Knight Rider 2000 remastered (BluRay)

[taoworm2323]

I recently got the chance to acquire a non telecine 35mm film copy of Knight Rider 2000!
I have access to very high end professional hardware & software to update the footage into 16:9 Blu Ray HD format.
Here are some comparisons screen captures:

Original 1991 NBC on air quality (video telecine)

Original 35mm film

HD transfer and color adjustment (Notice the film grain)

Film grain removed and cleaned

Details in film density brought out of the blacks

Final 16:9 aspect ratio conversion for HD TVs and final color correction

Final density correction


I'll post a video later today to compare the original vs my new blu ray version.

Original

Blu Ray


Original

Blu Ray


Original

Blu Ray


Original 4:3 format telecine

Blu Ray 16:9 format


Original 4:3 format telecine

Blu Ray 16:9 format


Original 4:3 format telecine

Blu Ray 16:9 format

[kitt1]

I must say the difference is ASTOUNDING! Did you do a full BluRay conversion on this film? And if so, what are your plans for it? I'm sure you have legal limitations. It would be great if you could do the same thing to the original pilot, KNIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. Please keep us updated on your project.

Mark Puette
SOUTHERN KNIGHTS


By tcb4ep at 2012-03-05

[nee716]

Looks awesome!!!

[neps]

Very cool project, as usual Taoworm!

As a film guy tho - I gotta ask what you're doing with the aspect ratio? Since it was shot for TV they shot for 4:3 format, and you're adjusting the 35mm print to be in a 16:9 format by distorting the frame - all the circles (tires, kitt's "eye") are now ovals for instance.

Why not leave it at 4:3? I'd argue to not over process it, keep it as true to the source as possible.

See how TNT in Europe is airing Knight Rider in HD - they're adding bars on the side, but at least the image is much higher res ( = better detail ) viewtopic.php?p=200716

[taoworm2323]

I must say the difference is ASTOUNDING! Did you do a full BluRay conversion on this film?

Thanks Mark!
I am half way finished converting the film. (Working on it as I speak.)

What are your plans for it? I'm sure you have legal limitations.

Well I thought a lot about that and I am thinking about just giving it away when finished. As long as I don't make a profit I don't think any legal ramifications would come down on me. (Of course I could be wrong..who knows for sure.)
But yes posting it for free on a torrent site or youtube is in the cards.

Looks awesome!!!

Thanks Nee!

Very cool project, as usual Taoworm!

As a film guy tho - I gotta ask what you're doing with the aspect ratio? Since it was shot for TV they shot for 4:3 format, and you're adjusting the 35mm print to be in a 16:9 format by distorting the frame - all the circles (tires, kitt's "eye") are now ovals for instance.

Thanks Neil!
You bring up great points about the aspect ratio. I thought the same thing before I started work on updating this film, but when you watch the footage in 16:9 your brain considers everything to be normal. It really doesn't stretch the image to a odd degree perceptively. I watched over 30 minutes of footage today with some other folks who couldn't even tell that it was originally shot in 4:3 format.
The black bars are more annoying than anything else to me , that's why I made it widescreen. (lol)
(Also most everyone has a widescreen TV now a days, so it just didn't make sense to keep it 4:3 format if my goal was to bring the footage into the 21st century and future proof the film.
On your advice though I will do a 4:3 format as well for those who don't like the widescreen version.

Here's an example of what I mean:

I did some test footage on Star Trek to see if it could be done to KR2000. It's the DS9 episode "Trials And Tribble-ations". I cleaned up the footage, color and density of the telecine video. The first part of the video is the original clip. The later half is my version in 16:9 aspect ratio. When you see it in widescreen nothing looks off that your brain can tell. (At least to me) which is why I went ahead and did the same for KR2000.

My DS9 example can be found here: http://youtu.be/Lm6EofLRcpQ

When CBS up-converted the DS9 episode for HD for TOS 2nd season Blu ray it was ass. The fans thought it looked like worse than the DS9 DVD telecine version. So I took the telecine version and sought to do a better job up-converting the DS9 telecine than CBS digital. Thus the clip above.

[TONY1977]

Keep on Taoworm, beautiful job indeed.Congrats.

Tony

[msKEN]

That looks awesome man! Would definitely be interested in a better copy then the crappy transfer on the official DVD's!

[taoworm2323]

I am making two versions. A 4:3 HD blu ray version and a 16:9 remastered blu ray version.

The Remastered version has the film grain cleaned and sound and music completely redone from scratch in stereo. Some of the effects will be redone like the windshield HUD not being black when it went to the camera angle of Susan in the passenger side seat in the police van chase.

Knight Rider 2000 Remastered 1080p
(New sound effects haven't been included yet.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GpNS40ZHfc




The original DVD footage was magenta as hell with muted colors. (Like someone put sunglasses over the camera lens.) Which means the film stock quality was poorly chosen originally. (Bad director of photography.)

The remastered clip is so full of info after lossless AVI conversion the 1 minute 4 second clip was 9.5 GIGS!
It was then flawlessly compressed to H.264 .mp4 format at 12000mbs for youtube upload.
Foreign subtitles has been placed on all footage on youtube to avoid copyright takedowns.

[taoworm2323]

KR2000 HD version clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGy3a-LT1QI

[KFCreator]

Wow, amazing restoration and HD conversion work there, Taoworm! I personally prefer the original 4:3 aspect ratio as it was originally intended so I'm very happy to hear you're doing two versions. Any chance we can see more screen caps in the 4:3 aspect ratio for quality comparison? Keep up the great work, I'm excited that you have such an awesome opportunity to do this since I'm doubtful we'd see a proper HD version of KR2000 from NBCU anytime soon.

[taoworm2323]

Thanks KFCreator!

This is the final version.
I am going to take the advice from Neil and some others here who prefer a 4:3 aspect ratio.

THIS is the final comparison version that will be made to KR2000 HD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdbnk_ty9zw

Pause frequently to see how much detail can be observed in comparison to the DVD release.

[KFCreator]

Again, it looks fantastic overall, I love the new side-by-side video comparison you put up, Taoworm! I noticed though that the contrast and brightness seem maybe a bit too high, it's especially noticeable in the tower scene when Shawn is outside in the sun. Some areas of her face seemed to be losing a bit of detail as a result. Aside from that, a big kudos to you, sir!

[kitt1]

So, does your 35mm copy have subtitles?

Mark Puette
SOUTHERN KNIGHTS


By tcb4ep at 2012-03-05

[taoworm2323]

Foreign subtitles have been placed on all footage on youtube comparison videos to avoid copyright takedowns.
When I put it up as a torrent it will not have any subtitles.

[taoworm2323]

I noticed though that the contrast and brightness seem maybe a bit too high, it's especially noticeable in the tower scene when Shawn is outside in the sun. Some areas of her face seemed to be losing a bit of detail as a result.

I agree KFCreator. Youtube fudged up my color, brightness, and contrast when I uploaded it to youtube.
I think youtube has some kind of built in compensator. I am adjusting for that now. I will have a new modified clip for youtube here in a couple of hours.

I have to do a separate conversion for youtube if I want everything to match the torrent I will put up.
(sigh)
Another problem with KR2000 is how much film grain was exposed when I made everything high def.
(It's... distracting.)
I removed the film grain from 1 clip and left it in another.
My next post will have links to both clips to get everyone's opinion here before I make the final changes.

[Lost Knight]

Awesome job, Taoworm. Your work seems to be that perfect "sweet spot" between the VHS quality of the original 1991 airing and the color desaturated overly grainy DVD copy. I actually had always preferred my digitized copy of the original airing since there was no film grain and richer color.

Let's not forget that most HDTVs have the option to wide zoom the picture to achieve the 16:9 format. I generally do that when I'm watching the original series DVDs as I can't stand the black bars on the sides either.

[DJGM]

Regarding the 16:9 vs 4:3 aspect ratios ... I'm a strong advocate of 16:9 video content. Even when widescreen
started being used on British TV channels in the late 1990's, about 10 years before high definition TV started
over here, I've always insisted watching widescreen programs in 16:9, even "letterboxed" on the 4:3 TV set
we had at the time. I really hated seeing widescreen TV programs and films forcibly zoomed and cropped
with about 20% of the visuals missing at either side. It just looks awful, especially with films.

In contrast, if I'm watching any 4:3 content (including classic KR) on a 16:9 TV set, I'll always watch it in 4:3
the way it was meant to be. Even if it's "pillarboxed" it's better than watching it in "stretchyvision" ... !
Even worse is having 4:3 content zoomed and cropped to fill a 16:9 screen ... yuck!

[taoworm2323]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNswwMtKLQ

[d_osborn]

WOW! congrats on the score! this is a VERY cool project! i'm afraid i have to side with neps, though... as cinematographer, the stretched image made me wince. i think it's great you're also making the 4:3 HD version available.

i breezed through the thread pretty quick, so sorry if this has been asked already. will you be selling BRs? you mentioned torrents somewhere in the thread. i wasn't clear on exactly how this would be available. i know personally, i would totally be up for buying a BR copy.

i'm not sure if you're familiar with the 1960s oddball indie film "manos: the hands of fate", but a film nut recently found an original workprint and has been restoring it for an eventual BR release. VERY similar to what you're doing. http://www.manosinhd.com/

i would love to hear more about how you came across a 35mm print of the movie! is this the original master print? i can't imagine there are many 35 prints of KR2000 floating around out there. again... COOL SCORE!!!!