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Laserman

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11-May-2004
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6-Sep-2007
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903

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Post
#83271
Topic
Idea &amp; Info Wanted: Dreaming of the <em>ultimate</em> LD transfer
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83271/action/topic#83271
Time
OK so I exaggerated a little, but the sucker weighs in at 36Kg ( 80lbs ), so its no flyweight.
To paraphrase from the service manual.
The HLD-X0 has 37 active power regulators spread around its different PCBs, most of these are not the standard IC type but made from several individual components which has much lower impedance variations than the IC type. The HLD-X0 has in its NTSC path five NTSC decoders (from RF) in parallel to average out any decoding errors, it has enough memory to run NT, uses 9 bit digital processing, uses the best selection of 1702 audio DACs and so on. Its a real beast.
Post
#83270
Topic
.: The X0 Project Discussion Thread :. (* unfinished project *)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83270/action/topic#83270
Time
I have no problem with SATA drives in any of the sizes they are currently available in.

OK, Darth Simon, mebe has answered most of these already, but I will address them anyhoo.

1) The RAW capture is actually in AVI format using the huffyuv codec. This is a lossless compression codec (kind of like .zip or .rar for normal files) so you at least get some creduction in the file size, but with ZERO quality loss. Otherwise the movies would be between 180GB-250GB each!

2) It is watchable on a PC right now with media player etc. But they are really *raw* captures. What I mean by that is that each side of the laserdisc is in a separate file, and has a lot of black etc. at the start and end of each file. So although technically it is watchable, in reality it isn't yet what you would call an enjoyable experience. At the least you would want to trim the tops and tails off each segment and rejoin it into one single 80GB file for your viewing pleasure. It also needs to be converted back to 24 frames per second progressive to look any good on a PC, as if you watch it now you see the NTSC interlace scanlines.

3) Re colour correction etc. In theory even as is, it will look better than watching the original laserdiscs on say a pioneer 701, or any sony player etc. But in reality it can look better with a colour grade, this will make the film a little more vibrant (the US laserdiscs were a bit 'washed out') and get some consistency into some scenes where it is currently lacking. On a normal TV it won't be an OH MY GAWD difference, but it will be noticably better. On big sets the lack of noise and MPEG2 induced artefacts will make it a *lot* better than the current bootlegs out there as well. Remember though at the end of the day it is a laserdisc source, what this version does is extract the best possible image from the laserdiscs, but its still laserdisc. So really, DVD viewers will finally get the same or better experience as the laserdisc viewers.

4) DVD-9. Well yep, you lose some quality jamming it down to 8.5GB from 80, but for 90% of the population this is the only way they can play it. The truth is, that once you crop out the black bars to make them truly black (So that data isn't wasted on them) and use a high quality multi multi pass VBR encoder, the differece will be very small indeed, and will look the same to all but the pickiest of eyes. However if you can playback from a PC hrough a projector, the huffyuv file will probably have a slight quality edge.

5) Putting it onto DVD would be the last stage of most individual projects I would imagine. You would keep it in uncompressed format until you had finished making adjustments. So after you have tweaked the colour to your liking, fixed any frame glitches, and perhaps fixed some special FX if you wanted, then you would put it on DVD to enjoy in your loungeroom.

Thanks for the questions DS, it probably cleared up stuff that other people were wondering, and helped get my priority list in rder as well

Post
#83255
Topic
Info Wanted: a Pre-ANH edit of Ep IV?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83255/action/topic#83255
Time
I thought I made it more than abundantly clear that I was talking about truly seamless branching - I don't understand why you are asking the same question again?

But to answer you new(ish) questions - T2 UE only works on players with a decent RAM cache, play it back on (for example ) a DVL700 and it pauses at the branches.

On my linn DVD player, Robocop (Region2) is completely seamless. If you want my definition of seamless, then it is that it branches with no pauses, and is completely imperceptible. I edit video and film for a living, trust me, if there is the tiniest stutter, I notice it.

On some players seamless branching titles pause, on most current ones they don't. MGM apparently didn't implement it well on a lot of their titles. In general MGM don't have much of a track record for quality on DVD so it doesn't surprise me. Perhaps the R4 Robocop doesn't branch properly, I couldn't say as I don't have it.
I'm not sure what your obsession with MGM is? Most of the major studios have had some crpaulent DVD releases (look at Warner's ultra lazy R4 release of Logan's Run, the bloody thing is R4, but still in NTSC!). You need to understand that just because a big bux studio does something in a crappy way, it doesn't mean that you can't do better on a humble PC.

If you need proof of that, just look at the current DVD release of the Star Wars trilogy Any of us here with half a brain can do a better job on fixing the matte lines, the sabres etc. and the colour grading is off in a lot of places.

But to answer your question, yes, the software tools I mentioned do seamless branching. They do it just as well as T2 and stargate, they use the same method (Have a look at the streams if you don't believe me, in fact have a look at the Robocop R2 streams, you will se that they use the same method also).

So just to make sure it is clear. You can do seamless branching on a 'home computer', and you can do it with more ease if you are running a Mac. And it is seamless, as in seamless.

Post
#83252
Topic
***The MeBeJedi feedback thread ***
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83252/action/topic#83252
Time
Yeah, to clear things up, my X0 project is about getting the best raw capture possible from a laserdisc source. Which then becomes a base for everything else. My main purpose here has always been to help as many people as possible get the best results possible for their projects, this is just another way of achieving that end.

Then others might use it for their own projects instead of the captures they were doing themselves (unless theirs was better to start with of course).

So you may see lots of projects in the future use the X0 project as its *base* (or may not if it doesn't measure up), but the enhancements from that point on will be each person's own.

As for myself, I will be making a De-SE version of the DVD for my own pleasure at some point in the distant future, it won't be completely 'OT' by some people's standards, but will allow me to watch a really high quality version of Star Wars without cringing or groaning
Post
#83250
Topic
Idea &amp; Info Wanted: Dreaming of the <em>ultimate</em> LD transfer
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83250/action/topic#83250
Time
Well, it was a step up in features, not in quality - the SVideo out had a better comb filter, the main upgrade was double sided playback, but the build quality (and price now) were considerably lower. When you crack them open and take a look at the design, the X0 is miles ahead, and you can see it in the noise levels in the picture between the two. The X0 went to insane levels to insure noise free playback, and it weighs about as much as my first car
Post
#83249
Topic
.: Moth3r's PAL DVD project :.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83249/action/topic#83249
Time
Well, the RAW X0 transfers are 80GB PER MOVIE, so HD space becomes a problem. (You will need 3-4 times the space of the capture to do full blown editing and corrections)
You need 250GB just for the raw captures, then space to edit them, and then to transcode the final results down to DVD etc. I am using up near on a terrabyte on just the X0 project basically.
I then have 20GB of software in current use as well, and about 400GB of video of my kid and that sort of stuff, that really can't be deleted, and gawd knows how much other stuff that *could* be deleted if only I could get my arse into gear to try and sort/catalogue/backup and remove it.
So the end result is I have a terrabyte in one PC that has almost no free space, 800GB in another that has about 60GB free, and a shelf with various hard drives on it that I need to go through, a 20GB drive in my Xbox that is now being used to temporarily store and playback the home movies... So if anyone comes to my house with a degaussing wand, I am in serious trouble...
Post
#83248
Topic
.: The X0 Project Discussion Thread :. (* unfinished project *)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/83248/action/topic#83248
Time
Yeah as far as I know, there is no OAR hidef version of ESB - But then I've been well and truly wrong in the past.

Karyudo and I discussed the SEs in the past and came to the same conclusion - there is no point in playing with the SE on laserdisc as the HDTV broadcasts are ridiculously better quality wise, and are our best bet at a DVD deconstruction as at least the resolution is comparable. And as he has them (somewhere in his vast collection of stuff) it seemed pointless to waste time on doing SE captures.

I still believe a PAL capture would give us the best available image from laserdisc, if only we could get it right...

If anyone wants to help *fund* or help in some other way with a PAL capture, let me know, I would need the following.

1. Access to the best PAL version of the laserdiscs for about a week.
2. A bit of financial help (I am currently maxxed out with my spend on the X0 setup, and some film transfer I'm doing for another OT'er)
3. Some storage, I have nearly a terrabyte of drives, but not enough space to do yet another capture.

I have purchased a CLD-2950 to do the capture with - the advantage over the 925 is that it doesn't have a digital store, so access to the 'raw' composite signal is much easier. Too quote from a review of the 925 that talks about the 'torturous path' of the video...

"The composite signal retrieved from disc enters the digital domain, goes through the frame-store stage, gets filtered into RGB, and is then converted into separate luma and chroma for the S-Video output. The composite video output is simply the separated chroma and luma of the S-Video output combined."

It truly amazes me that the picture is so good after all that (Now if you could tap the digital stream from the store, that would be interesting) Also, it would be possible to tap the RGB signal, which would in theory give a cleaner image than the 925 composite out.

I am hopeful that with the 2950 I could get a relatively tamper free composite video signal, and then use todays better capture systems to get a comb free picture. I can tap the signal very early, and run balanced mini coax straight out to a 75Ohm BNC connector and get that into my broadcast gear. The problem is I have to pay for the time in the edit suite, and I am just simply outta cash.
Alternatively I can spend some money and mod the 2950 for RGB out and capture to the RGB inputs on the PDI card - but once again it is a spend without any guarantee of a result, something I can't afford at this point in time.

And of course, there is the possibilty that we won't be able to get a noise free/comb free capture even after all or any of that - but there is only one way to find out, and if nothing else, we would probably end up with the best capture possible with todays equipment.

The card we have been using for the X0 is a PDI Deluxe card, unfortunately I couldn't transport my broadcast gear to where the X0 lives, (About 12,000km away) so I had to make do with a PC solution, and the PDI was the best I could find on short notice (and under $1000) to use with the X0.