Hey everyone,

Sharing some side-by-side comparison frames from my latest full-length restoration project: the 1986 aerial action classic Iron Eagle.

With no official 4K physical release in existence, the goal was to take the dated 1080p digital streaming release and build a true modern 4K presentation. The entire video remaster, color grade, and final composite were assembled and produced in DaVinci Resolve Studio, paired with a dedicated 5.1 surround sound audio pass remastered in Cubase. The project focused on resolving fine high-frequency details, eliminating compression artifacts and noise from the streaming source, balancing highlight roll-off, and mastering a full HDR10 (BT.2020 / PQ) wide gamut grade with uncompressed multichannel audio.

🖼️ Full 4K Resolution Comparison Gallery:

https://imgur.com/gallery/iron-eagle-1986-4k-hdr10-restoration-before-after-frame-comparisons-NTJHfb3

(Full uncompressed 4K frame-by-frame side-by-side restorations)

Technical Specifications:

• Source: Official 1080p Digital Online Stream
• Mastering & Video Suite: DaVinci Resolve Studio
• Audio Remastering Suite: Steinberg Cubase
• Container / Format: Matroska (.mkv)
• Video Codec: HEVC / H.265 (Main 10@L5@Main)
• Resolution: 4K UHD (3840 x 2160)
• Color Space / Dynamic Range: 10-bit YUV 4:2:0 | BT.2020 Wide Color Gamut | PQ (HDR10)
• Frame Rate: 23.976 fps
• Video Bitrate: 19.4 Mb/s (~26.9 Mb/s overall)
• Audio: 5.1 Surround Sound – Lossless 24-bit / 48 kHz Linear PCM (6,912 kb/s)
• Total File Size / Runtime: 21.9 GiB | 1h 56m

Project Workflow Highlights:

• Cleaned up generational digital streaming noise, macroblocking, and compression artifacts while preserving authentic 35mm film grain.
• Resolved clarity across cockpit avionics, aerial combat dogfights, desert textures, and close-up facial details.
• Rebuilt dynamic range in DaVinci Resolve with balanced contrast, natural daylight skies, and rich shadow detail during low-light sequences.
• Mastered audio in Cubase with clean uncompressed 24-bit 5.1 surround sound.

⚠️ ATTENTION TO INBOX LURKERS / IMPORTANT NOTE:

>This post is strictly a visual showcase and technical workflow retrospective. Per community guidelines and copyright policies, direct download links are not hosted or distributed here. Direct link requests or download begging in my inbox/DMs will be completely ignored.

Support & Follow the Projects:

If you dig these archival restoration breakdowns, check out my channels for future projects, restorations, and audio work:

• Facebook:Restore Digital Video
• YouTube:Dawn Of Dreams (@Dawn-Of-Dreams07)

⚠️ ATTENTION TO THE INBOX LURKERS:

I now have 232 private message requests begging for download links sitting against only 71 upvotes on this write-up. That ratio is absurd.

To be crystal clear: I am not a free file-hosting service and I will not be responding to DM link-beggars. This post was shared to discuss the technical 4K restoration, frame-rate conforming, and audio workflow with fellow editors as well as fans of the movie.

If you're genuinely interested in the technical breakdown or my other restoration work, drop a comment below or check out the links on my profile. Direct link-demands in my inbox will continue to be completely ignored.

Hey everyone,

Note: Re-posting this cleanly as a standalone thread here since my original cross-posted write-up got pulled by the mods over on the 4K sub for not being an official retail disc release!

I just wrapped up a full 4K HDR10+ digital restoration and custom edit of Johnny Mnemonic (1995).

I put together a side-by-side gallery comparing the "JM Reloaded" version on the left for reference against my custom 4K pass on the right (captured directly from my dual-viewer workspace in DaVinci Resolve Studio).

Runtime Comparison

Here is how my final timeline breaks down against official and community releases:

Release Version	Approx. Runtime	Notes
US Theatrical Cut	~1 hr 36 min (96m)	Fast-paced, omits Japanese scenes
Japanese Extended Cut	~1 hr 43 min (103m)	Full Japanese edit, includes extra subplots
"JM Reloaded" Cut	~1 hr 46 min (106m)	Includes all deleted clips
My Custom 4K Restoration	01:42:42	Tightened narrative, best effort detail recovery with available sources

Edit & Scene Choices (Fixing Tone & Editing Errors)

My goal was to create a fluid, narrative-driven cut that keeps the best story elements while trimming fluff, fixing fan-edit errors, and maintaining a grounded tone:

Intro & Pacing: Replaced the US intro with the Japanese text crawl (white text scrolling on solid black). Omitted the excessive protest scene during the opening credits (including shots like the woman falling in the crowd) it added length without substance.

Selective Trims: i.e. In the hotel scene with Johnny, I trimmed unnecessary filler like the extra 3-second shot of the prostitute putting on her stockings longer time, the awkward pause where it shows her perspective as she looks at Johnny's bag on the floor, and the alternate take where she says "Never mind," keeping the dialogue and scene flow tight and logical.

Tone & Continuity: Instant examples here I left out the scene of Shinji yelling orders to his Yakuza crew during the LoTek HQ infiltration. In my opinion, it felt cartoonish and broke his character, as he was aggressive and planned on killing Takahashi and taking Johnny's head throughout the rest of the film.

Fixing Fan-Edit Errors & Repeated Dialogue: Many extended edits hit 1 hr 46+ min by including every 3-to-7 second deleted clip available. This can create unintended continuity errors like Ice-T's character J-Bone explaining things twice or more due to alternate takes, or the Pharmakom katana scene where a 3-second wide shot places the goon's body back in its original position after Takahashi had already kicked it over and sliced his shirt open to reveal the tattoo. I carefully cut those out to fix the narrative flow.

Brain Dive CGI Limitations: While the extended Japanese CGI in the finale looks cool, forced upscaling of those heavily compressed clips from a 1.6 GB native file without an uncompressed 4.7 GB DVD source would have destroyed the visual quality. I opted to keep the cleaner US finale sequence instead. Also the fan edits include a mix in of KMFDM's "Virus" song again but the audio mix is disruptive with that edit.

Soundtrack Upgrade: Replaced the weak Bono & The Edge song ("Alex Descends Into Hell") during Johnny's Newark arrival with KMFDM's "Virus". Industrial metal matches the cyberpunk vibe infinitely better. So that kept with the US and European/Worldwide release.

The Cutting Room Floor: Detailed Omissions

According to documentation, the Japanese edition adds roughly 8 minutes and 55 seconds of alternative and extended material over the theatrical cut. While many fan-edits blindly dump in every available clip, I chose to trim approximately 3.5 to 4 minutes of that excess material.

Beyond the major edits mentioned above, here is a detailed breakdown of the micro-cuts, alternate takes, and bloated scenes I omitted to keep the pacing tight:

Protests & News Filler: Removed the extended ending of Ralphie's phone call, the TV channel zapping sequence, and extended news reports.

Pharmakom & Takahashi Trims: Cut the extended screen time of Takahashi's conspicuously heavy blinking shot at the end, and removed the scene of Takahashi walking along the bridge after his helicopter leaves.

Hospital & Bridge Violence: Omitted the alternate/extended hospital shots of Spider and the Priest (including extra scalpel strikes), the extended sequence of the priest pinning Jane's hand with the throwing stick, and the digital censorship/illogical overlapping beam effects during the priest's death sequence.These scenes were a mere 1 second or so long no difference in the violence really. The priest death sequence was overkill in the extended Japanese version, just my opinion.

Yakuza Bridge Assault: Removed excess Yakuza setup, including Shinji looking through his binoculars, the extended time Yakuza arming up with a bazooka, hoisting themselves up the bridge, creeping over the bridge, and the woman with the rocket launcher taking off her helmet. Also removed the watchmen's alternate dialogue.

LoTek HQ & Cyberspace: Trimmed extended dizzy perspectives, J-Bone's alternate dialogue take ("save the cure"), an extra 1-second shot of Jones saying "Sit down!", and the 26-second cyberspace sequence of Johnny.

All in all, just removed the fluff and continuity. I did leave the 3 second bathroom trans scene where he/she says " you know, I haven't been in one of these in years? " referring to the Men's Room, thought it was funny and something that wouldn't pass today. You can tell that scene was an alternate cut because I had to include the extra frames of Johnny lying on the bathroom floor knocked out with the voice over starting there so there is a slight stutter.

The Restoration & Technical Challenge

Frame Rate Conforming (25 fps PAL vs. 23.976 fps NTSC): Japanese and European releases often run at 25 fps PAL speed, while the US Blu-ray runs at 23.976 fps. Most fan-edits mash these together, causing micro-stuttering and audio drift. I conformed all 25 fps Japanese source clips and re-pitched/stretched the audio to match the native 23.976 fps US master.

Uncompressed Linear PCM Audio: Unlike other edits that rely on highly compressed, low-bitrate AC3 audio, I used uncompressed Linear PCM for maximum audio fidelity, using Resolve to downmix the 2.0 stereo Japanese scene extensions cleanly into the 5.1 surround space. I have to note that due to the 2 different motion picture soundtracks, you will hear different music scores jump in and out from the Japanese cuts.

Hardest Scene to Restore: The Pharmakom katana kill sequence. The wide shots in the native 1.6 GB Japanese source were full of heavy compression artifacts with very little data to work with. It took painstaking detail work and color restoration to get it looking as clean as possible.

Working Master vs. Export File: The raw working master for this project was an uncompressed colossal ProRes file exceeding 500 GB. For the final deliverable, it was rendered out at 4K HDR10+ into an 18.9 GB MKV container using the HEVC/H.265 codec.

⚠️ A Note on Display & Image Inspection

Phone vs. Monitor Inspection (Pixel Density): Many people view edits on phones or smaller screens where high pixel density naturally makes compressed low quality DVD as well as 1080p/4K footage look sharper. Smartphone apps also compress gallery uploads aggressively. For an accurate side-by-side evaluation of fine grain and detail recovery, it's best viewed on a desktop/laptop monitor.

Display Differences & Calibration: When evaluating and testing the final 4K HDR10+ render on my end using an LG C2 77-inch 4K OLED TV (my tv model only decodes HDR10 not the HDR10+), I found that standard default mode or Cinema mode gave the most accurate, balanced picture, even better than my custom user profiles.

Let me know your thoughts on the detail recovery, frame rate timing, and grading choices!

Hey everyone,

I just wrapped up a full 4K HDR10+ digital restoration and custom edit of Johnny Mnemonic (1995).

I put together a side-by-side gallery comparing the "JM Reloaded" version on the left for reference against my custom 4K pass on the right (captured directly from my dual-viewer workspace in DaVinci Resolve Studio).

Runtime Comparison

Here is how my final timeline breaks down against official and community releases:

Release Version	Approx. Runtime	Notes
US Theatrical Cut	~1 hr 36 min (96m)	Fast-paced, omits Japanese scenes
Japanese Extended Cut	~1 hr 43 min (103m)	Full Japanese edit, includes extra subplots
"JM Reloaded" Cut	~1 hr 46 min (106m)	Includes all deleted clips
My Custom 4K Restoration	01:42:42	Tightened narrative; best effort detail recovery with available sources

Edit & Scene Choices (Fixing Tone & Editing Errors)

My goal was to create a fluid, narrative-driven cut that keeps the best story elements while trimming fluff, fixing fan-edit errors, and maintaining a grounded tone:

• Intro & Pacing: Replaced the US intro with the Japanese text crawl (white text scrolling on solid black). Omitted the excessive protest scene during the opening credits (including shots like the woman falling in the crowd) it added length without substance.
• Selective Trims: i.e. In the hotel scene with Johnny, I trimmed unnecessary filler like the extra 3-second shot of the prostitute putting on her stockings longer time, the awkward pause where it shows her perspective as she looks at Johnny's bag on the floor, and the alternate take where she says "Never mind," keeping the dialogue and scene flow tight and logical.
• Tone & Continuity: Instant examples here I left out the scene of Shinji yelling orders to his Yakuza crew during the LoTek HQ infiltration. In my opinion, it felt cartoonish and broke his character, as he was aggressive and planned on killing Takahashi and taking Johnny's head throughout the rest of the film.
• Fixing Fan-Edit Errors & Repeated Dialogue: Many extended edits hit 1 hr 46+ min by including every 3-to-7 second deleted clip available. This can create unintended continuity errors like Ice-T's character J-Bone explaining things twice or more due to alternate takes, or the Pharmakom katana scene where a 3-second wide shot places the goon's body back in its original position after Takahashi had already kicked it over and sliced his shirt open to reveal the tattoo. I carefully cut those out to fix the narrative flow.
• Brain Dive CGI Limitations: While the extended Japanese CGI in the finale looks cool, forced upscaling of those heavily compressed clips from a 1.6 GB native file without an uncompressed 4.7 GB DVD source would have destroyed the visual quality. I opted to keep the cleaner US finale sequence instead. Also the fan edits include a mix in of KMFDM's "Virus" song again but the audio mix is disruptive with that edit.
• Soundtrack Upgrade: Replaced the weak Bono & The Edge song ("Alex Descends Into Hell") during Johnny's Newark arrival with KMFDM's "Virus". Industrial metal matches the cyberpunk vibe infinitely better. So that kept with the US and European/Worldwide release.

The Cutting Room Floor: Detailed Omissions

According to documentation, the Japanese edition adds roughly 8 minutes and 55 seconds of alternative and extended material over the theatrical cut. While many fan-edits blindly dump in every available clip, I chose to trim approximately 3.5 to 4 minutes of that excess material.

Beyond the major edits mentioned above, here is a detailed breakdown of the micro-cuts, alternate takes, and bloated scenes I omitted to keep the pacing tight:

• Protests & News Filler: Removed the extended ending of Ralphie's phone call, the TV channel zapping sequence, and extended news reports.
• Pharmakom & Takahashi Trims: Cut the extended screen time of Takahashi's conspicuously heavy blinking shot at the end, and removed the scene of Takahashi walking along the bridge after his helicopter leaves.
• Hospital & Bridge Violence: Omitted the alternate/extended hospital shots of Spider and the Priest (including extra scalpel strikes), the extended sequence of the priest pinning Jane's hand with the throwing stick, and the digital censorship/illogical overlapping beam effects during the priest's death sequence.These scenes were a mere 1 second or so long no difference in the violence really. The priest death sequence was overkill in the extended Japanese version, just my opinion.
• Yakuza Bridge Assault: Removed excess Yakuza setup, including Shinji looking through his binoculars, the extended time Yakuza arming up with a bazooka, hoisting themselves up the bridge, creeping over the bridge, and the woman with the rocket launcher taking off her helmet. Also removed the watchmen's alternate dialogue.
• LoTek HQ & Cyberspace: Trimmed extended dizzy perspectives, J-Bone's alternate dialogue take ("save the cure"), an extra 1-second shot of Jones saying "Sit down!", and the 26-second cyberspace sequence of Johnny.
• All in all, just removed the fluff and continuity. I did leave the 3 second bathroom trans scene where he/she says " you know, I haven't been in one of these in years? " referring to the Men's Room, thought it was funny and something that wouldn't pass today. You can tell that scene was an alternate cut because I had to include the extra frames of Johnny lying on the bathroom floor knocked out with the voice over starting there so there is a slight stutter.

The Restoration & Technical Challenge

• Frame Rate Conforming (25 fps PAL vs. 23.976 fps NTSC): Japanese and European releases often run at 25 fps PAL speed, while the US Blu-ray runs at 23.976 fps. Most fan-edits mash these together, causing micro-stuttering and audio drift. I conformed all 25 fps Japanese source clips and re-pitched/stretched the audio to match the native 23.976 fps US master.
• Uncompressed Linear PCM Audio: Unlike other edits that rely on highly compressed, low-bitrate AC3 audio, I used uncompressed Linear PCM for maximum audio fidelity, using Resolve to downmix the 2.0 stereo Japanese scene extensions cleanly into the 5.1 surround space. I have to note that due to the 2 different motion picture soundtracks, you will hear different music scores jump in and out from the Japanese cuts.
• Hardest Scene to Restore: The Pharmakom katana kill sequence. The wide shots in the native 1.6 GB Japanese source were full of heavy compression artifacts with very little data to work with. It took painstaking detail work and color restoration to get it looking as clean as possible.
• Working Master vs. Export File: The raw working master for this project was an uncompressed colossal ProRes file exceeding 500 GB. For the final deliverable, it was rendered out at 4K HDR10+ into an 18.9 GB MKV container using the HEVC/H.265 codec.

⚠️ A Note on Display & Image Inspection

• Phone vs. Monitor Inspection (Pixel Density): Many people view edits on phones or smaller screens where high pixel density naturally makes compressed low quality DVD as well as 1080p/4K footage look sharper. Smartphone apps also compress gallery uploads aggressively. For an accurate side-by-side evaluation of fine grain and detail recovery, it's best viewed on a desktop/laptop monitor.
• Display Differences & Calibration: When evaluating and testing the final 4K HDR10+ render on my end using an LG C2 77-inch 4K OLED TV, I found that standard default mode or Cinema mode gave the most accurate, balanced picture, even better than my custom user profiles.

Let me know your thoughts on the detail recovery, frame rate timing, and grading choices!