Info: James Bond - Laserdisc Preservations: 1962-1971 — Page 6

Total want the Connery collection disc you are making as it would complement the set you made for banned bond.

skyjedi2005 said:

Total want the Connery collection disc you are making as it would complement the set you made for banned bond.

I would also be interested in star trek special longer version on disc if anyone could help a fellow fan out.

The Banned Bond set needs to be updated. I still have the original Criterion disks, and plan on doing just that. I need to compare the prints used on the Criterion disks to the ones used for the Connery Collection Vol. 1

I know for a fact that the "Goldfinger" print has some bad damage on the Criterion set.  

The Connery Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 have digital sound.

So do the 2 disk sets from 1989 on...

They have these style covers...

I also have the O.H.M.S.S. disks from this lossless digital audio series, so that is in the works for preservation too.

Another set I have is the Goldfinger: Deluxe Collector's Edition in THX digital video/sound in Standard Play format on five side.

Forgive me if I seem picky, FanFiltration. No doubt I'm sure you know that I appreciate your efforts... indeed, I'll give my opinion for sure.

bkev said:

Forgive me if I seem picky, FanFiltration. No doubt I'm sure you know that I appreciate your efforts... indeed, I'll give my opinion for sure.

Everything or Nothing!

and

He acts while other men just talk.
He looks at this world, and wants it all,
So he strikes, like Thunderball.
He knows the meaning of success.
His needs are more, so he gives less.
They call him the winner who takes all.
And he strikes, like Thunderball.

Bond films are worth such respect and demands for perfection.

FF

I wish the Living Daylights, Goldeneye were put out on blu ray, neither is Tomorrow Never Dies.  They will probably never get a release now thanks to MGM.

I have seen 720P releases that look fantastic.  The only problem with GoldenEYE is the framing issue. Other than that the visual quality was actually better than the theatrical release prints.  Of course directly off the negative with no generation loss it should look that good.

Was Thunderball the first one shot in 2:35:1 anamorphic cinemascope.  I have heard various reports through the years of a 70mm version don't know if this is true.  There was a cutdown put out by derann films in super8mm that looked stunning, the colors were almost as good as technicolor supposedly according to one viewer.

Thunderball was the first to be shot in 2.35, before that Bonds were 1.66. Afterwords they were all scope except LALD and TMWTGG which are 1.85. I've never heard of there being a 70mm print of Thunderball.

Goldeneye looks fantastic on the UE, and the colors finally look right. But of course it's improperly framed. (Although the tighter framing really makes some shots more intense...)

The Bonds have always had a history of being different on each and every home video release. We Bondians have to be careful with each successive new restoration. The Lowry process has added much clarity, but at the expense of some of the vibrancy and life. Not to mention the colors. It just doesn't feel the same at all.

Bring on the versions! I'll look at any version of Bond. I even still have my well worn tapes. It's nice to find some people who are also nit picky about how 007 is presented. I've watched these films so often that I know the dialogue by heart and the slightest change is like a bombshell.

My obsession may explain why Bond is the subject of my thesis ;)

Any chance of looking at YOLT after this? It definitely needs it's color back. the UE looks like everything was just desaturated-maybe its just a matter of bringing that back up.

captainsolo said:

Any chance of looking at YOLT after this? It definitely needs it's color back. the UE looks like everything was just desaturated-maybe its just a matter of bringing that back up.

Yes, Y.O.L.T., O.H.M.S.S. and Diamonds will all have a preservation by me as soon as "Thunderball" is done.

I am trying another capture of the 1989 laser tonight with better cables this time. There is some slight video noise I just can't seem to get rid of.

FF

wow. wowie wow wow!

What does DAF need? I thought it was one of the few Bonds that looked good on both SE and Lowry versions. (maybe we should just list the problems with each film somewhere)

I was under the impression that Diamonds are Forever was particularly soft in the Lowry transfers...that may only be the standard-def release though.

The new S-video cable did help improve the quality some. The picture looks a bit better then it had. I don't think I can improve the quality any more without buying a new LD player.

I was not sure about the science behind old style LaserDisc AC-3 digital coaxial output and how to import it to my PC. I found a web page that describes the entire proses, and what I would need to pull off a AC3 transfer.

http://www.precisionlaserdisc.com/newfaq.html

Looks like I need a Laserdisc AC-3 RF Demodulator. They run big bucks, so I will have to try and save for one. Until then, it looks like it will be PCM mono and stereo from the RCA jacks only on my projects. 

Diamonds will complete the Connery Collection Vol. II preservation. Need to keep it complete for collectors that need the entire set. People like me.

And who knows, I may just make a new stereo mix and as well as isolate the complete music score for all of these films. I had the effects and music only on the Banned Bond set (F.R.W.L's was lifted from the Connery Collection Vol. 1 disk, as it was not on the Criterion disk for that one film), so I feel that I need to include something like that on these releases. 

FF

Gotcha. The more 007 the merrier!

RF Demodulators always run high so I gave up hope of snagging one. Wound up getting the audio I needed from people here. I'd also have to get a different player...at least for DTS you don't need new equipment. Those tracks are simply on the digital audio and aren't compressed at all. Only Goldeneye and TND are this way.

Update:

My latest capture of the "Thunderball" film from the Connery Collection Vol. II laser has worked out much better then expected. I found a nice little capture program that let's me take much better advantage of my capture card's options. This is going to look much better then my past laserdisc sourced preservation projects. I was able to capture uncompressed via the S-Video plug on my card. No DV codec or firewire is used this time. The DV codec produced a shimmer that was so annoying to me. It made things strobe far too much.  Look at my Godfather or Banned Bond project to see what I am talking about.

Running some tests with some basic filters in VirtualDub tonight. So far looks real good. As good as if I plug my LD player straight into my T.V. set. Can't ask for a better capture then that now can we? An Extend Play CLV format laserdisc is going to show it's limitations no mater how good the capture is.

I'll try to post some shots here in the morning.

FF 

Jetrell Fo said:

 

I found a nice little capture program that let's me take much better advantage of my capture card's options.

 

Can you elaborate on this a bit?  I'd like to find an alternate solution as well.

I did find something called ChrisTV that looks promising.

The program I am using now is called iuVCR 4.170n and it looks good, so far.

It's a shareware download with a 30 day free use limit. I like how they give you a lot of options to play with, and the info panel they provide during capture let's you know what's going on with the capture, and also the CPU usage. It seems to be giving me better results then I had with VirtualDub's capture.  My capture of the 1989 LD release went flawless last night. I was able to capture to a uncompressed 720X480 UYVY format with no frame drops, and it smoothly maintained a 29.9 frame rate.

Hope this helps.

Jetrell Fo said:

FanFiltration said:

Jetrell Fo said:

 

I found a nice little capture program that let's me take much better advantage of my capture card's options.

 

Can you elaborate on this a bit?  I'd like to find an alternate solution as well.

I did find something called ChrisTV that looks promising.

 

The program I am using now is called iuVCR 4.170n and it looks good, so far.

It's a shareware download with a 30 day free use limit. I like how they give you a lot of options to play with, and the info panel they provide during capture let's you know what's going on with the capture, and also the CPU usage. It seems to be giving me better results then I had with VirtualDub's capture.  My capture of the 1989 LD release went flawless last night. I was able to capture to a uncompressed 720X480 UYVY format with no frame drops, and it smoothly maintained a 29.9 frame rate.

Hope this helps.

FF,

Thanks for the info.  I will check it out.  I want to try and get the best capture from my Pioneer DVL-90, even if it's just for home purposes...I've got a few LD's like the Criterion Editions of Halloween and Close Encounters that I'd like to transfer for archival purposes.

Cheers

 

I am far from an expert on this, but I will be happy to help in any way I can.

I am finding that the card I use for capture has a lot to do with the quality. 

I have been using this hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600. This card was included with my HP Media Center PC model: m7760n.  The card has a box / panel on the front of my PC with extra inputs for Stereo RCA jacks, A compost video in, and also a second S-Video in jack. This card lets you import audio, but I still use my PC sound card for sound capture.

Jetrell Fo said:

What kind of sound card do you have?

THX certified Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Jetrell Fo said:

All I can say is ................... WOW

:)

How do you connect it to capture different audio from the LD for your releases?

 

As I still don't have an RF demodulator to decode the AC3 audio from my player, I am just using the LD players RCA stereo audio out jacks. I use heavy grade gold-plated audio/video cables. I try and never use thin and poorly shielded cables. Also, I make sure that I don't have anything that could possibly send out any kind of interfering electronic or RF signal close to the cables, player, or PC.  No one gets to use a hairdryer, vacuum cleaner, or any other such device in my place when I am doing my capture. And just to be fair to other people I live with, I do try to do my capture work very late at night.  

As soon as I get my hands on a RF demodulator (and I will), I will use a RCA gold-plated digital cable from the player to the RF demodulator, then from there I will use another gold-plated RCA digital coax that goes in to an optical-to- toslink converter box. Then from that optical-to- toslink converter into my PC via optical cable. My SoundBlaster has a auxiliary jack panel that sits in an vacant DVD drive bay in my PC. This panel has convenient digital optical in and out jacks.  

I capture each audio track presented on an LD independently from one another then re-sync them to my master video capture file when I build my project in an editor. For editing and such, I use Adobe Premiere CS4 Collection, Virtualdub, and Cinema Craft Encoder SP3 as my final MPEG-2/DVD encoder.     

This is the Soundblaster I am using with the breakout box. It's the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. I also use a set of Triton true 5.1 (Dolby Labs approved) surround sound headphones that plug into the cards front,center,rear 5.1 jacks. They are great for mixing in 5.1.

Here is something I did not consider back when I made the Banned Bond set. The Criterion Collection are in optimal Standard Play - CAV format. This would mean that the prints used on these disks must be preserved in great quality for fans not owning LD players or these sets. I think I remember using the Connery Collection Vol. 1 as my video source for the Banned Bond project. 

The Connery Collection I and II are only in Extended Play CLV format. I'll preserve all these sets anyway. The only one with a THX AC3 surround mix is the "Thunderball" 30th Anniversary Deluxe box set. I'll save the preservation of that particular box set (with new DTS versions of the original LD's AC3 surround tracks) for after I obtain a AC3 RF Demodulator. That could be a long time. But the other version of "Thunderball" from the Connery Collection Vol. II need not be held up. 

The "Goldfinger" Deluxe THX box was not surround, so that can be released as well.   

Hey FanFiltration, Sony had a line of external Dolby Digital surround processors in the early days of DVD that had an unadvertised extra feature, an AC3 RF demodulator built in. Might these be in your price range?

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-SDP-EP9ES-ES-SURROUND-PROCESSOR-PREAMP-NICE-/350393597777?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519515ff51

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-SDP-E800-Dig-Surround-Processor-EXC-Fr-Shipping-/130428969359?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5e2c218f

SilverWook said:

Hey FanFiltration, Sony had a line of external Dolby Digital surround processors in the early days of DVD that had an unadvertised extra feature, an AC3 RF demodulator built in. Might these be in your price range?

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-SDP-EP9ES-ES-SURROUND-PROCESSOR-PREAMP-NICE-/350393597777?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519515ff51

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-SDP-E800-Dig-Surround-Processor-EXC-Fr-Shipping-/130428969359?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5e2c218f

 

 

Thanks so much for this info. I was lucky to be able to get my hands on an RF Demodulator this weekend.  It will be put to good use on this and a few other projects I want to do in the next few months.

UPDATE: All of my future James Bond Laserdisc preservations will now feature lossless DTS Digital Surround (if film had an available surround ac3 track on the laser), and / or a PCM audio track.

FF

FanFiltration said:

I know for a fact that the "Goldfinger" print has some bad damage on the Criterion set.

That is true, but it is better than what MGM did. There is damage on the scene where Oddjob makes the turn off while driving Mr. Solo. There were some damaged frames on the negative. Criterion left them in and MGM just chopped them out. I noticed them tonight while watching Goldfinger and Thunderball on the UEs. You see the car jump for an instant. It isn't one of Peter Hunt's little quick jump fixes either.

MGM didn't do a Thunderball-type restoration on Goldfinger for their boxset did they?

Where does the mono track on the Thunderball UE DVD come from? It differs completely from every other track on the disc and is different in many places than others I've heard over the years.

Lowry took out way too much grain. Going back to the o-neg is one thing, but removing mass amounts of detail and not even thinking about the original color timing is something else.

One thing I did notice in Thunderball was just how much work Peter Hunt had to do to get the thing going. I think those rumors of a near four hour rough cut might have some validity. Despite its flaws and numerous botched presentations, the film is still magic after all these years. (even the urinating dog!)

Has anyone ever figured out why there are so many different audio versions?