Thanks.
For the video, it seems I've reached a good compromise; surely it is not HD, but I like it way most than GOUT... I'll convert the upscaled output @1280x544/25p to obtain an AVC coded file @1280x720 anamorphic, with a bitrate of 7000kbps, obtaining a good video quality, to make an AVCHD that fits inside a dual layer DVD.
So, let's start the other job, audio.
I captured all the laserdisc digital tracks in various language (english, french, german, spanish - this one is unique as the initial crawl is narrated... I think no other version is like that) directly via SPDIF optical cable, stereo Dolby Surround PCM @1441kbps 44.1khz. For the italian, as there is no laserdisc (sigh!) I captured the audio from the HiFi VHS passing the input through my MD deck, which have a very good A/D converter, to the PC via the usual optical cable, at the same quality used for the laserdiscs.
I must admit my VHS sleeped on a shelf for almost 15 years, and I watched them (at the time) just two or three times, so I was sure the quality were pristine, but that was not the case... the video has severe dropouts (but who cares) which afflict sometimes the audio - not so badly, but few times there are some pop&click. I tried some freeware audio declicker, but nothing works well. I decided to use it anyway, as it seems that this track is better than the GOUT PAL AC3 stereo @192kbps. As soon as I'll find a better copy of another VHS, I'll capture again and change that track alone.
Well, after that, I used Foobar2000 and avisynth's SoundOut to convert the tracks, first from stereo Dolby Surround PCM 44.1khz to 6 tracks PCM 44.1khz, using a fantastic Foobar plugin, FreeSurround, that works very well; then from that 6 tracks I used SoundOut to convert to AC3 5.1 @448kbps 48khz. I haven't used AfterGUI because it didn't convert from 44.1 to 48 khz (or at least I haven't found the way to do it); "WAV to AC3 encoder" do it, but the result is a completely mess of noise... at the end, the results are good using my method. If someone knows how to do it in a single passage, using a better Dolby Surround encoder, please let me know.
Next move will be to convert the video from 25p to 23.967p - this is really easy, but the problem will (maybe) audio... yes, because there is some tracks which has the right pitch, other are simply speeded up at +4% as usual PAL audio tracks... I must find out which one has the right speed, which has the wrong speed, and then convert them - I'd like to use avisynth and SoundOut plugin, but I'm not sure how to do it.
Is there anybody out there who knows very well the SW soundtrack, and want to listen so brief extract to understand which tracks has the right speed?
Another thing to check out is if "pyramid" LD soundtrack is the same of THX PAL laserdiscs, or different, and if it is the same, which one has the better quality.
Last things are the subtitles: still not haven't found the forced ones nor the complete ones; I could extract them from my PAL DVD (english, italian, french) but I need spanish and german ones... can't locate C3PIO subs...
For AVCHD menu, I want to do it myself, but I don't know if my skills will help me to do it...
Hope to release at least one version, multi language, right as a Xmas gift, but without subtitles I'm stuck...