Some time ago, I couldn’t keep up with the download requests, so it went up to MySpleen, but now that seems to be a dead-end since they dropped invites. I’d love to rerelease this as a V3. My goal would be to get ahold of the PCM stereo track from one of the laserdisc releases, along with the original commentary. A potential V3 would include the original LD audio, original commentary, LD AC3, DVD AC3 (if materially different from LD), and ISO music track. I don’t have the time or resources to track the laserdisc down or capture the audio, but if someone were to donate it, then I’d jump in on a V3. I would have to start from scratch.
There’s also got to be a better way to remove the “Director’s Cut” title than the way I did before.
If a DCP version exists of the theatrical cut, that’s a game changer. That needs to be out there somehow.
First off, nice work, mate! I thank you for your rigorous hard work. Amazing!
Secondly, I have the PSE-LD however, I’m not sure why nobody has come forward to say this yet, perhaps they have and I’ve haven’t combed through all the years and years of posts, if that’s the case, I apologize in advance. That said, extracting LD AC-3 is problematic at best if not virtually impossible, at least to keep the quality in its original form. Again, sorry if I’m repeating this, but LD AC-3 is quite different than DD AC-3 that was later widely used on DVD. LD AC-3 is actually not encoded onto a digital disc. The information is digital, but LD itself is an analog format despite its appearance or name. Basically, it’s like recording digital ones and zeros information onto a vinyl record. LD AC-3 required an RF demodulator for playback, LD AC-3 is often referred to as AC-3RF. There are no “files” to extract. It’s like trying to “extract” a song from a tape cassette. The only way to do this would be real-time playback and capture, dubbing (where are all the 80’s kids at?). The rub is that the quality will be less than stellar if not just on par with the DD AC-3 on the dvd anyway, this will negate the trouble of going through the process of capturing it to begin with. Hopefully, I’m an idiot and don’t know what I’m talking about and there is a digital way to extract the AC-3RF from the laserdisc while retaining its original quality, but if that was the case, I think somebody would have donated the track by now, since this appears to not have happened yet, I have to sadly assume my theory to be right, at least for now. I would try myself, I have a working Pioneer player with a AC-3 RF output, however, with great hubris, sold my Marantz surround receiver with a built-in AC-3 RF demodulator when DVD came out thinking; new tech = better quality. Boy, was I an idiot. I already owned a laserdisc player and discs at the time of the Amadeus PSE release, but luck would have it, my dad bought a Pioneer AC-3 LD player from a garage sale for $10! So I drop cash on an AC-3 receiver and this Amadeus edition just to hear what the big deal was all about. At the risk of sounding like a wuss, I nearly wept. The LD AC-3 was, to quote Salieri upon seeing Mozart’s music on paper, “miraculous.”