More info about the Mei Ah vs TF1 DVDs

Just for fun, I threw this into Topaz Lab's Video Enhance AI. I was fairly excited with the previews but after a few days of processing, the result is still rather soft and still has all the dirt and scratches from the DVD. I may have went a bit heavy on the grain settings, but I felt it helped cover up the digital noise of the source. Details on characters in wide shots are sometimes a bit too smoothened and the AI occasionally over sharpen background/foreground details. Also darkened the video a bit as the source was a bit bright and flat.

   
   
   
   
   

That actually turned out quite nice!

The issue I have with the Pony transfer is that its over bright and sometimes has this look almost like its a cam job. A distant feeling if that makes sense?

However your upscale caps does a good job of reducing that.

Together with PipperPiper's subs, you might have a good project here.

(2021-04-23, 07:26 PM)NeonBible Wrote: That actually turned out quite nice!

The issue I have with the Pony transfer is that its over bright and sometimes has this look almost like its a cam job. A distant feeling if that makes sense?

However your upscale caps does a good job of reducing that.

Together with PipperPiper's subs, you might have a good project here.

Im here with my VCD like 

I know exactly what you mean by "cam" rip. Has anyone tried to trackdown one of the Laserdiscs (HK or Japan) I feel like those might have the best quality to them. They'll atleast not have the DVD compression/encoding issues.

I was taking a look at potentially reconstructing the theatrical version with footage from Redux, but man, those colors are absolutely fucked.

(2021-04-16, 09:24 AM)Stamper Wrote: False alert, the library copy was actually the redux...

Here's a comparison, it seems the TF1 version isn't "cut" it's the different international cut as done by WKW so I guess it's unique?

The Mei Ah seems to be better despite the burned-in subs.

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/fr/page.asp?aid=176&page=1

I managed to pick up a used copy of the TF1 DVD. And yep its a different cut with whole scenes missing.

Its also a DVD5, so the one on the russian site is likely not compressed at all, just added a dub and english subs; which would actually turn out quite handy since the TF1 DVD only contains French subs. The colours are a lot different too, its more muted and natural looking on the TF1.

On the positive note, the video (at least in motion) is a huge improvement over the Mei Ah and Pony DVDs. Much more detail and of course its anamorphic. It was hard to see this improvement in the screencaps in the links we posted. However it can get VERY grainy in some scenes though. And heavy grain on SD doesn't really resolve well.

(2021-04-24, 10:46 PM)shiftyeyes Wrote: I was taking a look at potentially reconstructing the theatrical version with footage from Redux, but man, those colors are absolutely fucked.

Haha yep, the Redux is too far gone.

Check out my post above. The TF1 DVD could potentially be a better source for a reconstruction. It would have to be converted to 24000/1001 fps and scenes added back from another source (probably the Pony).

(2021-04-25, 04:32 PM)NeonBible Wrote:

(2021-04-16, 09:24 AM)Stamper Wrote: False alert, the library copy was actually the redux...

Here's a comparison, it seems the TF1 version isn't "cut" it's the different international cut as done by WKW so I guess it's unique?

The Mei Ah seems to be better despite the burned-in subs.

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/fr/page.asp?aid=176&page=1

I managed to pick up a used copy of the TF1 DVD. And yep its a different cut with whole scenes missing.

Its also a DVD5, so the one on the russian site is likely not compressed at all, just added a dub and english subs; which would actually turn out quite handy since the TF1 DVD only contains French subs. The colours are a lot different too, its more muted and natural looking on the TF1.

On the positive note, the video (at least in motion) is a huge improvement over the Mei Ah and Pony DVDs. Much more detail and of course its anamorphic. It was hard to see this improvement in the screencaps in the links we posted. However it can get VERY grainy in some scenes though. And heavy grain on SD doesn't really resolve well.

(2021-04-25, 04:34 PM)NeonBible Wrote:

(2021-04-24, 10:46 PM)shiftyeyes Wrote: I was taking a look at potentially reconstructing the theatrical version with footage from Redux, but man, those colors are absolutely fucked.

Haha yep, the Redux is too far gone.

Check out my post above. The TF1 DVD could potentially be a better source for a reconstruction. It would have to be converted to 24000/1001 fps and scenes added back from another source (probably the Pony).

Sounds promising! Another review I'd seen wasn't very kind to the French release and when I heard it was missing scenes, I disregarded it. How's it look in terms of dirt and damage? 

I only just got the reference to the "Russian site", so I may go investigate. 

It is very interesting that the action sequences at the beginning and end were cut out of the International versions before they were removed from Redux. Lends some credence to something I read about how those sequences were added for Asian audiences at the insistence of the producers (in addition to more action, perhaps to tie the movie in more with its source material?). Similar to how there are multiple international versions of The Grandmaster. 

Despite growing up in a Chinese household and having a sibling who was into HK movies, I never really cared much for them other than WKW's films. I've been learning a lot over the last month or so, particularly about this film, its production, and stars. Very curious how kind of overlooked this movie is. I only recently learned about the parody movie WKW produced that they filmed at the same time.

(2021-04-25, 06:58 PM)shiftyeyes Wrote: Sounds promising! Another review I'd seen wasn't very kind to the French release and when I heard it was missing scenes, I disregarded it. How's it look in terms of dirt and damage? 

I'm not surprised reviews of the French release are negative. I think from back in the DVD era film grain was generally seen as bad and I can understand why, like I said doesn't always look good in SD. Whereas film grain is generally seen as a positive nowadays and better in HD.

(2021-04-25, 06:58 PM)shiftyeyes Wrote: Despite growing up in a Chinese household and having a sibling who was into HK movies, I never really cared much for them other than WKW's films. I've been learning a lot over the last month or so, particularly about this film, its production, and stars. Very curious how kind of overlooked this movie is. I only recently learned about the parody movie WKW produced that they filmed at the same time.

It was also parodied in a scene in the Korean-wave movie My Sassy Girl!

Personally, I would rather have the HK theatrical version restored. I was initially very happy to findout that it was going to get a proper release finally, only to be stuck with Redux after everything was said and done. I for one don't get the endless bitching about how "confusing" the theatrical version is and never had issues with how the story unfolded, following the flow of events without questioning anything.

Anyhow, here is the link to the subtitle revision:

https://ufile.io/mz7ghnrw

I left the British English intact and restored what I had changed initially, which included, but not limited to:

realize/realise
learned/learnt
etc

A few instances of Engrish have been rectified, as well as something that shiftyeyes had pointed out to me concerning a yearly event known as the "Awakening of Insects". Further mentioning some misspellings of character names and locations that were inconsistently butchered with the original subs that I ended up changing.

Fixed quite a few lines that concerned the duality of the Murong siblings (not going into what the deal is there as it could be considered a spoiler) that were extremely messy once looked over. As well as some other odds and ends that I am probably forgetting.

Currently this will work for the Pony Canyon release, but could easily be modified to support a restoration with the timing shifted to remove the less than a minute of Japanese characters. I will state that I didn't go back to subtitle the lines explaining the setting as the Japanese Pony Canyon version wasn't my core reasoning behind the subs and would rather see a proper HK theatrical restoration with what is available.