maksnew was nice enough to send me the new version of TL.
In going through I came away liking the new colors but noticed it has a LOT of problems. From what I'm being told it is probably not from Disney+ but comes from Hulu. That does make a difference as it contributes to making a file that is less the idea.
Here are the problems I spotted:
1. The new master or at least this file has a ton of DNR erasing not only grain but details. I'm hopefully that is just this file being DNR'd to make streaming easier and future files will be better.
2. Besides the DNR, the picture is strangely "fuzzy". Kind of like a blur filter added to the transfer. Can't figure that one out.
3. The black levels are way off for the entire file. Sometimes all three channels, sometimes just the blue and green. between the DNR, fuzziness, and elevated black levels, it makes watching the film look like watching it through a cataract.
4. The picture is often blown-out in the brightest parts.
5. The bit-rate is super low. The lack of bits causes a lot of compression artifacts.
So this is a lot worse then the existing (read: old master) Web-DL(s) and I will still be using those for future projects. They just look better regardless of the colors. More details, more grain, etc.
Having said that, I still like to fix this transfer if I can. So I set about seeing what I could do. I used a host of filters and scalers to dig out details from the transfer. I was largely able to get rid of fuzziness of the picture. I was also able to get some grain back but it still had to supplemented. I also adjusted the black level down and added contrast to make the movie more "film-like" while trying to keep the original colors with some slight tweaking. I lowered the highlights to make the picture feel less blown-out.
So this is looking somewhat better then it did before but not perfect. The one thing I can't do is un-DNR the picture. Details lost are details lost and no tool can get those original details back. With that in mind, I'm hoping to release this as a project this upcoming week as the video is done and waiting to be rendered. Although I have a few audio options, I'm only going to include the original Eac3 and maybe the C-DTS. Here are some before and after pics
Orig/Processed
So until a better file appears this should be the best way to view the "new" TL master.
Big thanks to X5 also for lots of info.