Best film restoration companies? (1 Viewer)

[OliverK]

Old vs new Patton Blu-ray:

Patton • US Remastered Blu-ray vs. US 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

 

[Bartman]

Old vs new Patton Blu-ray:

Patton • US Remastered Blu-ray vs. US 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

Thanks, mine is the unremastered version from 2008. I'll rewatch it to see if I want to upgrade. The reviews at Blu-ray.com push the video score from a respectable 4.5 (unremastered) to 4.9 (remastered) and give clues as to what to look for.
Any news on The Longest Day?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Old vs new Patton Blu-ray:

Patton • US Remastered Blu-ray vs. US 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

The scan looks decent, but being a D-150 title, a 4K version should happen.

 

[OliverK]

The scan looks decent, but being a D-150 title, a 4K version should happen.

Very true but it looks like it won't. It was prepared for a UHD release and then Disney pulled the plug - all hail the mighty mouse that swallowed the fox.

 

[OliverK]

Thanks, mine is the unremastered version from 2008. I'll rewatch it to see if I want to upgrade. The reviews at Blu-ray.com push the video score from a respectable 4.5 (unremastered) to 4.9 (remastered) and give clues as to what to look for.
Any news on The Longest Day?

2 out of 5 would be more appropriate in my opinion but then I judge potential versus what is on the disc and not how pretty something looks. Not saying that you have to get the new one but this is one case where the remastered version is not just a bit better but a vast improvement.
So why waste a viewing of a magnificent movie on the inferior version, get the new one that is heavily discounted anyway!

 

[Bartman]

I pulled out Patton 2008 and the DNR is obvious on my OLED TV vs my 720p plasma of ten years ago when the DNR was not so obvious. I'm going to order the remastered Patton. Thanks for the advice.
It seems The Longest Day is a lost cause, maybe a 4K UHD stream will appear with improved picture quality?

 

[OliverK]

I think that there is a real chance that a new version of The Longest Day will make it to a streaming platform at some point but so far it does not look like the work has already been done.

 

[Bartman]

I watched the remastered Patton this morning, exterior shots look superb, like they were filmed yesterday. There was absolutely no need to use DNR, as there is little inherent grain. There are density fluctuations that are a little distracting. A few of the interior shots have an overly contrasty artificial 'video' appearance but bearing in mind the transfer was done nearly twenty years ago, it may have not been detectable on production monitors at the time. Or it may be how the film is supposed to look.
A 4K UHD version should look superb. It will be interesting if modern processing is able to remove the density fluctuations.

 

[Robert Harris]

I watched the remastered Patton this morning, exterior shots look superb, like they were filmed yesterday. There was absolutely no need to use DNR, as there is little inherent grain. There are density fluctuations that are a little distracting. A few of the interior shots have an overly contrasty artificial 'video' appearance but bearing in mind the transfer was done nearly twenty years ago, it may have not been detectable on production monitors at the time. Or it may be how the film is supposed to look.
A 4K UHD version should look superb. It will be interesting if modern processing is able to remove the density fluctuations.

Yes

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I watched the remastered Patton this morning, exterior shots look superb, like they were filmed yesterday. There was absolutely no need to use DNR, as there is little inherent grain. There are density fluctuations that are a little distracting. A few of the interior shots have an overly contrasty artificial 'video' appearance but bearing in mind the transfer was done nearly twenty years ago, it may have not been detectable on production monitors at the time. Or it may be how the film is supposed to look.
A 4K UHD version should look superb. It will be interesting if modern processing is able to remove the density fluctuations.

Yes

4K can show off large format film quite nicely, if handled correctly.

 

[OliverK]

I watched the remastered Patton this morning, exterior shots look superb, like they were filmed yesterday. There was absolutely no need to use DNR, as there is little inherent grain. There are density fluctuations that are a little distracting. A few of the interior shots have an overly contrasty artificial 'video' appearance but bearing in mind the transfer was done nearly twenty years ago, it may have not been detectable on production monitors at the time. Or it may be how the film is supposed to look.
A 4K UHD version should look superb. It will be interesting if modern processing is able to remove the density fluctuations.

Glad to hear that you liked the remastered Patton!

Small correction: That was from a new master at the time so by now it would be around 10 years old.

Shawn Belston mentioned in I believe 2019 that Patton was prepared for a UHD release, possibly to coincide with its 50th anniversary. This never materialized so as of now we only find the UHD version on Disney+.

 

[Bartman]

While I've not watched Patton since getting an OLED TV, it looked fine on my previous plasma, perhaps there was a secret remaster? (like Gladiator). I'll pull it out and rewatch. I know when they were first released both Patton and The Longest Day were heavily criticized for DNR, The Longest Day certainly deserved it, it was awful. Has there ever been an acceptable remaster of The Longest Day?

I see from JustWatch.com that The Longest Day is streamable from the Criterion Channel, has anyone watched it and can comment on picture quality in comparison with the Blu-ray?

 

[MUFC]

When it comes to high end restoration and all that jazz, I’ve heard that the team at roundabout have quite a stellar reputation for the past few years.

Authoring and distribution is a completely different animal, but when it comes to the quality of work…. doesn’t get better.

 

[Capt D McMars]

When it comes to high end restoration and all that jazz, I’ve heard that the team at roundabout have quite a stellar reputation for the past few years.

Authoring and distribution is a completely different animal, but when it comes to the quality of work…. doesn’t get better.

Thanks, what other titles has this company restored?

 

[titch]

When it comes to high end restoration and all that jazz, I’ve heard that the team at roundabout have quite a stellar reputation for the past few years.

Authoring and distribution is a completely different animal, but when it comes to the quality of work…. doesn’t get better.

Roundabout list just about every US studio as their client. They provide little information as to which titles they have mastered on their website, but they are doing very stellar work for Sony. Very interestingly, they divulge the colorists on two titles - why on Earth can't the studios provide this sort of information on their releases?

NEWS — Roundabout

www.roundabout.com

 

[MUFC]

Thanks, what other titles has this company restored?

Well, i know they did Invaders From Mars, which judging by your avatar might be of interest to you.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Well, i know they did Invaders From Mars, which judging by your avatar might be of interest to you.

with Ignite Films? Nice!!! This title, as you surmised, is one of my top cheese films of all time, thanks for the info!!

 

[Noir Norn]

In my experience, outside of a premium label like Criterion who does all their authoring inhouse, I think Warner Bros. is the most consistent in the quality of restored titles they offer, all of which are done through Motion Picture Imaging on their studio lot.

Warner is particularly interesting because people complain about a lot of unreleased titles still in limbo. However, the studio has always taken the stand that if something they are considering is not up to a certain standard of quality or would be too expensive to restore, it won't get released. For that reason, you can always count on a Warner Bros. release looking exceptional.

Agree, but will they last longer than many of their DVDs?

 

[SwatDB]

Shawn Belston mentioned in I believe 2019 that Patton was prepared for a UHD release, possibly to coincide with its 50th anniversary. This never materialized so as of now we only find the UHD version on Disney+.

Don't you know this happened to a lot of Fox classics (Large format era (1953-1971) like "Star!" [1968]?)

Also there are few new Fox masters on Disney+, like:

Romancing the Stone (1984)
Commando (1985) [R-Rated Theatrical Version]
The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) [There is an Italian BD with the New Master]

and last but not least… True Lies (1994) [which I believe must be the same transfer that will be used for the planned 4K UHD/BD from Jon Landau (according to Bill Hunt from digitalbits) either later this year or for it's 25th Anniversary]

In closing:

The materialized material was planned for UHD/BD and Disney+ took the cakes (New masters).

"You know I can't believe that Bob Iger was dumb enough to buy TCF and rename it Studios and cut down on releasing 4K UHD/BDs with new masters and now we're stuck without Nick Redman and Shawn Belston, streaming and waitin' for miracles, That's was dumb Mr. Disney CEO (the guy who has SOTS-phobia) real dumb."

That's all.

 

[OliverK]

Don't you know this happened to a lot of Fox classics (Large format era (1953-1971) like "Star!" [1968]?)

Also there are few new Fox masters on Disney+, like:

Romancing the Stone (1984)
Commando (1985) [R-Rated Theatrical Version]
The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) [There is an Italian BD with the New Master]

and last but not least… True Lies (1994) [which I believe must be the same transfer that will be used for the planned 4K UHD/BD from Jon Landau (according to Bill Hunt from digitalbits) either later this year or for it's 25th Anniversary]

In closing:

The materialized material was planned for UHD/BD and Disney+ took the cakes (New masters).

"You know I can't believe that Bob Iger was dumb enough to buy TCF and rename it Studios and cut down on releasing 4K UHD/BDs with new masters and now we're stuck without Nick Redman and Shawn Belston, streaming and waitin' for miracles, That's was dumb Mr. Disney CEO (the guy who has SOTS-phobia) real dumb."

That's all.

I never heard that work has been completed on Star! but it seems logical that Fox would have eventually gotten to both Star! and Can-Can and then I would have expected them to revisit Cleopatra and South Pacific that still do not have 4k masters. They certainly deserve at least as much attention as Dr. Dolittle!

Shawn Belston and his team did such a good job and then Disney came in effectively stopping us from getting any further releases of older catalog titles.

As for True Lies I believe it when I see it, it has been the ugly step child for decades.