Oh yeah that's right, he still wants to make Star Wars 3d for Imax.
Maybe he's saving the Blu-Ray box for a release to coincide with episode 7. He said he won't make the final trilogy, which pretty much guarantees when he is greedy enough he will.
I don't care one way or another about a CG Yoda in Ep 1, frankly I find all of Lucas's CGI characters look more artificial than the puppets through out the OT.
The point was the CG Yoda was PROMISED for the next box set, meaning there's still another one yet to come (though did we doubt that).
As far as an "Original" Blu Ray release of Phantom Menace, don't forget it's been airing on HBO and other outlets in HD world wide.
There are many rips of it floating around. They will make an excellent sources for any future Blu Ray restoration projects should Lucas decide to mess with any of the prequels.
Indiana Jones Box Set review from TheDigitalBits:
Right off the bat, the decision to make these DVDs single-disc releases means that the video is going to be more compressed. Advances in compression, however, mean the picture and sound is actually very comparable to the original DVD release in 2003 (you can read my review of those discs, and the actual films, here). In fact, you could argue that the new anamorphic widescreen video on these discs is actually very slightly better than the original releases. Raiders is still a mixed bag – the original DVD was overly soft, while the new DVD is a little crisper looking. So while you do get more detail, you also see more edge enhancement and compression artifacting. Temple of Doom and Last Crusade however, look a little tighter, with slightly better contrast and perhaps a hair more detail
So it's the same TRANSFER of the movies, it is not the same encoding. Sort of like the opposite of a SuperBit.
Clone Wars: OMG, I did NOT realize Clone Wars was already out and bombed. Then these box sets will just have to be used to push the TV show and/or DVD release.
When are SW fans going to realize George is under no obligation to tell us the truth about anything? He can say he's decided to digitally remove Han Solo from all films and that he had a bon fire burning all prior prints... and then later sell us the same damn DVD again with Solo still there.
Forget buying SW stuff. He will only get my money again when: OOT gets a sparkling clean transfer OR Episodes 7, 8 & 9 hit theaters.
No other reason. He is dead to me.
Is there anything still actively being seeded on MySpleen?
I haven't been there in forever but I know the Star Wars stuff was being generally frowned on.
Re: This Crap -- Don't you guys get it? This is promotional. Store sales, fliers and big stand up displays at all the major retails and electronics stores to help push the new Clone Wars travesty. (I guarantee at least one on-disc ad when you start and a slip of paper ad inside the box).
No new extras, no new Yoda in TPM... we got a new box, and a push to see Clone Wars in theaters and on Cartoon Network.
Re: GOUT -- Mind you to be fair, the GOUT were limited edition... in the previous package. Now you have to buy them in a BOXSET. So that particular release was limited (like all previous last last last time to own crap.)
No-one has any reason to buy these unless they don't already own Star Wars on DVD.
Perhaps we can hope that someone will pull off an Army of Darkness Hong Kong Region 3 release of the OOT.
We can hope.
Re: Indiana Jones -- Btw, for the record, the Indy re-release was NOT a re-release with added Indy 4 promotional stuff.
There was new legitimate making-of content (but still not the deleted scenes that they have squirreled away).
Although it was shoe-horned onto fewer discs, reviews say that the compression was done better and the image was slightly sharper in places.
It wasn't a leaps and bounds improvement over the previous box, but it was an improvement.
Lol, really? That's a very odd coincidence.
No adywan, I am very specifically referring to 'on a PC'. I have no ability to play PAL on a standalone unit (one of the reasons I do conversions).
Moth3r: Well, the Star Wars PAL laserdiscs were the first time I ever noticed it, but I've run into many cases since then. (I'll have to go digging to find some others to name.)
I'm told it only exists in DivX format. I'd love to see it too.
I have now made a large amount of PAL to NTSC conversions of one type or another over the past several years.
While I know NTSC takes a lot of flak from PAL countries: "Never The Same Color", etc., but in my experience most PAL video, whether it's VHS, DVD, TV or laserdisc, has worse color issues.
In general I find colors are washed out to fairly low levels across the board, except red (ALWAYS red) which tends to be so overblown it clips.
Anyone with more technical smarts able to explain this to me?
(deleted, never mind.)
If you want to preserve Little Mermaid, get yourself a laserdisc player and any of the older laserdiscs and do a rip of the PCM track.
Heck, get me a copy of the audio track and I'll sync it for a second edition if you'd like. Preserving a TV recording on VHS sounds pointless, but maybe that's just me.
It's important to understand that when stereo audio is mixed for theaters, there is a 3d holophonic soundstage. It should be unnecessary to explain that sounds can seem to come at you from various directions including behind you in these situations.
Dolby ProLogic and similar are capable of interpreting this from 2 channels of input and localizing them to specific speakers to improve the quality and make it so everyone doesn't have to sit in a tiny little sweet-spot to get the effect.
Upmixing from this is quite possible and the masters may even already be multiple channels to start with. The can simply use the same audio, and with some small tweaks pass it discretely instead of all squished together into 2 channels.
Now that goes out the window with Disney's DEHT mixes which are designed for "home theaters" (which means idiots that can't set up their system, don't know how to use the audio menu on a DVD, or are watching on a 9" single speaker television).
But... most studios make a deliberate effort and tend to do a pretty good job with an upmix.
As far as full frame, this has been discuss before as well.
A lot of times animators will work with the full cells when creating animated movies and down the road TPTB decided they want to make it widescreen for greater impact or marketablility or whatever.
To do this they just crop the film when transferring it.
Sure you are most familiar with the widescreen presentation, but the animators never did all that work with the intention of a portion never being seen.
It's not the same as cropping live action films for widescreen, because in those cases there is a cinemetographer who knows what will and won't end up in the final shot composing the action based on that.
I remembered there being a CLV and CAV release on LD. I suppose there had to be an AC3 one as well.
I didn't realize there were THAT many.
Really though, give the older DD5.1 mix a listen before going off on a crazy crusade, it's very well done.
The theatrical re-release IIRC was based on the original ProLogic-like stereo mix (or the 70mm six track as SilverWook was saying). It's not like they pulled more channels out of their butt, they largely just used newer technology to provide discrete channels for existing ones when theaters became capable of handling that (thanks to the switch to DD, DTS and SDSS).
I'm sure there were some changes (70mm six track does not correspond to the same speaker placements as modern DD5.1), but really, when HTF thinks a 5.1 mix sounds better than a PCM original, they probably have a good reason. Less channels isn't always better, just less. :-)
Problems:
The first cause for alarm is that the only English audio mix provided on this disc is the Disney Enhanced for Home Theater (D.E.H.T.) mix. The original, great-sounding mix heard both on the previous laserdisc and DVD is nowhere in sight. I can’t believe that given the dearth of bonus material on Disc 1 that Disney couldn’t have found the bandwidth to include it. And perhaps the omission of the original mix wouldn’t have been such a bad thing had the new DEHT mix not been so troublesome.
The problems with the new mix are two-fold to my ears. One problem is directional… the placement choices of the sound. While most non-musical sequences seem fine in terms of what comes out of what speaker, the musical sequences, which are the heart and soul of the film, have been less tastefully served. Firstly, the lead vocal tracks to each song are duplicated in the front three channels… spreading Ariel’s (or Sabastien’s) voice across the front sound state in a strange, phase-shifting sort of way that I can only imagine was supposed to “enhance” the experience.
During the first song, Ariel’s voice sounds oddly detached and lacks the solid soundstaging and presence of the original mix. The decision to spread her voice over all three front channels dissolves any sense that you’re hearing a point-source of sound… ie: a person singing. Adding to that some overly aggressive placement of instrumentation in the rear channels and the sensation is more like putting a boom-box on your shoulder in a 1980’s MTV video than listening to a soulful aria as the song was intended to portray.
Now, I guess I should be thankful that The Little Mermaid’s DEHT mix didn’t suffer the same fate as that of Aladdin where the clueless mixing engineer decided to place the lead vocalist tracks in the rear surround channels as well. But that’s small consolation given that, unlike Aladdin, the original mix is not presented here as an option.
But now we get to the real problem I have with this new mix. It sounds artificial. And the musical vocal tracks have a dry, flat, electronic signature that’s entirely destroys the lush, vivid, liquid sound quality of the vocal tracks in the original mixes on the laserdisc and DVD. Just how obvious is this problem? Well, it was so obvious to my ears that when first sitting down and skipping to my favorite “Part of Your World” sequence expecting to be showered with musical bliss (picture that old Maxell advertisement) as I have been accustomed to experiencing with the previous DVD and laserdisc, instead I found myself grimacing with disgust and running from the room to dig out my old laserdisc to do some serious A/B comparisons. I had to see if my memory was so in error or if the Disney tech team really are complete and total morons.
Discovered fact: They are morons folks. Allow me to state boldly the plain and simple truth. The techs who cooked up this DEHT mix are nothing but tone-deaf, MP3-listening junkies who wouldn’t know a holographic soundstage if it bit them in the ass. I’ll continue.
So after blowing the dust off of my laserdisc player, I strategically ran cables both directly from the LPCM output and from the RF-output via my AC3 RF modulator so I could easily toggle back and forth between the 2.0 16/44.1 stereo (ProLogic) track on the LD, the 5.1 AC-3 (Dolby Digital) track on the LD, and the new 5.1 Dolby Digital DEHT mix on the new DVD. To make things even more fun, I hooked up my old DVD player so that I could also seamlessly toggle to the 5.1 Dolby Digital mix on the old DVD. Wow. What a deal:
- 2.0 16/44.1 LPCM (laserdisc)
- 5.1 DD/AC-3 original mix (laserdisc)
- 5.1 DD original mix (old DVD)
- 5.1 DD DEHT mix (new DVD)
After a while I became quite skilled at quickly syncing the various discs up to within a few seconds of each other to enable quick and effective toggling during play. It helped that the laserdisc and original DVD shared the same chapter stops.
So what did I learn in my 2+ hours of source switching?
Firstly, the recording level of both the LPCM and AC3 on the laser is noticeably lower than either of the Dolby tracks on the two DVDs. I found this interesting as one might have assumed that the laser and early DVD shared the same core Dolby Digital compressed soundtrack. They clearly do not. Yes, I adjusted levels to compensate accordingly during my listening session.
The second thing I noticed was that while the “mix” of the 5.1 AC3 on the LD and older DVD sound like they are derived from the same LPCM master, the sound quality of the Dolby Digital on the (original) DVD was much better than the LD's AC3… much more open, natural, and with a richer sense of musical textures and micro-detail like musical decays and ambient “hall”. In fact, the Dolby Digital on the older DVD sounded very close to the fidelity of the 2.0 LPCM laserdisc track in terms of musical naturalness. I was quite impressed (though voices still sounded most natural of all on the laserdisc’s LPCM). The LPCM did present a more believable sense of space and nuance versus the older DVD’s DD track, but the improvement was subtle. Given this only slight improvement in fidelity on the LPCM, I felt that the gains in soundstaging with the discrete 5.1 encoding on the older DVD were a reasonable trade off and out of all the audio mixes the 5.1 DD on the previous DVD emerged as my preferred choice.
The important conclusion was that all three “original” audio presentations did a superb job of faithfully reproducing believable vocals that were lush, natural, and liquidly smooth. The sharp contrast with the dry, flat, almost brassy nature of the vocals on the new DEHT mix in comparison was undeniable. The vocals on the new DVD’s DEHT mix sounded “electronic” in a way that pulled me out of the film during what should have been the most encompassing moments of the story.
My memory had not betrayed me. This new mix really was the problem after all.
Because firstly Disney insists on putting a bastardized mix on this disc that disregards the integrity of the original recording's natural tonal quality and fidelity, and secondly because in doing so they also elected not to provide the original mix as an alternative, I cannot view this DVD presentation of The Little Mermaid as quality effort.
Sound Quality: 2.5 / 5
It depends what you consider the original audio mix.
The ORIGINAL release in 1989 only had a stereo mix.
Michaeldvd.com.au:
The Little Mermaid was originally released in 1989, before discrete digital soundtracks were commonplace, so the original soundtrack is in Dolby Stereo. The soundtrack was remastered for the 1997 theatrical re-release, but obviously the same sound elements were used, and occasionally the mono effects stand out like a sore thumb. In particular, a segment from a scene where a ship explodes into flame is accompanied by sound effects that emanate entirely from the centre channel.
The original Dolby mix AFAIK has only been released on the laserdisc.
The 1997 5.1 DD remix was very well done, and critics had a lot of good things to say about it (and so do I).
The 1997 mix was release unaltered on the old unrestored DVD in 2000. In fact there was a limited release of the same disc that contained the 1997 DTS mix as well (now THAT would have been wonderful to use).
And as we all know the new Platinum disc only contains the crappy 2006 DEHT mix.
My restored edition uses the 1997 mix, which is infinitely more satisfying.
HomeTheaterForum's did a listening test comparing the 2.0 16/44.1 LPCM (laserdisc), 5.1 DD/AC-3 original mix (laserdisc), 5.1 DD original mix (old DVD) and 5.1 DD DEHT mix (new DVD).
Fear not, I will just have to re-rip, rar, and upload.
MediaFire gives the option to do a direct copy between accounts, so I though perhaps someone might have transfered this to their account and still had it there. It would have saved a lot of time and effort.
Did anyone transfer a copy to their MediaFire account? The site ate mine and I don't want to have to rip and upload again.
I took a look at the disc to see if I could reauthor or manually tweak the ifo.
The problem is that all the programs on that DVD are in the same VTS. Unfortunately, you cannot mix aspect ratios within the same VTS... it's just one of those things.
It appears on disc 2 that the 2nd Splash Mountain extra should be 16x9 not 4x3.
Has anyone else had a problem with that?
Frankly, between WFRR and the shorts (which I recall were also edited), the logical answer is to create an Extras disc with slowed down footage, stills and/or whatever.
Otherwise you're swapping out a couple frames that went by so fast for years that no one ever knew they were there. You'd need to be a hummingbird to ever see them.
I'm a purist (see my Little Mermaid DVD...), but I never felt this to be an unreasonable/drastic change.
Besides, this is not another case of Disney edit a movie after the fact for whatever lame reason. They fixed what pretty much amounted to intentional vandilsm of the film by pervy animators who wanted something to brag about to their friends.
It is not an alteration of the original intent of the film's creative team.
FUNKY! :O
I have NO idea what that is.
Is this what you're talking about?
If so it's called mosquito noise and it's a compression artifact. You can filter all you want, but it's coming from your encoder not your source.
Try lowering your quantizer characteristic (or your encoder's equivalent).
Mosquito noise, a.k.a. Gibbs effect
Mosquito noise is most apparent around artificial or CG (Computer Generated) objects or scrolling credits (lettering) on a plain coloured background. It appears as some haziness and/or shimmering around high-frequency content (sharp transitions between foreground entities and the background or hard edges) and can sometimes be mistaken for ringing Unfortunately, this peppered effect is also visible around more natural shapes like a human body. The VIRIS project (a Video Reference Impairment System) defines mosquito noise as follows: "Form of edge busyness distortion sometimes associated with movement, characterized by moving artifacts and/or blotchy noise patterns superimposed over the objects (resembling mosquito flying around a person's head and shoulders)."
View full size
Mosquito noise
It occurs when reconstructing the image and approximating discarded data by inversing the transform model (iDCT).
"Mosquitoes" can also be found in other areas of an image. For instance, the presence of a very distinct texture or film grain at compression will also introduce mosquito noise. The result will be somewhat similar to random noise; the mosquitoes will seem to blend with the texture or the film grain and can look like original features of the picture.
(From http://www.videsignline.com/howto/180207350)
This is not an actual edit in the works, that's why I'm posting in the technical section. This has been fun to toy with though.
To be completely honest, I have not yet been able to completely watch Beowulf because the characters give me the creeps.
The reason for this is because the CG work falls into the Uncanny Valley. (If you don't know what that is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley) The simple explaination is that as something synthetic becomes closer to looking human there is a point that we find it revolting and unnatural.
Well since we can't make it look MORE realistic, we can make it look LESS realistic. My first idea was to go fully animated looking, but even the best version of that failed to make the mask-like rigor on people's faces tolerable:
The next tests involved going more paint brush/impressionistic and I was actually surprised by how much better it looked:
Here's a clip:
http://www.mediafire.com/?jmwyz3mdc13 (8mb)
Would I go on to make a full movie version of this? Doubtful. It's painfully slow to encode, I'm betting each scene would need separate settings for best appearance... and I don't know if the movie is even worth my time.
For those intersted in playing around, I used a VirtualDub filter called MSU Cartoonizer for all the work and it can be integrated into avisynth. (The settings are customized though.)
Since your source is progressive, deinterlacing is a waste of time. Hmm. You've got a real headscratcher.
I'd like to see you do a straight downscaling and post a dvd clip so we can see what's going on, rather than you just describing it to us.
I'm sure this has been asked, but is there cover art of Philosopher's Stone? I still have my disc stuffed into the case with Socerer's Stone.
My first question is what the aspect ratio should be. I'm guessing you are resizing to 720x480 (anamorphic 16x9), but it's a bit hard to tell if that's right from the sample.
The MOST important question is what are you using for your resize filter? If you are using something like bilinear you are getting aliasing artifacts from that (stairstepping along diagonal lines). Try the Lanczos3 resizer (it's the same as avisynth's Lanczos4resize), it produces a much cleaner result.
Finally, what sharpening filter are you using and why? I would never add a sharpen filter to this clip, it is absolutely beautiful. You are downscaling HD, you can't get much more detail into it than that. It will only cause more stairstepping and ringing artifacts.
Really just open it in VDubMod, add a resize filter (Lanczos3), 720x480 and frameserve right to your encoder. Don't do anything else and I think you'll like your results better.
