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Yeh i have the original on laserdisc, i never got rid of any of them.
Got about 50 movies on laserdisc.
Always liked the format, probaby due to liking vinyl over cd/mp3.
But i agree it really is so much better.
MovieChat Forums > Star Wars (1977) Discussion > [deleted]
Harmy's depecialized edition, almost identical to those laserdisc copies except 720p
shareHarmy's Despecialized Edition is obsolete; it's a re-creation of the theatrical release, not the real thing, and it's low-resolution by today's home video standards. Team Negative One's 4K77 release is by far the best one out there, and it's also the one that Harmy himself prefers. It is 4K resolution (also available in 1080p), and more importantly, it's the real thing, i.e., it's a scan of an original 35mm theatrical film print from before the 1997 Special Edition existed, a Technicolor IB print, no less, which is as good as it gets for film prints.
Most people have no idea how incredible it is that such a thing exists. I've been following this since about 2004, before the disappointing "GOUT" DVDs existed, when LaserDiscs were the best source out there for the theatrical releases. Back then, people fantasized about someone with access to an original 35mm film print having it scanned in, but it was considered a pipe dream; no one thought it would ever really happen.
35mm film prints aren't technically legal to own (because there has never been a legal path to ownership, i.e., they've always been studio property and have never legitimately been for sale to anyone), they are big and heavy (about 55 pounds for a 2-hour movie), and they are very expensive (hundreds or even thousands of dollars). On top of that, no company that transfers movie film to video will do it for a copyrighted movie without authorization, unless you're friends with the owner or something, which means you'll need your own movie film scanning equipment, which is very expensive (thousands of dollars). Also, you need a lot of hard drives (about 20 TB for a raw 4K scan of a 2-hour movie). Team Negative One has spent about $16,000 so far on these projects (they've also done 4K83 [Return of the Jedi] and they are working on 4K80 [The Empire Strikes Back]).
Beautiful thank you so much. ill compare harmy's to the 2160p Team Negative One's 4K77 and see how they stand up. but not like I saw the original in theatre or like anyone could remember the proper color corrections
Keep in mind that there are several versions of 4K77, to suit a variety of tastes. There's a digital noise reduction (DNR) version and a no-DNR version, and there are ones with different types of color grading. I have the no-DNR version because I love film grain, especially on my projector; it makes it look like I'm watching a real film being projected in a theater. Specifically, the one I have is "No DNR v1.4 (Sanjuro Color Grade, New 4K Crawl, No Sharpening)".
The DNR versions probably look more like Harmy's Despecialized Editions, because he mainly used the official Blu-rays as the basis for those, and they have quite a bit of DNR, like most official Blu-rays do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVgTz8H6LFk
the4k83's color grading looks almost identical to the 2011 blue ray release.. I don't see how it could be simply a copy of the true 35mm originals and yet look almost identical... Harmys seems the most real to the original theatrical release
"Harmys seems the most real to the original theatrical release"
How can you possibly get more "real to the original theatrical release" than scanning a theatrical film print? Those film prints are literally the original theatrical releases, i.e., they are what was projected in theaters back in 1977, 1980, and 1983.
Harmy's Despecialized Editions are re-creations, not the real thing. He started with the official Blu-ray releases, re-color graded them, and inserted footage from other sources (such as upscaled "GOUT" DVD footage, and in some cases with his newest versions, footage from Team Negative One's 35mm scans) to replace footage that had Special Edition changes.
And no, the color grading doesn't look almost identical to the official BD release. Look at 5:15 in the video you linked to for example; the 4K83 colors aren't even close to the official BD, nor to Harmy's, for that matter. They aren't the same in any scene, but it's particularly obvious in that scene.
In any case, I don't have an opinion on 4K83 because I haven't watched it yet. I watched 4K77 tonight (no-DNR version) and I loved it, especially the film grain (which you won't find in Harmy's due to the heavy DNR on the official BDs that he started with).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXifjbxZDAM
here at 11:13 for instanced talks about the crushed out blacks. which were crushed out in the 4k77 version when I did a quick scan through. so how did harmy get them in his film and clearly they not visible in the 35mm. which the specialized blue rays and all versions since are originally based on.
clearly these things were put in the shot to be visible and seen. they wouldn't of included them just to have them invisible crushed out when shown in theatre. that's what doesn't make sense to me
I understand his sources just some of the color grading looks weird as hell. almost like there is a green filter on many of the darker scenes.
If there were any crushed blacks and clipped whites in 4K77 then they were present in the 35mm film print that scanned.
The official Blu-ray started with a scan of the conformed negatives or an interpositive, both of which have less contrast than a theatrical release print, and are therefore far less likely to have any crushed blacks or clipped whites. There's some discussion on that topic here - https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Despecialized-V-4K77-Dawn-of-Justice/id/67850/page/1.
There are some shots in the 4K77 that have more detail than the official Blu-ray too, for example - https://i.imgur.com/YVNLPIt.jpg. See the lines that are visible in the 4K77 but are completely missing in the official Blu-ray?
As for me, the higher resolution (1080p or 4K vs. 720p) plus the glorious film grain of the no-DNR versions, plus the "cigarette burns" (reel change markers), plus the fact that it's the real thing, i.e., a scan of an actual 35mm theatrical film print, makes the 4K77 a no-brainer. Before I acquired the 4K77 I had the SSE (Silver Screen Edition), which was Team Negative One's first 35mm scan of Star Wars, but I like the 4K77 much better; it's sharper, more detailed, and has better looking film grain. I've never cared much for the Despecialized Edition, which I quickly ditched when the SSE came along. It's too scrubbed/clean; doesn't look at all like a film print projected in a theater. And like I said before, Harmy himself also prefers the SSE to his own Despecialized Edition, and prefers the 4K77 to the SSE:
Harmy himself said that he currently prefers this version of SW over anything (including Despecialized 2.7).
To paraphrase him, DeEdv2.7 < SSE <<< 4K77
"I understand his sources just some of the color grading looks weird as hell. almost like there is a green filter on many of the darker scenes."
Which one did you watch? There are at least three different color grade versions out there; 2 for the No-DNR versions and another one for the DNR version. share
I saw the originals in the theater starting in 1977. I rewatched the movies a few short years later and noticed that the films' colors were changing. For instance, black became a dark blue. Lucas had to restore the color in the SW film.
I mentioned that because any version copied from the original would have to be from an alteration or need to be altered. The original films had degraded too much.
Not all film prints are created equal. The 4K77 scan is from a Technicolor IB print, which is the most resistant to color degradation.
Technicolor IB printing ("IB" abbreviates "imbibition", a dye-transfer operation): a process for making color motion picture prints that allows the use of dyes which are more stable and permanent than those formed in ordinary chromogenic color printing.
George Lucas used one of his own personal Technicolor IB prints as a color reference for the restoration in 1997:
To return the palette of Star Wars to its former glory, a reference print was required, and fortunately George Lucas owned one of two dye-transfer Technicolor prints produced at the Henderson laboratory in London, and which constituted the final Technicolor work carried out before the company was sold to China. Impervious to fading, the print retained its lustrous image after nearly two decades and Lucas commented, “That’s the Star Wars I made.”share
How will they distribute it, torrent? All I found was a UHD clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTPU8rY0ZF8
Official site: https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k77/
You can probably find them as torrents, but they may be tampered with (such as re-encoded to a smaller file size or resolution, missing extras that are normally included, etc).
The "official" way to get them is to join Team Negative One's forum (there's a link to it at the bottom of the page that you linked to) and follow the download instructions there (you won't be able to see the download instructions unless you're a member of the forum). That will ensure you're getting downloads that haven't been messed with, and you'll be able to see the full selection of downloads as well.
I wish they would drop the"Episode 4" BS and just call the movie by its name. "Star Wars."
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Me too, I still refer to it as Star Wars.
Yup, it will always be "Star Wars" to me. Despite the fact that the "Episode IV A NEW HOPE" was added in 1981 the mainstream media didn't start referring to it as A New Hope until 1996, just a year prior to those horrendous 'Special Editions' coming out.
shareI have the 1984 version on VHS, its still fun to watch.
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