logo Sign In

.: The XØ Project - Laserdisc on Steroids :. (SEE FIRST POST FOR UPDATES) (* unfinished project *) — Page 2

Author
Time
Just curious Zion, why is it you guys send out info by newsletter rather than posting to the site directly, especially if you eventually do so anyways? (I'm not complaining, just seems sorta pointless.) Keep up the great work guys, that starfield thing is amazing!

Also, what does v3.03 signify?

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Author
Time
Because not everyone checks the site all the time, and not everyone who finds our site knows about OT.com and this thread. It's a way we can help people "remember" us and get them back to the site for the rest of the goodies. Most successful web sites do this.

The version number is just that -- the version of the script used to create the TC print. Our third member wrote it and had many incarnations along the way.

My Projects:
[Holiday Special Hybrid DVD v2]
[X0 Project]
[Backstroke of the West DVD]
[ROTS Theatrical DVD]

Author
Time
BTW, I won't be here very often, so if anyone wants to contact me, PMs probably won't work very well, it is best to get me on "originaltrilogy at mudgee.net". Obviously replace the at with the @
Author
Time
I’m pretty sure this hasn’t been asked before, but if it has please don’t kill me. Are you planning to release the films one-by-one as they’re done or all three in one go?
Author
Time
I was wondering if most or all of the capturing is done at this point and if you ever managed to get a hold of those Japanese LD's that were mentioned sometime ago. I've heard the Japanese Special Collection (pre 1997 versions of the films) are very nice. I wanted to get those myself, but they always seem to go for over $200.00 on Ebay which is a little too much for me right now.

Thanks.

Patrick
"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." - Tuco from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Author
Time
Originally posted by: zionI don't know what we're planning at this point.

As you stated earlier ESB and ROTJ does not appear to need as much cleaning up, so maybe when you're done with ANH and all your skills and techniques are perfected, ESB and ROTJ could be quite quicker to do and the "when/if it is evident" thing might as well be for the complete trilogy. (Let me see, I used appear, maybe, could, if, and might so I guess I was just speculating.)

BTW, I think "Ø" is Danish or Swedish and means island but it could also be the sound of confusion

Author
Time
Our initial captures of all three films on the XØ have been complete for some time. However, the THX editions -- the Definitive and Faces sets -- as you know have problems with fast motion shots because of the temporal filters they used in the cleanup process. We are entertaining thoughts of capturing several pre-THX sets with the XØ including the Special Collection LD's. Of course, the SC set does not come very cheap and we're a little too low on fundage at the moment to buy them off eBay.

My Projects:
[Holiday Special Hybrid DVD v2]
[X0 Project]
[Backstroke of the West DVD]
[ROTS Theatrical DVD]

Author
Time
How much do they go for? We could stage a massive fundraiser.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Author
Time
Like this set? I've heard from different people that non-THX star wars LD's have very poor picture quality, but I can't speak from my own experience (I only have THX sets).
I was wondering, who of the XØ team has the HLD-XØ?
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
Author
Time
How do these editions compare? They are US NTSC and don't seem to have thx logo's.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Entire-Original-Star-Wars-Trilogy-on-Laserdiscs_W0QQitemZ6445594921QQcategoryZ381QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STAR-WARS-Episode4-5-6-Laserdiscs-Originalfassungen_W0QQitemZ6445842203QQcategoryZ381QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Star-Wars-ORIGINAL-Trilogy-Laserdisc-FREE-S-H-BIN-USA_W0QQitemZ6445889966QQcategoryZ381QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Author
Time
How do the sets differ? is the japanese version just better quality or more compatible with the x0 player?
Author
Time
Really? I'm reading the Davis DVD breakdown of every home video release of Star Wars in every format and it says the widescreen transfers that came BEFORE the the Defnitive Collection were the same as the Japanese Special Collection. In Jedi's case, it's why widescreen versions of Jedi, both the VHS and the american laserdisc, were still upshifted before the definitive fixed it.

I'm pretty sure I'm misreading it somewhere, but I'm hoping you can clarify a little better.
The Best Show You've Never Heard
Author
Time
Ah yes, I'm actually thinking of the P&S discs that were done in '85. The letterbox versions were from the same telecine as the SC set. I stand corrected.

I have a set of the US pre-THX LDs and they don't really look very good to be honest. The color looks closer to the actual film, but seems to have an overall shift toward green, which I think has a lot to do with the age of the film at the time of the telecine. The THX cleanup they did for the Definitives took care of a lot of that. I'd say the color difference between these and the THX LDs is as close as any current DVD transfer compared to the official DVDs (i.e. a huge saturation difference). The big problem with these is the fact that the video is a lot softer overall. I would hope that the SC LDs don't have this issue.

My Projects:
[Holiday Special Hybrid DVD v2]
[X0 Project]
[Backstroke of the West DVD]
[ROTS Theatrical DVD]

Author
Time
Cool, thanks for clearin that up man

[edit] after further reading, it appears the American 1990 widescreen laserdiscs for Empire and Jedi are the exact same transfers as the Japanese Collections, but Star Wars was completely re-done because of the shrinking ratio problem that came when porting the Japanese over to the American in it's first run.

So in theory, the US Empire and Jedi widescreen Laserdiscs, pre-1992, should be the EXACT same transfers as the Japanese Collection ones. According to Davis DVD, that is. Japanese is 3 CAV discs, though, and US was 2 CLV discs
The Best Show You've Never Heard
Author
Time
I've always heard the Japanese Special Collections were better in picture quality. Maybe MeBeJedi knows something about this or possibly Segaflip since that is what he and Dark Jedi used for their project I was reading about here.

Patrick
"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." - Tuco from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Author
Time
All I know of the Japanese versions are what I've read, though keep in mind that there are different flavors of NTSC and the Japanese transfers are based on a different IRE level, so just coming from the same telecine master doesn't mean the end products look the same. The PAL discs are presumably from this same telecine, yet there are many (small) differences such as frame counts (not counting the obvious PAL speedup.)

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

Author
Time
Sorry to go off topic but I just wanted to post this pic to remind everyone why this X0 project is so important. It only took me about five minutes on the phone with Lucas to convince him to put me in the upcoming 2007 Return of the Jedi Super Duper Special Edition with Cheese Blu-Ray dvd. I promise I will never post such nonsense again. Please forgive me.

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3695/58wh.png

HARMY RULES

Author
Time
Surely Karyudo has the Japanese Special Collection? I was under the impression that he owned just about every laserdisc version ever made.

Some comments/questions from the first two newsletters:

The starfield enhancement algorithm looks like it produces very good results, but if I understand the process, it only works on static scenes. What happens when the camera pans down, or when the Star Destroyer passes overhead?

The timecoded version is a great idea, not just for your purposes but in general to identify how long each shot should be (I assume you're using the Definitive Collection discs as.. well, "definitive"?) and where frames are missing (I've noticed the PAL discs are missing several frames at the end of some scenes). Also it will be a valuable tool for assisting with audio sync. Do you have or will you be producing a document detailing total number of frames in the film and some frame numbers of critical events or scene changes for reference?

Regarding the frame cleanup, are you at the moment solely concentrating on laserdisc mastering defects and dirt/scratches/discolouration of the film prints? Or are you dealing with garbage mattes and fixing effects shots as well?

Guidelines for post content and general behaviour: read announcement here

Max. allowable image sizes in signatures: reminder here