Doctor M

User Group: Members
Join date: 1-Feb-2005
Last activity: 29-Jun-2025
Posts: 2,544

Post History

Post: #184979
Topic: Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (PAL to NTSC+) (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/184979/action/topic#184979
Time: 21-Feb-2006 3:51 PM

Ok this has been coming in a lot lately, and I will answer everyone who has PM'd me individually, but here's the deal:

Distribution is going through the same routes as ANH (hopefully everyone has v1.1) and ESB.
That is, Pay It Forward is primary. If you received a prior disc from someone else, I suggest you contact them in regards to RotJ.
SegaFlip will have a copy so you can keep an eye on the Newgroup posting thread: http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=9&threadid=2934&STARTPAGE=19
Finally I dream at night about a torrent release, and maybe now that the set is complete that will happen.

I've contact those who previously got discs direct from me, and I have yet to hear from a couple. If I do not by the time I'm ready to ship I will contact a few others who have already been in touch just to keep the balance.

I'm sorry, I know the PiF system isn't the best, but I don't have the ability to send this to everyone.

Post: #184889
Topic: The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/184889/action/topic#184889
Time: 21-Feb-2006 11:29 AM

It's kinda of a crime, but did you try the obvious conversion for Pan/Scan to letterbox: cropping the top and bottom?
It sucks to lose even more of a frame, but it works surprisingly well sometimes.

Post: #183547
Topic: Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (PAL to NTSC+) (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/183547/action/topic#183547
Time: 19-Feb-2006 12:43 AM

Sooooooo.... the circle is now complete.
I'm about to start burning discs. RotJ will be in the mail early next week (contact your usual sources). I still hope to see these torrented at some point.

I finally found the balance of sharpening that I was pleased with. I attempted to achieve as close a level of sharpness to the first 2 films without making a mess.

I will be the first to admit that there ARE artifacts, but it was a good trade off. ANH and ESB both had some haloing so if you didn't notice it there, you probably won't here. On the whole it's a subtle difference yet absolutely worth the 25 1/2 hours of encoding (frameserved with VirtualDub. Be smart kids, learn to use AviSynth).

For those keeping track: Unsharp Mask, Lowered white point 4% (to brighten whites), Yellow/Green increased 10%, and Red/Blue/Cyan LOWERED 15%.
The cropping change that takes place in the last 1/4 was repaired by cropping the left/right margins and enlarging the frame. This keeps the aspect ratio consistent throughout the film.

Now what you really want, the screenies (pictures are postfilter pre-recoding):
Top = moth3r's screen, Bottom = RtW
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\1p.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\1n.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\2p.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\2n.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\3p.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\3n.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\4p.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\4n.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\5p.jpg$
$http:\\adventureclub.postrock.net\jedi\5n.jpg$

And if you act now, clippie:
http://rapidshare.de/files/13601412/rotjrtw.mpg.html

(If you haven't seen my version of ANH and ESB, please don't judge them on this clip, they are much better.

)

Btw you can also grab the SFV checksum file here (but it will be on the disc too): RotJ's SFV.
For those unfamiliar with SFV it is a way of verifying the integrity of files. I used Easy SFV Creator, but there is other software that can read it.

I'm still looking for a volunteer to do cover art for this set.

Post: #183452
Topic: The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/183452/action/topic#183452
Time: 18-Feb-2006 7:21 PM

Doesn't any of the "official" releases have music credits during the scroll at the end?

Post: #183320
Topic: The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/183320/action/topic#183320
Time: 18-Feb-2006 2:14 PM

My parents who are animation fans can't wait to see this either now that I showed them your trailer.
Btw, I'm to pass on a compliment for the great use of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade for the music. Is that used in the film as well?

Post: #182468
Topic: The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/182468/action/topic#182468
Time: 16-Feb-2006 10:04 PM

That Cannes poster might make a good vertical DVD cover (that is the spine as the top of the picture, the side you open as the bottom). A bit unconventional, but then again so is the movie.

Btw, Trailer = Amazing!
How much of that footage is your tweaked work?

Post: #182377
Topic: .: Citizen's NTSC DVD / PAL DVD / XviD project :. (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/182377/action/topic#182377
Time: 16-Feb-2006 5:59 PM

Silly question Citizen, but I saw your Bladerunner split screen clip and I wondered how you built it. Did you use AviSynth to split the screen? If so could you share your script?

Post: #182142
Topic: Evidence of OOT at Lucasfilm?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/182142/action/topic#182142
Time: 16-Feb-2006 1:49 AM

Good article on it here: http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/printer_friendly.php?ID=253
The VH1 Inside South Park they mention, Trey and Matt go so far as to say out right that it was their episode that stopped the Indy changes.

Post: #182055
Topic: Evidence of OOT at Lucasfilm?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/182055/action/topic#182055
Time: 15-Feb-2006 8:54 PM

Time to call the South Park kids, Darth Richard. They rescued Indiana Jones from a similar fate as SW (for really actually).

Post: #181351
Topic: Evidence of OOT at Lucasfilm?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/181351/action/topic#181351
Time: 14-Feb-2006 10:34 PM

Yeah, I thought I was crazy when I watched Empire of Dreams. There looked to be a lot of OOT footage in a beautifully restored quality that I KNOW was altered for the Special Edition and DVD release.

I'm in agreement, Lucas has the OOT fully restored and shelved (and it's what he watches himself when he's at home. Damn it, the evil bastard).

Post: #179744
Topic: Idea & Info: a Dune Fan Edit thread...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/179744/action/topic#179744
Time: 11-Feb-2006 3:11 AM

Odd request...
Any chance of someone producing a xvid/divx version of Fanfiltration's edit?
I've been having a tough time keeping my BT balances and I'd like to see how this edit is before committing to a 9 gig u/l-d/l.

Post: #179577
Topic: Classic Edition: Return of the Jedi by Ocpmovie (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/179577/action/topic#179577
Time: 10-Feb-2006 2:46 PM

I had a chance to see the first half of ANH Classic Edition and was a bit disappointed.
Whenever there was laser material mixed with DVD the colors were frequently mismatched/blotchy.

My biggest surprise was the aliasing/pixalation around all the edges.

Are these flaws limited to ANH or does Jedi suffer the same problems?

Post: #179573
Topic: .: Citizen's NTSC DVD / PAL DVD / XviD project :. (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/179573/action/topic#179573
Time: 10-Feb-2006 2:42 PM

What's the status on Jedi? Haven't seen an update for several weeks.

Btw, anyone know of plans to get these torrented?

Post: #177405
Topic: ***The ADigitalMan non-Star Wars DVD Info and Feedback Thread***
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/177405/action/topic#177405
Time: 4-Feb-2006 8:44 PM

I positively weep like a little girl every time ABC broadcasts their extended cut of Harry Potter in HiDef (like tonight).
I swear I'm going to have to build a pure digital tv capture setup just for those films.

TV Capture card $150, Digital Cable subscription $20/month. Harry Potter completely extended in HiDef 5.1 (?), priceless.

It surprises me to no end that no-one has done this yet.
Prisoner of Azkaban should hit ABC soon. Can't wait to see what they've got that we don't.

Post: #177403
Topic: Idea & Info: a Dune Fan Edit thread...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/177403/action/topic#177403
Time: 4-Feb-2006 8:32 PM

Matt Stevens - You should turn on your Private Messages.
That being said, are you looking for NTSC or PAL. There's also a HiDef version out by Citizen. Depends on your needs and what you like.

Post: #176558
Topic: Idea & Info: a Dune Fan Edit thread...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/176558/action/topic#176558
Time: 2-Feb-2006 7:54 PM

I would be more willing to bet the hold up was the DVD-18 format. There are fewer places capable of producing them and they are dodgy to start with.
In fact thedigitalbits.com is reporting some problems with the Dune DVDs for this very reason.
DVD-18s are not a great idea, they should have stuck with a 2 disc set...

Sad to hear FanFiltration is throwing in the towel. So who IS doing a new fan edit?

Post: #176102
Topic: Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (PAL to NTSC+) (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/176102/action/topic#176102
Time: 2-Feb-2006 12:55 AM

Your request as some merit drjimmy526. It's the same reason I've been tossing around the idea of an unsharpened release.
I have all the filter chains for the color, white point and resize (including a fix for the shifting aspect ratio), audio synced and authored DVD all set, I would just need to recode the video, plug it in and burn.
I have not yet convinced myself wheather to release it as a v0.1 or something. Several people have expressed interest in me continuing, but frankly it's not a version I would keep for myself to watch.

Post: #176095
Topic: Idea & Info: a Dune Fan Edit thread...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/176095/action/topic#176095
Time: 2-Feb-2006 12:50 AM

Isn't that what Fanfiltration is doing for 2.0, putting as much together as possible?

Post: #175315
Topic: Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (PAL to NTSC+) (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/175315/action/topic#175315
Time: 31-Jan-2006 11:51 PM

I feel quite foolish.
Searching the net for awhile I was unable to find evidence that anyone has managed a high pass filter sharpen method for video.
The best of what is out there is an unsharp mask. So to humor myself I gave it a spin.
It's slow to process, but the screen captures I made were BEAUTIFUL.
So I encoded the video (23 hours on a 3400+ CPU!), and synced the audio (half an afternoon). That's when I discovered the flaw. Although there is some noise generated in the process, single frames don't look much worse than the film grain in eps 3 & 4. But in motion it looks like a VHS copy of bad cable. Lots of dot crawl, and moving aliasing. Single frames still look great, but the final product is unwatchable (and can induce naseua).
I want my last few days back.

I nearly saved the screen caps for posting April 1st (yeah they look that good).

So, I once again surrender. If ANYONE finds a way to apply a high pass filter mask to video (VirtualDub or AviSynth), please PM me. Otherwise...
Really sorry guys.

Post: #175027
Topic: Idea & Info: a Dune Fan Edit thread...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/175027/action/topic#175027
Time: 31-Jan-2006 1:02 PM

So here's a question. When the Dune DVDs hit shelves, the store sale flyers were saying the extended version was "Never Before Seen".
Except for being a new widescreen transfer of it, did they make other changes?

Post: #174815
Topic: .: The XØ Project - Laserdisc on Steroids :. (SEE FIRST POST FOR UPDATES) (* unfinished project *)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/174815/action/topic#174815
Time: 31-Jan-2006 12:41 AM

Well if we all kick in like $200

Post: #174031
Topic: .: Moth3r's PAL DVD project :.
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/174031/action/topic#174031
Time: 28-Jan-2006 10:38 PM

Hmm, so a correction would have to be an enlargement with a bit clipped from the left and right margins.

And I thought my old NTSC (incredible shrinking aspect ratio version) had problems. At least that was subtle, but I'm assuming this happened at a side change on the laserdisc.

Post: #173912
Topic: .: Moth3r's PAL DVD project :.
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/173912/action/topic#173912
Time: 28-Jan-2006 3:24 PM

I think this was mentioned before, but I can't find the discussion on it: Does the aspect ratio shrink on RotJ?

I guess the more accurate question is: does the aspect ratio change or is the top just cropped closer?

Post: #173094
Topic: STAR WARS: The Torrents thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/173094/action/topic#173094
Time: 26-Jan-2006 12:07 AM

I'm a fan of ABC (Yet Another Bittorrent Client). It's built on Bittornado but has a better interface letting you manage several torrents, set seed time or percentage, and lots of other nice features.

Post: #173090
Topic: Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (PAL to NTSC+) (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/173090/action/topic#173090
Time: 25-Jan-2006 11:54 PM

Actually I was toying with the idea of using a Photoshop sharpening trick (using Avisynth instead) where you create a duplicate layer and use it as a high-pass filter. It non-destructively sharpens and looks great in photos.

It's mostly a matter of figuring out a way to do it.
One site suggested a duplicate layer that is blurred and then subtracted from the image.

Anyway, regular sharpening methods blow, so I need to do some serious net searching (unless some can give me some pointers on this).