare"
when it was on TV.
Of course, In France, the movie was dubbed in French when it was
released in 1969, as is the case with most foreign movies released
in France.
But what is very interesting and unique is that the French decided
to have the German speak German in the film: so they dubbed the
movie in French but added the German dubbed version when Germans
are supposed to speak German. That is how I had always watch this
movie and it made sense. The German language parts would are
subtitled in the rench version.
I was very surprised when I saw the original English version one
day and shocked to see everyone spoke English... Germans speak
English, wait what?
I was able to get my hand on a couple of European DVDs of the movie
and noticed that the French version is the only one that has this
feature. the Italian version has everyone speak Italian, same for
the Spanish version, and of course the German version...
I decided, since I had about 16 hours to lose, to try to make an
English version where germans speak German.
I used Adobe Autition to keep the original 5.1 English Track and
only dubbed the Center Channel when needed (see below for
timing)
I also added English subtitles for the German dubbed parts. Most
are the original English subtitles but a couple of them had to be
adapted to translate correctly the German dialogue.
Now most people will come back to me and say "How could you dub
Eastwood and Burton's voice, it sucks, etc.." Yes, I know the
difference between the original English and German dubbed is quite
noticable at time, but... Just consider this as an Art
project.
I decided to change slightly a couple of things from the French
version:
1. In the French version, Eastwood speaks French right at 0:38:22
after Burton says "I didn't get around to that. Thank you."
I thought that the voice tone difference was too much too switch
back right there to English plus the bartender was still around and
could hear them speak English...
2. In the French version, The colonel and Burton speaks French at
1:31:30 and 1:31:44 and also 1:31:51. It would be ok but again the
tone of voice is so different between the English and German that I
thought it'd be better to have the whole scene in German... plus I
am not sure German Major Wilner (in Italy) is supposed to
understand English.
The purists out there can always switch to audio track #2 if they
can't stand German dub.
Sound track #1 AC3 5.1 English + German dub (default track)
Sound track #2 AAC 5.1 English (Original version)
Subtitled are forced.
Stéphane C.
Timing where German dub occurs:
0:29:21 0:30:55 Colonel arrival
0:34:03 0:34:51 Bridge Crossing
0:35:22 0:35:25 Tavern
0:36:23 Two Beers
0:37:00 0:37:28 Tavern
0:37:38 0:38:24 Tavern
0:44:15 0:45:15 Tavern
0:46:04 0:46:25 Tavern
0:46:27 0:46:37 Tavern
0:47:06 0:48:24 Tavern + Cable car
0:49:16 0:49:35 Car
0:51:40 0:53:59 Castle Arrival
1:05:24 1:05:32 Captain Muller
1:17:13 allo
1:17:37 1:17:42 Talking
1:20:39 1:21:05 Phone
1:21:51 1:23:00 Gestapo
1:26:24 1:27:31 Gestapo
1:31:08 1:32:11 Phone
1:32:55 1:33:07 Gestapo
1:34:47 Gard!
1:35:55 1:38:03 Gestapo
1:42:39 1:42:45 Prison
1:49:29 Firefight
1:50:35 Firefight
1:51:42 Firefight
1:52:02 Firefight
2:09:46 2:10:06
2:16:06 Calling airport
2:17:07 2:17:11 on the phone
2:23:51 2:24:22 airplane calling airport
2:26:01 2:26:09 airplane calling airport

First good things - there are some... CGI is quite good, overall production is quite good - you see actual chops and not cheap CGI ones, for examples.

Bad things? Almost everything else... bad acting, monsters are just an excuse and not the main theme (as the previous little gem, "Monsters"), weak story, slow and boring...

If you love monsters, creatures & co. and don't want to spend 2 hours to see maybe 3 minutes of them, avoid it at all cost... don't waste 2 hours of your life as I did (unless someone would pay you to do that!) - so, if you would do it anyway, I can say "you have been warned"!

If you are here, probably you like sci-fi, horror, fantasy movies; if so, you probably like monsters, aliens, and other creatures as well, right?

Well, Face Off is the show for you - a reality show where contestants fight to obtain the final prize, doing spectacular makeups on human models, like vampires, aliens, werewolves, deformed creatures and so on...

There are 11 seasons, for a grand total of more than 100 episodes; a lot to watch, I must admit, but fun overall... I don't watch many TV programs - apart movies and few series, and no reality shows, but this is the exception to the rule I'm happy to break.

I had not the occasion to watch it until today - maybe because I thought it was just a stupid movie...

Well, IT IS a stupid movie, but one of the few smart ones, don't know if you understand what I mean; OK, too much gratuitous bad words and jokes, but actually it is a nice superhero movie, with the usual chiches, like the bad guy, the beutiful chick, the good friend, a lot of action, killings, and some really nice touches - don't want to spoil on them, for the ones who hasn't watched it, yet.

I liked it A LOT more than Suicide Squad; so, if you like superheroes movies AND comedies, and you are not afraid to hear some (well, a lot of) bad words, go for it; you will get almost two hours full of action and laughter - and some are unexpected, told by one who watched maybe 10,000 movies in his life, so this thing is not happening so often, of course...

• VA panel and LED backlight are from Samsung A950/A956 series, but Toshiba uses its own electronics
  
• LED zones: 64 for 46', 96 for 55' - some others say 176 zones for the 55'; probably 96 is the right figure (with around 1000 individual LEDs), as I had the Samsung LE55A956 for five years, and I did every possible imaginable tests!
  
• LED backlight never turns off, only greatly reduced - I should add that it's true in all modes, apart Dynamic, where the LEDs seems to be actually turned off, as the Samsung
  

• Active Vision M200, which adds the backlight scanning to the 100Hz frame interpolation; image is more stable, with no visible artefacts
  
• more image tweaks - RGBYUV with three settings each, for example
  
• light sensor (with histogram)
  
• Dolby Volume
  
• an headphone jack, with separate volume level
  
• audio output
  
• a subwoofer output
  
• SD card input
  
• higher RMS audio power - but lacks subwoofers
  
• the glossy "glass" (that should be plexyglass, but I don't want to break it to discover it) over the screen, that helps to get a better contrast AND protect the panel
  

• in the not-pitch-black LED backlit modes, even if black level is really low (and eventual blooming may be less), it lacks the "true-black-wow" factor - that is achieved using the Dynamic mode, though
  
• Samsung had few useless features like cooking receipts, simple games, and digital frame with some preinstalled images; Toshiba has just one image that can be used as frame, but you could load your own!
  
• it misses the "jingle" when you switch it off - it helped me some time, when I finished to watch a movie and the screen was black (I mean: the same as when switched off) to remind me the TV was on or off...
  
• PIP - even if it was limited to analog inputs
  

Again? Yep! 

I think there is a general consensus that, using a negative as master, then regrade it digitally, is not possible to achieve the same color fidelity than, for example, using an interpositive (or a release print).

Of course, using the negative would retain the best resolution possible (6K or maybe also 8K).

The best choice, IMHO, would be to use the negative for the luma, and an interpositive (or several release prints, median'ed and/or averaged) for chroma.

Am I wrong? If not, why don't they do that? Colors would be closest to the theatrical prints, and I'm pretty sure it will be easier than color grading digitally the negative - don't know how much would it cost to scan both negative and interpositive, but I don't think would cost much than the negative scan + all that time spent to regrade it (with imperfect results, too)...

Opinions?