Thanks for the feedback Video Collector. Unfortunately a number of these issues have already been nagging at me for quite some time :/
Concerning the edge fringing (I feel like there is another term for it that escapes me at the moment) those are in the actual capture/source itself. Keep in mind I am using a JVC 9600U SVHS player with TBC so the VCR itself shouldn't be adding much to the problem. Here is a screenshot of the raw capture. You'll notice the lines are still there.
Concerning the blooming reds in the NTSC capture. It appears that this is just the way the NTSC copies are meant to look. For example, here are some screenshots from my capture and the DVD.
RAW CAPTURE
Filtered
DVD
So here for example, the red isn't my only concern. I am also trying to get the scepter to not be so dark and damp. And I still didn't go as high as the DVDs. It really is a game of compromise. In the end I pretty much went with less is more and only made slight tweaking.
Also, notice that there are blooming reds in almost every shot. And I really don't want to tone it down as it then negates too much color from other shots. I am sure you have noticed while going through these droids tapes that once scene can have completely overblown whites and washed out colors only to have the next scene be so dark you can't make out any details and the colors are turned up to eleven. I am pretty sure that is just the way the cartoon was produced. It really makes it a pain to try and tweak this colors and have it work for the entire episode.
In regards to the sound, I made my recordings in VirtualDub straight from the VHS tape to PCM. Then I edited the sound in Sony Vegas to get it to sync properly, as well as make up for the UK PAL tapes deficiencies around commercial breaks and the end of the episodes (they usually cut out about 2-3 seconds early. I then saved the Vegas project as AC3 and that is the track in the MKV. I performed no cleaning or denoising. For the VCR used on the PAL tapes I have a Philips 6-Head SVHS which produces pretty good sound.
One thing I will say about my captures that makes me really happy is the TBC used on the JVC SVHS deck. It really straightens up the lines on the tapes and eliminates a lot of the traditional VHS wavy lines. Here is a screenshot from the intro showing almost perfectly straight lines.
I love it!
