[Idea] The Blair Witch Project (1999) - VHSRIP

[camskittles18]

Being a film that was shot mainly on SD camcorder and 16MM film, there's something really authentic and charming about watching THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT on VHS. After revisiting it multiple times over the years on streaming services, DVD and Blu-ray it hasn't been the same experience. Many streaming services have the incorrect aspect ratio, often cropping the video and severely degrading the experience. DVD and Blu-ray also look bad, taking away the rounded corners and fuzzy feeling of the VHS. On top of that, the Blu often looks awful with the color grading looking WAY off and often feels nauseating with all of the artifacting due to it being an upscale of the DVD. If someone is able to get a good scan of the VHS with the rounded corners and sync & add one of the audio tracks from the DVD or Blu (DTS-HD 2.0 track), this could be a really cool project and can create the most authentic and faithful presentation of this horror gem.

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Interesting. Was the film ever released on laserdisc?

[camskittles18]

Interesting. Was the film ever released on laserdisc?

It seems like it was! It would be interesting to see how the video quality compares to the VHS, and if it also retains the rounded edges around the frame. At the very least, the LD might have PCM audio.

[NeonBible]

Interesting! Never knew about this.

I did just find this blog post which talks about the DVD having the rounded corners too! Perhaps only particular releases retained it. That would be much better than VHS - http://www.ghoulishbasement.com/2010/09/...-dvds.html

Also the LD does have PCM - https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/20582/LD1...roject-The

[zoidberg]

According to the link NeonBible posted, both the VHS and blu are cropped. It seems only the DVD/LD have the windowbox/aperture present.

The LD was a late release near the end of the format's life, so it usually fetches a high price, approx. $50 depending on condition.

A project was discussed elsewhere on this forum, an idea at the time was to overlay the blu into the centre of the DVD frame thereby preserving the windowboxed presentation.

[allldu]

Yes, Artisan DVD has rounded corners. Much better than VHS anyway.

[camskittles18]

Interesting! Never knew about this.

I did just find this blog post which talks about the DVD having the rounded corners too! Perhaps only particular releases retained it. That would be much better than VHS - http://www.ghoulishbasement.com/2010/09/...-dvds.html

Also the LD does have PCM - https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/20582/LD1...roject-The

Thanks for that info! Unfortunately, one of the big problems with the Blu and even the DVD is that that footage was basically upscaled. Not only did this ruin the colors on the DVD and Blu, but also introduced a lot of annoying problems like aliasing, banding, etc. So if possible, it sounds like the VHS would be a lot more faithful in terms of video quality & especially color grading. About a year ago, I watched the VHS, DVD and Blu on a projector and I honestly thought the VHS really made the experience a lot more immersive.

[zoidberg]

If you have the VHS can you capture it? SD capture devices are very inexpensive these days.
Anyway situations like this are a good reason not to ditch that VHS/LD player or that CRT. Certain releases are just not 'right' any other way. I was gifted a 21" CRT a month or so ago with true NTSC input and honestly LDs are a revelation

[PDB]

If you have the VHS can you capture it? SD capture devices are very inexpensive these days.
Anyway situations like this are a good reason not to ditch that VHS/LD player or that CRT. Certain releases are just not 'right' any other way. I was gifted a 21" CRT a month or so ago with true NTSC input and honestly LDs are a revelation

Nice. Congrats on the CRT.

[Vloddyr]

Nice. I love this movie, I am equally interested in a good capture from VHS or Laserdisc.