All rite... This is something that a lot of people will appreciate, a version of "The Matrix" that doesn't look like sh*t. Let's face it, the releases now are all either too green or too green/blue. Been looking for a long time for a proper color version and after searching for a long time, I stumbled on a BD-25 copy of something that I wanted to share with other fans of the FIRST Matrix movie. Info here will contain specs for all three of my encodes of this BD-25 into 480p/720p/1080p, as well as some of the notes from the source video encoder.
Excerpts from source video encoder:
[i]"It's time to save "The Matrix"... sadly, the Wachowski brothers (ehr... brother and sister now?) decided that their masterpiece should be corrected to be more in line with their sequels, so they were forced to color-grading the first episode "greener than green", to match the sequels... who likes the whole trilogy think that it's a good thing, while the rest of us that think that there is only one MATRIX (the others are simply extras) want its original colors back!"
"While I'm not totally sure that the DVD colors are the most close to the theatrical version, this is the best color reference available at the moment. And, because it's nearly impossible that "The Matrix" will be re-released without its new "green tint", I thought to take the BD luma, the DVD chroma, a kitchen mixer and... wait, no, actually the method I used is a bit different..."
"The latest ColourMatch version produces very good results, but because the BD has clipping whites, it produces some artifacts too (but way less than the first version)... so, the shots with artifacts will be replaced with... (horror!) upscaled DVD! Well, the final result is not that bad..."[/i]
Also, muxed into all releases is something that didn't come with that source BD-25, which is the English Studio WORKPRINT Audio. I synced it to this release and decided to include it because it's a different way of watching the movie and some people might appreciate the share. Don't ask where I got it, all I'll say is "Thank you" to a special friend and leave it at that :)
Now for some tech specs for the three different releases here:
The source video was encoded 1920x1080 (with black bars top and bottom - I keep this intact and did NO crop) @23.976fps @~17000kbps
Release names:
480p: The.Matrix.Restored.Theatrical.Colors.Edition.1999.480p.BDRip.MULTIAUDIO.x264.aac.Shadoe 720p: The.Matrix.Restored.Theatrical.Colors.Edition.1999.720p.BDRip.MULTIAUDIO.x264.DTS.AC3.Shadoe 1080p: The.Matrix.Restored.Theatrical.Colors.Edition.1999.1080p.BDRip.MULTIAUDIO.x264.DTS.AC3.Shadoe
VIDEO:
480p: 848x480 @23.976fps @~1000kbps in MP4 file 720p: 1280x720 @23.976fps @~3150kbps in MKV file 1080: 1920x1080 @23.9767 @~5678kbps in MKV file
AUDIO:
English Cinema DTS, DTS 5.1 1510kbps, 48KHz, 24bit (ONLY included in 720p/1080p releases) English AC3 5.1 640kbps (1080p) AC3 5.1 384kbps (720p) AAC 5.1 ~384kbps (480p) English commentary track 1, AC3 2.0 192kbps (1080p) AC3 2.0 96kbps (720p) AAC 2.0 ~96kbps (480p) English commentary track 2, AC3 2.0 192kbps (1080p) AC3 2.0 96kbps (720p) AAC 2.0 ~96kbps (480p) English commentary track 3, AC3 2.0 192kbps (1080p) AC3 2.0 96kbps (720p) AAC 2.0 ~96kbps (480p) English commentary track 4, AC3 2.0 192kbps (1080p) AC3 2.0 96kbps (720p) AAC 2.0 ~96kbps (480p) Music Only Track, AC3 2.0 192kbps (1080p) AC3 2.0 96kbps (720p) AAC 2.0 ~96kbps (480p) English Studio Workprint Audio, AC3 2.0 192kbps (1080p) AC3 2.0 96kbps (720p) AAC 2.0 ~96kbps (480p)
SUBTITLES:
English SDH srt - muxed into all releases (external srt file included with 480p release because not all players read subtitles from mp4 files) English BluRay PGS - muxed ONLY into 720p/1080p releases English Commentary Track 1 PGS - muxed ONLY into 720p/1080p releases
So, I hope everyone enjoys this, regardless of which resolution release you choose. If you do download this and enjoy it, PLEASE help me seed this for others :) Thanx, peace