Star Wars (1977) original Blu ray. Crappier than ever.

Depends what you’re looking for, Harmy is up to 2.7 at this point.
The Silver Screen version uses a consistent source for the whole movie and thus has a uniform look accurate to what the original presentation would have been like, but Harmy’s has less grain and more detail and contrast for the majority of the movie given it uses the BD (which was derived from the camera negative as opposed to a theatrical print) as the main source.
Both are perfectly good but I think Harmy himself recommends the Silver Screen version for the first movie for now, while he works updating his trilogy to use 35mm scans in place of DVD, Laserdisc, etc. sources. There’s been a delay as he’s busy with his job and was actually half-expecting them to announce an official version for the 40th anniversary at Star Wars Celebration this year, but alas it did not come to pass.

 

I have Silver Screen v1.6 version and I like how it looks and sounds. It looks very grainy and some scenes are a bit low on detail, bit it's consistent for most of the film, color grading is good IMO and sounds well decoded on Dolby ProLogic II.

 

Not the transfer -- the negative scans. I think the scans are clipped. I couldn't get enough detail in the highlights -- and believe me, I tried. (I was also unhappy that they weren't scanned on a pin-registered scanner, which is how everything is done nowadays.)

All three movies have degrees of diffusion during principal photography, so it's not a processing problem. They just had softFX filters, fog filters, frost filters, ProMist filters, all kinds of stuff. And in truth, those 1970s Panavision anamorphic lenses were not sharp. The Panavision Primos eventually got a lot sharper, but that was years later. I don't think there's a lot of processing at all per se, and there were no artifacts that I ever saw (and I did watch the Blu-rays pretty carefully). The Lowry Digital team in Burbank that worked on the grain reduction, scratch removal, dirt removal, and sharpening all sweated blood over this release. I think it took more than 6 months and 200 people to do all this work, at a cost I can only imagine. I think the color-correction bill alone was pretty hefty.

I think a lot of people who criticize the Star Wars Blu-rays were not in a position to see the before-and-after improvements done during the transfer. If you saw that, you'd be blown away by how bad it initially was to how good it wound up. As Mr. Lucas reminded me, "fans love to complain."

 

Well it's a momentous day for Star Wars fans. The 4K77 project is finally complete and available via newsgroups! Better to read the link than have me try to explain what this is

I've been watching it over the past 48 hours, and it's quite a treat. Overall, I give it 98/100. My only quibble: the color grading was done "by reel" as opposed to scene-by-scene. As a result there a few (just a few minutes total) that have some desaturated color as found on the source Technicolor prints.

I A/B'd it to the SSE v1.6, and it's an improvement in detail, and noise/grain. Some people may prefer the SSE due to the color grading, but for 98% of the 4K77, it's a more natural experience to me.

trailer here: https: //vimeo.com/242294955/ 88656afe6f

^^remove the spaces when you copy paste into a new window

 

I don't think it's needless or pointless complaining; both the 2004 and 2011 disc releases (DVD on the former, Blu-Ray on the latter) were clearly not what they should have been, quality-wise. But here's a more detailed analysis of that whole debacle;

Save Star Wars

I still hold out hope for nicely remastered 2K transfers of the OT theatrical versions; unaltered, properly color-timed, and in anamorphic presentation, but it may be some time before such are given an official release, alas...

 

You don't need to hold out hope, certainly you saw my post immediately before yours. This is really it - the closest we'll get to what was shown in cinemas in May 1977. No "effects" added, no "A New Hope" crawl, no wonky colors. Watch the Vimeo trailer. It's better than just an anamorphic DVD. It's 4K, with lossless DTS versions of the original '77 stereo mix, original '77 mono mix, and the original 6-track surround. Also the encode is H.265 (most state of the art) with bit rates regularly above 80Mbps. In other words, encoded better than most newly-released UHD titles.

What more could anyone ask for??

 

Does one need to upgrade to a 4K player and television to watch this? If so, it’s a no go for me.

 

The fan versions of the original theatrical cuts are as good as fan versions can get. The original trilogy should get a professional 4K transfer, but Disney is being retarded about the matter:

I remember there was some hope when it was revealed that Disney has a 4K transfer of A New Hope, but then it was clarified that it's the Special Edition. What a waste of a 4K transfer.

 

No, there is a 1080p downconvert version available. Not sure if it made it to the alt.binaries.starwars news group, yet. But if not now, surely in a day or two.

 

Fully restored 4K transfers of the OT (Only Trilogy!)'s theatrical versions, struck from the original camera negatives, with the optical effect artifacts (like garbage mattes, etc) cleaned up but everything else left intact, and the whole project overseen by Robert A. Harris... that would certainly be nice !!!

Short of that, I would settle for brand new 2K transfers of the OT theatrical versions struck from original sources (like the non-fade Technicolor dye-transfer prints)... and I know for a fact that Lucasfilm could do that tomorrow at a fraction of the cost of a full camera negative restoration and 4K transfer.

The trouble with either actually happening is that the will to do so isn't there with Kathleen Kennedy...

 

Thanks! I’ll be checking it out.

 

Pretty sure that will never happen, and I think you know it So, we’re fortunate enough to have the next best thing: frame by frame 4K restoration of a Technicolor 35mm print (mistakes and optical effects included at no extra charge!).

Star Wars Project 4k77 Sources | The Star Wars Trilogy

 

My guess? Disney’s streaming service in 2019. It will be the one-stop shop for everything Disney, Star Wars and Marvel. It’s already been confirmed that all Star Wars content will stream exclusively on Disney’s streaming service. Why not sweeten the deal by dropping the theatrical versions of the films on their streaming service before releasing them on disc?

 

Yeah, I edited my post after you replied... I think if they're (potentially) going to go to the trouble of remastering and re-releasing the theatrical versions, they should at the very least clean up the unintended optical effect artifacts but leave everything else intact. They cleaned up the optical effect artifacts on Superman: The Movie when it's theatrical version got a brand new HD master, and it looks wonderful... the same could easily be done for the OT theatrical versions.

That would certainly be nice, but honestly, I doubt it; Kathleen Kennedy has stated publicly she wouldn't dream of tampering with Lucas' vision of those films... which means they stay as they are for the foreseeable future, alas...

 

I just checked MySpleen. The 1080p version is up.

 

They'll do it in 4K -- there's no reason not to.

A lot hinges on the Fox -> Disney deal, and how soon that sale goes through. But since Comcast has made a rival bid for Fox a few weeks ago, the Disney thing is not a done deal.

Comcast May Derail Disney and Fox Deal With New All-Cash Offer

 

BTW, do we know what's the best source to be used for an eventual restoration of the original 1977 Star Wars? I read several reports that the original film (negative) no longer exist. (Forgive my ignorance if this was already discussed and cleared up).

 

The OCN still exists; it's just has all the trims and additions Lucas made for the Special Edition.

 

Thanks. So if they decide to present the original theatrical cut as seen in 1977, they have to remove and replace the 1997 additions? Sounds a bit messy to me...

 

Which is why it'll never happen. We're fortunate to get an "archival restoration" from passionate/dedicated fans using quality prints/references.

 

Call me crazy as well for I'm on the crazy train.

 

any other places to get this project 4k77 release other than newsgroups? I have tried the usual places and have found nothing so far.

 

To use your analogy, I think the larger point of this thread is that the artist displayed the painting, then took it back to his studio for a "restoration," then put it back on display. A very vocal portion of the viewing public thinks the restoration looks bad and wants it returned to its original form. In that respect, this is no different than any other "bad mastering" thread here.

 

Again, in this (very rare) case, the artist wrote, directed, produced, created, and owned most of the rights to the property. Once you have all that, you can change it any way you want, and that's just the way it is. It doesn't belong to the public and you don't get to vote. You are certainly within your rights to complain and/or not to buy it. You can hold protests and complain on the net and so on, but it won't change the fact that you don't own it and you have no say.

As I think I said several years ago, during a lull in the 2004 video remastering sessions at ILM, I asked Lucas about the bad reviews on Episode 1 and Episode 2, and he kind of shook his head and said, "I gave up years ago trying to please the public. There's a segment of the fans out there who only want to complain and tear down what I do. Nowadays, I just make the movies for myself and do the very best I can to tell those stories. With luck, the public will like them, but I can't predict what they're going to like or not like." So he feels he's earned the right to do what he wants, without interference from anybody.

Even when the "original" original films are re-released by Disney -- as they inevitably will someday -- there will be people out there who will insist, "this is not the way the films looked in the theater," or "this doesn't look the way I remember it," or "this is not the way an original Technicolor IB print looks." The truth is that these judgements are very subjective and specious. If I live to next year, I'll have been in the video mastering business for 40 years. I can't precisely remember what I did last week in terms of color or level, let alone 10 years ago or 20 years ago. I have a hard time give any credence to people who believe they and only they know how any specific movie should look. It all boils down to just a subjective opinion, and the best we can do is leave that up to the filmmakers who created the work in the first place. My longtime joke in the mastering business is: "I never argue with people who have more Oscars than me."

 

As already stated, the original camera negatives for the OT do exist, but were altered in 1996 to conform to the Special Edition versions (which I have no problem with in principle, even though they went too far in the revisions, and ILM's Denis Muren even stated as such recently)... they could theoretically be physically re-cut back to their original iterations, but that's not going to happen any time soon. What is likely to happen should Disney/Lucasfilm finally pull the trigger on a re-release of the theatrical versions is that both those negatives and the so-called 'trims' of the negatives that were removed and replaced with Special Edition footage would be scanned and a new digital negative created.... I believe that's how it would be done, correct me if I'm wrong here, Marc.

Short of that, a brand new print of each OT film could be created from secondary sources like the (non-fade) Technicolor dye-transfer, separation master, or interpositive prints; any/all of which would more than suffice if in great condition, and would provide a strong source for a new master copy... maybe not all of them could be mastered to 4K quality (although I could be wrong on that) but certainly a very strong, vibrant 2K image if scanned and remastered properly... and frankly; all things being equal, an exceptional 2K transfer - of which I've seen many - is virtually indistinguishable to an untrained eye from the average 4K transfer on most televisions at home.

Will any of that happen? Eventually... but who knows when?