Hey,
I've been lurking here for a while, as I take great interest in audio quality. As is the case with probably many, Moshrom's blog (blah-ray) opened my eyes to the problem. I'm looking forward to my time here

I'm a huge fan of fan preservations & hybrid releases. Looking forward to what I discover here.

Hi,

I am a big fan of fan edits and 35mm grindhouse, and I am looking forward to learn from your all great work!

So in lieu of a bunch of projects that I have lost on a dead HDD, I've been considering trying a big project that I have been planning and researching for a while.

Like a lot of people here I'm a big fan of James Cameron's films. I grew up loving them and even as an adult they are some of my favorite films to revisit. But of course like a lot movies transferred to home video, Cameron's films have never been totally accurate to the 35mm prints seen in theaters. Originally a lot of those transfers were too warm, graded to be played on a CRT TV or white balance to remove any extreme color timing. Lately, Cameron himself has ruined his own films by giving them a heavy green/yellow tone which you can see in Aliens, T2 and the HDTV of The Abyss. Now a fair amount of green should be there but these remasters seem to have gone too far and have destroyed the blues of the films. The 35mm examples I have seen are full of "Cameron blues" ranging from powder blue to a deep purplish blues. That look has been striped from the home video releases of his films.

So the goal of this project is to regrade each of Cameron's films to the 35mm examples I have and then add every bit of audio I possibly can fit. No small feat and one I'm not sure I can complete but I want to try and see how far I can get. The starting focus is on T2, TL and Abyss with Aliens and T1 coming later. If anyone has an ideas or audio they would like to share please let me know.

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Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Theatrical Cut)

T2 TC is first out of the gate. As of right now I think the base of this project will be an "enhanced" version of the Lionsgate 2015 BD opposed to the 4K remaster. While the 4K is overall sharper, the near constant DNR removes a lot of details. If I process and upscale (to 4K) the 2015 BD I can tease out a lot more detail then the base transfer. Maybe not as much as the 4K but hopefully within spitting distance. Here are some test pics:

Lionsgate 2015 BD/Processed and regraded


As little closer look at the first pics:

Lionsgate 2015 BD/Processed and regraded x200


More pics from a rough first pass color test:

(still need to work on the skin tones)

For audio I have a pretty good selection which includes off the top of my head:

PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the US widescreen LD 68952-2WS)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the US widescreen LD 68952-2DD)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the US OM LD)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the analog VHS tracks)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the Japanese widescreen LD PILF-0001)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the Japanese SQZ widescreen LD PILF-2187)
PCM 2.0 Mono (from the Japanese SQZ widescreen LD PILF-2187)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the US widescreen LD 68952-2DD) - thanks B&D
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the US Live DVD)
DTS 5.1 (from the JPN DVD)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Chew's remix of the JPN DVD)
Dolby Digital 2.0 (from the US UE DVD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (from the US UE DVD)
DTS-ES 5.1 (from the US UE DVD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (from the US EE DVD)
DTS 5.1 (from the LG 2015 BD)
DTS-HD MA 5.1(from the LG 2015 BD)

Also have the US and JPN SE LD's PCM 2.0 which I might cut down to fit the TC since they should be a different mix from the original TC LDs. Don't know yet. There might be more added audio from the 4k release.

I'm hoping to use some of my stand alone Dolby and non-Dolby Surround matrix decoders (Shure, Involve, Fosgate, Lexicon) to decode the original LD's PCM into a discrete PCM/DTS-HD MA 5.1/4.1 and include it here. We shall see if the comes true.
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True Lies

I started working regrading True Lies to 35mm examples using the DVHS transfer but I need to start over. Thanks to maksnew, I now have access to a few Web-DLs of TL with better PQ then what I had. I still will go through  processing and upscaling the transfer to 4K similar to what I am doing to T2. Here is one pic from the previous work:

Original DVHS/Regrade


And the audio so far:

DTS-HD MA 5.1 (from the Cinema DTS discs)
DTS 5.1 (from the DTS LD)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the US WS LD)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the analog VHS tracks)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the DVHS tape)
DTS 5.1 (from the DVHS tape)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the DVHS tape)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the US DVD)
DTS 5.1 (from the Japanese DVD)
Dolby Digital+ 5.1 (from the original Web-DL/HDTV)
Dolby Digital+ 5.1 (from the Hulu Web-DL/HDTV)

I'm hoping at some point to acquire the 5.1 (AC-3 or DTS) from one or both of the LDs but that seems unlikely.
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The Abyss: Special Edition

For the Abyss I think I'm going with the SE  opposed to the TC. The goal for this is to take Random.next's OM project and re-framed every shot back to 2.39 to roughly match the old SE DVD. I'm about 2/3 of the way done on that. I was originally going to color graded it back to the old European HDTV OM broadcast but with a CRT LUT applied but might have access to more 35mm examples to work off of. The SE parts need a lot of work both in upscaling and some dirt removal.

Here are some pics from the previous work:

Reframed 2.39/Reframed 2.39 Regraded (European HDTV OM w/ CRT LUT)


PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the OAR SE LD)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the OM SE LD)
Dolby Digital 2.0 (from the OM DVD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the OM DVD)
Dolby Digital 2.0 (from the OAR DVD) - Thanks NeonBible
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the OAR DVD) - Thanks NeonBible
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the Chinese DVD)
DTS-ES 5.1 (from the Chinese DVD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the EU OM HDTV)

Also have the US TC LD PCM 2.0 which might splice with the SE LD and add to the project. Not sure.

Much like T2 I'm hoping to use some of my stand alone Dolby and non-Dolby Surround matrix decoders (Shure, Involve, Fosgate, Lexicon) to decode the original LD's PCM into a discrete PCM/DTS-HD MA 5.1/4.1 and include it here.
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Aliens (Theatrical Cut) and The Terminator

Both of these will be in the second batch of work after the initial 3 films. At that time I should have a fair amount of 35mm examples for Aliens and hopefully more for T1.  Here is the current audio selections I have:

Aliens
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the P&S LD)
PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the THX LD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the THX LD)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (from the Quad DVD)
Dolby Digital 4.1 (from the BD)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (from the BD)

The Terminator
PCM 2.0 Mono (from the Image LD)
PCM 2.0 Mono (from the JPN LD)
DTS-HD MA 2.1 Mono Remix (from the Image DVD's DD 2.1)
DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono (from the MGM SE DVD's DD 2.0)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 Remix (from the US BD)

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Titanic and Avatar

Not sure about working on Titanic. There are 35mm examples out there and even though I like the film, I have to see how I feel after finishing everything else. If I do work on it, I'm likely to use the HDTV broadcast over the BD but that is just me thinking out loud.

I don't think there is anything to do with Avatar. I don't know if the color varies greatly from theatrical presentation. Also I hate that film so there is no incentive for me.
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Thanks

A lot of people have given me bits and pieces of these projects over the years, so thank you to all them in no particular order.

MrBrown
Chewtobacco
Jonno
Tservo
Bigrob
Zoidberg
Williarob
Stamper
Maksnew
Random.next
X5gb
BusterD
Doombot
NeonBible
borisanddoris
Kreeep

Can someone try to add hdr to the upcoming the night of the living dead uhd?

Hi One Of My Friends Got A Hold Of A Cinema DTS disc. Didn't do much research ahead of time because it wasn't gonna be up for much longer. But I'm curious what are some programs I can use to decode this? He copied the files off the discs and the only way I got them to be read was in audacity. But the noise is so high because it's not decoded. Excuse me for my ignorance. Just curious if there is anything I can download

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially announced that it will release on 4K Blu-ray Tom Holland's Fright Night (1985), starring Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Roddy McDowall, and Stephen Geoffreys. The release will be available for purchase on October 4.

Studio description: Meet Jerry Dandrige. He's sweet, sexy, and he likes to sleep in late. You might think he's the perfect neighbor. But before inviting Jerry in for a nightcap, there's just one thing you should know. Jerry prefers his drinks warm, red, and straight from the jugular! It's FRIGHT NIGHT, a horrific howl starring Chris Sarandon as the seductive vampire and William Ragsdale as the frantic teenager struggling to keep Jerry's deadly fangs out of his neck. Only 17-year-old Charley Brewster (Ragsdale) knows Jerry's bloodcurdling secret. When Charley can't get anybody to believe him, he turns to TV horror host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), who used to be the "Great Vampire Killer" of the movies. Can these mortals save Charley and his sweetheart Amy (Amanda Bearse) from the wrathful bloodsucker's toothy embrace? If you love being scared, FRIGHT NIGHT...will give you the nightmare of your life.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

DISC ONE - 4K BLU-RAY
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
ALL-NEW DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK + 5.1 + original Dolby Stereo
DISC TWO - BLU-RAY
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
Audio: 5.1 + original Dolby Stereo
NEW Deleted Scene Storyboards – Tom Holland guides us through the film's only deleted scene, using his personal pre-production storyboards
NEW Holland/Beyda Spec Trailer with an Introduction by Tom Holland – the never-before-seen alternate trailer cut by Fright Night editor Kent Beyda with the guidance—and narration—of Tom Holland
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Tom Holland, Actors Chris Sarandon & Jonathan Stark, Moderated by Filmmaker Tim Sullivan
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Tom Holland, Actors William Ragsdale & Stephen Geoffreys, FX Artist Randall Cook, Moderated by Journalist Jeremy Smith and Filmmaker Tim Sullivan
You're So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night
What is Fright Night
Tom Holland: Writing Horror
Theatrical Trailers
DISC THREE - BLU-RAY
NEW Fright Night 35th Anniversary Script Read – an anniversary cast reunion and script reading featuring writer/director Tom Holland and special guests including Rosario Dawson, Jason Patric, and many more!
NEW The Queer Lens: Bryan Fuller in Conversation with Amanda Bearse – a candid discussion between Fright Night aficionado Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror) and Fright Night star Amanda Bearse about the Gothic's queer roots, the film's queer subtext, and its metaphorical power
NEW A Novel Approach: The Splatterpunk Story of the Fright Night Novelization – Tom Holland, Fright Night novelization authors John Skipp and Craig Spector, and publisher Mark Alan Miller discuss how the progenitors of the splatterpunk genre came to work on the book, their writing process, and the novel's enduring legacy
NEW SFX Storyboard Comparisons – a selection of original storyboards from key effects sequences, compared with their final filmed versions
Roddy McDowall: From Apes to Bats
Tom Holland and Amanda Bearse Talk Fright Night
Round Table with Tom, Stephen and William
Shock Till You Drop Presents Choice Cuts with Tom Holland and Ryan Turek
First Ever Fright Night Reunion Panel - Fear Fest 2 (2008)
Weekend of Hell Panel with Amanda and Stephen
Vintage EPK with Behind-the-Scenes Raw Footage

Is there any software That Can Auto Sync The Audio From A Other Source To The HD Master?
I have issues syncing it

Hello everyone. I am "The Film Whisperer", author of known restoration projects such as

1. Cobra (1986), extended version
   
2. Rumble in the Bronx
   
3. Fist of Legend
   
4. Ong-Bak
   
5. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
   
6. Jackie Chan's "Thunderbolt"
   

Why are there 3 different official versions of this film?

I'm certain that any fan of Jackie Chan knows the story behind the making of this film. But if you're not familiar, here's the briefest summary I can give you.

• "The Protector" was written and directed by James Glickenhaus, a man with a real "Grindhouse" style of directing. 
  
• This was Jackie Chan's 2nd American film, after "Battle Creek Brawl". The film was released in 1985.
  
• James Glickenhaus claims that Jackie Chan didn't really speak English at the time of making this film. (Personally, I call TOTAL B.S. on this claim).
  
• The movie was a flop in North America and worldwide
  
• Jackie Chan was so embarrassed by how the U.S. version turned out, that he decided to re-make the movie for the Asian market
  
• This movie inspired Jackie Chan to create "Police Story" in the same year. To this day, Police Story is still considered one of the greatest action movies in HK cinema and worldwide.
  
• And technically, there are about 5 different versions if you count the censored German version. And the original US rated-R version cut out footage from the bar gunfight. That footage was exclusive only to the HK and Japanese edits until the 2002 R1 DVD release from Warner Bros (and subsequent releases from Fortune Star). 
  

What did Jackie Chan do the film?

You can get an EXTREMELY detailed explanation from this Movie-Censorship article. Or you can read the Wikipedia article about it (much of which I also wrote, ). The MC article compares the original U.S. version to the Hong edit. But here's a brief summary

1. Jackie Chan dubbed the entire movie into Cantonese. In a few scenes, the dub totally changes context/dialog. Many people say Jackie did this because "he didn't like the cussing", but according to the subtitles provided by 88 Films' for the HK edit, that actually doesn't change much, haha. But I honestly think that Jackie didn't want he and Danny Aiello's characters not sound like they're freaking hoodlums! I don't know if a Mandarin dub was actually made at the time, but the old Universe Laser DVD has a 5.1 Dolby Mandarin dub, and it's the only source I know of where any Mandarin dub exists.
   
2. Editing and alternate takes: The original US version (the Glickenhaus version) of this film was horribly-paced, in my opinion. Too many shots linger on much longer than they should. It's clear that Glickenhaus didn't want any second of film to be left on the cutting-room floor, haha. It is well-known that Jackie didn't like Glickenhaus' directing style. Jackie preferred using multiple takes for certain sequences, rather than using longer single-takes. Here's a link showing screenshots from my restoration of where/how he used alternate takes, even in the sequences originally filmed by Glickenhaus.
   
3. Reshoots: Jackie did many reshoots for this film. I won't go into great detail, but for the Asian market, Jackie filmed an entire subplot to add some "depth" to the film's story (which admittedly is quite paper-thin in the U.S. version). I personally believe the plot reshoots were mainly about not having a freaking fortune teller to solve the good guys' problems.   Many of the reshoots involved a popular singer/actress: Sally Yeh, whose character was added to the film, and given a family connection to Shum Wai's character. Among other famous reshoots was the final fight between Jackie Chan and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace's character, which helped make the final sequence much more exciting and less predictable. The reshoots added a few extra action sequences to the film. And yet, in spite of adding a whole subplot and extra action sequences, Jackie's edit of "The Protector" still ended up being a few minutes shorter than the original U.S. cut!    This also means no nudity in the HK/JP edits! The massage parlor nudity was edited out beautifully, but Jackie did reshoots for the drug lab sequences, replacing the naked female drug workers with women (and men) dressed in lab coats.
   

So what is the "Japanese extended version"?

Again, Movie-Censorship has an article comparing the HK version to the Japanese version. The "Extended Japanese version" has these differences

1. The Japanese version is basically an extended cut of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong edit. Even without counting beginning/end credits, it is slightly longer than the U.S. cut, which is itself a few minutes longer than Jackie's HK edit. As you can see in Movie-Censorship's article, the HK version removed a few scenes that were included in the U.S. version. The Japanese version has these scenes with a Cantonese dub.
   
2. Removing those scenes for the HK version required slightly different Cantonese dubs for the HK version in certain scenes. For example, in Jackie's HK version, the traitorous British police chief Whitehead (spoiler alert!   ) actually tells Jackie's & Danny Aiello's characters about the massage parlor, and it cuts out the very next scene from the US version where the chief's inspector is actually the one who tells them about the massage parlor. However, the Japanese version includes the latter scene, requiring a slightly different Cantonese dub where the chief simply lectures Jackie and Danny about following rules & regulations.
   
3. All scenes taking place in the U.S. use the original English track, while all scenes taking place in Hong Kong use the Cantonese dub. However, the audio from the U.S. scenes is in mono, and is much more "raw" than Glickenhaus' stereo track. And the score matches Jackie's original Hong Kong version. It is a completely different master!
   
4. An inclusion of an all-exclusive scene. It's just a short conversation between Bill Wallace's and David Ho's characters. Only in the Japanese edit can you find this scene.
   
5. The inclusion of the outtake credits. These credits are iconic in Jackie Chan's films, and I'm puzzled as to why he didn't include them in his HK edit!  Like the U.S. version, the song "One up for the good guys" by Chip Taylor plays during the end credits in the Japanese version.
   

What have I completed so far?

Sources I used

1. The 2014 Japanese blu-ray, for footage exclusive to the Japanese version of the film. Click here to see screenshots of it. It's the only version to have the exclusive HK/JP footage in genuine HD. It was scanned from an actual film print. However, it has one annoying aspect: the burnt-in Japanese subtitles! Well, since the "sub"-titles are on the side, you can call them "side-titles" 
   
2. UK blu-ray from 88 Films, for footage from the U.S. version. 88's blu-ray for the U.S. version is genuinely remastered. 88's HK version was upscaled from the French DVD, the only version I know of which was somewhat remastered and genuinely anamorphic. I used the upscaled HK version in a few places to cover up the Japanese side-titles. I also used the upscaled HK version for one shot, because I found it difficult to credibly cover up the Japanese "side-titles"
   
3. Japanese laserdisc. I used this to cover up the side-titles to the exclusive scene between Bill Wallace and David Ho.
   

So far, I've done most of the "big stuff". Here is what I did

1. I used the 2014 Japanese blu-ray as the basis for creating this newly restored version.
   
2. The frame rate is 24fps, NOT the HD frame rate of 23.976 FPS. And yes, it is also at true 24fps speed. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing
   
3. I used the U.S. version's footage wherever I could, and used the Japanese blu-ray's footage for all other shots where it was necessary. My source for the U.S. version's footage is the blu-ray from 88 Films.
   
4. I did some major color-correction, not just on the Japanese blu-ray footage but also on the U.S. footage too! I have no idea what 88 Films was thinking but they made that footage far too blue and dark in many places. I often don't like tootin' my own horn, but I think I did a great job. Here's a link showing my color-correction work.
   
5. I created 2 audio tracks: one that uses the Japanese version's English/cantonese mono track (with just a tiny amount of help from the U.S. version's stereo track), and another that is 100% Cantonese! The All-Cantonese track uses audio from 88 Films' upscaled HK edit for the scenes taking place in the US. Sound effects and dialog are well-synced in both tracks!
   
6. I created 3 sets of English subtitle tracks: "foreign parts only" and "all dialog/SDH" for the English/Cantonese track, and one for the "All Cantonese track". The subtitles for the Cantonese dialog are mainly based on the translation of the HK version's dialog from 88 Films, which used a native-Cantonese speaker. For the dialog within the Japanese-exclusive scene, I had to rely on a translation of the German subtitles from the German blu-ray release from Splendid (which had this scene as a "special feature"). For the slightly different dialog changes to the Japanese version, I relied on Australian friend who has learned Japanese and translated the subtitles for me. And I got some help from a phone translation app, which doesn't really catch audio from a computer very well   . But I figured the dialog was quite similar to the original U.S. version's.
   
7. I covered up the Japanese side-titles, but only in a few short places, which kinda brings me to my request...
   

What do I need help with?

1. Covering up the Japanese side-titles. As I mentioned before, I covered up the "side-titles" but only in a few places. I'll be honest: my patience in doing this task has run out  . I believe that in many cases, the best method to cover up the side-titles is to rotoscope parts from the Japanese blu-ray where there are no side-titles to cover them up when they appear. However, this process is very tedious and would often require frame-by-frame rotoscoping. Unless...there's some other strategy? I am aware that I could use the upscaled HK version to cover them up, but that's also quite difficult, and it might not turn out so well. The upscaled HK version is a bit more "zoomed in" than the JP blu-ray, so some "scaling" is necessary. Also, one must do a good job in color-matching and blending. Keep in mind that the Japanese version is in genuine HD, while the upscaled HD version was, well...upscaled from a PAL DVD!
   
2. Cleaning up dirt/specs. The Japanese version was scanned from a film print. So it's got a lot of dirt and specs and stuff.
   
3. Flicker removal: Any ideas on how to remove the flicker from certain sequences in the Japanese version? If so, that'd be great!
   
4. Other improvements as needed, if you think you can do better. Did I not cover up the side-titles well-enough in the places where I did so? Do you think you can do a better job at color-correcting? If so, do it!
   

If any of you are interested in helping me with these tasks, please PM me. And I hope you're willing to share your most direct e-mail address. If you're not comfortable sharing your actual e-mail, that's fine. But please note that I'm not as fast as responding to my messages on this site as I am from my own e-mail.

I will give you a link to everything. I have lossless M2TS files of my sources and a lossless MKV & M2TS of my own restoration, and I will even upload my Adobe Premiere Pro project file. I will even give you my "rough draft" MKV so you can have an idea of what the completed project will look like (before you work your magic). You can let me know what else you'll need to help me complete the project.