Project Info:

I started this as a new project to test the semi-automatic color correction "workflow", that I was building for a Flash Gordon project. I decided I needed to run it on another separate project in order to see if I can get the same results. So consider this an experiment.

I selected Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (MM3) since I love the movie. It always seems to get the shaft when it comes to the MM movies. And although I don't know if the DVD is more accurate (Valeyard saw a 35mm print and said the BD looked right), I enjoy the colors of the DVD more then the BD. The MM3 DVD and LD have colors similar to the Road Warrior/MM2 DVD with orange/yellow deserts and cool blue interiors unlike the BD. So it will be a better match for that project. Also as a bonus the LD PCM is already in sync. That bypasses the bottleneck I have for many of my current projects.

(I also remember a conversation where spoRv said I would eventually work on this as a project and I said that would never happen. This project will prove him right and me wrong  )

Regardless, I couldn't of chosen a worse project. While the BD, of course has more detail then the DVD but a lot of shots are badly, badly, blown out destroying much of the detail. It is to such a degree that almost no information is able to be recovered. That makes auto color correction very difficult as it creates a posterization-like effect in the blown-out areas.

On the DVD side, the disc has the standard red/magenta push that many early Warner DVDs had. Luckily, I still have the laserdisc which has the same master but without the larger red push. I was able to remove a fair amount the DVD's red from the picture before grading. This brought out more of the master's blues and greens that were always there but buried beneath a nasty red haze. The DVD also has an excessive amount of contrast and an odd black level. I fixed this by setting a new black level in the Regrade and flattening the overall picture.

Even after this workflow was done I had to manually color correct about 210 shots. And even beyond that I had to give up and use the luma from the BD (again badly blown out) for  12 shots as the only solution to the discrepancy of the two pictures.

Note: This is in sync with the official BD so you can add whatever dubs and subs you need. Since the BD has a newer longer WB logo then the vintage one I used, there is a small 10 second period of black at the beginning.

Video:
The BD regraded to look like the DVD/LD video master

Audio:
1. PCM 2.0 from the Warner Widescreen LD
2. DTS- HD MA 5.1 from the BD

Pics and Video:

MKV Pics (Final)


Old Pics


BD/BD Regrade Comparison


Video (No Sound)


(Video sample 2 and 3 didn't survive copyright check)

So this is fully rendered and I'm beginning the upload now but I need some help.

I need a volunteer or two to watch the video for errors, as I want to make sure I got them all. If anyone wants to help please send me a PM. I appreciate the help.

If this works it opens up many, many possibilities.

I prefer the regraded color, but I'd leave the shot depicted in the third image as is, because regrade is too magenta.

And, it's great to be right, sometimes!

(2018-09-24, 10:03 PM)spoRv Wrote: I prefer the regraded color, but I'd leave the shot depicted in the third image as is, because regrade is too magenta.

And, it's great to be right, sometimes!

You are going to have to be more specific then third pic spoRv. I'm not sure what pic you are talking about: the wagon in the desert or the girl in the desert (the purple one)?

I love the colors, but the exchange with the barter fat guy have a better look on the original (which in fact matches the rest of the look of the regrade).

In the BD/BD regraded comparison, first row, third column. To me, there "should" be come things that "should" have not a certain color, like magenta fog/clouds/snow, or teal sky etc. - said that, apart that scenes, the others seems better in the regraded version.

(2018-09-26, 02:32 PM)spoRv Wrote: In the BD/BD regraded comparison, first row, third column. To me, there "should" be come things that "should" have not a certain color, like magenta fog/clouds/snow, or teal sky etc. -  said that, apart that scenes, the others seems better in the regraded version.

Ok so the girl in the desert.

Point taken about that shot. But of course it is a very artificial shot in both grades. There is no light like that in the desert at night, so the blue is just as fake either through filters or timing. It's really just a night shot with a fog machine on the right hand side and a guy with a filtered light on the other side of the dune shining it into the fog to create a strong visual silhouette. I still see it as more violet or purple then magenta and even then the shot fades to more blue over time.

Honestly, I posted that shot since it was an oddball and wanted to see if anyone said anything. I also prefer the blue of the original but since it’s a regrade to the DVD...

Well I didn't get many volunteers (understandable since this is an experimental process), so I guess this is officially done. I'm uploading the final version now. If any regular members want a copy please pm me.


MKV Pics


Mediainfo:

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 20.1 GiB
Duration : 1h 46mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 26.9 Mbps
Movie name : Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Encoded date : UTC 2018-10-09 21:03:41
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.1.0 ('Old Devil') built on Mar 2 2013 14:32:37
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0
DURATION : 01:46:58.497000000
NUMBER_OF_FRAMES : 205392
NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 1232351380
_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP : mkvmerge v25.0.0 ('Prog Noir') 64-bit
_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC : 2018-09-21 15:02:40
_STATISTICS_TAGS : BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 46mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Nominal bit rate : 23.0 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 40.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.463
Title : Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Regrade to DVD/LD v1.4)
Writing library : x264 core 146 r2538 121396c
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=1 / keyint=23 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=23 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=23000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=40000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / nal_hrd=vbr / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Codec ID : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration : 1h 46mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Title : PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround (from the widescreen laserdisc)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
DURATION : 01:46:58.496000000
NUMBER_OF_FRAMES : 601734
NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 1865190496
_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP : mkvmerge v25.0.0 ('Prog Noir') 64-bit
_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC : 2018-09-21 15:02:40
_STATISTICS_TAGS : BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 46mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : Unknown / 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy
Title : DTS-HD MA 5.1 (from the BD)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Text
ID : 4
Format : PGS
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
DURATION : 01:44:06.324000000
NUMBER_OF_FRAMES : 1508
NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 12813565
_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP : mkvmerge v25.0.0 ('Prog Noir') 64-bit
_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC : 2018-09-21 15:02:40
_STATISTICS_TAGS : BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 01
00:09:55.720 : en:Chapter 02
00:20:06.205 : en:Chapter 03
00:30:31.621 : en:Chapter 04
00:40:04.527 : en:Chapter 05
00:50:45.042 : en:Chapter 06
01:02:00.717 : en:Chapter 07
01:11:21.235 : en:Chapter 08
01:20:12.057 : en:Chapter 09
01:30:57.910 : en:Chapter 10
01:42:03.617 : en:Chapter 11

Last call for this. I need the storage for other projects.

(2018-10-06, 07:13 PM)PDB Wrote: Last call for this. I need the storage for other projects.

if i import this into my mega account, will i still be able to access it when you delete it? I have to wait until next week and i am going to buy a blu ray burner to back this regrade up

Yes it'll still be accessible even after he deletes it.