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The Star Wars Trilogy has been remastered in 4K (not sure if Theatrical Edition)

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A

Anth0ny

Member
RelianceMediaWorks, the company that now owns Lowry, claims to have done a 4K restoration of Star Wars.

This is their website. Projects -> Restoration. And there it is: Star Wars Trilogy!

There's also a couple of clips in this video here.

Unfortunately, there is no further information at this time. No official announcement of an updated blu ray yet, nor any clear evidence that this is the special editions of the films, or the original, unaltered trilogy.

However, the detectives at originaltrilogy.com are already on the case, and found this resume of a post production staffer:
"Restoration, Mapping, Dirt Picking : Star Wars 4K Blu-Ray Release"
Click to expand...

4K Blu-Ray release? huh.

Also, some comparison shots:

kZ6MBWy.jpg

W5iXRPx.jpg


top: new 4k restoration
middle: 2006 dvd
bottom: 2011 bluray


If only we had someone on NeoGAF that was close to the Star Wars franchise...
 
S

strafer

member
I doubt it's the originals...Lucas wants to milk this franchise some more.

Originals will be released in 8k
 
Z

zma1013

Member
My perfect vision for a Star Wars re-release are the originals with just some minor special effect fixes and nothing added or changed in anyway. Just fix stuff like the transparent speeder cockpits during the Hoth scenes and whatnot.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
There's also True Lies footage in the video, and it looks immaculate.

That right there might be thread worthy. How has there not been a True Lies blu ray?
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
Wait, does it run on regular blu-ray player or do we need new ones for 4K? I know 4K needs like a couple of terabytes for the movies, but does regular blu-ray players support bigger discs?
 
B

Bodacious

Banned
When something better than Harmy's Despecialized versions come along, wake me. I'd love to have even a 1080p set, but only if its the original.

.
 
shira

shira

Member
The 4K light sabers and the vader armor look really bad with that much definition, I'd prefer 1080p
 
T

Tertullian

Member
Can Disney please just strike a deal with Fox and then officially buy the Harmy's Despecialized Editions?

I bet they'll release a remastered version of original movies eventually, but I just know they'll find some way to royally screw it up. There will be color issues/crushed blacks/motion blurring/something to ruin it.
 
1

123rl

Member
Cow Mengde said:
Wait, does it run on regular blu-ray player or do we need new ones for 4K? I know 4K needs like a couple of terabytes for the movies, but does regular blu-ray players support bigger discs?
Click to expand...

Unless it's on Netflix and you have a 4K TV, it won't be in actual, native 4K resolution. If there's a Bluray release it will still be 1080p - downscaled from 4K. Your TV will then upscale it back to 4K. It will most likely look better than 1080p but it is NOT true 4K. Any salesmen who tells you otherwise is full of shit and deserves a kick in the balls
 
I

infinityBCRT

Member
Tertullian said:
Can Disney please just strike a deal with Fox and then officially buy the Harmy's Despecialized Editions?

I bet they'll release a remastered version of original movies eventually, but I just know they'll find some way to royally screw it up. There will be color issues/crushed blacks/motion blurring/something to ruin it.
Click to expand...
I'm sure Harmy will admit that his versions are not the best quality possible. Far from it. They aren't even in 1080p. If anything, they might want to hire him to help restore the original movies as there are few people that are more knowledgeable than him about all the different versions of the movie.
 
G

Guy.brush

Member
Seems a bit suspect. From all we know there is only a 1998 x 1080p (essentially 2K) master of the Special Edition and those were only mastered in that resolution anyway.
So in order to get to 4K someone would need to do a full rescan of all three films prints prior to Special Edition shenanigans (if good enough negatives even still exist) and then would need to redo all the Special Edition compositing.

It would be easier to just upscale it which they probably have done (hope they did go all the way, but would not bet on it)

Or this is indeed referring to the original NON-SPECIAL EDITION.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
Cow Mengde said:
Wait, does it run on regular blu-ray player or do we need new ones for 4K? I know 4K needs like a couple of terabytes for the movies, but does regular blu-ray players support bigger discs?
Click to expand...

It might be like one of these:

twGsepi.jpg
Click to expand...

Though I think that's a Sony gimmick to sell people on their 4K TVs.

Nonetheless, I hear that Spidey 2 "4K Blu Ray" looks better than the standard blu ray. Perhaps Star Wars will get similar treatment. A better looking blu ray, even though blu rays have already been released.
 
T

Tertullian

Member
infinityBCRT said:
I'm sure Harmy will admit that his versions are not the best quality possible. Far from it. They aren't even in 1080p. If anything, they might want to hire him to help restore the original movies as there are few people that are more knowledgeable than him about all the different versions of the movie.
Click to expand...

Do good enough negatives/other sources even exist to produce a 1080p version without introducing a whole host of other problems? If I understand correctly, Harmy had to go with 720p because many of his sources could not be made to look acceptable next to 1080p footage, but could squeak by at 720p. Are we sure Lucasfilms/Disney/Fox even have better sources than those Harmy used? It's much better to have 720p with perfect color accuracy and contrast and such, than 1080p with a whole host of ugly issues. I'm afraid that Disney will choose the latter anyway.
 
P

Pickles Spill

Member
Anth0ny said:
It might be like one of these:



Though I think that's a Sony gimmick to sell people on their 4K TVs.

Nonetheless, I hear that Spidey 2 "4K Blu Ray" looks better than the standard blu ray. Perhaps Star Wars will get similar treatment. A better looking blu ray, even though blu rays have already been released.
Click to expand...

From what I understand, they scan the movie in at 4k, then it's downscaled to 1080p. So the Spiderman transfers look better since it's a new scanning of the film. Probably the same with the new Star Wars stuff.
 
G

Guy.brush

Member
Tertullian said:
Do good enough negatives/other sources even exist to produce a 1080p version without introducing a whole host of other problems? If I understand correctly, Harmy had to go with 720p because many of his sources could not be made to look acceptable next to 1080p footage, but could squeak by at 720p. Are we sure Lucasfilms/Disney/Fox even have better sources than those Harmy used? It's much better to have 720p with perfect color accuracy and contrast and such, than 1080p with a whole host of ugly issues. I'm afraid that Disney will choose the latter anyway.
Click to expand...

With enough funds and access to several different prints and the negatives as sources I think you could do a lot more than Harmy did (which was great!).
The vfx shots in the OT are copies of copies of copies (the nature of layering the elements back then required you to do generations of printing. The more complex a shot is, the more reprinted it had to be) so they have A LOT of dirt and grain in them. But if you could collect enough sources for all the different shots and spent enough time, probably even the entry into Mos Eisley scene which is notorious for its low resolution could approach 1080P.
I doubt anyone but true dedicated fans will go that extra thousand miles though.
 
M

metsallica

Member
Anth0ny said:
There's also True Lies footage in the video, and it looks immaculate.

That right there might be thread worthy. How has there not been a True Lies blu ray?
Click to expand...
Whoa whoa, hold up, derail, absolutely thread worthy! I've been going Crimson Jihad for years over the lack of that film on blu-ray. I think my DVD's a freakin' SNAPPER. COME ON. Cameron's best film!
 
B

Blader

Member
zma1013 said:
My perfect vision for a Star Wars re-release are the originals with just some minor special effect fixes and nothing added or changed in anyway. Just fix stuff like the transparent speeder cockpits during the Hoth scenes and whatnot.
Click to expand...

I'll take the first two theatricals as is, but I'll never get my ideal Jedi: theatrical cut with Special Edition ending song.
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
metsallica said:
Whoa whoa, hold up, derail, absolutely thread worthy! I've been going Crimson Jihad for years over the lack of that film on blu-ray. I think my DVD's a freakin' SNAPPER. COME ON. Cameron's best film!
Click to expand...

It ain't a snapper DVD. Those were for WB and New Line. But it is non anamorphic, which is a crime.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Blader said:
I'll take the first two theatricals as is, but I'll never get my ideal Jedi: theatrical cut with Special Edition ending song.
Click to expand...

Yeah. So I hope one day they have both options on disc so I can just watch special edition of return of the Jedi and skip that basura Jabba the Hutt song
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Only 4K? Is there a reason they're not doing these in 8K so that they don't have to be done again when we switch tv standards (and the film is that many years closer to death)
 
R

Ridley327

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
Only 4K? Is there a reason they're not doing these in 8K so that they don't have to be done again when we switch tv standards (and the film is that many years closer to death)
Click to expand...

Isn't 4K pretty much the resolution that 35mm would technically be around? I can't imagine what more you could gain with an 8K scan for these films.
 
T

TheXbox

Member
I don't think Disney has distribution rights for the OT, at least not A New Hope. There won't be another big OT Stars Wars home video release for quite awhile, unless Disney somehow secures distribution rights.
 
L

linkboy

Member
rogue_pigeon said:
If Disney has any sense, they won't rush straight to releasing the original theatrical versions first. Anything else would be a tough sell after that.
Click to expand...

Disney can't just release them, they've got to go through Fox and Fox holds all of the cards (Fox has lifetime publishing rights for A New Hope and Empire and Jedi expire somewhere around 2020).
 
R

Ridley327

Member
TheXbox said:
I don't think Disney has distribution rights for the OT, at least not A New Hope. There won't be another big OT Stars Wars home video release for quite awhile, unless Disney somehow secures distribution rights.
Click to expand...

I'd have to think that Fox would play ball if Disney were to give them favorable terms. I don't think Disney would have much of a choice but to do that, since Fox's rights over the first film are indefinite.
 
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