Ok, so I started working on this back in early August and thought it would take me two-three weeks to complete, LOL
As usual, the process dragged itself out and I'm just now finishing assembling the video for this, but the actual BD release is still a little bit away, as I need to finish the other parts of the disc first since this will be my first entry in the "Shadoe Presents: The Vintage Disney Channel Throwback Collection."

I can hear some of you asking, "Why is this project needed?" and the answer is simple: the old itunes transfer is nice but is of low bitrate, grainless, has some macro-blocking and is a little soft (due to compression) and the 1080i HDTV transfer, although much better quality and some grain retention, has a logo  

What most people don't know though, is that there are actually TWO different 1080i captures, each with the logo in a different part on-screen. Let me demonstrate with some quick screenshot I just took (apparently one frame off, LOL):

The "common" 1080i HDTV transfer (easily found on Russian trackers)

[Image: SmeaMJh.jpg]

The "rare" 1080i HDTV transfer (which I was only able to find a 720p rip of on a Vietnamese forum)

[Image: nbpexTG.jpg]

As you can see, the logo is in a much different spot, but (as you can see in this quick 50/50 overlay) there is still a very small area of overlap:

[Image: QVdsKQs.jpg]

I realized that trying to run any delogo script on this once I have only that small area of overlap will be much easier and produce better results than if I was trying to run any delogo script on just the "common" 1080i transfer. So, I upscaled the 720p rip back to 1080p using SuperResolution, regrained it slightly (to match the level of grain in the 1080i), de-interlaced the 1080i transfer and slowed it back down from 25fps to 23.976fps and "went to work" on it in Sony Vegas. Once I had most of the logo gone, except for that small area where the overlap is, I rendered it to a 1080p lags file that I loaded into avisynth, where I ran it through a few different delogo plugins (at different settings) until I found a "happy medium." The result was decent, but I noticed (as to be expected) that there were still some artifacts here and there. Was NOT happy with the results, even though most people wouldn't notice it, it's one of those things that once seen can never be unseen.

So, I kinda had to go "back to the drawing board." I decided to take the itunes transfer, regrained it to match the level of grain present in the 1080i source and then I overlayed the source on top of my "delogoed" footage. Upon doing this, I realized that there is a little bit of extra picture on the sides of the HDTV caps (both are identical in terms of framing) BUT there is a little bit of extra picture on the top and bottom of the itunes capture. I wanted to include all of this "extra" picture in the final render, so I aligned everything (the itunes cap is slightly squeezed horizontally compared to the HDTV) tried to do an accurate color-match of the itunes to the HDTV, (they are really, really close, but not the same and had to be adjusted [mainly for brightness/contrast] on a scene by scene basis) applied a "slight touch extra" grain on top of the entire thing and then rendered out the entire project. The result is beautiful but the "extra" image (especially on bottom) doesn't always match as, at times, is slightly darker than the rest of screen. I ran this through multiple tests (where I "wasted" nearly two weeks) and this is the best I can do. When viewed on my 1080p 52" HDTV, this render looks amazing and I am happy with it. BUT, there may be those of you that will dislike the mis-match and might suggest that I just crop off that part, which I "technically" could do and then we would have the best copy available of this film. This I will leave up to you fine people but for now, here's a sample containing three minutes of footage with a downmixed to stereo audio track (from ~ 5th minute to ~ 8th minute) (it's 537MB because this is demuxed from my "final for BD" encode to show the full video quality)

Quote:https://mega.nz/#!MIgmwRTb!M-2cI02UMX6gp...jGVs0IkDuM

link will expire 30 days AFTER release of project

The new 4K Mastered BD is out and it looks awesome. But Universal couldn't leave the audio alone
and added a 7.1 mix to it. So I suggest that we add the audio from the Criterion LD and also include
the audio commentary from it.

Anyone may have said LaserDisc and can capture the audio tracks?

If we have no luck getting the audio from the CC-LD, I can provide the audio from the CC-DVD.

Hello,

I have one, awfully red tinted source which is only HD existing source of the movie. Now, I have few DVDs and TV captures I could use for color matching, but I could only use these as reference (as the HD source is more 'open' than DVDs in regards to aspect ratio, maybe it's even Open Matte), because I could not just merge chroma over these. In my opinion, one of TV captures has best colors, but it also has the TV logo.

I am using AviSynth for most of the work on source file, but I want to just make one script that would do all the work I want over the movie. So what is the best way to make color correction on that?

Some of you might be thinking, "WTF?" so let me explain my little project, some of it's "genesis" story and what people can look forward to seeing in the future as a part of this collection.

First things first, I would like to just say "THANK YOU" to those of you that I leaked some of the info about this project to, that proved they are trustworthy and didn't steal the idea or "spill the beans" about it. Again, thanx guys

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, I am super    freaking excited about this series of projects!

I'm sure a lot of you from the US, that are in my age category, remember the awesome days when The Disney Channel was actually a fantastic channel to have. Yes, I'm talking the 80s through about 1992-ish, when The Disney Channel was a premium channel that showed lots of cartoons, westerns, musicals, great b&w films, great educational stuff, live shows, had great series and made-for-tv movies, family/kid/adult films on a regular basis and was a joy to watch.

I have been collecting everything I can find that is from that era, some from youtube, some from caps of VHS tapes that people have shared with me and have built up a huge library of stuff. I have been wondering for a while now how to assemble it for release and then I got this cool idea, "What if I work on all the Disney films I would like to have proper 1080p BD releases of (that aren't available commercially or have atrocious releases) AND insert them into a 'block of vintage Disney Channel programming" that I have assembled from the stuff I have?"

The premise is simple: each "feature film" will be after about 30-45 minutes of Vintage Disney Channel bumpers, commercials, AND programming such as "Good Morning, Mickey!" (which I actually have a digital source of from broadcasts in 2010 in the Ukraine - so waaaaay better than any VHS-rip) and "Donald Duck Presents" (same thing with the intro) and I can insert 1080p copies of the shorts there (specific to the theme of the "feature film") and maybe some other stuff. Use the "Disney Channel" station IDs (have a "mass" of those) and "Feature Presentation" stuff. Possibly also, maybe, use some of the "Wonderful World of Disney" intros (especially the one with wizard mickey being animated in beginning before he shoots of the bottle into an orange background of stuff) or the "Disney Sunday Movie" intro, since they are so awesome and nostalgic of those times  :hearts:  :victory:

I am open to suggestions or ANY additional sources (the more the better in this case, as some material is only useable after overlaying multiple sources to create a "best" image)

The "feature films" are already all being worked on by me, are in various stages of progress and will have their own threads when each is close to completion...

Expect the titles to slowly start trickling in on this thread

Having gotten a referral to this place, I thought I'd check in, see what goes on. I have... a few things going on on the side, you know? Uh.... I don't know what else to say.

Ok, so I was looking at this thread, where PDB references an original thread over on OT, where this audio mix was mentioned. From what I read in that thread, MrBrown owns this laserdisc which is the Thorn/EMI version that has the "famous" Chace fake stereo audio which, even though NTSC, has typical PAL speed-up. Apparently, MrBrown captured the audio (although it may have been Stamper, correct me if I'm wrong) and then Stamper and DoomBot (both in separate PMs sent me the same links) sent me the unsynced audio. What I received is an AC3 file that has a bitrate of 224kbps. The audio track is in fact a stereo track, which means that the lddb entry about this disc containing a mono analog track is incorrect, as it is in fact an analog stereo track.

After using the "change speed" function in Audacity (which corrects speed AND pitch) applying the same settings as I always do when slowing down PAL audio to sync with NTSC material, the audio nearly automatically aligned with the LD PCM audio track that's posted here (which is synced to the 2013 remastered BD edition)

In process of going through the whole thing right now, as I still have to make sure it stays in-sync (already noticed a couple "extra frames worth of audio" around a couple scene changes) but this looks like it will be relatively straight-forward. Then I have to re-sync it at the side change, as well. The first thing I noticed about this capture, is that the audio is clipped at some points throughout the entire thing. Wondering if this is due to input levels being too high when capturing or whether this is a problem with the source just being clipped. Another thing I noticed is that there is a rather large noise plain. In the beginning, it was a little distracting and then gets better. Wondering also if I should post two different versions once I have it synced: one that is just a straight sync and one that is a synced and "cleaned" (read filtered, LOL) version..  ???

Depending on how much my daughters will distract me while I'm working on this, it shouldn't take me long to finish it

EDIT: Upon very careful inspection of this track, it is in fact a dual MONO track and the "fake stereo" is a misnomer. The mix is different in volume of sfx and dialog (seems much more pronounced) and, at times the sfx are timed +/-10ms different, plus there is some extra dialog heard here and there in the background (in the police station mainly) but it is definitely NOT a stereo mix, even a fake one. On numerous occasions I have seen fake stereo achieved by delaying the right track (in reference to the left one) by 5 to 10 ms, but this is not the case here. Also, the waveform for both channels is identical. Therefore, this LD is merely a different version of a mono mix

I am about have done with the sync now and am going to sleep. When I wake up, I should be able to finish it up before the day ends, so expect to see this available soon

Terminator 2 (Theatrical Cut) (35 Project #4 v1.0)

Project Info:

A lot has changed since I started this project, including access to more 35mm pics and the release of the 4K remaster. I'm resurrecting this project because on working on my upscale project here:

https://fanrestore.com/thread-3010.html

and I was really was enjoying the 35mm colors. So, I wanted to apply that grading to a proper scope version of T2. I am using the 4K remaster since it is a superior scan but re-graining it and replacing the "fixed" shots. If you want to read this thread start here and look for updates at the end.

In the end this is now part of my 35 project, which you can read about here:

https://fanrestore.com/thread-1741.html

Video:
4K Remaster Blu-Ray of the Theatrical Cut (TC) synced to the 2015 BD regraded to various 35mm examples and regrained.

Audio: (Tentative)
1. PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the US widescreen LD 68952-2WS-CDS Mix)
2. PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the Japanese widescreen LD PILF-0001-CDS Mix?)
3. PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the Japanese SQZ widescreen LD PILF-2187-CDS Mix?)
4. PCM 2.0 Dolby Mono (from the Japanese SQZ widescreen LD PILF-2187)
5. PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the US widescreen SE LD 82997-6WS cut down to the TC-Rydstrom Remix)
6. Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the US Artisan DVD-CDS Mix)
7. DTS-HD MA (or FLAC) 5.1 (from the JPN DVD-CDS Mix)
8. DTS-HD MA 6.1 (from the 2015 BD-Rydstrom Remix)

Subtitles:
TBD



Pics:


Thanks:
BusterD
MrBrown
Chewtobacco
Jonno
Doombot
Tservo
soundman

Original Opening

Theatrical cut specifically.

So here's one I've pondered about and researched for some time. We all know how the Supes BDs were re-timed for those with new transfers: Theatrical, II, III and IV. Then there has been the long standing mystery about the various audio mixes of I and the split stereo Dolby 70mm test mix.

Well..I think I may have finally figured it out. I saw a vintage 35mm print last night at the local which was obtained form a private source. It had the Bass 70's logo and they played the Dolby stereo mix back with A type. I had some discussion with the projectionist and they said the owner had no idea what mix it was so they played it with what was accurate to the time.
The matrixing picked up some of the music and spread it a little bit, and the theaters subwoofer enhancement picked up most things in the low end. Otherwise it had a very flat feeling, many times going almost mono-ish particularly in the dialogue scenes.
This fits almost exactly with the simple 1978 2.0 mix found on the Blu-ray and corrected DVDs. it also ties in with an interview Michael Thau gave about the restoration in 2001 of Superman and how he and Richard Donner were shocked at how "mono" Donner's personal print sounded.
http://web.archive.org/web/2004062720280...hau_4.html
(this long article also explains how even the 2001 version was re-timed and tweaked over several passes)
Here he mentions that the split stereo 70mm mix was abandoned at the last minute due to technical worries, and that each mix had to be created from scratch due to there only being one working station. Thus each mix is unique and the overall process was quite rushed resulting in mixes that aren't all what they should be probably.

Now, after going back and forth I can absolutely swear to it that the 1990 WS LD that has the whooshing titles and far more active matrix is NOT at all like what I just heard last night nor does it sound like the '78 mix on BD. In fact it sounds so superior that I'm now under the impression it is instead the Dolby 4 track 70mm mix that was done separately--without the split stereo surround. Everything is better mixed and presented, and there is far better usage of the extra channels. The regular 2.0 is so tame by comparison that you would lose very little if played back mono.

Onto color: the print last night had varying levels of brightness between reels. For example the fortress scene was so bright that it practically remained pure white throughout. There were one or two brief moments of pink in one reel, but this was for only one or two shots total. Overall it was in nice shape for the age, and revealed just how much of the blown out light sources are really there. Once we get out of Smallville, they practically dominate and are extremely bright. In the day scenes it appears as fi there is no sky at all, just a big bright grayish-white void. The new BD transfers are accused of infusing teal all over the place, but actually it seems much more subtle than that. In places the new BD is very close to the print, so it leaves me to think that the MPI colorists (who color to a plasma TV) have an issue with wanting to push certain tones into that teal-land. This is what even Gordon Willis decried on the BD of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, saying that all the older copies were correct. They also handled Disney's 20,000 LEAGUES restoration which lead to the itunes HD copy showing teal infusion.
The suit's color is the big culprit and on the big screen never once did it show teal. It did however show a much darker tone, more of a richer dark blue in the live scenes-and only in the many sfx shots did it appear lighter to a sort of teal look, which had to be done at the time to match the footage.

The bright night lights onscreen and the final Earth shot did have some of that green-teal cast to them in the print, so the new BD is again, not entirely off. What needs to be addressed is the overdoing of some levels resulting in too much "popping image". If this can be corrected I think it would be a more faithful scan than the 2001 version which Thau had do do over and over again in more outdated and less accurate video methods. That being said the overall tonality of the 2001 version on BD is better than the theatrical about 90% of the time or more.

And never complain about the BD looking soft. The print last night was so soft that much detail was totally obscured. Soft, soft, soft, soft, soft to the point of wondering if the focus was completely out of whack (it wasn't). This film was shot in such a way to look almost from another time and combined with the stock used and the lighting choices, it will never have much sharpness if any at all. Easily one of the softest prints in any format I've EVER seen. Even the credits are soft.


I can't say that I'm 100% certain on these, but after researching this stuff for some time I'm pretty confident about it now. The 35mm Dolby and BD 2.0 seem a very slight bit different, but I think that comes down to my receiver having only a very simple prologic decoder. They other wise seem identical in their overall weak stereo spread and pale against the LD. So if we could somehow figure out what levels to address for the video and sync the LD PCM; the theatrical Superman would be about as good a presentation as we could get it.

I should also think that similar work could be done to II, and have often wondered what the Donner Cut would play like if it's shared elements were combined with the more polished and of the era elements from II such as the original mix/scoring etc. for shared footage.

I see Booshman started working on IV, and indeed these problems are in all the new transfers that were done for Blu-ray. This has become a common problem on many catalog titles, this infusion but not takeover of teal, and if researched it seems most if not all can be traced back to Warner's MPI.

I think now that the old video transfers for all four do a pretty good job at representing the prints. All are very contrasty in a way to that they in effect seem a bit washed out. why and how this occurred I can't exactly say but I would think it might have something to do with the production and budgeting as other Salkind films such as the Three Musketeers have this same kind of hazy almost cheapish 70's look to them. I got the BD set, but went and found the old DVD box for the older looks to compare. By matching them to each other it should help to try and eliminate the color pushing they did and better approximate the source. The DVDs sourced originally from LDs try and make the source work better with video, and the new BDs reveal more of the source intent such as the blown out backgrounds. That they went overboard with the color timing is really the only issue other than lacking original audio.

Okay, so if you are a fan of the Ridley Scott movie Legend starring a young Tom Cruise from 1985 I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the versions that exist.

The extended version released with the Goldsmith soundtrack vs the theatrical cut with the Tangerine Dreams soundtrack.

I'm personally a sucker for the theatrical cut with the Tangerine Dreams audio and that amazing shot at the beginning of Tim Curry as Darkness with the blue light. So cool and I understand the big reveal in the extended cut but love what I love!

So, any opinions out there?