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Originally posted by: Moth3r
Just fantasising about how the ultimate LD transfer could be produced. Come on experts, what do you think?
Discs
LD enthusiasts reckon that discs pressed at Pioneer Japan are generally better quality than those from Pioneer USA, so would the best discs be the Japanese "faces" set?
I'd give "Discs" an importance weighting of 50%. If the Japanese 'Faces' are the ones to have, I have them. Yay, me! If not, then presumably it's PAL that's better. Which I also have. Yay, me!
Just fantasising about how the ultimate LD transfer could be produced. Come on experts, what do you think?
Discs
LD enthusiasts reckon that discs pressed at Pioneer Japan are generally better quality than those from Pioneer USA, so would the best discs be the Japanese "faces" set?
I'd give "Discs" an importance weighting of 50%. If the Japanese 'Faces' are the ones to have, I have them. Yay, me! If not, then presumably it's PAL that's better. Which I also have. Yay, me!
Player
You want the one that has the highest quality disc transport, laser and pickup. Processing electronics unimportant as we want the untouched composite video output. Pioneer HLD-X0 anyone?
Or -X9. I'd give "Player" a 25% importance weighting. NTSC, definitely the X0 or X9. Or maybe a Runco THX reference machine? PAL, pretty obviously the 925 or 2950. I've got a 925. Yay, me!
What's better? Something that costs money? I'm not sure that's a good way of thinking about it. Lowry Digital had the best money can buy, after all, and look what they came up with. I'd say PP is worth 5%, but AviSynth can probably account for 4.5% of the best available technology for any money. It's not fast, but we've all been waiting 25 years already, so what's a few days of processing time at this point?
OK, OK, there are some pretty nice digital grading packages that aren't free, and aren't likely to be duplicated as long as AviSynth is GUI-less. But that's now getting really, really, picky. Like 0.25% importance of the overall 5% I've assigned.
Encoder
If you spend $-000s to buy CCE-Pro, I think it comes with a Pentium workstation and proprietary capture board included. Is CCE pro the best encoder, or are there better packages used by the studios for DVD production?
You want the one that has the highest quality disc transport, laser and pickup. Processing electronics unimportant as we want the untouched composite video output. Pioneer HLD-X0 anyone?
Or -X9. I'd give "Player" a 25% importance weighting. NTSC, definitely the X0 or X9. Or maybe a Runco THX reference machine? PAL, pretty obviously the 925 or 2950. I've got a 925. Yay, me!
Time Base Corrector
Composite video fed into a standalone professional TBC unit to strip and rebuild the signal with perfect video timing. Who makes TBCs for the pro video market?
I have no real idea, but I'd estimate this is worth 3%. Presumably, a decent player would do a good job with video timing, and a good cap card would do a good job with poor timing.
Because you could fairly easily cap each of R, G, and B separately (i.e. one at a time with a standard cap card) once they've been split into component outputs, and then re-assemble, this only reduces hassle and isn't really a show-stopper. I say 1% different from a professional card with component in. Overall, I give Cap Hardware a 5% importance. Hey, this is my weighting!
Post-processing
I'll assume that you'll want something better than avisynth and pixiedust?
Composite video fed into a standalone professional TBC unit to strip and rebuild the signal with perfect video timing. Who makes TBCs for the pro video market?
I have no real idea, but I'd estimate this is worth 3%. Presumably, a decent player would do a good job with video timing, and a good cap card would do a good job with poor timing.
Comb Filter
The TB corrected signal is fed into a professional comb filter, which will split the signal into component video outputs. I assume that the 3D motion-adaptive type of comb filter is the best?
Again, no real idea, but I'd guess this is maybe 5%? Even the lowly Philips 713x or Conexant 2388x cards do a better job than some of the best LD players, so I'm not sure the 'professional' filters can be all that much better. If you do the math right, it doesn't much matter what it costs. Does it?
Capture Hardware
What kind of professional capture board has a component video input?
The TB corrected signal is fed into a professional comb filter, which will split the signal into component video outputs. I assume that the 3D motion-adaptive type of comb filter is the best?
Again, no real idea, but I'd guess this is maybe 5%? Even the lowly Philips 713x or Conexant 2388x cards do a better job than some of the best LD players, so I'm not sure the 'professional' filters can be all that much better. If you do the math right, it doesn't much matter what it costs. Does it?
Capture Hardware
What kind of professional capture board has a component video input?
Because you could fairly easily cap each of R, G, and B separately (i.e. one at a time with a standard cap card) once they've been split into component outputs, and then re-assemble, this only reduces hassle and isn't really a show-stopper. I say 1% different from a professional card with component in. Overall, I give Cap Hardware a 5% importance. Hey, this is my weighting!
Post-processing
I'll assume that you'll want something better than avisynth and pixiedust?
What's better? Something that costs money? I'm not sure that's a good way of thinking about it. Lowry Digital had the best money can buy, after all, and look what they came up with. I'd say PP is worth 5%, but AviSynth can probably account for 4.5% of the best available technology for any money. It's not fast, but we've all been waiting 25 years already, so what's a few days of processing time at this point?
OK, OK, there are some pretty nice digital grading packages that aren't free, and aren't likely to be duplicated as long as AviSynth is GUI-less. But that's now getting really, really, picky. Like 0.25% importance of the overall 5% I've assigned.
Encoder
If you spend $-000s to buy CCE-Pro, I think it comes with a Pentium workstation and proprietary capture board included. Is CCE pro the best encoder, or are there better packages used by the studios for DVD production?
I can't answer what's best, but I'd guesstimate that the best is better than what's easily available to the persistent amateur by no more than 15%. I think professional stuff doesn't necessarily do a better job, it just does it faster and with less complication. [As an aside, I had a pro sound card once, and it was very nice, but its main feature seemed to be the fact that you could plug in XLR mics, etc., directly. Other than that, the chipset was available elsewhere for less money.] Overall, the encoder is worth maybe 5%.
Finally, I'd give the person doing it an importance factor of maybe 12%, just so this all adds up to 110% (like it should, if you believe 'athaleets' -- I think athletes know better). Even given all the best equipment, some people would find a way to mess it up, but if you were even halfway competent, it would be possible to have something pretty stunning.
Of course, to even reply to this post, I've had to take liberty in assuming I qualify as an 'expert', which I may not. But it's a fun topic, nonetheless!
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