Jonno

Yep. My projector is 720p so 90% of the time my BD player is set to output 720p60. What can I say? It still looks like film to me.

PDB said:

That's my fault. I was rushing to upload a new copy and exported the entire session instead of just the LD track. That's what happens when you rush. Thanks to Jonno for pointing that out. I already fixed it, tested it and uploading it now. I will send you a new link boris.

 I've just muxed the new version and checked out a few scenes - it sounds terrific so far. Thanks for putting in the hard work!

benduwan said:

no news...no teaser...

 When I see an interesting thread bumped, this is the last thing I want to see. Quit being rude and entitled with busy people and go contribute something of your own.

Did he say they were only showing each film once?

I like this idea, especially the themed commercial breaks. If it's a success there's plenty more programming material to potentially include in future (and I'm not talking about eps I-III).

Are there any decent Abyss trailers to be found, or are the letterboxed transfers on the SE DVD as good as they get?

I started a similar project for UK cinema presentations:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/1977-UK-theatre-intro-reconstruction/topic/14490/

You might want to add to that or start a parallel thread?

Do any of your prints have a BBFC certificate at the start? I'd love to see a grab of that, no matter how scuzzy!

(I'm starting work on reconstructing the theatrical opening - now where's Black Angel?)

Fantastic! Sending PM.

I think Buster D has ripped the audio from the widescreen disc - he quite likely hasn't synced it yet, though since you're making an edit rather than a restoration I guess you'll just sync as you go.

I did it myself a while back but while it's synced to the BD picture it wasn't a bitperfect rip, and I have yet to find the time for a version 2.

You might also take this opportunity to reinstate the theatrical subtitles... judging from the LD they were originally set in Bauhaus, but subsequent releases have used generic softsubs for the Vulcan and Klingon lines.

I've got the Criterion Blade Runner here, so at the very least I can do some raw rips - syncing to BD may be a little more time-consuming (and as an aside, the 5.1 on the 'archive cuts' BD is apparently sourced from the 6-track masters - or so claims Ridley Scott).

Oh, that IS nice. Are you doing a more purist recreation of the Executor set covers for that preservation you're working on?

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

Jonno, I have the laserdisc letterbox edition; IIRC is a remastered one, so *maybe* the track is better than your P&S version; or not?!?

 It's a tough call, but since I have both I'll make some comparisons at the weekend. The newer disc may sound cleaner and louder, but it may also have been remixed to smooth some of the (occasionally rough) effects and transitions. In which case I'd go for rough every time :-)

As for the video source, the original BD (and HD-DVD) was standalone and used a VC-1 encode. The version included in the newer trilogy sets (at least, the US version) is a fresh AVC encode, and consequently a little more detailed (though still suffering from the original release's colour issues, of course).

A spoRv Road Warrior? Fantastic news! Let me know if you want to talk about sound, Andrea.

Me neither, but it's apparently part of the HD-DVD spec so I thought I'd best mention it in case it crops up on a disc. More info on supported formats here.

Anyway, 'unconverted' should leave your TrueHD or PCM alone with no messin'.

There aren't any features - aside from the extended cut, Universal have treated this film with surprising (or perhaps not so surprising) disdain through its digital life.

I'd be interested to know if the trailer on the Blu-ray is HD (or even 16:9) - my HD-DVD copy has nothing at all.

Does anyone have The Fly (1986)? In recent years Fox have been pretty good in including original mixes on their BDs but they hadn't got into that habit yet for this, one of their earliest titles (and a PCM track is of course preferred).

If you're going to be faithful to the movie's original intention, why remix it at all?

zee944 said:

Does it mean it's a genuine remix?

 There's an oxymoron for you.

DJ, I couldn't respond to your message because I'm not on your friends list - would you like to remedy that? But to answer your question I'm afraid I don't have that disc - hope you manage to track it down.

Fair enough - I had a couple of cheap no-brand players that could handle it too, but since it's not part of the official BD spec I thought it best to play it safe. By all means experiment with a BD-RW... YMMV and so on.

Conversion guide up here:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/HD-DVD-to-Blu-ray-conversion-with-ClownBD/topic/16468/

The main tool you will need for this job is the ClownBD GUI (which bundles up aspects of eac3to, aften and tsMuxer). Get it here.

This guide assumes that you have already ripped your HD-DVD to your hard drive. If you have an encryption bypassing tool such as AnyDVD or DVDFab passkey you can convert directly from the disc on-the-fly, though this is an altogether slower process.

1. Open your source and select your movie

Open ClownBD (Clown_BD_0.81.exe). The first option is to indicate your source, so click on the **BD/HD-DVD **button and browse to your ripped folder (or HD-DVD drive if you intend to work directly from the disc).

Next indicate your Demux Location, where the video and audio streams will be split and stored (along with a chapter log).

The Remux Location is optional - if you just want a BD disc based on the existing audio/video of the HD-DVD movie, tsMuxer will build a new BD folder for you. If you don’t want this yet, for example if you’re planning on adding additional audio tracks or want to tinker with the picture, leave the ‘Use tsMuxeR’ button unchecked; Clown will just rip the streams and you can use tsMuxer manually to build your disc later on.

I’ve never needed any of the additional options here, though I imagine the force subtitles option might be useful if you’re converting from a foreign language disc.

Click Next.

The next screen allows you to choose your video to extract. Each title will be listed here, so in the case of branched movies you’ll have more than one option for the main feature - check the running times and select the title you want to convert, then click Next.

2. Select video and audio streams

Now it’s time to decide which streams you want to keep. Clown displays a list of the video and audio streams in the title with descriptions, and it’s simply a case of making sure the important ones are checked. The main window (on the left) shows your overall selections, but you can use the panels on the right to make ‘blanket’ choices (e.g. all the English audio tracks, all the French subs etc.)

A word on audio formats. HD-DVDs, like Blu-rays, supported a range of audio codecs. Some will carry over to a BD disc with no problems, but others will need to be converted in some way for compatibility. A quick summary:

’Standard’ Dolby Digital, DTS and PCM are all fully compatible, so in Audio Output Format leave them as Unconverted.

DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD are BD-compatible HD formats. You do have some space-saving options if you don’t want the full HD track: The DTS formats carry a standard DTS Core option which Clown can extract for you, and TrueHD can be converted to standard AC3 or DTS (which an SD receiver will need). If you do want the full HD track just leave it Unconverted.

Dolby Digital Plus aka E-AC3 is not BD-friendly, so you should use the AC3 or DTS conversion options here. Note that DTS encoding requires the presence of an external DTS filter (e.g. Surcode).

When you’ve made your choices, it’s finally time to click Next and let the process run. In an hour or so you should have a fully BD compatible folder structure on your hard drive, ready to burn.

Jetrell Fo said:

Jonno said:

If you happen to have (or obtain) an older copy of AnyDVD, it will do a nice job of ripping the HD-DVD file structure.

I'd also recommend using ClownBD to extract (and, if you like, remux) the streams - it's a fairly painless route to HD-DVD > BD conversion.

 Would you put together a quick tutorial for home use please?

Sure, I'll pull something together. It's worth noting that ClownBD is simply a user-friendly frontend for eac3to - it'll do the same jobs, but for some it will be preferable to the commandline approach.

If you happen to have (or obtain) an older copy of AnyDVD, it will do a nice job of ripping the HD-DVD file structure.

I'd also recommend using ClownBD to extract (and, if you like, remux) the streams - it's a fairly painless route to HD-DVD > BD conversion.

Wow, great project idea. I'm sure there will be some high rez copies in existence somewhere, but if not I'm happy to weigh in with some scans from the Art of ESB.

Does your friend plan to do a frame-by-frame rebuild of the 'venetian blind' transition, or just a close-enough stock effect?