Remastering Season 1

[Looney]

I have the VHS that were available. (I had most of the Re-TV VHS at one point, but I stopped getting them because they were just too expensive to keep getting as they were released.)

I believe I have most, if not all, of the Laser Disc releases.

I have everything released on DVD x 2 sets

I bought the complete digital versions through Amazon and Vudu or iTunes, I don't recall which.

[Clivey]

Ok, here's S01E01




Would appreciate some feedback before I post the rest.

• Its 1.5gb for the episode for a 1080p. Although its a MKV, I chose not to compress it, because with compression comes downgrade in quality, so thought I would leave that to you, each user, if they want to compress themselves or not. (use handbrake or something similar)
  
  You may notice every now and again that the might be a few bits on someone's face that didn't quite clear up, mainly because the original footage just doesn't have enough detail in it to recover.
  The same may apply to small faces in the distance, where there isn't enough detail in the original to reconstruct the face.
  Please remember that the whole cast is plastered with makeup, some more than others. Example: Lando in some of the scenes they coated him with makeup powder as if they dunked him in it, making him look plastic before I enhanced it.
  Removed all the horrible grain that was across the whole footage
  I tried to make it so they weren't too smoothed and plastic looking, so added a little bit of imperfection back in, which was suggested by someone here
  It will never look like a Bluray 4k copy unless they find and recapture all the original film footage from the cameras, so this is the best we can work with.

As always, these are always better viewed on a TV or mobile device. You can watch it on a PC monitor, but just be aware that Monitors are not very forgiving with pixels. Either way its better than what we have so far (I hope)

[Karajorma]

This is absolutely beautiful.


https://imgur.com/a/b3C6mpU


What's the point in having 3 monitors if not to do this sort of thing? Leftmost is the original DVD release. Rightmost is the HBO upgrade and in the middle is your version.

Only thing I do miss is the built in subtitles.

[Clivey]

Thanks and damn, forgot about the subtitles.

subs for ep1: https://easyupload.io/5txxiz

Download this and put it in the same folder as the MKV file. VLC will detect it and play subs.

If you want to embed it back in download ffmpeg and run this command

ffmpeg -i Babylon.5.S01e01.mkv -i 2_English.srt -c copy Babylon.5.S01e01_v2.mkv


I'll have to inject the subs back in on the other episodes going forward with ffmpeg and come back to this one.

[Clivey]

Episode 2 (with subs!!!) Please be aware that from this point, B5 has a low spec camera amongst its collection on set or bad cameraman, as some scenes are really low quality and there is nothing I can do about it. You will notice them as they stand out


Need to find a better way of sharing this as its going to take ages this way

[Clivey]

Episode 3 (with subs)

[LateArrival]

Originally Posted by Looney

Those are some stark contrasts.

This reminds me of what has been done with the FMV footage from 90's Wing Commander Games. Someone did an excellent job remastering WCIII, and the source vids for that came from a playstation. Which leads me to wonder why the 2021 B5 release - while greatly appreciated - couldn't have been better? Maybe they are saving The Big Guns for a BD release?

[Moonface]

This is so great! thanks for all your work and dedication, Clivey!

[Kraig]

Originally Posted by Karajorma

This is absolutely beautiful.


https://imgur.com/a/b3C6mpU


What's the point in having 3 monitors if not to do this sort of thing? Leftmost is the original DVD release. Rightmost is the HBO upgrade and in the middle is your version.

Only thing I do miss is the built in subtitles.

With the remaster I can finally see Ivanova's earrings.

[Karajorma]

Originally Posted by Clivey

Need to find a better way of sharing this as its going to take ages this way

Any chance of a torrent release?