Difference in quality

Leanan · Post by **Leanan** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 12:01 pm

Well I have a little issue I'd like to iron out before even editing. I'm using the Utena dvds and the Utena movie. I'm trying to remaster this video so I want it to look absolutely beautiful. The movie is so crisp and clear and lovely, but the series is definately subpar. It just looks like vhs to me. I kind of want the footage to match. I'm unsure which sharpening filter in virtualdub would be best, or if I should use a different codec on the movie to make it look more like the series. It's kind of a dilemma

Or do you think it doesn't matter and I should leave them how they are?

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 12:29 pm

The newer (black rose arc onwards) releases are better - they really messed up the early discs but essentially they got bad masters.

The japanese dvds are much prettier, as are the laserdiscs but nothing will ever really measure up to the quality of the movie footage.

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 12:56 pm

I'm in the process of capturing footage from "Adolescence". I was also watching the second "Black Rose" DVD last night and there is a definite difference. I don't think any image filter will make up for it. The detail isn't there in the TV footage. (Not to mention the difference in aspect ratio.)

I did think about using some of the TV backgrounds which are more complex than the animated elements, but decided there is still too much contrast when compared to the movie scenes.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 9:52 pm

If you just want it to match, I'd say just make the movie footage look crappy :p

Leanan · Post by **Leanan** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 12:07 am

Thanks for the comments, guys. I'll take them into consideration.

SS5_Majin_Bebi · Post by **SS5_Majin_Bebi** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 2:39 am

Yeah, I'd say just do a low qual compression of the movie footage, and try to get it to match with the series footage that way.

Ashyukun · Post by **Ashyukun** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 8:22 am

I've run up against this problem as well... my solution to it was to pull the sharper of the footages (the Utena Movie in my case as well) and fiddle with the combination of a slight blur and the noise effect in After Effects. Did a pretty good job of approximatating the lower-quality footage.

Leanan · Post by **Leanan** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 1:08 pm

The problem is that when it comes time to put my video out for distribution, will the quality of the entire video then look like crap? Do you guys think it's that big of a deal to have differences in quality in the video between footage? I'm leaning more towards that and just try to use less of the movie if I can try (since I am mainly focusing on stuff going on in the regular series). Sorry I'm not trying to drag this issue into the ground, but you guys seem to have a lot more experience with this than I do and I just wanted your opinions.

Ashyukun · Post by **Ashyukun** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 2:17 pm

Well, the entire quality would look like the quality of whatever you 'degraded' the other footage to be the level of. Personally, I don't think the Utena TV DVDs look all that bad- it's just that compared to a really well done movie like Adolescence Mokoshiroku, it looks worse. Using less of the higher-quality footage is definitely an option. Another would be have certain sections of the video be done using the movie and intentionally kept at the higher-quality. I.e, for a chorus section that is repeated, etc. Ultimately, it's up to what you think looks the best... I'd say, put together like 30-40 seconds of footage (random, whatver) of both sources with like 8 cuts between the two or so (with music, doesn't have to match), and then output and compress the result as you would for disto, and see how it looks. If you don't like it and the difference is too obvious or distracting, you'll know you should probably try something to either bring the quality closer, or use less of one.

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 2:29 pm

:\ if anyone picks at you for your source >_> kill them. It's the best you can get ahold of unless you want to wipe out your bank account getting the R2 discs.

I would leave things the same, use a 2d cleaner on the TV series and call it good. If people bitch >_> that's their problem.