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Star Wars Saga on Blu-ray (a joint venture project)

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 (Edited)

I am starting a new thread on this to get our talks out of Wookie Groomers thread,the goal of this thread is to make fully playable(hopefully 100% error free)BD25 Blu-ray versions of all 6 films,I have all the 1080p HD versions(English and German broadcasts),some Blu-ray authoring programs(but have not used it to much yet)so let the talks continue here,and hopefully we can get even more help.

Where I am at right now,I have lossless avi files of both the German and English versions on my PC now,so need to edit the English crawl into the German version,then figure out the subs.

So lets open this up and work this out and give ourselves some nice Blu-ray versions until an official release,in my opinion will happen eventually.

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Just an Idea, but because the German broadcast were about 17gb in size, adding any more bitrate to them to fill a BD-25 would be pointless. But why not drop the bitrate slightly so each episode comes to about 14-15GB with audio and you could to 2 BD-50 - one for each trilogy with 3 films on each. You really won't see a difference in quality between a 15gb & a 17GB version and this could be a great way to present them as 2 trilogies

 

ANH:REVISITED
ESB:REVISITED

DONATIONS TOWARDS MATERIALS FOR THE REVISITED SAGA

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See this is what I want,please by all means keep the ideas coming,that is a pretty good idea Ady,I like it.

2 BD50's for the entire Saga,and that could end up being some cool artwork,but not by me,I cant do artwork worth a crap LOL.

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Well the audio(97, 04 DD 5.1) wont take up much space so this seems like a good idea

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Excellent idea, guys!  Have you decided whether you're going to keep the films as they were broadcast, or change elements like Adywan did?  Any thoughts about colour correction?

 

Best of luck!

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How about making the films as close to the originals as possible?. I dont mean trimming every bit of the special editions away but all the pointless stuff like the extra snow creature scenes , Vaders return to his star destroyer , the pointless camera paning around the sand dunes in ROTJ . Is it possible to have the original   ending of Return Of The Jedi ?. Also insert the original Boba Fett's voice and "bring my shuttle " line back. Could something like this be done? .

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BOBA FETT'S WIFE said:

How about making the films as close to the originals as possible?. I dont mean trimming every bit of the special editions away but all the pointless stuff like the extra snow creature scenes , Vaders return to his star destroyer , the pointless camera paning around the sand dunes in ROTJ . Is it possible to have the original   ending of Return Of The Jedi ?. Also insert the original Boba Fett's voice and "bring my shuttle " line back. Could something like this be done? .

 

I have no interest in turning this into a full blown major editing project,Adywans Revisited series is for that,but I would not mind doing some simple color correcting,and maybe some easy edits(maybe)I personally like all the SE versions as well as the Original versions,I am NOT a hater on all the changes like most are here.

I am a Star Wars fan of old and new.

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And anyway, unless you have really good source material for restoring pre-Special Edition scenes then there's not much point.

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dark_jedi said:
BOBA FETT'S WIFE said:

How about making the films as close to the originals as possible?. I dont mean trimming every bit of the special editions away but all the pointless stuff like the extra snow creature scenes , Vaders return to his star destroyer , the pointless camera paning around the sand dunes in ROTJ . Is it possible to have the original   ending of Return Of The Jedi ?. Also insert the original Boba Fett's voice and "bring my shuttle " line back. Could something like this be done? .

 

I have no interest in turning this into a full blown major editing project,Adywans Revisited series is for that,but I would not mind doing some simple color correcting,and maybe some easy edits(maybe)I personally like all the SE versions as well as the Original versions,I am NOT a hater on all the changes like most are here.

I am a Star Wars fan of old and new.

 

 

Agreed.

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I know this place is "original trilogy", but how about leaving this version be.  Color correction will add picture noise unless you up the rate like WG did.  And to even do CC the way it should you need a professional setup, not just whole scene altering.  2 BD50s is a neat idea, but I'm for upping the bitrate of each slightly so they'll each fill a BD25.  This way there's piece of mind in them being as good as the originals.  No need for changes, menus, extra audio, just a nice simply showcase of them with the best picture quality.

Tobor is robot spelled backwards.

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balsho said:

I know this place is "original trilogy", but how about leaving this version be.  Color correction will add picture noise unless you up the rate like WG did.  And to even do CC the way it should you need a professional setup, not just whole scene altering.  2 BD50s is a neat idea, but I'm for upping the bitrate of each slightly so they'll each fill a BD25.  This way there's piece of mind in them being as good as the originals.  No need for changes, menus, extra audio, just a nice simply showcase of them with the best picture quality.

 

I am open at this point to ALL idea's,so keep them coming.

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balsho said:

I know this place is "original trilogy", but how about leaving this version be.  Color correction will add picture noise unless you up the rate like WG did.  And to even do CC the way it should you need a professional setup, not just whole scene altering.  2 BD50s is a neat idea, but I'm for upping the bitrate of each slightly so they'll each fill a BD25.  This way there's piece of mind in them being as good as the originals.  No need for changes, menus, extra audio, just a nice simply showcase of them with the best picture quality.


 

This would certainly get my vote! I'd say leave them alone but go for best achievable picture quality & a movie per BD25. I agree that there is no need for menus, changes and additional audio. Whilst I can't provide technical expertiese, I will gladly burn BD's for folk.
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Well I myself cannot burn Blu-ray's,I do not have a burner,so I am hopeful that once done someone here can burn these up for me,and when we are close to completion,and have final specs and such,someone can whip up case and disc art,I know Wideload can burn but it is to expensive to get Blu-rays from there(he is overseas),is there anyone here in the us that can burn these babies for me when done?

 

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How is the audio from the broadcast? Same mix as the '04 DVDs I presume?

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budwhite said:

How is the audio from the broadcast? Same mix as the '04 DVDs I presume?

 

Not sure yet,I am only working with the video's right now.

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I like this idea... I have a few thoughts

For whatever reason, the idea of one movie per BD25 just sounds much more appealing. Seems more like what you would be able to buy in a store.

Secondly, we have to consider though that Star Wars will probably come out officially on Blu Ray sometime in the future, so if we just keep the same versions, are we wasting our time? But on the flip side, like someone mentioned, if we try to change stuff like the endings and get rid of the additional crap, there really is no good source for those scenes, since they've never been in HD.

And lastly, idk, I personally feel like we just shouldn't write off menus and such. To me, probably the biggest thing about having an actual disc is that you get a menu, and I think they add a lot. But that is just my two cents

May the Force be with you.

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 (Edited)

Apologies for my late reporting in - had some beers to drink at a colleague's leaving do.

Stand by for Brain Dump...

Saga Running Times:

  • Episode I = 133 mins
  • Episode II = 142 mins
  • Episode III = 140 mins
  • Episode IV = 125 mins
  • Episode V = 127 mins
  • Episode VI = 135 mins

So, taking a maximum runtime of 145 mins to take into account menu backgrounds, you are looking at an average bitrate of 20Mbps, Maximum 38/40Mbps, with maybe about 200Mb to spare.

The Prequel Trilogy on 1 x BD50 would work out at 415 mins, Average 13.5Mbps, Maximum 38/40Mbps, so probably a little on the low side...

In terms of audio that's based on the German HD Streams uploaded with:

  • 448Kbps DD 5.1 English
  • 224Kbps DD 2.0 Commentary

No matter what, I'm guessing we will need to re-encode the video, because the chances that the HD Streams are to Blu-ray spec are very low.

As I mentioned to Dark Jedi, not only will the crawls have to be converted to English, but so would any shots which featured Alien speech as this was burnt into the video for the German Broadcast. I guess we'd be looking at Splicing in shots from the HV2 uploads to 'fix' any issues with the German HD broadcasts?

Additional Thoughts

  • If we were to expand this to a BD-50 per title (perhaps not for 'version 1') we could look at adding additional audio streams: Spanish? French?
  • PCM Isolated Score?
  • Secondary Picture Track based on Clones Revealed, Sith Revealed, Beginning Star Wars, Building Empire, Returning to Jedi.
  • There's the option to play with Presentation Graphics for things like trivia tracks, storyboard streams etc.
  • Is it also worth considering 'bonus discs' which could collate some of the many standard def documentary preservations together?
  • Even looking at Standard Definition preservations of the Original Trilogy, Blu-ray gives us the option of syncing up all those various audio tracks (even in PCM) without affecting the picture quality - up to 32 audio tracks.

I'll update this post with more thoughts as I think of them!

DVD-BOY

Save London’s Curzon Soho Cinema

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Secondary Picture Track based on Clones Revealed, Sith Revealed, Beginning Star Wars, Building Empire, Returning to Jedi.

 

I don't know how good those would look compared to the HD versions of the Saga.  If you went the secondary picture track, I'd rather have the 97 SE and the 04 DVD as a secondary track and a color-corrected version with some of the more offesive SE parts removed as the main picture track. 

And I like the idea of one trilogy per disc so I can watch my favorite movies all on one disc.

 

Animated menus would kick butt.

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Sluggo said:
Secondary Picture Track based on Clones Revealed, Sith Revealed, Beginning Star Wars, Building Empire, Returning to Jedi.

 

I don't know how good those would look compared to the HD versions of the Saga.  If you went the secondary picture track, I'd rather have the 97 SE and the 04 DVD as a secondary track and a color-corrected version with some of the more offesive SE parts removed as the main picture track. 

And I like the idea of one trilogy per disc so I can watch my favorite movies all on one disc.

 

Animated menus would kick butt.

Well the secondary Picture in Picture track is only standard definition, so it should look the same as the existing DVDs - it wouldn't be a case of dropping them in as is, but using them as a spring board to show additional footage alongside the main feature.

By 'animated menus' do you mean 'pop-up', because that is certainly my intention.

 

Save London’s Curzon Soho Cinema

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Well DVD-BOY you have a lot more in store for your Blu-ray versions than I do,you are talking shit way over my head,I can author DVD's,I have never authored Blu-ray before(this will be a learning experience for me),so all this talk of pop up menu's,extra pic track,that is not going to happen on mine.

So maybe you should take over and we will help you.

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@ Adywan,

I hope you are following this thread,I sent you a PM yesterday but you probably did not see it,I have edited in the English crawl into the German version,the first edit point is very easy,I just started it right before "A long time ago......."where the screen is solid black,but the second edit point is going to be tricky,where did you do your second cut?

The reason I ask is because the stars on the German version are so much bigger and brighter,i really sticks out,I tried right after the crawl disappears,then right when the camera pans down and I do not like either of them spots,to noticeable,so where did you edit it to keep it flowing better?

Thanks

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dark_jedi said:

@ Adywan,

I hope you are following this thread,I sent you a PM yesterday but you probably did not see it,I have edited in the English crawl into the German version,the first edit point is very easy,I just started it right before "A long time ago......."where the screen is solid black,but the second edit point is going to be tricky,where did you do your second cut?

The reason I ask is because the stars on the German version are so much bigger and brighter,i really sticks out,I tried right after the crawl disappears,then right when the camera pans down and I do not like either of them spots,to noticeable,so where did you edit it to keep it flowing better?

Thanks

sorry , i haven't had chance to check my PM's yet.

If i remember correctly you have to cut on the shot change after the stardestroyer flies overhead. The German HD has the crawl taken from a difference source which seems upscaled.  So with all the saga you will have to make the cut at the first shot change after the pan down. Its pretty easy to spot when the sources change due to the difference in quality

With ANH the HD source starts at the shot of the Tantive IV flying towards us
With ESB it is the shot of the probes emerging from the underbelly of the stardestroyer
With ROTJ it is the shot of the shuttle and TIEs flying towards the camera
With TPM is is the first shot inside the cockpit

Now with AOTC & ROTS you could splice it in anywhere you want after the crawl disappears because both are taken from the digital source and it looks like the English crawl should match perfectly

 

 

ANH:REVISITED
ESB:REVISITED

DONATIONS TOWARDS MATERIALS FOR THE REVISITED SAGA

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dark_jedi said:

@ Adywan,

I hope you are following this thread,I sent you a PM yesterday but you probably did not see it,I have edited in the English crawl into the German version,the first edit point is very easy,I just started it right before "A long time ago......."where the screen is solid black,but the second edit point is going to be tricky,where did you do your second cut?

The reason I ask is because the stars on the German version are so much bigger and brighter,i really sticks out,I tried right after the crawl disappears,then right when the camera pans down and I do not like either of them spots,to noticeable,so where did you edit it to keep it flowing better?

Thanks

Hey DJ, is it not possible to do the cuts on scene changes, or do the scenes run too long, and is the english footage noticably lower quality?

<Looks like Ady beat me to it!!>

dark_jedi said:

Well DVD-BOY you have a lot more in store for your Blu-ray versions than I do,you are talking shit way over my head,I can author DVD's,I have never authored Blu-ray before(this will be a learning experience for me),so all this talk of pop up menu's,extra pic track,that is not going to happen on mine.

So maybe you should take over and we will help you.

What were you planning to author your project in?

Some of my stuff may be blu(e)-sky thinking, and perhaps it's safer to start with a simpler disc.

One thought might be to also upload the 'building blocks' of a project up to newsgroups, so that people can author up what they like, how they like.

Have you taken a look at Netblender DoStudio?  They do a 30 day trial of the software, which will let you do everything except send projects for replication.  Pop-up menu's are just specifically named Photoshop documents which you import in.

What were you planning on doing the encoding with?

DVD-BOY

Save London’s Curzon Soho Cinema

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I say keep it simple. One or two audio tracks, eng subs and just the movie. Less timeconsuming and bigger chance that it will show up sooner rather than later/never.