[In progress] The Avengers: Series 5 (1967) - Remastered

[TheLoon]

Hi folks, a new project for you all - a remastered version of the classic British spy-fi show The Avengers, Series 5 (probably the most popular season with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel) with numerous fixes to StudioCanal's rather disastrous Blu-ray transfer from 2010. The will be an ongoing release over the next few years as I find the time to work on it - the first two episodes are available now (PM for link)!




Improvements are:

1. Resynced video to the much clearer soundtrack from the 2001 UK DVD release by Contender. The Blu-ray audio was heavily NR'd.

2. Shot-by-shot colour correction using the Contender DVD image as a reference. The Blu-ray's grading was among the poorest I've seen for a major TV series - very flat, faded, red/pink (see the comparison video above).

3. Fixed the framing on several shots which were opened up too much on the Blu-ray revealing the corners of the frame and hairs on the gate that were not visible in the original broadcast.

4. Restored film grain, which was scrubbed from the Blu-ray. Helpfully, the first and last frame of most shots on the Blu-ray showed the original grain (it's the way these automated DNR tools worked at the time) and so I was able to judge the exact level required.

5. Removed motion-blur from the opening and closing credits. Footage for the credits is supplied from the 2019 Network Blu-ray "The Cybernauts Trilogy", which had superior detail to the StudioCanal transfer, but also some temporal NR errors which I've patched out.





Episode 1 Tech Details:

FILE NAME:  The Avengers (1967) - S05E01 The Fear Merchants.m2ts
FILE SIZE:  9.31GB
DURATION:  00:51:28
VIDEO:  1920x1080p - 23.976FPS - MPEG-4 AVC - 1.33:1 AR
AUDIO:  2.0 Mono LPCM - English - 48KHz - 16 Bit


Sources:

Video
The Avengers: Series 5 (Blu-ray - UK - 2015 - Cat: OPTBD1751)
The Avengers: The Cybernauts Trilogy (Blu-ray - UK - 2019 - Cat: 7958198)

Audio
The Avengers: The Definitive Dossier - File One (DVD - UK - 2001 - Cat: KLT21001A)


Hope you all enjoy

[Stamper]

That's awesome. I'll be happy to provide original french audio (from the original DVDs) and subtitles (from the SC BR) if you want.
Let me know.

[riptode]

The preview is lovely. I was motivated to join this group because I saw your work. I am registered, but I am blocked from sending a PM to you to request a link. Perhaps you can send one to me, where I can see more of your excellent work?
Thanks!

[TheLoon]

The preview is lovely. I was motivated to join this group because I saw your work. I am registered, but I am blocked from sending a PM to you to request a link. Perhaps you can send one to me, where I can see more of your excellent work?
Thanks!

Hi, thanks! Now that you’ve made a post on the forum, you should be free to PM now.

[v-ger06]

Hi,
Would love to take a look a this !
Thanks !

[dolbyd1972@gmail.com]

Your restoration work for this episode alone looks fantastic, the colours how I remember them from the Channel 4 broadcasts. If only major studios would use previous DVD’s as reference points. On the latest Young Ones blu ray the day for night graveyard 16mm film stock has been auto-brightened it seems to completely miss the point. An example of going back to a previous release for reference.
Could you tell me where I can find the full programmes you have worked on. PM doesn’t work for me either. Thanks

[Stamper]

Absolutely right, though the Lumiere videos had their shares of day for night shots being color timed for day.
Sadly, as most of us got rid of our old VHS, seldom any trace remains of what scene was day for night in The Avengers.

[TheLoon]

Your restoration work for this episode alone looks fantastic, the colours how I remember them from the Channel 4 broadcasts. If only major studios would use previous DVD’s as reference points. On the latest Young Ones blu ray the day for night graveyard 16mm film stock has been auto-brightened it seems to completely miss the point. An example of going back to a previous release for reference.
Could you tell me where I can find the full programmes you have worked on. PM doesn’t work for me either. Thanks

Many thanks! Your PMs should work now that you’ve posted on the forum, so please do send me a message.

Apologies for the lack of subsequent episodes, by the way - this has been a crazy work year for me. Hoping to get back to this project soon in ‘24.

[TheLoon]

Next episode, Escape in Time, available now! PM if interested