LeeThorogood

Hi SilverWook, I think there is a key difference between the box set and the singles and that is the box-set has English audio with French subtitles where as the singles have French Audio with no subtitles. Regardless thanks for the links, I will keep these as a Plan B so to speak. :)

If anyone can help me out I am looking for this LaserDisc Set as I would LOVE to own the OUT on LaserDisc but more importantly I want to do a preservation of this set!

I know its a long shot, but either way thanks for looking! :)

Cheers,

- Lee

I used HandBrake again to produce an H.264 encode of ESB overnight, so I am very much looking forward to watching that when I get home from work tonight!

DANG IT! The listing for the French 1995 LaserDisc box set I was watching just suddenly ended (1:45pm BST) and it wasn't a Buy It Now! :(

PM sent to Jetrell Fo

In other news, the DVD image for ESB is now finished! :D as Fox McCloud says "There's one more to go..."

Jetrell Fo said:

I am very excited about your stuff Lee...I'm sure they will look very nice.

:)

If anyone who reads this thread has the 1995 PAL THX LaserDisc set (the set was only released in France, Germany and Spain) and would be willing to sell/trade or loan their set then please PM me, otherwise I will just keep my eye on a well known auction site and see if I have any luck there.

JediTray said:

Actually, it is Episode II.  :)

Is anyone planning on doing the 1997 SE set with the bonus features?

Murry Sparkles said:

LeeThorogood said:

On a side note I have been thinking about having a go at doing my own preservation of the 1995 French THX LaserDisc set with English audio and I was wondering if this is something people would be interested in?

 Count me in . Im very interested in a copy .

austin_1138 said:

was there differences between the french thx laserdiscs and the american versions

JediTray said:

Since I lost my LD player in the divorce, I'd certainly like to have NTSC DVD's of the SE and bonus materials, if anyone can point me in the right direction.

I hope everyone who has managed to download the sample has been pleased with it! I can happily say that ANH is virtually done, I need to redo the video encode using a slightly lower bit-rate to comfortably fit everything on a DL DVD, once that's done I'll be ready to build the DVD image.

Meanwhile ESB is about 50% rendered so as long as there are no hold ups I am aiming to have ESB completely done by the end of Sunday, which will just leave Jedi to be done next week.

On a side note I have been thinking about having a go at doing my own preservation of the 1995 French THX LaserDisc set with English audio and I was wondering if this is something people would be interested in?

Jetrell Fo said:

LeeThorogood said:

 

austin_1138 said:

i downloaded it and when i tryed to unzip it it gave me an error and i couldnt extract it :(

I would suggest you try to download it again as the file may not have downloaded completely/correctly.

 

I had this same issue.  It said the zip was like 206 MB but the file it extracted was 0 MB....it may have been corrupted during upload too...I will try again as well.

austin_1138 said:

i downloaded it and when i tryed to unzip it it gave me an error and i couldnt extract it :(

Okay I have put the sample clip together with the follow segments:

1. Fox Fanfare & LucasArts Logo from ROTJ
2. Binary Sunset from ANH
3. Scruffy Lookin Nurf Herder from ESB
4. Into the Death Star from ROTJ
5. Carbon Freeze Facility from ESB
6. Chewie in the Millennium Falcon Cockpit just after leaving the Death Star Hanger from ANH
7. Opening sequence from ROTJ

Click the link to download the sample

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MC6Q08XH

Although its zipped up there is no password.

Let me know what you think :)

dark_jedi said:

Nice avatar LOL, could you find one a little more similar? I guess it is time for a change now anyways.

Hi everyone,

Capturing and Frame Averaging are now complete, the difference in noise between a single capture and the averaged capture is perceivable, especially for the VHS clips. :D

I have also finished editing all the sides together for all three films and will start rendering the timelines in the next few days, although it will probably take about a week for all three films to fully render. At present the only filter I am applying is a chroma smoother which fixes a problem introduced by the Apple miniDV codec. I have thought about applying DVNR but to be honest I am not sure how much of the 'noise' is actual noise that I would want to remove or just film grain that I would want to keep.

If I get time I will post a test clip so you can get an idea of what the picture quality will be like for the V2 release.

Work on version 2 of this release has begun. I have side A of ESB captured, averaged and output to a ProRes HQ .mov file ready for later. Side B of ESB is capturing as I type. :D If all goes well I should have all the capturing and averaging done by the end of Sunday.

I may post some samples next week using different DVNR filters to see what people think as I really can't make my mind up at the moment as to whether to use DVNR or not, you see on the one hand I want as clean a transfer as possible but on the other hand I want this release to look as good as it possibly can. Decisions, decisions... :)

I am no expert, but I think I am right in saying that if you want to take advantage of the comb-filter in the video processor then you would have to use S-Video, if you use composite then your still using the comb-filter in your capture card/TV. I don't know about component.

A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Good news for everyone who has been following this thread. Version 1 of this release is now finished. :D

Specifications
Format: DVD-Video
Size: Dual Layer DVD-9
Running time:
ANH: 1:59:48
ESB: 2:01:57
ROTJ: 2:09:23
Video Format: PAL
Framerate: 25 fps
Display Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Presentation Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Video Codec: MPEG-2
Video Resolution: 720 x 576
Video Average Bitrate: ANH & ESB 7.7 mbps ROTJ 7.0 mbps
Audio Track 1 - Type: Main
Audio Track 1 - Channels: 5.1
Audio Track 1 - Format: AC3
Audio Track 1 - Average Bitrate: 448 kbps

Each DVD also includes the special feature explaining the changes/enhancements they made for that film. Where applicable Alien subtitles are hard coded into the lower black bar.

Anyone interested in a copy of these DVDs should PM me for now, until they find their way to the usual places.

ChainsawAsh said:
Good call with the ProRes 422 HQ. I've only started working with Final Cut this year in my experimental editing class, but for shits and giggles I ran a comparison test between ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 HQ, and I can tell you that the HQ looks quite a bit better.

Other than that, everything else is a bit over my head! Though I did download your sample, and while you're right that there isn't that much noise, there is a difference between the 5-capture average and the single capture, subtle though it may be.

captainsolo said:
Agreed. The 5 capture average just edges out the original. The HQ difference is subtle, but it is better. Your resulting file is larger though.

Did you IVTC your footage or deinterlace? And how will you add the ac3 out of curiosity.

I think I can certainly say that a V2 release is going to follow, if only to give me peace of mind that I have achieved the cleanest, best quality transfer possible on my set-up.

Current changes planned for V2:
- Switch to a quad-shielded 24k gold plated Belkin Pure AV 1.8m S-video cable for best transfer quality from the D925 to the ADVC-55.
- Implement 5 capture frame averaging, to eliminate any random analogue noise in my set-up. (If there is any its not allot, but every little helps right?)
- After initial capture (which is stuck as MiniDV) switch from using regular ProRes 422 to ProRes 422 HQ.
- Do away with the Colour Correction filter. (I think this is causing blocking :S)

As with the V1, V2 will use DarthEditous' DD 5.1 AC3 captures, and will be released in DVD9 format.

I was wondering if anyone has any advice as to which order filters should be applied? Currently the order I am using is:

1. Chroma Smoother
2. Colour Corrector
3. Noise Reduction

Are there any rules of thumb as to which order filters should be applied?

Many Thanks

Hi Moth3r,

Thank you for taking a look at this for me, its always good to get a second opinion. :D

So I had cause to down tools today to produce a sample clip for my question about LaserDisc flickering in the How-To section. I figured as I had all the equipment connected I may as well have a go at the frame averaging test I wanted to do.

So I did 5 captures of the same chapter of Jedi and I think it has helped if only a little, its kind of hard to tell. Below is an MPEG2 upload of my test on the left side of the frame is the original unaltered capture, on the right is the 5 capture average.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NQ5P8CZY

I have zipped up the m2v file, but there is no password. Let me know what you think, if using the frame averaging has not helped then there is no point me pursuing this technique any further. :) Now back to work on ANH.

I did a little test when I got home tonight and I watched the output from my LaserDisc player on my LCD TV, the flickering is still present, ergo its not a problem with the firewire bus on my iMac.

Here is the sample you requested, sorry I had to encode to MPEG2 but I didn't want to be uploading a 500mb DV file.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6D4TWY96

I zipped up the m2v file, but there is no password.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for the reply Moth3r.

I am actually starting to wonder if this could be some kind of AC / Power interference. My ADVC currently draws power from my iMac's 6-pin Firewire port. I am beginning to wonder if I might be better off buying the ADVC AC Adapter Kit.

FYI the LaserDisc player is plugged into an 8-way surge protector extension lead, which in turn is plugged into the mains.

I am at work at the moment. When I get home tonight I will do a raw capture of the first few chapters of Jedi to show the problem. :)

As some of you may know I am currently working on a LaserDisc sourced preservation of the 1997 SEs. I am using a Pioneer CLD-D925 connected via S-Video to an ADVC-55 for the capturing.

I was wondering is it normal for there to be vertical flickering in the picture, either caused by video noise, the film grain or something else? If so is there any way to make it less obvious or overcome it completely?

Many Thanks

Moth3r said:

Multiple capture averaging will only help reduce the analogue noise that is introduced in your player, interconnects and capture device. I was disappointed when I tried it on a laserdsic capture, because only a small amount of noise was removed. In that case, it turned out that most of the visible noise was actually present on the LD master (so the noise pattern was the same in every capture). I'd be interested to see your results.

Jetrell Fo you're very welcome!

Believe it or not I am already thinking about a possible V2 of this release. The reason being I came across several posts about Frame Averaging for noise reduction in the past few days, which has the potential to do a much better job at noise reduction then the filter I am using, not to mention I could probably dial back or do away with the colour correction filter as well. I will need to do a test run on a small segment probably a chapter or two from ROTJ which seems to be the noisiest of the three discs to see how effective it is and if its worth starting over.

Even if I do end up doing a V2 I will still release V1 for those who want it.