As the Puggo Edition nears completion (one of the reels is completely done, the others are almost done), here are some details a few of you might find interesting, or at least amusing:

The PUGGO Edition - Technical Specifications:

Source material: Super-8 film (4 reels), 24fps with mono sound.
Reels 1/2 - Star Wars
Reels 3/4 - Empire Strikes Back

Video capture:
- Workprinter-XP frame-by-frame telecine
- Sony TRV-900 video camera, NTSC
- Sony Vegas video capture
- each reel assembled from four captures at various light settings
- edit/trimming in Sony Vegas - all frames retained as-is
- no additional video post-processing

Audio capture:
- GAF Super-8 sound projector, mono capture
- DAT passthrough SPDIF into Cool-Edit (Windows)
- reel #1 required 5 captures at different levels.
- reels #2-4 required only 1 capture each.
- assembly in Cool-Edit

Audio processing:
- light hum and noise removal in Cool-Edit
- deClick in Cool-Edit to ameliorate distortion

Sound sync:
- temporary video pulldown done using CineCap, for sync purposes only
- assembly in Sony Vegas, audio with temporary video.
- minor audio stretch with pitch preservation, sync done by hand.
- rendered only resulting .wav file - video pulldown discarded.

Video encoding:
- TMPGE to .m2v, 2-pass encoding
- bitrate = min:3000 avg:6000 max:8000
- highest motion quality, 10 bits
- 3:2 pulldown settings
- progressive input, interlace output

Audio encoding: Sonic Foundry SoftEncode (AC3)

DVD Authoring and menu: DVD-Lab

Burning: Nero

Note -
ESB has 4 seconds of silence while Luke waits (hanging) to be rescued, and another 1 second gap earlier in the same reel. I plan to patch in those two gaps using audio from a DVD and try to match sound quality. It's just too jarring with the gap, as is. But don't worry, I plan to also keep a copy of the original audio without the patch. Heck, I might even make an alternate audio track without the patch. Depends on how creative I feel

Any questions?

The Puggo project is almost done. I just need to make the menu. Sound processing and synching is complete, and the 4-second gap has been filled with the appropriate soundtrack excerpt (matched as best as I could... the balance on these things is TOTALLY different than in the full versions).

One technical change... I didn't filter the audio with DeClick, as it was too destructive. Used a notch filter instead.

The Puggo Project is done! The four reels are now on one DVD.
Since I used the pulldown flag trick, I noticed that it doesn't play well on VLC player.
But it worked well on every other DVD player and media player I tried it on.

Boba Feta will be reviewing it first. I'm sure it'll hit the ground running shortly thereafter.
My final version is NTSC... he may be producing a PAL version as well.

Thats awesome and was amazingly fast to complete too

Awesome! The Puggo project will come in handy for my Sluggo project.

Well, the Puggo Project is just the raw capture encoded to DVD. I'm sure others will want to go through and clean it up. In fact, I suspect there may be some Puggo Edits of the Puggo Project in the near future Anyone watching it will see things that have obvious fixes. I thought my initial task was to get as much detail off of the film and into the file as I could, regardless of if it looked polished or not.

I'm glad you approached it from this angle. I know I'd like to do some nice authoring/menus with these files...

I wasnt saying fast in a bad I had an idea for the focus of the project and Its just cool thats its going to be released so fast because IIRC it was going to take boba feta some time to complete (not that he couldnt have done it well)

Yeah that was only because the monkey I got to do it first did such a half-assed job I was embarrased to release it.

I didnt know you had tried someone else first

No biggie, its done now and sounds like its going to be great

Just to keep expectations at bay, remember that these are still grainy old home-edition super8 films, with mono sound and pretty heavy-handed editing. There's only so much one can extract from these beasts.

There's one thing I found very clever about the ESB edit.... nowhere is it revealed that Vader is Luke's father! Presumably, that was done so that viewers who saw the home version would still need to see it in the theater, or at least the "surprise" wouldn't be spoiled for them.

Has this made it to the public yet?

I've just begun designing a cover and I'll be distributing it shortly, most likely within the next week or so.

How will you be releasing/distributing it? Might a torrent be made available?

Take care,
Sojourn

I've got a copy of the Puggo Edition. It is very cool and well done. PM me if you are interested in trading 1:1. I'm looking for the '77 bootleg and any of the Wookie Groomer split screens, among other things. I'm NOT looking for these that I already have:

STAR WARS TRILOGY DEFINITIVE COLLECTION (Dr. Gonzo)
BONUS MATERIAL: STAR WARS v2.1 (produced by RowMan)
BONUS MATERIAL: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK v2.0 (produced by RowMan)
BONUS MATERIAL: RETURN OF THE JEDI v2.0 (produced by RowMan)
THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL (KCCI broadcast)
DELETED MAGIC (Orange Cow Productions)
BUILDING EMPIRE, v2.0 (produced by Jambe Davdar)
THE STORY OF STAR WARS (produced by MoveAlong)
RETURN OF THE EWOK and other little films (Orange Cow Productions)
THE CASTING AUDITIONS OF STAR WARS (AngrySun release: BLAK0009)
STAR WARS EPISODE I: BALANCE OF THE FORCE (MagnoliaFan edit)
STAR WARS EPISODE II: THE CLONE WAR (MagnoliaFan edit)
STAR WARS EPISODE II: PATH TO THE DARKSIDE (ADigitalMan edit)

Absolutely brilliant is all I can say! Just finished watching all 4 reels. The transfer is very well done and it's a pure joy to watch these. The colors of the aged filmstock are the first thing that stand out. That's not a bad thing! The sound mixes are very interesting, different takes and some completely different lines. I found it interesting that there was no reverb placed on the Emperor or Ben as a force ghost on Dagobah or Hoth, a stark difference. Anyway, projects like this are the reason I'm part of this community. Bravo!!!

Thanks for the kind words - I'm getting some great feedback on it. I, of course, could be coerced into a trade as well. I'm still a newbie here - haven't even seen a Gonzo or a de-SE'd fan edit yet. Would enjoy seeing some of the handiwork of other contributors - I'd love to see some of the editions I read about here.

I've just sent out ten or so copies to some of the regulars on this board so expect them to be torrented within the next two weeks or so.

Cheers.

B-E-A-utiful. I am very much looking forward to seeing these.

And Puggo, I'm sending you a PM.

Take care,
Sojourn

Thanks Boba, I got my copy this morning! Boy I wish I had this disc around when I was doing "Building Empire'! Great work guys.

JD

Please let us know when they are torrented! Thanks!

Take care,
Sojourn