Matt_Stevens

Last night I spent about an hour with my brother in-law comparing all the various fan restorations and I have to say, Harmy v2.5 won, hands down. Some of the others were quite good, but on a large screen (in this case 72 inches) the v2.5 Harmy was noticeable superior when it came to detail. And this was via the AVCHD. I can imagine the MKV would look even better (duh). 

So far seven of the people who received my v2.5 AVCHD gifts have either sampled or watched and been blown away. 

I am looking forward to JEDI being updated since it's the one in need of the most work. But hey, STAR WARS fans have had to learn to be patient, so this is no big deal. :)

This is long overdue so i apologize for the delay. The Laserdisc PCM audio of CROCODILE DUNDEE has (at least to my ears) fuller surrounds vs. the DTS 2.0 on the BD so here is the LPCM audio track in 16 bit wave, synced to the Blu-Ray.

Let me know if there is a problem with this link.

https://mega.co.nz/#!aBJwxDRL!S6WmyNqcy0oQACblJ5bU95GZsu_26crDtT63uNT2BJw

I watched the Cinemax broadcast a couple months ago and it looked terrific. A bit of green tint, yes, as expected. Cameron can't help himself, it seems. 

We can expect a Blu-Ray soon and when that happens, lots of people will regrade it.

chyron8472 said:

 To be frank though, you can very likely find a good bluray player at a nearby store for 50 bucks, and DVD movies are becoming harder and harder to find. Not upgrading to Bluray by now seems a bit silly considering the low price point for basic, non-smart models; plus the fact that if one were to ask for a movie for birthday or Christmas, they would very likely receive it on Bluray (as happened to me a couple of years ago, prompting my eBay purchase of a PS3 slim).

 You'll get no arguments from me, but we can't force people to upgrade. I know plenty of people with lovely 1080p flat screens who don't have an HD cable box. They refuse to spend more money to upgrade to the newer one and just keep the box they have had for years and years and years. 

Most people just don't care. 

I'm assuming I can just make my own DVD5 from the AVCHD or MKV. I have DVDfab so that might do. I don't do much with DVD anymore. I mean... DVD? Really? But so many people I know have no desire to go up. They are all streaming pukey Netflix.

I actually have that. But I still can't take the risk. :) 

When you go through what I did and lose money, sleep and damn near go insane, you don't take risks. It's bad enough that I use uTorrent. Man am i careful with it. You techie geniuses will think me paranoid, but I have to be. 

TV's Frink said:

Make sure you get jdownloader2, make sure you do a custom install at each step, and deselect any add-ons it wants to install.

JEDIT: I just tried one of the links through chrome and had no problem.  Seems like something on your end.  If it makes you feel any better, I'm apparently the only one who can't download from uloz anymore ;-)

The issue is the way its worded is contrary so you don't know if you are or not installing without it. Hell i'm a writer and I cannot figure what's what this this installer and they do that on purpose. 

I can't take the risk. I just can't. My system is my life. Despite my always being careful about two years ago I got one of those stupid hijackers and it completely nuked my system. I had to wipe and start over which cost me time and money. Real money. Rent money. Hell, it was a complete disaster for me. 

My ImgBurn is from years ago. I'll never EVER touch their updated versions. No thanks. I'll stick with the pre-BS version from years ago. 

Yes, sir. Chrome. For some reason it just errors. I will see what Jdownloader is about. Thanks for the tip. 

EDIT: Well that ain't gonna happen. It's bundled with Astromenda, which is a browser hijacker pup bs. It's getting to the point where everything has this crap which means I can't install anything.

TV's Frink said:

Chewtobacca made the DVD5 and it's on tehparadox.

Okay I see it. Looks like only via Mega. Bummer. I can't seem to download anything from them these days. No clue what the deal is. it just doesn't work. 

Would love a torrent. Would be happy to seed it.

Okay, maybe I am imagining things, but I could have sworn someone was hosting a Harmy Star Wars V2.5 on DVD5. True? No true? 

I have some friends who are stuck in the era of DVD and plenty of DVD5 blanks. 

Many thanks.

You're all under arrest. 

For being awesome.

The audio is what's most precious about the LD. That PCM soundtrack is quite strong.

EDIT: A special thanks to SatoSky for providing subtitles for this film.

Still no clue why all the terrific fan subtitle sites are now gone. I assume the MPAA and Google collusion.

Gang, I have lost the .SRT file I downloaded from the now defunct allsubs.org for ADIEU GALAXY EXPRESS 999. Needless to say... "sh*t." I was ready to add the English audio and subtitles to the Japanese Blu-Ray release when I noticed my SRT was missing. 

I have NO IDEA how to rip subtitles from a DVD or BD. In Googling and reading about it, Jesus Christmas, it looks insanely complicated. I must not be finding the right guides. 

Anyway, I would love some help with this. Any suggestions? I am on a PC and no, I don't want to buy any software. :(

Me too. :)

Tobar said:

Don't forget to give us a full report once you've shown them ESB!

I have to wait until next month! The audacity of their having girl scouts and class trips and track meets. 

It's difficult not just watching EMPIRE right now, but I swore I'd wait for them. I wonder if they will gasp when they find out who Vader really is. 

Harmy said:

It was just that your saying that PCM is better than DTS was in response to a post, where I said, that while there wasn't PCM in this release, there was DTS-HD in the MKV version.

Yes, it's all a misunderstanding. There is the MKV version and the DVD9 version and there is DTD 2.0 from the studios and it's all gotten gooped up into one. :( 

I swear to God, on the negative to the original HIGHLANDER, we are just misunderstanding each other. :)

Harmy said:

Oh, and just to clarify, I had nothing to do with making that mix - it was all hairy_hen, so it's not my mix ;-)

 Then I owe him a bottle of scotch. Or something. It's crazy good work. 

No, sorry. I am not being clear enough. I thought i was in the last post. Clearly in the post from earlier in the day i was trying to sum up too much information too quickly. 

But I just re-read the post from a few minutes ago and cannot in any way find where I am knocking your DTS mix. Not at all. No way. Never ever ever. No way would I do that.

I am referring to PCM vs DTS or DD2.0 in general. 

I need a drink. This has been way to stressful and all due to simple misunderstandings. I do my own work trying to restore Hong Kong (as I mentioned) so today is terribly depressing considering we are on the same side and have the same passions.

Harmy, you completely misunderstand what I wrote. I am not not NOT finding any fault AT ALL with that mix! I am well aware of how your DTS mix was created. I have read about it and found it to be fascinating.

And it was blasting through my surround setup last night. It was spectacular.

I was referring to LPCM audio vs DD2.0 audio of the same mixes. Or how studios wil ltake the older mix and do it in DTS today, but not remixing. Ala CROCODILE DUNDEE on Blu-Ray, which is in 2.0 DTS but doesn't sound as good as the laserdisc's LPCM audio. 

Clarifying further: The laserdisc PCM Star Wars audio murders the DD2.0 192kbps audio on the official 4X3 letterboxed DVD's. 

It is also infinitely superior to the 5.1 remix by Lucasfilm for those DVD's. 

Take any mono or simple stereo film on DVD and compare the audio to the older laserdiscs and you find the Laserdisc PCM wins, hands down. 

And now (unfortunately) the same even goes for numerous 2.0 surround DTS tracks on Blu-Ray. They do not sound as good as the old laserdiscs. 

So again... I am NOT finding fault in ANY WAY with the Harmy DTS mix. NONE!!! I don't know why that is not coming across. What you guys did is far above and beyond what the studios are willing to do. Paramount pictures couldn't give a crap how their Dundee BD sounds compared to the laserdisc. It's a BD with DTS so to them, it's cool and they can market DTS. 

Trying to sum up. The only thing I am saying here is that having the PCM tracks as is would be a great thing and that PCM in general sounds better than the 2.0 DTS tracks we get from the studios. 

I highly doubt anything can top the 5.1 mix on v2.5. But as a purist who has owned those laserdiscs for two decades, it would be cool to have those exact mixes.

I tried going through page 1 of this and no images loaded. That it made it hard for me to figure out what you guys are doing. Is there a decent FAQ of particular post that can explain what you are doing, how and the progress? 

Harmy said:

 Yes you can - or I assume you can, since when you say you'd prefer a BD version, I assume you do have a BD burner - if that's the case, you can simply use TS muxer to remux the MKV to a BD folder or ISO and burn a fully functioning Blu Ray disc. 

Also, SW v2.5 and ESB v2.0 AVCHDs and DVD5s are now up on paradox on mega.

Sorry, I should have clarified that I cannot view "MKV's" on my setup (or at least, in my Home theater). I would have to watch an MKV on my computer. Yuck. 

I've always found MKV's a pain to demux and turn into a BD. Something always goes wrong. It's not my area of expertise, I am afraid to admit. I guess I just have to suck it up and find out why. 

Of note about PCM... One reason they sound better is an illusion. There is more sound bleed into the rears in Pro-Logic or Pro-Logic II mode, so they just sound fuller vs. DTS versions. I'll take that illusion any day over the official 5.1 mixes or those terribly compressed 192kbps 2.0 tracks on the official 4X3 ltbx DVD's. Yuck.

Last night I sat my two nieces down to watch STAR WARS. V2.5 AVCHD via PS3 on a 72" HDTV. 

The girls are 10 and 12 and complete Star Wars virgins. They had no idea who Luke's father is. They had heard of the prequels, but never watched them. Thankfully their father is a real Prequel hater. 

Long story short, they were blown away by the film and become so engrossed that when Ben was cut down they screamed. When Han saved the day, they cheered. 

When it was over they wanted to watch EMPIRE. But alas, it was already late and mom would not approve. They had to go home. 

I saw STAR WARS back in 1977 in Denver Colorado as a 5 year old boy. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the very first time I had been to the movies. 

Seeing the STAR WARS SE at the Ziegfeld theater back when it was released in 97 (97, right?) was a huge let down. When Han shot second I became deflated. What was George doing? Yes, it looked amazing and for the most part it was the film we loved, but those changes were jarring and worse... harmed the film.  

From that point on it became difficult to see these films as originally released. 

I backed up my laserdiscs and kept the PCM sound completely in-tact and uncompressed. Later I 16X9'd them and a friend helped me clean the image up a bit. As my TV's grew in size I stopped watching the STAR WARS films because the image quality just wasn't up to snuff. 

While I had downloaded Harmy the mkv's around a year or so ago I never sat down to watch them all the way through. Life was too busy and I hate having to use a computer to watch stuff. I knew that great work had been done and did watch most of STAR WARS over the course of a few months. With the release of v2.5 I knew it was time to sit down and see the film properly and experience it with my nieces.

Anyway... Last night was an absolute blast. This was the most fun I have had watching STAR WARS since the 80's. Harmy's work is jaw dropping. I would do some things differently, yes, but I can respect and admire the incredible effort that went into this. 

I hope that in the future a higher bit rate BD will be available. At 720p squeezed onto a DVD9 compression issues are obvious to my eyes, though admittedly few will care or even notice. Most people wouldn't know artificial edge enhancement if it smacked them across the face. I'm guessing the 17GB mkv looks better. Unfortunately I can't see it on my current setup.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing The EMPIRE STRIKES BACK with my nieces. Likely next month. I'll wait for them to have a Saturday night free so I can experience it with them. It's been man many years. Feels like a long long time ago.

TV's Frink said:

Matt_Stevens said:

Harmy said:

THANK YOU! Please regular posters, feel absolutely free to speak for me, whenever one of these ever-repeating questions comes up. It gets really very tiring, typing the same stuff like two times a week, so I'm very happy, when someone steps up like this a answers for me. And then, if I have anything to add or amend, I will. In this case, I don't - couldn't possibly have said it better myself.

Sorry for being so "annoying." *sigh*

...

And please remember that at 28 pages, it's impossible to read this entire thread when one hasn't been reading it from the get-go. 

 Two things.

1) No need to put "annoying" in quotes.
2) 28 pages is nothing.

1. I felt there was. It was that single word I was referencing.

2. I usually can spend maybe five minutes reading the forums. Even right now, I have less than that and am putting work aside to be here. There is no way I can get through 28 pages. My life is just far too chaotic. I wish it were not so.

And to Harmy, if my words were misconstrued in any way, I apologize. It was not my intent to insult your work and I do not believe I did. As I have stated here and elsewhere, the Harmy restorations are nothing short of astounding (SW 2.5 being mind blowing). You can search for me here and elsewhere and will easily see that (not to mention all of my efforts in correcting the terrible edits and alterations to numerous Hong Kong classics). I wouldn't waste a stack of my best DVD9's to give SW v2.5 to friends and family if I was not blown away. I even stole my brother inlaw's official DVD's and replaced them with the Harmy Editions. He's long hated the SE's and now he won't have to deal with them. 

And my post on the prior page is almost exclusively praising your work and my excitement in sharing it with my nieces.

What sparked my post was my finally being able to sit down and watch the Harmy JEDI on a large screen, I was shocked at how those eyebrows yanked me out of the film. I wish I had chosen my words more delicately to describe my reaction and AGAIN... I apologize. It wasn't my intent. No one here is perfect. 

My suggestion is simple wit this issue. Only correct it if it can be done without being a distraction. That is just my own personal view. I am not demanding it be done. I am simply stating my viewpoint and hope it will at least be considered. 

Thanks for your time.

P.S. My nieces thought STAR WARS was the coolest thing they have ever seen. They even liked it more than The Hunger Games, which I thought would be impossible. We will watch EMPIRE sometimes next month. And then JEDI soon after. 

Harmy said:

THANK YOU! Please regular posters, feel absolutely free to speak for me, whenever one of these ever-repeating questions comes up. It gets really very tiring, typing the same stuff like two times a week, so I'm very happy, when someone steps up like this a answers for me. And then, if I have anything to add or amend, I will. In this case, I don't - couldn't possibly have said it better myself.

Sorry for being so "annoying." *sigh*

As a fellow restoration hobbyist (mostly Hong Kong films from the 80's and early 90's) I work hard on what I do and always value feedback. In fact, I have integrated feedback into my work in an effort to create the best restoration possible. 

I have endlessly praised these Harmy releases and told every Star Wars fan I know about them. But this is an open forum and we should be able to speak our minds. The eyebrows are shockingly obvious and distracting. If you can't properly recreate what was, then it should be left alone. That eyebrows are so painfully obvious that it yanks you out of the film. All I see are blurry matted in blobs. That's not what you intend, i am sure.

The other day I burned off ten copies of Star Wars 2.5 for family and friends who have absolutely no clue about HTPC's or how to create AVCHD discs. Last night my cousin watched his and called me right after, in shock at what he witnessed. That's how good Star Wars 2.5 is. 

There is no question these Despecialized editions are Holy Grail type restorations. But am I supposed to not speak my mind at all? Constructive criticism isn't allowed? JEDI is only in v1.0 so clearly more work will be done. I should feel like I cannot even open my mouth about it. 

And please remember that at 28 pages, it's impossible to read this entire thread when one hasn't been reading it from the get-go. 

I haven't had time for it.