Adding fake grain is adding fake noise. It's not detail. The detail has been lost forever. I don't see why so many people are okay with placing fake grain onto DNR'd transfers. Just my opinion so no offense, but I'll take the old MPEG2 transfer any day of the week.
All that can replace it is a new transfer.
dark_jedi said:
Matt_Stevens said:
Well there are a few, but I don't know if a way in which you could do it. GOTCHA is an all time favorite that will likely never see a Blu-Ray release. I have it on D-VHS, 1080i 2.0 mono (copy once recorded).
Can you share this?
If anyone out there knows how to bypass 5C Copy Protection, damn straight I would share it.
The only reason to watch this film is the porn.
Well there are a few, but I don't know if a way in which you could do it. GOTCHA is an all time favorite that will likely never see a Blu-Ray release. I have it on D-VHS, 1080i 2.0 mono (copy once recorded).
The ones I want most are Hong Kong classics that were screwed up on DVD and Blu-Ray, like FIST OF LEGEND and A BETTER TOMORROW. Of course ABT has never had an HD transfer that I know of.
I've watched it all the way through and think this is a terrific restoration. How you pulled it off I don't know. Look at the studio released CAT PEOPLE and barf at the smearing DNR mess. Then look at this and wonder why Team Blu isn't running those damn studios. They should.
Great job on the audio, encoding and even menus. It's just terrific. Now... I am not a fan of this film. Really, it's so bad. But in a usually fun kind of way. If you would take care of one of MY 80's favorites I would worship Team Blu for all time.
For me the old PREDATOR release is the only release worth owning. Yes, there are some problems here and there due to it being an MPEG2 transfer. But jeepers creepers the other release is a tragic crime against humanity.
The scenes between Bronson and Will Sampson are what stand out for me. Despite their differences there was this mutual respect. The sense of honor in their exchanges really hooked me. Today it would be rushed and argumentative.
By no means in this a perfect film. it's not. but I'll take it any day over much of the pure crap that we see released in theaters today.
Using BDRebuilder I am able to get a viable version to burn and playback. No menus. Just the movie itself, but it works. Like with ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, I would urge [spoRv] to take some additional time to work out final BD mastering issues because this is good work hampered by some BD playback issues.
Got it. Burning it now.
Using BD Rebuilder I have a viable Blu-Ray burn that plays on my PS3. It's movie only (no menus or extras), but it does work.
In my opinion there is something wonky about the version that ie being downloaded, but it all has to do in the BD mastering. Fixing that and it's a viable fan restoration. Audio mixes are all in sync, though I think the Debra Hill commentary is way too loud. PCM vs. DTS is a toss-up as far as which I prefer. They are both terrific.
This all being said, the official Blu-Ray, while entirely too dark, is naturally superior as far as lack of compression artifacts and grain structure. I think on any screen smaller than 60 inches the fan version preferable. On a screen my size the BD is preferable because the grain is not clumpy or muddy from compression.
It's amazing how despite the tech used in the film being dated how well the story holds up. it's just an awesome piece of filmmaking.
By the way... Is the Carpenter/Russel commentary ripped from the DVD or was it recorded from the laserdisc? They are the same commentary, but the DVD had certain "controversial" statements removed.
You_Too said:
DJ sure deserves a lot of praise for synching the LD audio to this one. I took a look at it and it was horrible indeed, he had to make hundreds of cuts and edits.
But I somehow don't think it's got something to do with overdubs because the out-of-synchs happen at parts where there's like just music and sound effects too. I think it's just the frame count in lots of shots that differs between the prints or something.
I watched this earlier and I immediately detected sound sync issues starting in chapter 4. From that point on the PCM and DTS seem to be ahead of the video by a few frames. Most would never notice, but I did. I'm incredibly sensitive to this sort of thing. The DD2.0 track is properly in sync, but sounds tiny and muffled in comparison to the other two tracks (not Team Blu's fault since it is crummy 192kbps).
The video on this is superb and mastering of the disc is studio quality. Menus are responsive and immediate to move. Chapter movements is perfect, as is scanning. The BD loaded super quick in my PS3.
I am a big fan of Team Blu and feel they are about as good as it gets for fan restorations, so I hope my comments are not taken as an attack or negative. I don't regret taking the time to snag this release.
I realize it is working for you, but for us, it's not. I tested your THE THING out on more BD players than I can count and they all couldn't handle anything other than playback. Trying to chapter forward, scan, pause, switch audio channels resulted in freezing or crashes.
The same thing is happening with Escape From New York. And for the record I have a PS3.
Might I suggest a simplified version, minus some of the audio tracks, movie only and tested on at least half a dozen different BD players. Also, using discs burned via different methods... Some on a PC, some on a Mac, etc. Perfect your final product and then move onto more restorations.
There is no question a great deal of hard work went into these, but something is amiss and considering the length of time it takes to download these, many will just pass for fear of the same result.
I am going to stick Escape into BDRebuilder for a movie only BD25 minus the foreign audio tracks and hope for success.
Downloaded. It's 2 AM and I will go to bed, but not before I start the burn process. Saturday night will be spent hunting The White Buffalo! :)
Please do a search. There is an ongoing thread on it.
I am on a Windows 7 Pro PC and tried using ImgBurn, which immediately warned me the file size was too big for a BD25. So I tried an overburn and while it finished, playback via PowerDVD is troublesome. It takes a while to load and can crash the program (the same thing happens with THE THING). My PS3 won't play it at all. So I tried burning it with different settings. Same thing.
I then used tsMuxerGUI on the downloaded files and removed all the foreign audio tracks and outputed for BD just the film and English sound. That came to 21 GB. I then used ImgBurn to create a BD. That works much better in PowerDVD, though it still can freeze when scanning.
However it will not play in my PS3 (latest firmware).
I have created BD's from numerous fan restorations and the only time I have had any trouble has been with ESCAPE and THE THING so I would urge _,,,^..^,,,_ to do additional testing. BD authoring can be tricky to nightmarish. I'd love to enjoy both of those titles because it's obvious a lot of love went into them, but alas... I can't.
I've tried two different burns and neither work. They won't play at all.
Downloading now. ESCAPE has been on HDNet movies all month and looks terrific, so I am will be curious to watch this with the LD audio. I really like your THE THING restoration, though the encoding on it is funky to the point where I cannot pause, ff, rw, scan or chapter forward at all. it just locks up whatever BD player I try. I can only play and leave it be.
UPDATE: ImgBurn states the file size is too big. It's not by much, but all it takes is a smidge. I am going to overburn to a rewriteable BD as a test and see what happens.
Personally I would drop those foreign language tracks, which take up space and make it annoying as heck to maneuver from the main audio to the commentaries. There is also no need for redundant English tracks. The PCM and DTS are enough. Why include a lossy DD track?
Just food for thoughts on your next restoration project.
HAHAHA! It figures. Well, I don't object. I'm curious as to the sound. paramount sometimes cheaps out on the audio for catalog titles.
A shame it won't be the Australian cut (for film 1). No way will they spring for it.
Free. I don't have the budget for a premium account.
I've been trying to download via the file sharing service, but it's painful. I am lucky if I can get one file per day. Half the time it just errors out after 4 to 6 hours of downloading. Pure torture.
borisanddoris said:
How's the audio?
As good as it is going to get for this release. It's limited by the way in which the audio was originally recorded. I'd say this is the best I have ever heard it sound and yes, I once owned the Criterion laserdisc set.
I watched the new BD last night and it's more than fine. No question is ko's the old release, sometimes brutally. I have no reason to want or desire any additional tinkering. They did the film justice.
I don't think the extended version is salvageable. It's been completely grain raped.
Should there be a non grain raped release of the theatrical release then that is what needs to be worked with. In my view the extended is too far gone to fix. You cannot un-erase grain raping. The detail has been removed permanently.
I know some here find my views on these matters harsh, but I'm just being realistic. Work on what you can help. Not what is beyond help. This is way beyond help. It's been murdered.
Link! Do it up. :)
Amazing film. If I may opine, I hate fake grain. Hate DNR. But I really do frown upon fake grain being added by fans to cover up DNR that was applied by a clueless studio.
Just my two cents. If the Dutch release looks as natural as I here then it would likely be the source to go with.
Also, I prefer two BD 25's if there are two cuts. That way one can choose one or both cuts. BD50's need to be bought in bulk to be cost effective and right now I'm out, so there is also that, lol!