Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[Jeff Kleist]

Geez Jeff, I don’t think I could have been any more clear or precise than this back in January.….

A TRADITIONAL Penton mystery Decoder ring material More information in that form.

Ive read the TPM had a digital Yoda to replace the godawful puppet.

Other than that, are the any realistic changes expected?

Nothing major so far as I know. The puppet was the big thing

It's a shame too, because that's Frank Oz's last performance with a muppet

Question though - what type of work did they do for the masters regarding the 2003 DVD and how will this 'new' work be different for the Blu-ray? Are they actually going back to the original negative, and/or is it more digital type work?

They will likely go back to the negative and then do digital work from there. The 2003 DVDs were worked on for a DVD level of detail. Recently I got
the UK Transformers: The movie disc, and it's full of little scratches because they only restored for DVD. I know that they sent those 2003 masters that had been worked on by Lowry to someone else to upgrade . The same thing was done with Star Trek (though I hope they took the hint and upgraded those as well, but have been unable to confirm)

[HeavyHitter]

Thanks, Jeff. One other question regarding Indy - will Spielberg or Lucas sign off on the BDs when they are complete? I'm sure these will turn out great, but what I liked with Close Encounters, for example, is it looked like film - grain well intact, etc. and nothing mucked with. Just hoping for the same with Indy.

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes they'll have to approve them before they go out

[Braktastic]

Jeff,

I was just made aware of another potential problem with a Paramount catalog title. This time it is Friday the 13th. Please see the below link for a more detailed explanation of the problem, but the gist of it is that the most recent DVD/BD transfer has been cropped 10-11% compared to the original DVD transfer.

http://www.horrordvds.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=734

http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/a-...3blu_compl.jpg

I can't say with certainty this cropping wasn't done with Sean S. Cunningham's approval, but I can say with certainty that I am unnerved enough by what's been going on with Paramount catalog titles of late (Event Horizon, The Truman Show) to halt all future Blu-ray Disc pre-orders. I just don't have confidence that this format's releases are always going to be worth purchasing because of some studio's inconsistent commitment.

[Indyjones]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

A TRADITIONAL Penton mystery Decoder ring material More information in that form.



Nothing major so far as I know. The puppet was the big thing

It's a shame too, because that's Frank Oz's last performance with a muppet



They will likely go back to the negative and then do digital work from there. The 2003 DVDs were worked on for a DVD level of detail. Recently I got
the UK Transformers: The movie disc, and it's full of little scratches because they only restored for DVD. I know that they sent those 2003 masters that had been worked on by Lowry to someone else to upgrade . The same thing was done with Star Trek (though I hope they took the hint and upgraded those as well, but have been unable to confirm)

First time poster, so please be gentle everyone, as this may be kind of a dumb question. I have a question regarding the audio on Indy 1-3.

Jeff, Bill or anyone else.... does anyone know what kind of work was/will be done on the audio for the 2003 Indy dvd's and for the upcoming BD's?

The soundtracks for the SW:OT dvd's underwent quite abit of work. If I remember correctly, Skywalker Sound went back and digitized/cleaned up all of the sound elements for all three films and then struck up brand new mixes from scratch for ANH, ESB and ROTJ, with Tom Myers handling the mixes. Did Skywalker do the same thing to the 2003/current Indy 1-3 dvd releases, or, were they just remastered? If they were just remastered, any word/rumors of brand new mixes being created for the Indy films as well?

When word came of the SW and Indy dvd's, it was reported that both franchises were being restored by Lowry and that the SW films were getting brand new sound mixes. I don't recall hearing anything about the Indy films on the audio side, other than them being in 5.1. Not that the current dvd mixes for Indy are bad, because they aren't, I just always wondered what kind of work went into the audio on Indy since I haven't really seen it talked about, on the dvd's or anywhere else.

[FourToedStatue]

About Friday The 13th. Part 1 was released in the states. 2and 3 in Europe. Any chance of seeing 2 and 3 in the states. Or 4 - 8 anywhere?

[Jeff Kleist]

Paul, I'll pass it on on the framing,

Jack, I've asked about that already, and haven't gotten an official response

I'll pass along the indy sound question as well

[micks_address]

Hi Jeff,

Bit dissapointed to see warner releasing Nights in Rodanthe with lossy audio... its a real shame as i thought Warner had gotten the message that lossy audio is pretty poor at this stage.. any thoughts or idea on what plans are going forward? also there seems to be some debate on the forum around bd25/50 disc usage.. i dont care what size the disc is if they include the best quality encode and audio they can.. are Warner choosing bd25's and sacrifcing losseless audio in the process or is it a case that the bd25 would have sufficed with a lossless track but they cant be bothered?

whats involved in releasing a title with lossless audio - is there extra cost to the studio above disk space usuage?

cheers,
Mick

p.s could the bits web site start a campaign for lossless audio from warner - in the same way you guys promoted hard for anamorphic releases on dvd back in the day?

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Paul, I'll pass it on on the framing,

As always, Jeff, thanks a lot!

[patrick99]

Jeff, any thoughts on this?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...71&postcount=1

[GabrielB]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The Indiana Jones Trilogy ALMOST streeted last year with Indy 4, but at the last minute was nixed because the masters simply weren't up to snuff. It was literally killed at the final go/no go point. Now work was being done on these as early as June 2008, so all signs pointed to them coming. I would have felt really bad if we'd said something as dear to everyone's hearts as Indy was on the way and then it didn't happen. Whatever we get this fall is going to be much better than those discs would have been, and that's great news for everyone

What is striking me here is that work done by a highly respectable company using probably the best tools and scanners and such in 2003 isn't up to snuff by today's standard. Of course they were done for and with the DVD format in mind but I'd have thought they would do additional work on these titles from the scanned elements from 2002-2003.

Yes 6 years is a long run. But man...

What this is telling me is that most stuff that was done before like what, 2005(??) must now be redone?? This means a lot of work and a lot of money. And with the health of the economy right now, I wonder about certain catalog titles that aren't considered "high profile".

We know the bar has been set quite high with the Blu-Ray format but I wonder if the quality that is now expected was not entirely anticipated by the studios and other distributors. We're talking about remastering a lot of titles. Is this becoming a problem? A lot of titles were remastered in the last few years, it makes me think of how much of those titles will need to be remastered/restored before we see them released on BD, if ever. I think about the cost involved and if the studios and international companies and distributors are committed to invest in this...

Any comments on this?

---
* edit: yes I saw Penton's words here which I find enlightening for those interested
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...0&postcount=21

But I find all his stuff fascinating so I was hoping for some more comments

[Braktastic]

Jeff,

It looks like the US BD may have framing similar to the previous R2 DVD, so it could be a case where the European cut has tighter framing.

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/vergleic...ergleichID=287

I would still be nice to get a definitive answer from Paramount, but it looks like this could be the source of the framing differences.

[Jeff Kleist]

What is striking me here is that work done by a highly respectable company using probably the best tools and scanners and such in 2003 isn't up to snuff by today's standard. Of course they were done for and with the DVD format in mind but I'd have thought they would do additional work on these titles from the scanned elements from 2002-2003.

Restoration work was done only to "what you can see at DVD resolution" for the Indy DVDs. There was additional work done by another house afterwards, but the results weren't good enough in Spielberg's book.

We know the bar has been set quite high with the Blu-Ray format but I wonder if the quality that is now expected was not entirely anticipated by the studios and other distributors

This is essentially correct. There were many jobs done, like by WB Classics that were done and done right the first time with HD specifically in mind. I don't expect many of those will need much work at all. It's the ones that were only restored to DVD levels that really get it.

Everyone has been going back and re-evaluating their masters. Anyone notice the huge jump in Paramount quality of catalog stuff shortly after their return to Blu? That's why, because they got the message. (Some discs like Face/Off and Jack Ryan were completed pre format switch)

Metrodome's UK Transformers: The Movie disc is my poster child for this. It's riddled with minute scratches and defects that absolutely would never show up on DVD. I love the disc to death, but its still only been given a DVD scrub

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Metrodome's UK Transformers: The Movie disc is my poster child for this. It's riddled with minute scratches and defects that absolutely would never show up on DVD. I love the disc to death, but its still only been given a DVD scrub

I'm personally glad it's like that, I wouldn't want scratch removal artifacts and there's no way they could afford to correct it all by hand.

Some of Bandai Visual's discs have similar flaws, including dirt between cels, etc. (especially visible on Royal Space Force). Unless they can afford a multi-million dollar frame-by-frame restoration, I'd rather they leave animation titles alone. I'd hate to start seeing heavy-handed use of cheap automated filters, etc. in anime Blu-rays.

[MerrickG]

Jeff,

How big of a statement do you feel it makes to the state of bluray when we already have a title that has broken the 2 million mark in the USA?

How long did it take for DVD to have its 2 million seller? Im assuming it was the Matrix.... Am I wrong?

Do you expect Transformers 2 to post bigger numbers? I think it has a chance if bluray players continue to sell.

[Jeff Kleist]

I don't remember what was 2 million to be honest. That first million is always the hardest

Transformers 2 will post bigger numbers simply because it's another year of format growth. It'll be 3-5 years of growth before such things reliably stabilize.

Some of Bandai Visual's discs have similar flaws, including dirt between cels, etc. (especially visible on Royal Space Force). Unless they can afford a multi-million dollar frame-by-frame restoration, I'd rather they leave animation titles alone. I'd hate to start seeing heavy-handed use of cheap automated filters, etc. in anime Blu-rays.

Despite what some screenshot scientists on some other sites are howling about, Akira is their most expensive restoration to date, and it uses the standard A/B method of repairing scratches. (Frames 2-5 have scratches, 6 does not, use the information from 6 to repair 2-5)

As Penton and others have noted, some noise reduction is used in most titles. Overuse will result in degredation of fine detail. None of this exists in Akira. It's really sad that the first thing some people do is throw it in and look for flaws rather than enjoying the movie

I'm as anti-DNR as they come when it's heavy handed use like New Line would do. I've seen original cels from the film, I've seen original backgrounds, and what I see looks like what I saw in front of me. The best people at Sony and Dolby worked to balance the load and encode that title. If a few instances of blocking in a few frames, or perceived excessive DNR (which is likely the result of focus issues, or stylistic choices. These are common in anime) are going to ruin their good time, I don't think I can help them. Screenshots are great tools for exposing filtering in excess, not so much for what they're harping on. If they had macroblocks dancing, then certainly they've have something to complain about. As it is, it just makes me want to bang my head into a wall.

[wolfyncsu7]

Jeff,

Speaking of 'Transformers: The Movie'.... any word on a US Release? I'm hoping it would be cleaned up some from the UK Release.

[Jeff Kleist]

Nothing yet, but I would think Sony would really be remiss missing yet another opportunity. Their ex-Sony Wonder properties are a mess though.

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by merrick97

How long did it take for DVD to have its 2 million seller? Im assuming it was the Matrix.... Am I wrong?

I would also say it was The Matrix. Not too long after that, I believe both The Sixth Sense and Gladiator cruised past 2 million each in 2000.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Despite what some screenshot scientists on some other sites are howling about, Akira is their most expensive restoration to date, and it uses the standard A/B method of repairing scratches. (Frames 2-5 have scratches, 6 does not, use the information from 6 to repair 2-5)

As Penton and others have noted, some noise reduction is used in most titles. Overuse will result in degredation of fine detail. None of this exists in Akira. It's really sad that the first thing some people do is throw it in and look for flaws rather than enjoying the movie

I'm as anti-DNR as they come when it's heavy handed use like New Line would do. I've seen original cels from the film, I've seen original backgrounds, and what I see looks like what I saw in front of me. The best people at Sony and Dolby worked to balance the load and encode that title. If a few instances of blocking in a few frames, or perceived excessive DNR (which is likely the result of focus issues, or stylistic choices. These are common in anime) are going to ruin their good time, I don't think I can help them.....

And it’s just not with anime. For instance, if you examine the first sequence of the feature film, Shawshank Redemption with Tim Robbins in the car, an astute viewer will notice that Tim Robbins appears slightly blurry.

Well, that aint noise reduction, that’s known as not being in perfect focus during the principal photography but, I’m sure if a *screenshot scientist* posted a screenshot of that particular image, it would get bandied about *science* forums as being *dnr-ed*.

If one looks hard enough, and doesn’t concentrate on the storytelling itself, you can find defects in just about all motion pictures. Honestly, the mindset of some of these people (who purport to be enthusiasts ) reminds me of some real world individuals who marry ‘trophy wives’.