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Is there a site that explains the difference between restoration and remastering?

post #1 of 11
8/5/09 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
Sorry, if this is the wrong forum, but I want to know what they do differently during restoration and remastering.

Thanks.
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post #2 of 11
8/5/09 at 9:20pm
i think they're pretty much used interchangeably.
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post #3 of 11
8/5/09 at 9:36pm
As far as I know it's something like:

restoration - gathering the best possible original film elements and rescanning them, then digitally fixing damage and other problems. the results are the new digital master (Godfather)

remastering - taking an existing digital master that could be any age, and doing additional clean-up work on it (Star Treks)
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post #4 of 11
8/5/09 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
What if you remaster in HD? Wouldn't you need to rescan whatever elements you had used previously? You wouldn't need to do a restoration to rescan the same elements that were used in a previous SD/HD master.

Let's take Stargate for an example. We know that there is an old HD master that was used for the old Blu-ray release. Now they are going to remaster that film for it's 15th Anniversary Blu-ray. Couldn't they take whatever film elements they used for the previous HD master and rescan it in a Modern 2k-4k HD film scanner to achieve better results than just simply taking the old HD master and doing some extra clean up?

I mean who knows how old the previous Stargate master is.
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post #5 of 11
8/6/09 at 2:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by emgesp View Post

What if you remaster in HD? Wouldn't you need to rescan whatever elements you had used previously? You wouldn't need to do a restoration to rescan the same elements that were used in a previous SD/HD master.

Let's take Stargate for an example. We know that there is an old HD master that was used for the old Blu-ray release. Now they are going to remaster that film for it's 15th Anniversary Blu-ray. Couldn't they take whatever film elements they used for the previous HD master and rescan it in a Modern 2k-4k HD film scanner to achieve better results than just simply taking the old HD master and doing some extra clean up?

I mean who knows how old the previous Stargate master is.

Remastering implies creating a new digital master. There's not much you can do to a poor quality digital source to undo whatever flaws it may have and yield good results, and I don't think anyone would consider that a true remastering/restoration job. Restoration seems to be used to refer to older movies, where the film elements may not be in good shape or even usable and significant work is required to create an acceptable digital HD version. I believe they also record these restorations back to a film print for archival.
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post #6 of 11
8/6/09 at 5:07am
Remastering means taking the original conformed neg or DI and regrading and converting it to a new video master.

Restoration means repairing physical problems with the original material either from age or other damage.

The terms describe completely different post production stages.

Neither term necessarily implies a digital process.
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post #7 of 11
8/6/09 at 8:43am
These two terms should not in any way be interchangeable. "Remastering" could be a very simple process, such as just creating a new digital master copy from an existing source.

"Restoration" is a tremendous undertaking, and typically a labor of love. The Digital Bits has some articles by Robert Harris that give a glimpse at some restoration efforts.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...ris/index.html
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post #8 of 11
8/6/09 at 9:12am
The term "master" can be used in many different contexts. There are actually several different "masters" in the chain from film to disc. So the term "remaster" can mean anything, or nothing.
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post #9 of 11
8/6/09 at 9:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdgrimes View Post

The term "master" can be used in many different contexts. There are actually several different "masters" in the chain from film to disc. So the term "remaster" can mean anything, or nothing.

Beg to differ.
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post #10 of 11
8/6/09 at 9:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.D View Post

Remastering means taking the original conformed neg or DI and regrading and converting it to a new video master.

Restoration means repairing physical problems with the original material either from age or other damage.

The terms describe completely different post production stages.

Neither term necessarily implies a digital process.

Isn't some or even most 'restoration' done digitally these days? eg. dirt and scratch removal. At one time weren't things like removing dirt from film done by cleaning it before scanning, but now isn't dirt & scratch removal usually a digital process done after scanning (even though I think they'd be best cleaning it physically before scanning it - unless it is very rare and would probably break)? If a film has warped due to age can't that be fixed digitally too now through image processing?
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post #11 of 11
8/6/09 at 10:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs View Post

Isn't some or even most 'restoration' done digitally these days? eg. dirt and scratch removal. At one time weren't things like removing dirt from film done by cleaning it before scanning, but now isn't dirt & scratch removal usually a digital process done after scanning (even though I think they'd be best cleaning it physically before scanning it - unless it is very rare and would probably break)? If a film has warped due to age can't that be fixed digitally too now through image processing?

Most things are done digitally these days but the terms themselves do not imply they are digital. A master or a remaster from the pre-digital days is still a "master". Film restoration didn't start with the advent of digital.

Film is still cleaned before scanning , if its not I normally complain and start billing the client for additional time spent cleaning up the scans. ( no its not all automated)
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