.: Citizen's NTSC DVD / PAL DVD / XviD project :. (Released) — Page 4

Author: Citizen
Time: 17-Aug-2005 4:36 PM
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Been working on the background images for the main menus of my set.
The clarity of the fullsize images I'm working with is great, Luke looks a little grainy but still clear enough and I had to re-do his eyes because he wasn't looking dead forward in the original image.

In order; ANH, ESB, ROTJ:

http://www.haku.co.uk/pics/StarWarsMenuBackground1.jpg

http://www.haku.co.uk/pics/StarWarsMenuBackground2.jpg

http://www.haku.co.uk/pics/StarWarsMenuBackground3.jpg

I'm not looking forward to having to plaster menu text over them...

Currently at the moment working on the NTSC version of ANH, decided on NTSC before PAL because Moth3r has already released a good PAL version and I thought it time a good NTSC version was released

http://www.haku.co.uk/pics/LukeCruise.gif

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: dark_jedi
Time: 17-Aug-2005 5:05 PM
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cant wait to see them citizen,looks like your project is coming along very well.
DJ

Author: pupil
Time: 17-Aug-2005 7:19 PM
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Hey Citizen, them menus are lookin very nice, you're right, would be a shame to plaster text across the middle of them, but would look nice to have the menus coming from the sides, wouldnt interfere with the faces then. I'm maybe stating the obvious there, but hey

Hope the PAL versions dont arrive too much after the NTSC versions, since the PAL versions will look better I'm happy to wait for them.

Keep on truckin

www.bardothodol.net

Author: segaflip
Time: 17-Aug-2005 8:21 PM
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Nice pics for the menus. You should be getting my package any day now.

Author: Citizen
Time: 18-Aug-2005 7:04 PM
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pupil, in terms of picture detail there will be very little difference between the PAL & NTSC versions because both are from letterboxed source and are being upscaled, but playback on a normal tv there is a noticable difference, namely the (god-awful) 3:2 pulldown applies to the NTSC version means smooth motion is ruined.

I was thinking about doing a single layer release but looking at the logistics of it means I'd have to make 12 different DVDs; 3 single layer PAL with no extras, 3 dual layer PAL with extras, then double those for the NTSC - too much work! so I'm only doing dual layer versions with the extras. The only major problem with using dual layer discs is I can't freely give out copies because of the absurd price of blanks (between £2 and £4.50 per disc).

Preview of the details:
-film video will be encoded at 8300kbps multipass VBR
-3 audio tracks; unaltered 2.0 at 224kbps, upmixed 5.1 at 448kbps, and commentary at 224kbps because I'll overlay the commentary onto the normal audio in such a way that the normal audio is faded down when there's commentary (no long empty silences!)
-each disc will have a film specific easter egg, along with the extras from the definitive LDs

I sorted the problem of having to place text over the faces, I just shift them to one side slightly and put the text on the right

decided to use those same images for the disc labels and the case covers, keep everything simple and within the same theme.

(still wish I had an extra 100-200gb more hd space...)

edit: P.S. anyone up for some wookie jazz?

http://www.haku.co.uk/b3ta/ChewyCello.gif

I think Stimpy's into it...

as well as Ren

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: pupil
Time: 18-Aug-2005 8:53 PM
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Originally posted by: Citizen
pupil, in terms of picture detail there will be very little difference between the PAL & NTSC versions because both are from letterboxed source and are being upscaled, but playback on a normal tv there is a noticable difference, namely the (god-awful) 3:2 pulldown applies to the NTSC version means smooth motion is ruined.

3:2 Pulldown is EVIL, like I say, I'll be much happier with the PAL versions. I'm patient though, so its cool

btw, Ren & Stimpy, oh yeah, best cartoon ever! U is da GIF daddy!

and re: having to do millions of copies of Discs, if you release a Dual Layer version, then ppl can shrink it to Single Layer if they wish. Either way, if you get the dual layer version on to mysleen, ppl can then do what they want (tbh, if any films are worth paying good money for dual layer discs then its these, I cant see anyone complaining about that). I'll happily help seed all 3 films on myspleen, even dual layer size.

www.bardothodol.net

Author: segaflip
Time: 21-Aug-2005 9:30 PM
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I think a dual layer release is fine, I think we should be pushing forward into the DL world. I would be more then happy to post dl image to a.b.starwars.

Author: Citizen
Time: 21-Aug-2005 9:38 PM
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For the NTSC release I've got the 2.0 audio, 5.1 upmix audio, 2.0 commentary audio (normal 2.0 audio which fades out to the commentary parts so no long silences), re-encoding the mpeg video (avg 7500, 8500 max) which leaves 1gb for the extras I've got to capture and do the menus.
The PAL version will be fairly quick to do once I've finished the NTSC version (just a few days) as I'll have almost everything prepared for it.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: dark_jedi
Time: 21-Aug-2005 9:57 PM
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citizen will these be available on myspleen?
thanks in advance
DJ

Author: Citizen
Time: 21-Aug-2005 10:22 PM
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Only if someone with a decent upload speed seeds them, it would take me 5+ days to seed just one dual layer DVD (and that's only if my ADSL connection stays constant, which it doesn't, it dies every weekday evening for about an hour and sometimes late at night keeps disconnecting/reconnecting every few minutes)

You're looking at about 25gb for all 3 films on dual layer, 50gb for them in both formats.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: dark_jedi
Time: 21-Aug-2005 11:47 PM
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wow, is there any other way of getting both the SL and DL versions from you?a donation to you perhaps, for the discs and effort.
thanks again
DJ

Author: Citizen
Time: 23-Aug-2005 3:34 PM
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For the moment I've dropped the idea of doing SL versions and just sticking to DL versions, don't want to have to author double the amount of discs (menus, chapter stops, video re-encoding etc.).
Perhaps the easiest way for me to distribute DL versions is to rar up the iso so it'll fit on two normal discs, the recipient then unrar's & burns the iso themselves with something like DVD Decrypter.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: segaflip
Time: 23-Aug-2005 4:57 PM
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You should not even need to rar it up, you can spread the vobs and other files across 2 dvd-r no problem.

Author: Citizen
Time: 23-Aug-2005 5:25 PM
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Yes the vob files will spread across 2 normal DVD-Rs but from what I've been reading up on you'll have trouble burning it correctly, remember that we're dealing with 2 layers and you need to specify where the layer change occurs, and an iso will contain the necessary information about the layer change and how to deal with it (reading the 2nd layer from the outside edge to center - the standard for films, or the center to outside edge) because it's a full disc structure instead of just the files.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: DarkGruson
Time: 23-Aug-2005 5:30 PM
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Very good work!

I sent you a fairly long PM.

I am interested in DL version (both PAL and NTSC)

Please reply to me and thanks.

Author: dark_jedi
Time: 23-Aug-2005 6:34 PM
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citizen you could just split the VIDEO_TS folder and put on 2 dvd'r data discs,that is how ADM does it,i just copy the contents of both discs to a new VIDEO_TS folder on the pc and then burn,and it worked on all his star wars edits and the 3 harry potter films.
DJ
so how can i get a set (NTSC) from you citizen,you want a donation for the discs and time?
thanks again
DJ

Author: Mitch
Time: 24-Aug-2005 1:20 AM
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Damn, lots of work Citizen but I see it paying off. thanks for your efforts. ;-)

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

Author: Doctor M
Time: 24-Aug-2005 1:22 AM
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Citizen sounds like you're really close to a release. I suddenly feel like I've been wasting my time. I can't wait to see these.

Btw, you can always cheat:
If you want to do a SL version, just author the DL and then run it through DVDShrink (or DVD-Recode if you're worried about quality).

That way you can pull audio tracks you don't want, leave the menus intact and it'll take less time. You won't need to reauthor, reset chapter points and all the rest of the hard work.

Dr. M

Author: Citizen
Time: 24-Aug-2005 8:01 AM
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dark_jedi, surely if you do it that way the layer change position is out of your hands? as for distribution, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Doctor M, if there's a lot of pressure from people to do a SL version I might do it but this set is my project for me and I want to do DL. I'm still at least a week or two away till ANH is 100% complete, taking things slow and steady and not rushing anything, going to have to take a break for a couple of days while I do some eBay listing as it's 5p listing day tomorrow and I've got a shedload (almost literally) of stuff to get shot of and I've got to somehow pay for the extortionate prices of DL blanks.

Once I've done ANH, ESB & ROTJ shouldn't take so long because I know what needs to be done and how to go about doing it, I'm still learning new stuff during the creation of ANH, the first big set I learnt on was ReBoot.
I made a 7-disc set of the entire 4 seasons of ReBoot in PAL & NTSC formats, was doing ok with that till I got contacted by Mainframe the creators

luckily there was no reprimand but I can't distribute it anymore. Going to be re-doing my personal set when I've completed SW because the first two seasons were from 1st generation VHS recordings of the UK broadcasts (it was created in PAL format despite the company being Canadian), and now I have the 9 PAL Russian DVDs of seasons 1-3 that are infinitely better than the VHS recordings - cost over £40 and took 2 months to arrive from Russia but was worth it.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: Citizen
Time: 26-Aug-2005 10:15 AM
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I've posted Mitch a 40min sample disc in NTSC format because he has a big screen and sound setup that the sample will hopefully look good on, encoded at dual-layer bitrate with the 3 audio tracks destined for the final DL disc.
It's a bit unnerving sending out a sample of work that people have been anticipating for a while now, here's hoping he likes what he sees/hears because so far all anyone here has seen of my efforts has been some screenshots and an old test clip from ROTJ which I haven't actually started work on transferring yet.

Trilogy transfer is on pause, still doing eBay stuff at the moment and for the next week or so, there's about 9 P3 systems downstairs I've got to check/sell/throw from an office clearance, if I can sell enough stuff I should be able to keep the 650mhz P3 laptop.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: Grinder
Time: 26-Aug-2005 2:32 PM
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Citizen, you're right about the ISO. If you just copy the VIDEO_TS content you will lose a lot of disc information which will cause problems in some players. You are also right about dual-layers not being cheap (the cheapest I can get are 3,50 euro's) so why not split it down the middle so it can be put on two single-layers?

That's no moon. It's a LaserDisc.

Author: Citizen
Time: 26-Aug-2005 3:29 PM
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To do the test disc I sent to Mitch I used some re-authoring program (forget which) that allowed me to just strip out a load of chapters, leaving the video & audio intact (plus menus if there were any), so using this program it should be possible to spit out two almost identical SL DVDs from the DL DVD, one with the first half of the film and the other with the 2nd half plus the extras and nothing re-encoded or dropped to save space.

***Citizen's NTSC DVD/PAL DVD/XviD Info and Feedback Thread***

Author: segaflip
Time: 26-Aug-2005 3:33 PM
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I for one see no problem in a DL release, it is about time. If Citizen gets copies to the right people who have the ablitiy to share, newgroups (segaflip), torrents (rikter), whatever it will get around to people. I know that when I get it I will post it to a.b.starwars as fast as I can.

As for the price of DL disc, that is pretty lame reason for people not to switch over. I have spent way more then what a DL inkjet printable dvd cost in comparision to some older, more rare Offical Star Wars release.

That is my 2 cents.

Author: Grinder
Time: 26-Aug-2005 8:36 PM
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Splitting it up yourself is a good solution, but with the programs I have you can't keep the menu. Can you check which one you used? I want it!

That's no moon. It's a LaserDisc.

Author: segaflip
Time: 27-Aug-2005 12:22 AM
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Originally posted by: Grinder
Splitting it up yourself is a good solution, but with the programs I have you can't keep the menu. Can you check which one you used? I want it!

Why not just spend the exrta cash for DL, then you dont have to switch discs in the middle. Your life though. Not trying to be a dick just trying to push dual layer.