[Request] Rocky Horror faux stereo

[NeonBible]

I was just giving it a watch myself. The colours are so much better than the BD.

The BD looks dark and lifeless with everything 'white-balanced' for want of a better term. The DVD looks warm and vibrant. Also the BD is missing the blue gel effect when Frank N Furter visits Brad in his bed; it's just neutral white despite the red still being present for Janet's visit.

Yes the the tint in that scene is correct on the DVD. However both the BD and DVD have the wrong tint for Time Warp flashback sequence. Would be interesting to know how that looks on the LD/VHS.

[pipefan413]

I was just giving it a watch myself. The colours are so much better than the BD.

The BD looks dark and lifeless with everything 'white-balanced' for want of a better term. The DVD looks warm and vibrant. Also the BD is missing the blue gel effect when Frank N Furter visits Brad in his bed; it's just neutral white despite the red still being present for Janet's visit.

Aw fer christ... maybe I shoulda left my copy sealed like it was a mere few days ago. Thanks, this helps identify which version I'll be watching next time. (Last time I think was the PAL DVD.)

[Doctor M]

It sounds like this is a 'stick with dvd' movie. Which version is the right one?

[pipefan413]

Well, crap. I've just got the US DVD on to check out some stuff and it would seem that the mono track is pitch shifted upwards. As in, it's probably from a PAL master (quite possibly one of the ones for one of the European LaserDiscs, perhaps the German one I've bought) but when they slowed it to fit the NTSC video, they didn't resample to fix the pitch shift caused by speeding up to PAL previously. So it's too high. The same crap I've seen with NEAR DARK and a bunch of others.

How bloody frustrating!

Well, no matter, I'll grab the UK version of the same DVD and fix it. Better to start with PAL and resample (correcting pitch proportionately) than start with messed up 24 fps -> 25 fps -> 24/1.001 fps conversion and pitch correct.

Apart from that, the NTSC DVD looks great. So what I'll probably do is just slow down the PAL DVD and that'll become my viewing copy for now.

EDIT: Y'know what, screw it. Here's what I'll probably do.

If the main issues with the Blu-ray are that they messed up the colour grade by balancing blues to white, and the mono track has the wrong instrumental tune at the end, then it's probably fixable. Hypothetically, one could...

1. Regrade the Blu-ray to the DVD
2. Capture and sync the German LD audio, which is hopefully the original mono (even if it isn't the cleanest recording)
3. Accurately resample the PAL DVD mono audio and sync that to the Blu-ray as well
4. Replace the song at the end of the Blu-ray mono track with the song from one of the corrected PAL sources (LD or DVD)
5. Investigate this thing about the wrong colour on the flashback scene (I can't even think what scene that is or where in the film it lies, so do point me in the right direction and let me know what the reference is for knowing it's currently wrong @NeonBible)

... would we have a semi-definitive version of this (until any potential new official attempt)?

Incidentally, I desperately want a copy of the UK LaserDisc but I believe it's exceedingly uncommon, so if anybody ever spots a copy and doesn't want it for themselves, please fire me a message (PM or even better, email, if I have that enabled on my profile).

[SpaceBlackKnight]

IIRC, Vudu and I think Itunes had Rocky Horror on the old master used for the 2001 DVD but in native HD. I'm not sure if any other US provider has the older HD master or had upgraded to the 2009 4k SDR master as seen on the Blu since (RH is not as of yet on digital in native 4k). It would be wise to check out different dub versions on foreign iTunes stores as they tend to use older/different HD masters than whats on US streaming/Blu. Not to stray far off topic, but examples are iTunes France having CAPS Disney titles such as Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mulan using older HD masters made from 35mm IPs, and a 4:3 HD version of the international cut of The Shining alongside the widescreen theatrical version (also now in 4K HDR). Itunes Spain (last I saw) had Oliver and Company using an older HD master in 1.66 and Aristocats in 1.75 both with grain intact.

[pipefan413]

Those are pretty much all of interest to me, off-topic or not, @SpaceBlackKnight! Thanks.

By the way, I think it's only the end credits that are PAL pitch-shifted on the NTSC DVD; I checked other moments and each one seems fine apart from that. So replacing that from the PAL DVD would be a simple matter requiring a very small amount of re-encoding (only the end credits, in theory).

[crampedmisfit1990]

The BD opening credits also need fixed since they have black bars cutting off the top and bottom for no apparent reason. No other scene is cut off like that and the HD copies on various sites like Vudu aren't cut off, I believe it is the DVD master in HD as you mentioned previously is why. I been meaning to do this project to get a real original theatrical version for a long, long time. Never got around to it. Also the Time Warp flashback at the end is supposedly blue tinted like Brad's seduction scene I believe. I never saw it like that but others have said in theaters they were blue. We really need this fixed because I highly doubt the next time it is released (4K maybe?) that it will be perfect. They will manage to screw something else up again.

Does anyone know what master is used for this film on Amazon? If it was the old DVD master I would buy it cause I can manage to get it for this project.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

The BD opening credits also need fixed since they have black bars cutting off the top and bottom for no apparent reason. No other scene is cut off like that and the HD copies on various sites like Vudu aren't cut off, I believe it is the DVD master in HD as you mentioned previously is why. I been meaning to do this project to get a real original theatrical version for a long, long time. Never got around to it. Also the Time Warp flashback at the end is supposedly blue tinted like Brad's seduction scene I believe. I never saw it like that but others have said in theaters they were blue. We really need this fixed because I highly doubt the next time it is released (4K maybe?) that it will be perfect. They will manage to screw something else up again.

Does anyone know what master is used for this film on Amazon? If it was the old DVD master I would buy it cause I can manage to get it for this project.

The Blu (which is 1.66) has some shots opened up far more (sometimes too much) than the DVD/older HD master but others (like the opening credits you had mentioned) are oddly cropped further than the latter. I think Amazon US recently switched over to the BD master, though at one point they did have the old HD transfer up on there.

Crampedmisfit, if you buy the movie at any provider (say Amazon for instance) and if you have a Movies Anywhere account, you can link your Amazon account to MA and then link your other provider accounts such as iTunes, Vudu, Microsoft Store, etc. This way the movie you just bought can port to any provider that is linked on to that Movies Anywhere account, and not keep having to waste money and time at each individual place finding out they're all on the BD transfer. MA only works and transfers with Warner, Sony, Universal, and 20th Century Disney titles but since Rocky Horror is from the latter, you should have no issues.

[crampedmisfit1990]

The BD opening credits also need fixed since they have black bars cutting off the top and bottom for no apparent reason. No other scene is cut off like that and the HD copies on various sites like Vudu aren't cut off, I believe it is the DVD master in HD as you mentioned previously is why. I been meaning to do this project to get a real original theatrical version for a long, long time. Never got around to it. Also the Time Warp flashback at the end is supposedly blue tinted like Brad's seduction scene I believe. I never saw it like that but others have said in theaters they were blue. We really need this fixed because I highly doubt the next time it is released (4K maybe?) that it will be perfect. They will manage to screw something else up again.

Does anyone know what master is used for this film on Amazon? If it was the old DVD master I would buy it cause I can manage to get it for this project.

The Blu (which is 1.66) has some shots opened up far more (sometimes too much) than the DVD/older HD master but others (like the opening credits you had mentioned) are oddly cropped further than the latter. I think Amazon US recently switched over to the BD master, though at one point they did have the old HD transfer up on there.

Crampedmisfit, if you buy the movie at any provider (say Amazon for instance) and if you have a Movies Anywhere account, you can link your Amazon account to MA and then link your other provider accounts such as iTunes, Vudu, Microsoft Store, etc. This way the movie you just bought can port to any provider that is linked on to that Movies Anywhere account, and not keep having to waste money and time at each individual place finding out they're all on the BD transfer. MA only works and transfers with Warner, Sony, Universal, and 20th Century Disney titles but since Rocky Horror is from the latter, you should have no issues.

Interesting, I actually didn't know that info. Thanks for the explanation.

[pipefan413]

Well, the German LD just arrived and is capturing now, so I'll be sure to check the colours as well as the audio!

EDIT: Christ, this is the loudest LD I've ever seen! Levels are CRANKED.