The Killer - New Restoration

[jrodefeld]

Hello,

I'm a new member here but I've released a few fan restorations of old Hong Kong martial arts and action films over the past few years.

I've followed the "The Killer - Ultimate Edition" thread on this very forum for a while and I was disappointed to see that the project has been abandoned (for now).

I'd like to try a restoration myself and I've been seeking out the best quality versions that exist.  I've got most of the important releases, particularly the Hong Kong Rescue DVD, the French HKVideo DVD and the Hong Kong Blu-ray.

However, I've been informed that the German E-M-S DVD has the best image quality.  Then I discovered on the thread I mentioned earlier that there's a Scandinavian DVD by a company called "Scanbox" that might be even better.  The member CSchmidlapp mentioned it and he mentioned that that particular DVD was supplied by another member on these forums.

I'd REALLY appreciate it if someone could supply that DVD to me so I could try to work on my custom version.  If you could upload it to any file sharing platform, making sure to upload the untouched ISO or VOB files.  I'd be willing to trade for it (I've got some pretty rare stuff in the same genre you might be interested in), whatever would be worth it to you.

I've become fairly proficient with some pretty advanced restoration software and I really feel I could create an excellent version of this film.

I've even been experimenting with some cutting edge machine-learning upscaling techniques that I'm eager to try out on this film.

Is it possible someone could pass along this DVD to me?

I'm pretty sure this is the DVD I'm looking for:

https://www.huuto.net/kohteet/the-killer-dvd/495072005

https://kuvat.huuto.net/v1/00e0/e011edd7...6-orig.jpg


If anyone has the German E-M-S DVD, I'd be interested in that as well.  I'm only going on the comments of CSchmidlapp who suggested that the Scanbox release has a higher bitrate, or less compression artifacts.

Thanks!

[zoidberg]

Welcome to fanres jrodefeld! I hope you enjoy your time here, find what you're looking for and hopefully stick around.

There was a 35mm screening of The Killer earlier this year with a Q&A with none other than Mr Woo himself:

https://www.thewrap.com/the-killer-at-30...-a-script/

To attend such a screening I think I would have died and gone to heaven

[jrodefeld]

Welcome to fanres jrodefeld! I hope you enjoy your time here, find what you're looking for and hopefully stick around.

There was a 35mm screening of The Killer earlier this year with a Q&A with none other than Mr Woo himself:

https://www.thewrap.com/the-killer-at-30...-a-script/

To attend such a screening I think I would have died and gone to heaven

Thanks! I've been a lurker around these parts for a while, just trying to learn from what other people are doing.

I guess there are currently no prospects for a new restoration of The Killer? It's my favorite John Woo film so I'm willing to do what it takes to create a decent version while we continue to wait.

[CSchmidlapp]

I'm sure Fortune Star / Media Asia will do / order a 2K (hopefully 4K) restoration.
The recent Jackie Chan and Once upon a time in China releases have been great.

A Better Tomorrow was great also but badly converted from its 4K master to HD.
I really liked the Japanese Hard Boiled also but again needs a few tweaks.

The big issue I find with current releases from Fortune Star masters is the lack of original mono mixes.

Good luck with your project bud and I'm happy to help you when I can.

[jrodefeld]

I really appreciate CSchmidlapp sending me a copy of the Scanbox version of The Killer. I agree that it's probably the best version on DVD in terms of picture quality.

I'm currently running some tests with my favorite AviSynth scripts and restoration methods and I'll see how much quality I can eek out of this film.

I'm trying to remember whether PAL DVDs are top field first or bottom field first. Does anyone know?

I'll keep everyone updating on my progress.

If anyone would like to sign up for my email list, I'll send updates on my progress on The Killer, as well as the various other projects I'm working on.

You can sign up here:

https://hkrservices.lpages.co/hong-kong-...er-signup/

[zoidberg]

A source filter like DGindex should automatically select the correct field order. 

Glad to hear things are moving on this project!

[Stamper]

Of interesting note, The Killer CC collection was color timed by Skip Kimpball, same guy who did Avatar, Titanic 4K & is now doing The Abyss.

Also does Stranger Things, Alita, and I think did the new Terminator 2 master.

[jrodefeld]

A source filter like DGindex should automatically select the correct field order. 

Glad to hear things are moving on this project!

Thanks.  I was always using either AssumeTFF() or AssumeBFF() in my scripts but I guess they weren't necessary.

I used to be a member of ADC before it shut down and I was aware of IcePrink's custom of The Killer where he fixed the Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray transfer.  In fact, on the other thread he states that "I deinterlaced and decimated the Dragon Dynasty BD to a progressive 23.976 fps."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't this put the Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray on a par with the Hong Kong, Japanese, and South Korean Blu-rays which are all 23.976p?

Basically, I'm just wondering whether any of the Blu-rays are worth a damn.

I've got the Hong Kong Blu-ray (Kam & Ronson, I believe), and it doesn't look good to me at all.  I'm assuming that all the other Blu-rays use the same transfer?

I was looking at this Blu-ray from South Korea:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Killer-Blu-...SwEgVWTYiw

Has anyone seen this one?  Aside from the nice slipcase, I assume it's the same upscaled transfer as every other release.

So far the Scanbox DVD clearly has the best picture quality.  The colors are quite good, but assuming the Criterion version is the reference, maybe it's possible to color time it to match?  I'm thinking of using something like this:

http://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/starwa...ching-tool

[zoidberg]

The Dragon Dynasty Blu is a different master from the other Asian releases which use an upscaled SD master. The DD master was genuine HD but 25fps, rather than slow it to 23.976fps it was interlaced and frame-blended to 29.97fps/60Hz.

I think a regrain of the IVTC'd DD blu would be fairly watchable, I can't get SRestore to work for the life of me though.

[MrBrown]

Are you going to collect/have bonus features for that?
Like the French Extended DVD Version as SD Bonus.

Too bad there seem no VHS Rip of the old Taiwanese VHS, that even was longer than the French DVD.
Also there was a slightly different Version in UK with some minor differences. (At least one small Scene longer in the final shootout.)

I would like to add the scanbox DVD to my collection, anyone a hint where I can find and buy it for a reasonable price?

I think the japanese BD is the same master as the Hong Kong one, also the Korean one has the Fortune Star Logo on ist front, so I assume that it is the same master, too.