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Info Wanted: Anyone Planning on making Anamorphic versions using 2006 OUT DVDs?

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Disclaimer: total novice here to the technology, so hence all of the questions!

Or is it not even worth it? If it is and you do plan on doing it, will having the 09/12 OUT DVD actually make things any easier? What software will you be using to do it? When can we expect to see the anamorphic version? Anyone get the discs early and already started?

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Well, the problem is going to be that because it will be on DVD for the US anyway it falls under the draconian copy protection legislation.

For other countries where maing your own backup is legal, then it may be worth it if you have a widescreen TV that doesn't have a good scaler built in.

Then you could do it for free using avisynth/virtualdub. You could just do a resize and perhaps a limitedsharpen
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I am going to make my own Anamorphic WS version,I have my PAL set coming in between Sept. 20-26,and I will have my NTSC set on Sept. 12th, my goal is to use the PAL for video,and my NTSC for sound.
DJ
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Well it would be nice if someone took this version of the video and made it anamorphic as well as added all the other audio mixes ever made to make the best version of the oot ever! And that doesn't count as complying with copyright laws then neither do any other fan edits.
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Originally posted by: Laserman
Well, the problem is going to be that because it will be on DVD for the US anyway it falls under the draconian copy protection legislation.

For other countries where maing your own backup is legal, then it may be worth it if you have a widescreen TV that doesn't have a good scaler built in.

Then you could do it for free using avisynth/virtualdub. You could just do a resize and perhaps a limitedsharpen

Question: Would this actually make the picture sharper, or does it just make the picture you already have anamorphic and nothing more? I guess my question is does anamorphic in itself make a picture better, or do you have to make the picture better first and the term anamorphic simply means the act of filling a widscreen TV with as much info as it can?

(I sure hope I made sense LOL).
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Originally posted by: Laserman
For other countries where maing your own backup is legal I don't know of any country where it is legal to back-up DVD's?my goal is to use the PAL for video,and my NTSC for sound.
Just decrease the PAL's audio pitch by a semitone before speeding it up to match NTSC speed. Or keep it as a PAL DVD.

Besides, I don't think "anamorphic" conversions should be distributed... but maybe a tutorial or something could be made for those with widescreen tellies that can't stand non-anamorphic...
Some were not blessed with brains.
<blockquote>Originally posted by: BadAssKeith

You are passing up on a great opportunity to makes lots of money,
make Lucas lose a lot of his money
and make him look bad to the entire world
and you could be well known and liked

None of us here like Lucas or Lucasfilm.
I have death wishes on Lucas and Macullum.
we could all probably get 10s of thousands of dollars!
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I have Special Art being made for this set,and NO it will NOT be distributed,I will NOT distribute ANY SW stuff from here on out.
DJ
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Originally posted by: dark_jedi
I have Special Art being made for this set,and NO it will NOT be distributed,I will NOT distribute ANY SW stuff from here on out.
DJ


Why the sudden hate?


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ESHBG - It depends what you mean by does it make the picture clearer.
If you have a widescreen TV then the picture will almost definately look better if you create an anamorphic version 'offline' and play that back on your widescreen TV.

The reason is that you can scale a picture well or poorly, or anywhere in between. A widescreen set has to scale a letterbox image to display it properly. This means it has to do it in realtime so it uses a (usually cheap) chipset to do that. The result is usually not that great.
If you use software to make an anamorphic version first, then you can use really good scaling algorithms that would be too complex to do in real time. This means that instead of the image being poorly scaled by the TV, you send it the already (properly) scaled image and so get a better picture.

This is why a lot of people with high end TVs, projectors etc. buy a lumagen, terranex or other high quality 'outboard scaler' because it does a much better job of scaling the input to the display's native resolution and Aspect Ratio than the TV itself is capable of.

If however you were watching in letterbox mode on a standard TV, then an anamorphic version created from the letterbox version may look about the same or actually worse - unless the original letterbox version was overly soft and gained some improvement from any other video processing you did to it during the conversion to anamorphic.

But in absolute terms straight scaling an image from letterbox to anamorphic doesn't automagically add in any lost detail, so doesn't make the picture clearer - but if you need to watch it on a widescreen TV then the image will almost certainly be clearer than watching the letterbox original, unless you use an equally as awful scaling algorithm as the one in your TV.
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"Why the sudden hate?"
what do you mean,I cant distribute this after I do it,this will be available on the shelf at the store,the Original Trilogy is NOW out OFFICIALLY,I dont understand what you mean,hell I friggin love SW,I cant wait to get my hands on these next Tuesday,and to get my PAL set shortly after,anyone here can make there own anamorphic set,just learn avisynth,there are alot of very smart peeps here to help you out.
I have NO hate at all,I love everyone
DJ

Damn Laserman,you are a wealth of information,I have a high end Widescreen DLP TV 62',I might have to look into what you mentioned.
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Originally posted by: Laserman
ESHBG - It depends what you mean by does it make the picture clearer.
If you have a widescreen TV then the picture will almost definately look better if you create an anamorphic version 'offline' and play that back on your widescreen TV.

The reason is that you can scale a picture well or poorly, or anywhere in between. A widescreen set has to scale a letterbox image to display it properly. This means it has to do it in realtime so it uses a (usually cheap) chipset to do that. The result is usually not that great.
If you use software to make an anamorphic version first, then you can use really good scaling algorithms that would be too complex to do in real time. This means that instead of the image being poorly scaled by the TV, you send it the already (properly) scaled image and so get a better picture.

This is why a lot of people with high end TVs, projectors etc. buy a lumagen, terranex or other high quality 'outboard scaler' because it does a much better job of scaling the input to the display's native resolution and Aspect Ratio than the TV itself is capable of.

If however you were watching in letterbox mode on a standard TV, then an anamorphic version created from the letterbox version may look about the same or actually worse - unless the original letterbox version was overly soft and gained some improvement from any other video processing you did to it during the conversion to anamorphic.

But in absolute terms straight scaling an image from letterbox to anamorphic doesn't automagically add in any lost detail, so doesn't make the picture clearer - but if you need to watch it on a widescreen TV then the image will almost certainly be clearer than watching the letterbox original, unless you use an equally as awful scaling algorithm as the one in your TV.

Thanks a lot for the info, Laserman, it is a HUGE help! Here is something I just said in another thread:

---Well this adds one more monkey wrench into things for me and now I have to see what will happen: I just found out that I CANNOT zoom in on my picture with my TV due to my setup. I just checked the manual and it clearly states that the only settings that can be used when the DVD player is hooked up via component (which mine is) are "Wide" and "4:3" (in addition to those options I have "Panorama", "Zoom1" and "Zoom2"; I was planning on using "Zoom1" to fill the screen more if need be).

Now I am DYING to see what happens when I pop these DVDs in! It seems rather silly for me to not use my component setup just to watch SW, zoom in and get an even crappier picture...

FYI I have a Samsung DLP (16X9 of course) and a DVD player that lets you choose a 16X9 option, so maybe this won't be that big of a deal...maybe my DVD and/or TV will scale the picture as best it can?!?---

So what happens then? Will my TV and/or DVD player scale the letterboxed image to fill more of the screen or will it keep it the same, with rather large black bars on the top/bottom (vs. anamorphic)? I guess I'll just have to wait and see...

Man, I sure wish this release was anamorphic! Then I wouldn't have to worry about any of this crap!
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Originally posted by: ESHBG
I guess I'll just have to wait and see...
Too bad you don't have any other 4:3 DVDs in your collection you could use for testing....

However, in practice you must take into account the “fuckwit factor”. Just talk to Darth Mallwalker…
-Moth3r

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Originally posted by: Darth Mallwalker
Originally posted by: ESHBG
I guess I'll just have to wait and see...
Too bad you don't have any other 4:3 DVDs in your collection you could use for testing....

I know and I was thinking just that. I am going do dig through my g/f's to see if she has any...


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Originally posted by: ESHBG
Originally posted by: Laserman
ESHBG - It depends what you mean by does it make the picture clearer.
If you have a widescreen TV then the picture will almost definately look better if you create an anamorphic version 'offline' and play that back on your widescreen TV.

The reason is that you can scale a picture well or poorly, or anywhere in between. A widescreen set has to scale a letterbox image to display it properly. This means it has to do it in realtime so it uses a (usually cheap) chipset to do that. The result is usually not that great.
If you use software to make an anamorphic version first, then you can use really good scaling algorithms that would be too complex to do in real time. This means that instead of the image being poorly scaled by the TV, you send it the already (properly) scaled image and so get a better picture.

This is why a lot of people with high end TVs, projectors etc. buy a lumagen, terranex or other high quality 'outboard scaler' because it does a much better job of scaling the input to the display's native resolution and Aspect Ratio than the TV itself is capable of.

If however you were watching in letterbox mode on a standard TV, then an anamorphic version created from the letterbox version may look about the same or actually worse - unless the original letterbox version was overly soft and gained some improvement from any other video processing you did to it during the conversion to anamorphic.

But in absolute terms straight scaling an image from letterbox to anamorphic doesn't automagically add in any lost detail, so doesn't make the picture clearer - but if you need to watch it on a widescreen TV then the image will almost certainly be clearer than watching the letterbox original, unless you use an equally as awful scaling algorithm as the one in your TV.

Thanks a lot for the info, Laserman, it is a HUGE help! Here is something I just said in another thread:

---Well this adds one more monkey wrench into things for me and now I have to see what will happen: I just found out that I CANNOT zoom in on my picture with my TV due to my setup. I just checked the manual and it clearly states that the only settings that can be used when the DVD player is hooked up via component (which mine is) are "Wide" and "4:3" (in addition to those options I have "Panorama", "Zoom1" and "Zoom2"; I was planning on using "Zoom1" to fill the screen more if need be).

Now I am DYING to see what happens when I pop these DVDs in! It seems rather silly for me to not use my component setup just to watch SW, zoom in and get an even crappier picture...

FYI I have a Samsung DLP (16X9 of course) and a DVD player that lets you choose a 16X9 option, so maybe this won't be that big of a deal...maybe my DVD and/or TV will scale the picture as best it can?!?---

So what happens then? Will my TV and/or DVD player scale the letterboxed image to fill more of the screen or will it keep it the same, with rather large black bars on the top/bottom (vs. anamorphic)? I guess I'll just have to wait and see...

Man, I sure wish this release was anamorphic! Then I wouldn't have to worry about any of this crap!


If you DLP TV is a hidef model, ideally you would want to scale it to the native resolution of your TV and play it back via a PC or other player that can playback HD files at a particular resolution. It will be a big improvement.

Also for anyone with a HDTV, it is worth looking at a decent 'outboard' scaler if you have non-hd sources, even a simple scaling DVD player like the Momitsu range can be a big improvement over the TVs internal scaler.

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Thanks again, Laserman!

Okay, I found a non-anamorphic, letterbox DVD (and it was a 2001 Fox release too, imagine that *yawn*). The movie was shot in 2.35:1 so it was a great comparison. In my component mode, it keeps it letterboxed and it does NOT scale it any bigger to fill more of the screen. But since I have a DVD/VCR combo I could actually switch to the AV mode and still play/watch the DVD, and in that mode I can select the "Zoom" options to fill more of the screen. Quite honestly, I didn't really notice much difference in picture quality and I was satisfied with viewing the movie in that mode.

So yeah, I am still on the fence about getting the 09/12 DVDs but feeling *slightly* better about it all. I still don't know what is going through Lucas'/LFL's head, though. Maybe they figure with the technology out there today they can take the easy route, as most (all?) widescreen TVs, DVD players, etc., have a zoom feature. No excuse, though, no excuse...

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Originally posted by: ESHBG
Thanks again, Laserman!

Okay, I found a non-anamorphic, letterbox DVD (and it was a 2001 Fox release too, imagine that *yawn*). The movie was shot in 2.35:1 so it was a great comparison. In my component mode, it keeps it letterboxed and it does NOT scale it any bigger to fill more of the screen. But since I have a DVD/VCR combo I could actually switch to the AV mode and still play/watch the DVD, and in that mode I can select the "Zoom" options to fill more of the screen. Quite honestly, I didn't really notice much difference in picture quality and I was satisfied with viewing the movie in that mode.

So yeah, I am still on the fence about getting the 09/12 DVDs but feeling *slightly* better about it all. I still don't know what is going through Lucas'/LFL's head, though. Maybe they figure with the technology out there today they can take the easy route, as most (all?) widescreen TVs, DVD players, etc., have a zoom feature. No excuse, though, no excuse...


I recently checked out my non-anamorphic copy of The Abyss. It's a great looking transfer, without a doubt. Even zoomed up. But after looking at the upcoming DVDs, I'm glad that I have Moth3r's and Dr. M's transfers.

There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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Moth3r's release always confused me. It's like he was very careful with the video... and then "wack" vhs audio?
Some were not blessed with brains.
<blockquote>Originally posted by: BadAssKeith

You are passing up on a great opportunity to makes lots of money,
make Lucas lose a lot of his money
and make him look bad to the entire world
and you could be well known and liked

None of us here like Lucas or Lucasfilm.
I have death wishes on Lucas and Macullum.
we could all probably get 10s of thousands of dollars!
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It's my understanding that Moth3r wanted to retain the original pitch as close as possible to the NTSC version and all the doubters and naysayers really should take a good close listen to it coz it's actually got plenty of punch and sufficient headroom to sound as good as if not better than many LD soundtracks ripped and compressed. Take for example the explosion with the gas torch just prior to Darth Vader's entrance on the Tanative.

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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Can I just take this opportunity to remind everyone that we (Jay, Zion and I) are fine with any projects involving the 2006 DVDs - resizing to anamorphic, adding additional audio tracks or whatever. However, this would not really be a "fan edit", so we came up with the term "custom DVD" to identify such projects.

We consider that custom DVDs are not substantially different enough from the retail release to allow for open discussion about their distribution. Any such discussion, including phrases such as "email me for details", will be deleted.

It is however acceptable to provide instruction so that others may re-create your project, using their own purchased copy of the retail DVD. If required, links to download custom made subtitles or unreleased/obsolete audio tracks (i.e. tracks not available on any retail DVD/audio CD) may be posted.

(And, for the record, I was thinking of getting the PAL DVDs to make an anamorphic NTSC version - with the original mono mix as an alternative audio option.)

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Actually I was considering doing an anamorphic version as well... although I have recently finished my "custom DVD"-set (I think the term does apply here as well) using Moth3r's transfer. But after all the new DVDs will have a transfer with probably the least analogue artifacts, something not only Moth3r's trilogy suffers from.

At least I'd like to try upscaling those suckers to anamorphic, adn perform some major clean-up using AviSynth.
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I'm glad the forum mods and owner are OK with it.
I'm not sure if it is only the US that prohibits the breaking of copy protection - in Australia you are not even allowed a 'fair use' policy, so it is illegal here to even make a backup copy of even an uprotected CD that you own!

Personally I think if you are the only person that is ever going to watch it, you can make your own version with as many Ronto's as you like, but of course, that isn't the view of the legal beagles.

The problem with the captures from the OUT shown so far is that they still have the damn trails
So I will be wanting something better...
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My next plan would be to use as much from the 1997-SE (I've got an anamorphic digital broadcast from a German pay-TV-station), including the localized opening logo "Krieg der Sterne" (because since the prequels came out there's always the "Star Wars"-logo in front of the crawl... even on the 2004-OT). Then I'd "just" need to upconvert the 2006-OOT to match the SE (which would probably include some LimitedSharpen and some dirt removal) to replace the SE-parts with their original versions. It's as simply as taking candy from a baby... trained in kung-fu...
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I would be interested in the "Custom DVD" anamorphic versions. If anyone does end up doing them, could you let me/us know how it turns out please? I am very, very curious about this all!
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I'm kind of hoping the X0 Project comes up with a kick-ass tutorial...
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Once Belbecus finishes restoring the mono mix, I will definitely want to use that to make a custom dvd. I have the '85 via Editdroid (which is similar to the original Dolby stereo) and the '93 via TR47 (which is mostly similar to the 70mm), but nothing with the mono, yet.

I'm also interested in obtaining the '97 SE mix to pair with the video from the Darth Editous version (would have to be edited to match up). Unless, of course, DE uses the '97 in his next version, in which case I needn't bother. I hope he does.

I don't think I'll be making anything anamorphic because my computer is kinda old and probably not up to that much rendering (also I only have a 4:3 tv at this point).