"Doctor Who" (1996) at proper speed [AUDIO FINISHED; VIDEO SECOND PASS IN PROGRESS]

So the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie was finally released on DVD in the US this past Tuesday.

The problem is, instead of using the NTSC master, they used the PAL master and converted it to NTSC using the same method they use for all the other Doctor Who releases.

This means that the pitch and running time of the PAL version are preserved.  This is fine for any other Doctor Who, all of which is shot in PAL format.

However, the 1996 TV movie was a US/UK co-production, and was shot on film at 24fps.  Because of this, the PAL version is subject to the same 4% speedup that plagues NTSC-to-PAL conversions.

So, the idea is to convert the TV movie into proper NTSC format, with the accompanying 4% slowdown, bringing it back to its original speed.

Now, my problem is this - can this be done at good quality using the NTSC disc, which has the weird pulldown-from-PAL-or-whatever-it-is applied, or would it be smarter to get the PAL DVD, and work from that?

If that's the case, I need a DVD-9 of the Region 2 "Movie" DVD, preferably from the Revisitations 1 box set (as that's the version that was released in R1).  I can only find highly-compressed DVD-5's of this online.

But if it can be done at good quality with the NTSC DVD, how would I go about doing that?

I would get the PAL DVD and do it that way.

From posts on Gallifrey Base by members of the DW Restoration Team, and the RT's website, here is what I know about the process of releasing the TV Movie on DVD.

The 1996 US Broadcast
This version contains a title card reading "Based on the BBC TV Series" at the beginning.  It is also uncensored, and includes fade-outs to commercial and fade-ins from commercial.
The master tape for this version is a component D1 tape, 29.97 fps interlaced, 525-line NTSC.

The 1996 UK Broadcast
This version removed the "Based on..." title card and all commercial fade-outs.  It's unclear to me if this means that the fades were removed, or if they were simply cut off.  It is also censored in some places, though some fans prefer the censored version (mainly for the "more dignified" manner in which the Seventh Doctor regenerates).
The master tape for this version was a normal NTSC-to-PAL standards conversion done in the US.  Unfortunately, this version retains artifacts of 3:2 pulldown (basically, they directly converted 29.97fps to 25fps, instead of IVTC'ing first).

The Uncensored UK Broadcast
This version is the same as the US broadcast, but without the commercial fade-outs.  It retains the "Based on..." caption and is uncensored.
This time, the BBC requested the NTSC master to convert themselves, at the advice of the Restoration Team.  They converted from the NTSC 525-line, 29.97 fps D1 tape by IVTC'ing to 24fps, interpolating from 525 to 625 lines, then applying the 24->25fps conversion and the 4% speedup.  The initial master tape was a component Digital Betacam, which was identical to the US broadcast, commercial fade-outs and all.
The BBC decided to once again remove the commercial fade-outs before broadcast.  In doing so, they went from DigiBeta to composite D3 tape.  This is what was broadcast uncensored after watershed in the UK.

The DVD (unsure how much of this applies to the "Revisitations" DVD versus the initial release)
This version is a bit of a hybrid between the earlier versions.  It removes the "Based on..." title card and all commercial fade-outs (this time by cutting off the dissolves), but remains uncensored.
As the uncensored broadcast's composite D3 tape is unsuitable for transfer to the component DVD format, the RT went back to the PAL D1 master made for the uncensored broadcast, which, as has been stated, was IVTC'd from 29.97 to 24, then sped up to 25fps.
The RT cut out the commercial fades to match the uncensored UK broadcast exactly.  In removing the "Based on..." caption, however, they had to go back to the original, flawed master initially given to the BBC, so that shot is an awkward 29.97-to-25fps-without-IVTC deal.

So, it seems, by this information, that it should be fairly easy to slow down the PAL DVD to 23.976fps, do something to fix the one cocked-up shot, and downsize from 720x576 to 720x480.  Right?

Source - the Doctor Who Restoration Team website's section on the TV movie (refers to the earlier release, not the "Revisitations" set).

Interesting.  Guess I'm going to have to learn how to use AviSynth.  And get a Windows machine...

As I don't have the money to import the PAL Revisitations box set, and I can't find an uncompressed PAL DVD-9 rip of disc 1 of the TV movie, I've downloaded a compressed PAL DVD-5 instead (don't worry, I own the R1 release, I'm not pirating here).

I'm using MPEG Streamclip to convert the video to ProRes 422 (HQ) to import into Final Cut.  From there, I'm going to try to manually convert from PAL to NTSC myself.  I'm also going to try to slow down the commentary tracks while preserving their pitch (as they are at their proper pitch at 25fps, whereas the main audio is at its proper pitch at 23.976fps/29.97fps).  Not sure what I'm going to have to do with the isolated score, or how I'll be able to keep the subtitles.

Anyway, this is all a trial run anyway.  If I can get it to work with the compressed DVD5, I'm going to import the PAL Revisitations set and do it all over again with the full-res video.

---OR---

If anyone here happens to own the PAL Revisitations set, and could upload a rip of the DVD9 (or, better yet, just the movie, 4 audio tracks, and 2 subtitle streams, with no extra features or menus, as according to the Restoration Team, all of that fits on a single layer, so you'd only have to upload a DVD5), that would be absolutely fantastic, and you would get first dibs on the finished product.

If not, I'll just have to pony up the cash to import it myself!

If anyone can upload the untouched PAL video for me, please send me a PM.

Two bits of good news:

1) A kind forum member (who shall remain anonymous, just in case) has pointed me to a torrent of the DVD-9 PAL Revisitations version, and it's downloading quite quickly!

2) I seem to have had good success in the following with the DVD-5:

- Cinema Tools is able to convert the PAL video and main audio to 23.976fps NTSC just fine.  A couple of shot transitions have blended frames, but I notice no jerky motion, and frankly, I'm not that worried about it being 100% perfect.  At least I know it's possible now.

- I'm working with Soundtrack Pro to adjust the audio of the commentaries while preserving the pitch.  I'll update about this later when I know more about how this will pan out.

So, I just need a way to adjust chapter times and subtitles from PAL to NTSC, then I'm golden.  I'm going to leave everything else on the R1 DVD9 alone, so just the main movie (video, main audio, both commentaries, isolated score, both subtitle tracks, and chapter timings) will be altered compared to the retail disc.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do that yet, but I'll figure it out...I hope.

--edit--

I quite like the results CinemaTools has provided.  It may not be perfect, but damn it, it's more than good enough for me.  I might fine-tune it a bit more once I finish downloading the DVD-9, but I may not.  I haven't noticed any issues in effects scenes - titles and credits look a little wonky, but they do in the PAL version, too, so I don't see that as a problem.

I've also had some success in time stretching in Sountrack Pro without affecting pitch, but I can't quite get the sync to work for some reason.  I'll figure it out eventually, though.

UPDATE:

I've finished downloading the DVD9, so I'm entering the final phase of this project - doing it!

Anyway, as of now, all audio tracks are finished.

Main Audio
Slowed down 4%; pitch has likewise been lowered 4%

Commentary 1
Slowed down 4%; pitch of original has been preserved

Commentary 2
Slowed down 4%; pitch of original has been preserved

Isolated Score
Slowed down 4%; pitch has likewise been lowered 4%

This means that for the commentaries, the parts where they are speaking preserves the correct pitch of the speakers' voices, while the portions with movie audio (when they are not speaking) retains the 4% increase in pitch caused by the PAL speedup.

The main audio and isolated score have been slowed down and the pitch has been lowered to compensate for the speedup and pitch increase caused by the PAL conversion.

You can tell by listening to the beginning, as for the first 5 seconds or so, each track has the exact same audio.  Tracks 1 and 4 definitely sound lower in pitch than 2 and 3 (it's only music at this point), but all 4 tracks conform to the new 89 minute length (the PAL version is 85 minutes).

Now I just need to work on the video.  I have both a full-resolution 720x576, 25fps PAL file, and a 720x480, 25fps "hybrid" PAL/NTSC file.

So, here's my question - I can CinemaTools both of these to play at 23.976fps.  Should I do it to the full-res PAL version, fix as many interlacing issues as I can, then down-res to 720x480, or work with the already-down-res'd file from the start?

Well, after doing some tests with both versions, it seems that fixing the combing artifacts in the 480p file yields better results than fixing them in the 576p file.  So I'm going with that.

And you were right about that DEFT bullshit.  Good news is, I can isolate the affected shots and deinterlace them with no problems.  The only exceptions are a couple of shots where the last frame of one and first frame of the next have their fields blended.

In a couple instances of this, deinterlacing works perfectly.  In most, it doesn't work at all.

So what I've done with a couple of them is just repeat one of the frames from either the end or beginning of one of the shots - this only works when one (or both) shots are static, with no movement.

For shots where I can't do that ... well, they're just going to have to stay fucked up.  I mean, they look exactly the same on the PAL DVD, anyway, so even if you're watching the official disc, you're gonna have to deal with this issue.  Therefore, I'm not going to stress too much if I can't fix problems that were always there.

--edit--

Example of one of those "blended field" shots I was talking about:

Annoying?  Yes.  Fixable?  No.  Present if you watch the retail PAL DVD on your TV?  Absolutely.  So I'm not going to worry about trying to fix this, since it can't be fixed.

Well, I'm about 1/3 of the way through the film (fixing interlacing and DEFT issues) - just got to the first fade-to-black after the "Who?!  Am?!  I?!?!?!" scene.

My current FCP timeline.  Should give you an idea of how much needs fixing in this movie.  Every cut on the V1 track represents a shot or portion of a shot that I've had to apply some form of de-interlacing or IVTC to.  Every shot on the V2 track represents a shot like the example in my previous post where I was able to find a good frame to replace it with.  (note: the video file says "480i25" because that's what I named it when I rendered it from the DVD9 at a 25i framerate - when CinemaTools converts 25i to 24p, it doesn't change the filename, hence it still says "480i25" even though it's really 480p23.976, or 480p24.)

There aren't that many places where I wasn't able to fix a problem.  Each such issue is the last frame of one shot and the beginning of the next, and when you're watching it in motion you don't notice it unless you're looking for it.

I'm hoping to have the video done today so I can render out a new ProRes video file and start working on the DVD tonight.

Now, as far as uploading this ... does anyone know of a good guide for how to upload a torrent?  I've never done it (successfully) before.

(Interestingly, TheBox refuses to accept this as a torrent, saying it's not different enough from the 25fps PAL torrent they have.  This will likely be upped to PirateBay and Demonoid when it's finished.)

--edit--

Just passed the halfway mark - I'm at 00:50:17:22 in the NTSC timeline, which equals 00:48:17:05 in the PAL timeline.

Strangely, every once in a while there's one frame in the middle of a shot that's a blend of the lower field of that frame and the upper field of the next frame.  The rest of the shot is perfectly fine with no interlacing issues.

So there will be a few frames throughout that are half the quality of the surrounding frames, due to the fact that half the lines simply don't exist in the PAL master.

--edit again--

Noticed something funny - looks like the effects guys figured they didn't need to make the fake glass go all the way into the overscan portion of the frame (compare the pane the Doctor is standing behind [CG glass that the Doctor is about to walk through] to the one to its right [which had real glass in it]):

Video is now finished!  At least, it's as finished as possible.  I'm going to render it out and watch it with my roommate tonight or tomorrow.  If I notice any technical issues that hinder my or my roommate's enjoyment of the movie (she's never seen it, so she might be the better judge in this case), I'll go back and fix them before rendering out the final version and uploading it.

While this was a pain in the ass, it definitely wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.  I'm quite pleased with the result, and it's wonderful to hear Paul McGann's voice at the right pitch in the movie after hearing it that way in the audio dramas.

The completed Final Cut Pro timeline

--edit--

Sooo...does anyone know how to convert chapter times and subtitles from PAL to NTSC?  Preferably on a Mac, as I plan to use DVD Studio Pro to author the disc.

No one else appears interested in this, but what the hell, I'll post this anyway.

I've decided, in order to avoid piracy/copyright issues, that my disc will ONLY include the movie and the four audio tracks (main, commentaries, and isolated score).  No other features from the retail discs will be duplicated on mine.

I haven't decided about the subtitles.  I'd like to keep them (particularly the trivia track), but it seems that it may be more trouble than it's worth.

The good news is that it seems likely that this will end up being a single-layer disc in the end (as the movie itself on the retail disc only takes up one of the two layers), so it'll be a smaller download.

I'll also be making a movie-and-main-audio-only mp4, designed for playback in PS3's and Xbox 360's, for convenience and the option to download something of a smaller file size.

--edit--

Wow, everywhere other than here that I feel people might be interested in this, my posts are deleted without explanation or I'm outright banned.  And I'm being as tactful as I can be about it, too, not mentioning any sites and clearly stating that this is meant for people who already own the retail disc and not as a form of piracy or copyright infringement.

I guess there's little tolerance for altering a retail Doctor Who DVD outside of a freakin' Star Wars forum...

Glad to hear it!

I watched it on my CRT last night, and there are definitely a few interlacing issues I missed.  Time to go through that whole FCP timeline again...

Good news is, all 4 audio tracks sync perfectly and play at the right pitch!

It's a shame that some sites would just ban you like that Chainsaw. It's good news that the audio tracks sync perfectly. I'm a big DW fan and only have seen the TV Movie in it's incorrect PAL speed.

This should be useful for many all around. Would you ever consider making another audio track with fixed, deeper Dalek voices in the beginning? I don't know, having the Daleks sound so incorrect (high-pitched) always seemed to start things off on the wrong foot. Anyway, I really do love the work you're doing. I'm interested.

In the commentary, the director says that the voice sounds like that because he wasn't allowed access to any old Dalek voice recordings, and he didn't have any old Dalek episodes with him to watch for comparison, so he did the voice himself from memory.  Poor memory, it would seem.

I'm not going to be changing anything about the film itself for this disc.  However, now that I've got the whole movie running at the proper speed, a fan edit might be on its way after the standard release...

--edit--

Oh, and which one of you is ugnaught over at /r/doctorwho?

ChainsawAsh said:

In the commentary, the director says that the voice sounds like that because he wasn't allowed access to any old Dalek voice recordings, and he didn't have any old Dalek episodes with him to watch for comparison, so he did the voice himself from memory.  Poor memory, it would seem.

I'm not going to be changing anything about the film itself for this disc.  However, now that I've got the whole movie running at the proper speed, a fan edit might be on its way after the standard release...

--edit--

Oh, and which one of you is ugnaught over at /r/doctorwho?

According to this, the Dalek voices were originally all right but they were later changed for fear that they could not be heard. Ah well. I actually do seem to recall something about the director doing them himself.

Oh and a possible fan edit! How exciting! :-) A little bit of cutting and this movie could probably be a lot more fun and more like the show.

By the way, I'm not ugnaught.

Moth3r said:

ChainsawAsh said:

Well, after doing some tests with both versions, it seems that fixing the combing artifacts in the 480p file yields better results than fixing them in the 576p file.  So I'm going with that.

That doesn't make sense to me. If the source is an interlaced PAL frame with 576 lines, the odd and even fields are separate (as a crude deinterlacing method, you could "dumb" bob - through away one field and in recreate the missing lines by interpolation).

However if the interlaced source has already been downscaled to 480 lines, then the fields will have been merged together during the vertical resizing, making them much harder to separate.

Honestly, I don't know why deinterlacing the 480 version works better than the 576, but that's why I tested it using both.  Anytime I ran across an unsolvable issue with the 480-sized version, I tested the same spot on the 576 and got the same thing.  Must be something to do with the fact that the film was originally a 480 project that was upscaled to 576.

Moth3r said:

Maybe you should have approached it as "here's how you can fix your own disc" rather than "here's what I've done, anyone interested in a copy"?

Perhaps.  The thing is, it's not exactly a simple process.  My method requires Final Cut Studio on a Mac and slowly going through the film shot by shot multiple times in order to manually correct its issues.  It's not a "run it through program A, then program B, then you're done" type thing.

Watching it again on my CRT in a more awake state, I've decided to do another pass, this time at 576p24 instead of 480p24.  I've scrubbed through and re-done all the work I did at 480p, and the results look pretty much exactly the same on my computer this time (not sure why 480p looked better last time I tried it).

Tomorrow, I'm going to go through shot-by-shot again, with the 576p version, and fix anything I missed in my first pass.  Then I'll render it out to a 720x576, 23.976fps ProRes file, convert that down to 480p, and make a new DVD and see if that looks better.

You can add me into your interested list Ash.

I would also be interested in doing some sort of fanedit once the corrections have been made (though I am busy at the moment).

There isn't much of a story there but the performances are as good and sometimes better than some of the stories either side of the TVM so it deserves better treatment.

I agree wholeheartedly.  I'm kind of excited to finish the conversion so I can start on the fan edit.

I've also added a new level of obsessiveness to this project - I've gone back to my idea of emulating the retail disc exactly.  Unfortunately, the menu audio is (mostly) subject to the 4% speedup as well.

So I'm going through and testing each menu to make sure that the audio is, in fact, at the wrong pitch, and if it is, I'm fixing it.

I've also decided that there will be two releases - one that emulates the Region 1 retail disc 1 exactly (the FBI warning will be replaced with a disclaimer of my own), that will be dual-layered, with any and all speed issues fixed (menus included); and a single-layer, bare-bones release that will include just the movie itself.

Note that the main feature's video will be 100% exactly the same between the two, as the retail DVD-9 video fits snugly on a single layer anyway.

So, with that in mind, I pose a question to those that are interested in this: Would you download the DVD-9, with all retail menus and features, or the DVD-5, with just the main feature and the 4 audio tracks/2 subtitle tracks?

(Also, I haven't checked to see if the music tracks are subject to the 4% speedup or not; if not, only the main feature's audio tracks and the menu audio will be adjusted - all the other extra features were created at 25fps from the beginning, so there's no reason to adjust them.)