Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I've been busy with other projects, but I'm back to working on The Killer.
I'm using the Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray as the main source. The problem with it is that they did something called "field blending" to create a 1080i 29.97 source instead of doing the proper conversion to a true 1080p 23.976 transfer. As other people have documented, this absolutely ruins the presentation. It creates ghosting, jittery motion and artifacts throughout the film. It destroys the quality.
Fortunately, I've consulted with some AviSynth experts and I was able to salvage the transfer using this script:
"DirectShowSource("D:\Videos\The Killer Project\1. Images\The Killer\BDMV\STREAM\00005.m2ts")
ConvertToYV12
AssumeTFF()
QTGMC("Slow", search=5, searchparam=4, pelsearch=4, dct=5, tr2=0, chromamotion=true, chromanoise=false, SourceMatch=3, Lossless=2, Sharpness=0.1)
SRestore(frate=25)
Gradfun3()
AssumeFPS(23.976)"
Since Dragon Dynasty clearly used a 25fps PAL master, the first step in the process is to "un-field blend" the source back to the original 1080p 25fps, and finally slow it down to film speed.
All the other parameters I set for QTGMC are there because I wanted to limit the amount of denoising or other processing that it does as much as possible. If I do any denoising, I'll do that as a separate step, first I just want to fix the motion.
Gradfun3 just fixes a bit of banding that is present in the source. And, as I mentioned, AssumeFPS just slows the video down to film speed which is legal for Blu-ray.
It's clear that Dragon Dynasty used the exact same source that Scanbox (and E-M-S) did for the DVDs, except that Dragon Dynasty's Blu-ray contains a lot more detail. Since I've been able to restore the motion, I won't really need to use the Scanbox version for it's video.
However, would someone mind re-uploading the Scanbox version for me? I had it on my hard drive but must have accidentally deleted it at some point. I recall that the audio quality for the original Cantonese was excellent and probably the best of any version out there. So I hope to use that soundtrack as the default on my custom version.
Here are the next steps I intend to take to further improve the video quality of The Killer:
Dirt, dust and scratch removal. I own some very advanced restoration tools that I use to clean-up video. So I'll be using it to remove all the imperfections on the print. The software I use for this purpose is The Pixel Farm's PFClean and Digital Vision's Phoenix.
Next, I'll be restoring the original Cantonese opening titles and ending credits, using another source.
Lastly I intend to color-grade the video using the Criterion version as a reference. I'll be using Dr Dre's Color Matching Tool.
I think I can pull this off and do some justice to this John Woo classic. I'll try to keep everyone informed about my progress.
If you'd like to sign up for my Newsletter to get updates about all the projects I'm working on, and have already completed, you can use the following link:
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Please send me a PM if you have the Scanbox DVD and are willing to upload it for me. Thanks!