[No Longer Available] Die Hard With A Vengeance Regrade (35 Project #2)

[CSchmidlapp]

I think this old master just has not got any more life in it.
A shot by shot correction would hold better results sure, but there would still be big compromises due to the state of the source material.

I sent PDB my thoughts over a private message as I thought it better that way with it being a work in progress version.
Im sure it would be fine to share them thoughts here considering the disscusion.

Just had a flick through.
I can not believe this is the same master! It actually looks like film!
In fact it reminds me of a telecine of a 35mm release print.

I think the grade looks alot better than the one we have currently on home video.
It certainly relays a different mood to the proceedings and one closer to how I remember it during its original run. I saw it 4 times at the cinema back on its original run but It was before i had an eye for grades ect.

I see you have really stretched the limits of the BD here
The grade brings out alot of noise and shows how badly mastered it really was! It must have been a nightmare to work with! There are a lot of uncorrectable problems that even a shot by shot remaster could not correct, unless you had access to a less compressed master
Having said that it's impressive what you have achieved, and to be honest way better than I imagined it would look when I saw the photos you had to work towards in the thread.

I'm unsure what to recommend in terms of improvement as I think you have probably exhausted all options with this Master. Perhaps bring the brightness down on some of the day sequences as they can look bright, but again the inconsistency of the shots in scenes would probably make this a nightmare!  

Lets just hope the new masters have been treated with a little more love

Thanks again for a look at your work's in progress good sir.
Amazing work as always

I certainly would not take up the mantle myself.
As mentioned I think even a shot by shot correction would yield results not worthy of the time to do them.

[Stamper]

Looks good to me. That'll do until 4K comes along!

[Beber]

Here's a way to better watch the official Blu-ray tweeking your TV settings:
- set a +18 shift towards green in the tint section.
- lower the brightness a bit: I set mine to -2.
- +7 in the contrast section.
- activate dynamic contrast. I went to the highest.
- set color temperature to the warmest to add a yellow cast to it.

Before (this one looks actually better on pic than it does on screen with McClane looking overly red):



After:




Obviously, from one TV set to another, the settings will be different, but you get the general idea. That will have to do until something better comes along.

[CSchmidlapp]

[Beber]

Yeah, well, I wasn't able to pick up the baton "color correctionwise", so I had to figure out a way to make the Blu-ray more watchable. And it works pretty well. Some blues turn a bit too purplish to my taste as I'd rather have them turn towards cyan, but that's the limitation to it.

[CSchmidlapp]

Yeah, well, I wasn't able to pick up the baton "color correctionwise", so I had to figure out a way to make the Blu-ray more watchable. And it works pretty well. Some blues turn a bit too purplish to my taste as I'd rather have them turn towards cyan, but that's the limitation to it.

The same corrections (most of them) can be done, in the same way, in most video editing software.
I think you should have a go.

Do you have a fairly decent P.C or MAC?

There are a few free Video Editing programs available, but my knowledge is in Adobe Premiere.
Id happily help you get set up and running in the technical forum?

[Beber]

Thanks, but I think I'll pass. I did try to install and run DaVinci Resolve 'cause it was free and I thought I should give it a shot, but my PC running on Windows 7 64bits, i5 @ 3.20GHz and 8G RAM doesn't seem to be good enough, plus Resolve was asking me to install other stuff, so I gave up on the idea. We'll see when this PC dies and I have to get a new one.
I do have an old version of Xvid4PSP that I use all the time that allows me to tweek some of these stuff, but I haven't found in it the equivalent to either "dynamic constrast" or color temperature settings.

[CSchmidlapp]

Yes, it's the dynamic contrast and color temperature settings you would have to spend the most time on mimicking.
Even then you would never match what you TV is doing on the fly.

I'm unsure what the specs are for resolve but your set up seems fine for simple Video Editing.
It would not be real-time but you would get the results.

If your taking pics in theaters of old 35mm screening's, I'm surprised you would not like to learn a tool like this.
Shame you don't feel like taking the baton.

[Beber]

Oh, but I would like to learn. I spent last evening trying to install as many versions of Resolve as I could find. Since I'll be on vacation for 3 weeks, I was gonna spent most of this time trying this thing, but I'm already pissed at this when failing at launching the software, so...

[spoRv]

Isn't any "advanced" free video player around?

I mean, it would be nice to have the same settings found on the TV - contrast, brightness, saturation, hue, plus more advanced ones - without be forced to tweak them in the TV or video card... possibly, one that could let you save various presets.

I'm pretty sure is there, but I feel lazy this evening...

Said so, maybe the latest comments should be moved to a new thread on its own, that could be interesting for someone else, what do you think, guys?