Hey all,

Came here to say I've been fortunate enough to have gotten an early look at a certain streaming service debuting this month. First off, I would like to say take this with a grain of salt, as anything could change before launch. However, there appears to be a few bits of good news:

- Roughly 15 Bugs Bunny cartoons seem to have been newly restored and look absolutely fantastic. Unsure if this is prelude to a disc, but some of the restored shorts are long overdue: "Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk," "What's Cookin' Doc?," "Racketeer Rabbit," "Knights Must Fall" (with original rings), "Rabbit Every Monday" and the previously article-cited "Upswept Hare."

- Cropped shorts from Superstars collections are in their correct aspect ratios.

- A large number of shorts that did not make Platinum Collections appear to have been rescanned in HD, giving them upgraded Blu-Ray quality for the first time. Ones I've caught so far include "My Favorite Duck," "The Draft Horse," "Foney Fables," "The Hare-Brained Hypnotist," "Duck Soup To Nuts," but I've only been able to scratch the surface.

Though only about 1/5 of the Warner catalogue, each short appears to come from a restored print, with no off-the-shelf TV dubs. Also, it's all arrange chronologically, giving a good bit of context for the uninitiated. All in all, this looks to be the first quality-controlled instance of Warners shorts on a streaming service and who knows what may be added in the future.

Seems to be well worth the investment. That's all I'll say for now.

Hey, laughing boy! No more buwwets! (Sorry. I had to.)

Thanks for the update on what you've seen. There had been so much talk over the past weeks about the new Looney Tunes, that I was becoming more and more curious about how the golden age stuff was going to be treated.

Glad to hear that multiple shorts have been remastered and/or corrected from previous video releases.

I'll have the service, and your early take on things has really gotten me more interested to take it for a spin.

Oh, wow, that is good news! I'll be buying Max when it comes out for sure. Originally, the new Looney Tunes Cartoons were the reason why, but hearing that there are some newly restored classic shorts on there definitely piqued my interest even more!

One thing, though: The Draft Horse, Foney Fables, and My Favorite Duck were already scanned in HD back in the day of the Golden Collection DVD sets (though obviously, since DVDs don't support full HD video, they were downscaled to 480p there). Are you sure they're fresh new scans on Max? (The Hare-Brained Hypnotist and Duck Soup to Nuts were restored at around the same time Warner was using DVNR for some of the Golden Collection shorts, so if there was some DVNR artifacting on the masters included on the second volume, I partially understand why they had to be rescanned)

Hold up; how'd you get a sneak peak? I preordered HBO Max a while ago, and all I get is HBO Now.

Salivating right now.

Weirdly, the recently release Looney Tunes Parodies DVD used the unrestored dubbed print of Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk. If Warner was restoring these cartoons for disc, why not actually put those restorations on a disc?

Killer news either way. If HBO Max gets more cartoons restored, I'm all in.

One thing, though: The Draft Horse, Foney Fables, and My Favorite Duck were already scanned in HD back in the day of the Golden Collection DVD sets (though obviously, since DVDs don't support full HD video, they were downscaled to 480p there). Are you sure they're fresh new scans on Max? (The Hare-Brained Hypnotist and Duck Soup to Nuts were restored at around the same time Warner was using DVNR for some of the Golden Collection shorts, so if there was some DVNR artifacting on the masters included on the second volume, I partially understand why they had to be rescanned)

The video and audio differences (resolution aside) found on some of the HD shorts included as extras on feature film BDs indicate they have occasionally gone back to remaster even titles supposedly scanned in 1080 back in the day. Not sure if it's due to DVNR. I clearly recall Slick Hare being quite the upgrade though, both picture and sound.

It could be that technology has improved to where they think it's worth it to go back, but I recall being disappointed money wasn't spent on unreleased shorts instead. Glad it's known (confirmed) there are new restorations for once.

FYI What's Cookin Doc had a new scan done for the Bugs Bunny Superstar Warner Archive Release. It lost it's dubbed version title and everything looks really good, but not restored like on the Golden or Platinum collections.

Rather nice they are finally doing new HD scans for the shorts.

Just to squash any suspicions they're doing restorations specifically for the service, those cartoons were restored for an upcoming not-yet-announced Blu-Ray set.

Torn about that. On the one hand, getting more shorts is still dependent on the turbulence of the home video market. On the other, more shorts. Woo.

Incidentally, Hare Splitter will be on the upcoming Romance on the High Seas blu-ray in HD. Was this one of the 15 newly restored shorts?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=328564 

I'm not sure what Warner's criteria for what they deem restoration worthy is. This month, the WAC announced that they're releasing a bunch of films from 4K scans, that almost assuredly aren't going to break even from online blu-ray sales alone.

Do they intend to create a system where they have 4K protection masters of obscure musicals, but not other more popular films?

I'm not sure what Warner's criteria for what they deem restoration worthy is. This month, the WAC announced that they're releasing a bunch of films from 4K scans, that almost assuredly aren't going to break even from online blu-ray sales alone.

Do they intend to create a system where they have 4K protection masters of obscure musicals, but not other more popular films?

warner archive's whole shtick is to release crap nobodys heard of or cares about. they rely entirely on online sales, and theyve been working for the past 11 years. popular films definitely have high quality scans and are handled by warner home video (retail)

Just to squash any suspicions they're doing restorations specifically for the service, those cartoons were restored for an upcoming not-yet-announced Blu-Ray set.

Interesting. Possibly a Looney Tunes Warner Archive Blu-ray, then?

Just to squash any suspicions they're doing restorations specifically for the service, those cartoons were restored for an upcoming not-yet-announced Blu-Ray set.

Interesting. Possibly a Looney Tunes Warner Archive Blu-ray, then?

Either that, or this is the classic animation release The Bugs Bunny Video Guide said Jerry Beck was working on for Warner Home Video proper.

Just to squash any suspicions they're doing restorations specifically for the service, those cartoons were restored for an upcoming not-yet-announced Blu-Ray set.

Interesting. Possibly a Looney Tunes Warner Archive Blu-ray, then?

Either that, or this is the classic animation release The Bugs Bunny Video Guide said Jerry Beck was working on for Warner Home Video proper.

Ahh, good point.

warner archive's whole shtick is to release crap nobodys heard of or cares about. they rely entirely on online sales, and theyve been working for the past 11 years. popular films definitely have high quality scans and are handled by warner home video (retail)

Yes, but the popular films weren't scanned in 4k, the treatment these lesser more obscure films are getting.

Yes, but the popular films weren't scanned in 4k, the treatment these lesser more obscure films are getting.

its foolish to think that when thats the standard for scanning films. but i guess because theyre not public about it, it means they arent scanned in 4k. popular films such as the wizard of oz and 2001: a space odyssey were scanned in 8k
but this is as far as im going discussing this as i think its straying from the topic

Torn about that. On the one hand, getting more shorts is still dependent on the turbulence of the home video market. On the other, more shorts. Woo.

Incidentally, Hare Splitter will be on the upcoming Romance on the High Seas blu-ray in HD. Was this one of the 15 newly restored shorts?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=328564 

It was indeed.

I'd also like to amend my phrasing on the "rescans," likely these are what was used on the DVDs but upscaled. Apologies for my lack of technical know-how, but next week someone with a better sense can confirm what (if anything) was done here. Either way, they look nice.

As for the new restorations, I'm floored in particular by how good "Rabbit Every Monday" looks, especially after years of watching the TV copies.

I'd also like to amend my phrasing on the "rescans," likely these are what was used on the DVDs but upscaled. Apologies for my lack of technical know-how, but next week someone with a better sense can confirm what (if anything) was done here.

The shorts you initially said were "rescanned" would not have been upscaled from what is on the DVDs; every short on the Golden Collections, sans most (if not all) shorts on volume one that were part of the post-1948 television package, most of the Tweety/Sylvester and Road Runner/Wile E. shorts on volume two, The Last Hungry Cat on volume three, and Rabbit Rampage on volume six, was remastered and restored in HD.

What other shorts were newly restored? We now know that Hare Splitter was, and of course, there are the five you mentioned in the original post, but what about the others?

I'd also like to amend my phrasing on the "rescans," likely these are what was used on the DVDs but upscaled. Apologies for my lack of technical know-how, but next week someone with a better sense can confirm what (if anything) was done here.

The shorts you initially said were "rescanned" would not have been upscaled from what is on the DVDs; every short on the Golden Collections, sans most (if not all) shorts on volume one that were part of the post-1948 television package, most of the Tweety/Sylvester and Road Runner/Wile E. shorts on volume two, The Last Hungry Cat on volume three, and Rabbit Rampage on volume six, was remastered and restored in HD.

What other shorts were newly restored? We now know that Hare Splitter was, and of course, there are the five you mentioned in the original post, but what about the others?

Yeah, again, take all my technical observation with a pitcher of salt, as I was just judging from my eyes on a laptop.

A few more of the restored titles confirmed include:

Hold the Lion, Please
Hot-Crossed Bunny
Fair Haired Hare
Robot Rabbit