Just an update... I am back from my overseas trip, have caught up on work and will now get back to business with this and other projects.
So this is not OUT yet, but close, yes? I've been away and just got back to the forum.
Snide remarks aside, I am doing my best with a busy work schedule. I was out of the country for a month and am now playing catch-up. I'll be doing my best to post updates.
I've contacted you via PM. YES YES YES. We can make this happen.
Now this is interesting.
That right there is the new release of Jackie Chan’s Police Story. On it is the original Hong Kong release in HD. The Extended release (the best version of the film) in HD from a 35mm print that has Japanese subs on it. And that same extended release in non anamorphic SD without subs (same transfer as the Japanese laserdisc, which I own).
The audio on the Blu Ray’s extended cut is apparently from the print. It will therefore have hiss, flutter and other flaws inherent to taking audio from an old optical track.
The laserdisc has super clean and clear PCM audio. I am capturing it now.
But I do not have the Blu Ray. I am out of mad money from buying so many imports to fix and create hybrids (The Terminator being the most recent: HD transfer + PCM Laserdisc sound).
Should anyone have access to it, I will do the work needed to create a true hybrid and restore this film to the best possible quality.
By the way, the forum is downright impossible to use today.
Well again, if someone could provide me with the Blu Ray transfer (actual size, no re-encoding) I will tackle this one myself and do it right.
What was he banned for? I fear we will now never see this.
Well I can tell you this. We used the laserdisc (the mono sound in the DVD is so compressed it is useless). It required 47 different edits because it continued to slip in and out of sync. Ours is perfect, but it took work.
THE KILLER audio from my laserdisc is now captured. I just need to convert the PCM to be compliant with the BluRay specs. I may clean it of pops, which it has a plenty.
You cannot just slap the mono file in place. #1. the PCM from the laserdisc is not at an approved Blu-Ray Hz level. it'll clip, drop out, have distortion. You need to properly convert it.
#2, the reel changes on the DVD are not the same as the BD. It is simply impossible to line this up at frame 1 and then just let it go. it will go in and out of sync throughout. My partner on this one is in the middle of it now and is making adjustments non-stop. We will likely end up making over twohundred adjustments.
For Drunken Master II I will need to use multiple sources. It's gonna be a bear to deal with and I am not yet sure how I will handle it. I need cleaner video and would like to get access to the Warner VD, which is the best (if memory serves). I don't know of any Blu-Rays.
However A BETTER TOMORROW will be my first go at it. If anyone can allow me to borrow the Blu-Ray that'd be great. I sold mine since I hated the remix so much. I regret that now! I'll re-buy if I have to.
I'll edit from the 1080p BD and use the PCM laserdisc sound wherever possible. The Anchor Bay DVD has a mono track at 192k and if there are any area on the PCM that are shotty I can pull the sound from that DVD track. ONLY when absolutely necessary. There will be no remixes on my version.
Same goes for ABT2.
GOD OF GAMBLERS should be fairly easy. I'll keep the 5.1 remix in-tact. I'll also combine the original 2.0 mix from it with the PCM from the laserdisc. The LD is cut by about 7 minutes so it's not possible to use only PCM for that title.
I'd also love to have an even better subtitle translation. The Mei Ah DVD is the best I've sen, but not exactly perfect English, if you get my meaning.
FIST OF LEGEND is a favorite and I am hoping it' easy to fix.
BULLET IN THE HEAD would so crazy difficult that I just can't take the time to deal with it. I don't really like the film all that much (too oppressive for me). That being said, I do have a VHS version taken from a private telecine of John Woo's personal extended print. It's the longest version I know if and has the full urine drinking scene. If anyone had the time and ability they could capture the VHS, use avsynth to clean it up and then splice in the extra bits from it. It'd be a huge job.
Gents, laserdiscs are increasingly hard to find and unfortunately, for most Hong Kong films, the only proper soundtracks are on the laserdiscs. The remixes we keep being forced into are complete garbage.
I’d like to start work on proper versions of the following films and am in need of the Hong Kong or Japanese laserdisc releases for their original PCM mono soundtracks…
A BETTER TOMORROW 1 & 2, POLICE STORY, POLICE STORY 3 (one Hong Kong release had the original stereo instead of the mono), GOD OF GAMBLERS, DRUNKEN MASTER II and FIST OF LEGEND.
The KILLER and HARD BOILED are being restored by this forum’s CSchmidlapp and I am happy to provide the PCM soundtracks to both of those films (I have those LD’s).
Should anyone have these titles an be able to record the sound, please let me know. If you cannot record the sound, I can and would be happy to return them once they have been recorded.
Thanks everyone. By the way, subtitles are a problem and I would very much like to have proper subs for all the films I tackle so I am open to suggestions. I know there are a lot of fan subs out there.
Later…
I would absolutely 100% advise using the actual PCM soundtrack from the Criterion Laserdiscs and not the 2.0 DD version of that soundtrack that is on DVD. The PCM is vastly superior. This goes for THE KILLER and HARD BOILED.
Should you be willing to wait, I can provide them. I have to get the discs from storage and then hand them over to my movie fan partner for recording (he has a great LD player, whereas mine is now barely functional). He will then get the tracks to me and I will clean them up of pops, clicks and crackle. They will not be de-hissed as that removes clarity.
You would need to keep the sound PCM. That would require dropping all other soundtracks, but it's preferable to 192kbps DD.
Another alternative is an upscaled version for Blu-Ray. You can upscale to 720p and do a Blu-Ray version with multiple soundtracks. That gives you much more breathing room in ensuring there are no additional artifacts added when encoding the final output.
I had the pleasure of seeing both films in theaters and I can tell you that the DD and DTS remixes are nowhere near as robust as how the mono sounded in theaters. The Mei Ah DVD release's 5.1 mix is pretty good at times. In fact, here and there it's better than the mono. But for the most part the mono has far more clarity and less of a shrill feel.
When compressed down to DD2.0 at 192kbps I actually think they are only slightly improved over the remixes. PCM rules.
PCM laserdisc's specs are NOT approved for Blu-Ray. So the PCM track needs to be converted to avoid clipping. It won't alter the quality when done right.
We are all going nuts waiting. NOW NOW NOW!!!!
I would, if I had access to the best video versions out there. I still have the Criterion laserdiscs and would use the audio tracks from them (cleaning them up in soundbooth first). The only issue would be subtitles.
Would anyone be willing to handle the subtitles, as that is such a pain in the neck. Doing subs on top of everything else would be far too much work with my schedule.
No doubt I'd want to have REAL subtitles and not dub-titles.
I PM'd CSchmidlapp about his effort, but have not heard back from him.
Personally, I think color correction will be a problem with this release. The grain structure is far too fine and detailed to re-encode without noise. There is just no way to fix it without a significant quality loss. I will have to find a setting on my DLP that suits me to view this one.
So untouched Video encode from BD with mono track is the way to go.
I absolutely do believe the teal is wrong. I've seen this film in 35mm not long ago. It was not teal. The earlier Blu-Ray's color was spot on. It just wasn't detailed.
Gents, this aired on cable, in High Def, uncut, last year. When we moved I had to give up my DVR recording of it and that sucked to high heaven. The transfer was insanely good. Very little DNR and eons better than the DVD (which is not bad for a 4:3 ltbx xfer).
I do not recall what channel this aired on, but SOMEBODY must have it.
I am bumping this since I just came across and found my jaw hitting the floor. it's been YEARS sine I watched these two films, out of disgust at the remixed soundtracks.
UPDATE...
The final, fully EQ'd audio is here...
https://mega.co.nz/#!KVY0AIzC!X1FkOEtd9TCmYWWUAL8w7xafW54q6lRdrOUEEkOt0lc
Thank God I did not order the Blu-Ray. What a terrible terrible debacle. If I could get my hands on a rip I would personally attempt a reconstruction. The only way I see it working is to go by the sound I have my DVD version and replace SD video with HD video where possible.
The catch will be 24fps vs 30fps. Nasty. Problematic.
Wow. I love this film and despise the screwed up remix. Is this ready yet?
am at a loss with the audio I think the experts here need to chime in.
You will need to hand sync each and every shot. No way around it. Do you know how many edits were needed to fix SUSPIRIA? You know the fixed audio version I am talking about. There were hundreds. Non-stop, painstaking work.
I imagine this will be no different.
A friend of mine and I are going to give it a go. Hopefully we can nail it. I know it's going to be tough.
Thanks
Most of the credit goes to my partner on this project. He's the final cut expert. Right now he and I are cutting my 2nd short film and want to do a few other Argento films when we have the time (all duel layer)...