Hi Broom Kid,
Thank you for your interest in this preservation!
very curious to have a look at this!
The screenshots as posted seem stretched to 16x9, however. I’m guessing that’s inaccurate to what the rip itself looks like?
The rip was stretched to 177:160, according to the SMPTE RP 187 which was applied on this LD. With the proper DAR (display aspect ratio) set to 4:3, the picture has exactly the same proportions as the HDTV.
But the screenshots were not made with the proper 4:3 DAR (even if the mkv file is correctly set to this ratio).
So yes, the screenshots are inaccurate to what the rip itself looks like.
IIRC, this laserdisc was also mastered to a lower IRE level, leading to the blacks looking crushed unless brightness/contrast were adjusted on the display itself - something to do with the difference between the Japanese and North American markets? I’m not completely sure on this, and could be wrong (someone please correct me if I am), but I know from personal experience with the disc that it definitely looks a lot more contrasty and crushed than other late-era laserdiscs.
Indeed, this LD uses a Japanese IRE (black to 0 instead of 7.5). Since the capture was made with a Japanese player (HLD-X0) which is conformed to the Japanese IRE, the colors and contrasts are 100% accurate.
Thanks so much for doing this, and posting it. The amount of work is tremendous!
Yes, it took me a couple of months… But I love to do this 😃