Doctor M

Hmm.  Has anyone actually seen the HK or Japanese releases?

(oops, removed)

As many of you may know, The African Queen is the only film of the AFI Top 100 and Imdb Top 250 to not have been released on DVD in the United States.

While this may strike many as odd, the movie industry has never shown particular interest in pleasing its customers.  With so many other movies not on DVD, it IS possible that no matter how strange it seems, it could just have been accidentally overlooked for the past 10 years that have marked the DVD's heyday.

Whenever I discuss this with people, I always joke that the reason it's not on DVD is because the master has been lost or irreparably damaged and the studio is just to embarrassed to admit it.

I mean think about it, you are a major studio, and you own the rights to a piece of film history whose cast and crew are all legends, and you just can't find it.  Maybe it fell in a deep hole, the ceiling leaked or someone ate their lunch on it.  Would you say anything?

Besides the embarassment, it would be the wild west.  A gold rush of people rummaging through back rooms of every old theater, sales of crappy prints for insane prices on eBay, and pirated copies being passed around wholesale.  Really, the only sensible answer it to quietly inquire with collectors for a good quality print to restore.

Sounds crazy, right?  Maybe not.  Fox, who owns the rights to the film has been mysteriously silent.  That was a good enough reason for me to look into securing a copy by other means.

PAL2NTSC was on my mind until I heard about the Korean Region 3 disc.  It is an official release in NTSC format with some pretty reasonable reviews compared to a few PAL versions.

So imagine my surprise while watching it that the picture was jerky, Boggie sounded like he was huffing helium and Katherine Hepburn sounded like, well, a woman.

Examining the disc on my PC I discovered that the video was from a PAL master.  4% speed up to the audio, shortened run time and 1 duplicate frame in every 6 (at least it's progressive).  Extras and menu design suggest it was probably taken from the UK R2 release.

I was so annoyed, I started a project to restore 24 fps and correct the audio for my viewing copy.

So that's that right?  End of story?  Maybe not.  An interesting review of this release posted on DVDTown http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/african-queen-the/4610/1 has this little tidbit:

But I couldn't help noticing some small jerkiness to the motion video at times, almost as though it were not being played back at quite the correct speed or hadn't been transferred at quite the proper frame rate. Still, the jerkiness is not at all noticeable most of the time, except in the first reel, and to confuse matters further it's even present to some degree on the prerecorded VHS tape, so maybe it's a quality inherent to the original film; I don't know.

The reviewer is referring to his old Fox Home Video VHS tape he was using for comparison.  So, I already knew why the Korean DVD was jerky, but why would the VHS tape have the same issue?

The only answer that comes to mind makes my buttocks clench. It means only older PAL masters exist, no film.  That would further explain why the international transfers are universally poor, showing little indication that they've been restored.

Perhaps we are seeing the last gasps of a screen classic.  I own neither the VHS tape in question nor any laserdisc printed later than the last VHS release that I can examine.

Maybe I'm wrong and should be making myself a tin-foil hat.  I really hope that is the case, but you never know.

--I may be a born fool, but you got ten absurd ideas to my one, an' don't you forget it!--

Yeah, I've been there.  No cover art for Aladdin or (official) HP Philosopher's Stone.

That's why I asked.

One more thing I've been meaning to ask about this edit.  The deleted scene with Henry the Red feels a bit out of place.  Do we know accurately that's where it belonged or was that a creative decision?

IMHO it seemed a bit early in the prepping for battle montage, and sort of messes with the day/night cycles of the surrounding scenes.

Btw, I want to send kudos once again.  In the past when I watched AoD, it always felt uneven like something was missing... turns out there was.  It's a much smoother viewing experience now.

True, once you use OCR software and convert your titles to text based format it's quite easy to change the frame rate and add using DVD Lab.

It's not my preferred method because formating, position and special characters are lost... and OCR is not perfect by a long shot.

That being said, it is a good alternative.

dark_jedi said:

yes I really need your help,I am not understanding how to position the subs,they are to close to the bottom and kind of big,and I can't figure out how to use VSConv to convert the subs for DVDLab Pro,muxman seems cool but I do not understand it like DVDLab Pro.

 

so I still need you LOL

 

DJ

Position: If your final DVD has subtitles too close to the bottom (or below the screen), use DVDSubEdit: http://download.videohelp.com/DVDSubEdit/

Select File, Open Full Domain, and select the first VOB in the movie, it will auto load the full disc.

Using the slider below the preview window pick any line to work with, and then grab the slider that says "Subpic Vertical Position" and drag it up to where you want the titles to appear.

The select from the Edit menu "Apply Last Mostification to All".  The box for Apply changes to subpic vertical pos. should already be checked.  (By default all streams will be altered.)

Click "DO IT!"

Select File, "Save All Modifications".

It may take a couple goes to get it where you want it, but it does the job.

Size: As far as the subtitle size, they should be unaltered from the original DVD's size.  I don't know why they'd look too big.

Muxman: Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan, I only use it once in awhile, the rest of the time it's DVD Lab.  It's fairly straight forward, select vid track, select audio track (pick language name), select subtitle (.sup format) (pick language name, and check wide and/or lbx).

File/Import Chapters lets you import a text based chapter list, pick an output directory, click start.

VSConv: It's a command line proggy.  Open a command window, where vsconv is and type: vsconv.exe -i "input_titles" -o "output_titles" -f "maestro"

You can get other options by just typing vsconv.exe (or clicking on it from Windows).

It looks like I'm going to have to write a full guide after all.

Yeah, as far as I can tell NuMenu4U has died but a few sites still have it available.

It was developed to allow menu re-encoding when converting DVD9 to DVD5 with the Big 3 method (before programs like DVD Rebuilder).

It's a bit of a Rube Goldberg that takes some effort to get working and configured. The only reason I have it at all is because during re-encoding it has the ability to convert PAL to NTSC.

Frankly, if the author expanded it to re-encode the movie as well it would have been indispensible.

The other negative is that it uses Sonic Scenarist for rebuilding the disc, but a pay/registered copy can use Muxman Pro. Since it's dead-ware, you are stuck (unless you get yourself a crack for it).

It's a bit awkward to start. Look at Doom9's preparation guide: http://www.doom9.org/mpg/big3-preperation.htm#NuMenu4u

From there you can try the NM4U's Wizard to get going. I can't remember actually seeing a guide for the program unfortunately.

Just make sure you go to the menu "AviSynth" and check "Convert Menu Format (PAL -> NTSC / NTSC -> PAL)". (There's also an option to re-encode all assets, that's on by default, which of course you'll need as well.)

Again I ask the question: is there a good source for ADM cover art? I'm looking for Aladdin Restored Edition specifically.

It depends if you are using slow down or just pulldown flags.

I'll assume slow down since that covers most movies. (If you aren't slowing it, just skip step 2).

I really need to make up a full PAL2NTSC guide, but here's the subtitles part (I like to avoid converting to text format on the way since I'm a purist):

1) With Vobsub Configure: Click Open and select the original ifo/vob on the PAL DVD. This will rip your subtitles in idx/sub format.

2) VobSub Cutter: Open your ripped idx/sub file, uncheck 'Modify Time Stamp Count From Start'. Check 'Modify FPS'. Original: 25, New: 23.976 (of course). Click Save As and save your newly retimed idx/sub files.

3) SubToSup: Open new idx file and they will be saved automatically in SUP format for use in MuxMan.

4) Although some DVD players are ok with this final DVD, you'll really want to load your final files into DVDSubEdit and adjust the vertical position of the subtitles to correct for the change from 576 to 480 lines of resolution (or your subs may fall below the screen).

I've tried tweaking the .idx 'Original Frame Size' and 'Scaling' to do this, but it doesn't seem to change anything. I believe most of the information stored there is for PC playback but is thrown out when coverted to a SUP file.

[Off topic] I use MuxMan instead of DVD Lab because it allows me to build a bare bones movie with graphical subtitles and corrected celltimes (which often includes more than just chapter stops).

I then use NuMenu4U to do a full conversion of the PAL menu system to NTSC, followed by VobBlanker to replace the PAL movie with the one created in MuxMan. [/Off Topic]

If you prefer DVD Lab _IN THEORY_ you can use VSConv to convert the idx/subs to Maestro format (which is a SON file and a BMP file for every title). It is one of the few graphical formats compatible with DVD Lab.

I put this method together after much trial and error (and swearing). I hope it helps you.

I was surprised that I did not find the aspect ratios to be an issue.

They way people were talking about it, I thought the movie would switch between 16x9 and 4x3 or something.  I did not expect the difference to be black borders on the right/left.

Watched on a device with overscan, the difference is invisible.

Btw, I am aware that Comcast has Army of Darkness in its free onDemand pool of movies. I don't know which cut it is, but if it's extended, it would be a digital source, if not HD.

So it looks like a v2 is going to happen then.  I guess there's no point in burning a disc of the current version now.

I have one request for your future release: have better explanations for the different versions.

While the current Overdose, Doctor's Orders, etc. is cute, I find it hard to remember the differences when getting ready to watch it.

There's a program called stereoscopic player that allows you to take side-by-side, interlaced, over-under, monoscopic and SIS 3d video and play it back in just about any 3d format:

• Source
• Monoscopic
• Dual Screen Output
• NVIDIA Stereo Driver
• StereoBright™
• Quad Buffered OpenGL
• Sharp 3D Display
• 3D Enabled DLP-TV
• SIS Attachment
• Side By Side
• Over/Under
• Row Interlaced
• Column Interlaced
• True Anaglyph Red - Blue
• True Anaglyph Red - Green
• Gray Anaglyph Red - Cyan
• Gray Anaglyph Yellow - Blue
• Half Color Anaglyph Red - Cyan
• Half Color Anaglyph Yellow - Blue
• Color Anaglyph Red - Cyan
• Color Anaglyph Yellow - Blue
• Optimized Anaglyph Red - Cyan

It's not terribly expensive and the quality is MUCH better than DIY or most other similar software.

But what IS important is you can grab the free demo version, register the .dll and using GraphEdit convert the 3d format. (I believe the registration limitation only effects the player and not DirectShow filter.)

Details for conversion here: http://www.3dtv.at/Knowhow/Conversion_en.aspx

All you'd really need then is a VHD player and a standard output you can send to a PC capture card.

That's just off the top of my head... btw, did they ever do the 3d version of Kiss Me Kate or Hondo?

Hmm.  Even taking the bolded quote at face value, I READ the script.

While it's been quite a while since I have read it, I don't remember much of anything different between that and the Japanese cut.  Maybe a couple lines, but it's really really close. Closer than most movie final cuts are to the script.

I think that's just William Gibson unwilling to take any blame for the movie's failure, and hoping that no one reading the quote will actually read the script AND get to see the Japanese cut.

Still.  I liked the theatrical version a lot, and love the Japanese cut more.

Ironically, Johnny Mnemonic was the reason I saw the Matrix opening day (playing hookie).  (Though the awesomeness of the Matrix was the reason I saw it again that evening... and the following day.)

I'm not sure I agree with that.  The Japanese cut is almost identically to the script.  Obviously someone set out to make that movie.

Wouldn't it more accurately be named the Director's Cut not Japanese Cut? (At least it would certainly be the author's cut).

Have you considered using avisynth's logo removal software?

Working with ABC's Harry Potter broadcast I found it very effect for removing the ABC logo, and although screwy, it can make the screen bugs less obtrusive too.

The purpose was that the Japanese DVD was only available in Japan, is out of print, the menus are in Japanese, and the Chinese and Japanese dialog is not subtitled into English.

Basically anyone who is in the U.S., doesn't speak Japanese or doesn't have a time machine is screwed if they want to watch this. :)

I smell some admin warnings coming...

I had heard SciFi was doing that... even with some of their new series.

Were none of the extra scenes available on DVD as deleted material?

I was reading about the different releases that have been produced of this film around the world and many include 'deleted scenes' as extra content.

I was all ready to get the MGM R3 edition, when I suddenly remembered this edit (which, IIRC, I hesitated to watch because of the AR changes).

Re-reading the details, I suddenly can't wait to see this. The restored lines of dialog from the theatrical cut, SciFi channel deleted scenes and the theatrical ending make this the most ideal edit for me... (though I still hate the idea of shifting aspect ratios.)

Cheers RidgeShark for your hard work.

Btw, does anyone know, now that SciFi has SciFi HD, if they'll be showing AoD? It might give a better source for the deleted material (and easier to be cropped/resized to match AR).

Of course you COULD just watch those scenes IN the movie... seeing as how ReverendBeastly went to such an awesome effort of putting it together.

...

Wow, this thread still exists?

IIRC the guys over at FanEdit used WinRAR to pack the DVD.

In theory, even if you can't run the executable, a Mac unRAR program should still be able to rebuild the disc... though I won't swear to that.

Can any Apple users confirm that?

I'm curious to see some screenshots or clips.

Laserdisc transfers before now have largely been inferior quality.