Moth3r

Maybe ITV decided they wanted to show ROTJ in HD, therefore they used the '04 version?

The Miami Film Festival version of "Building Empire" finally finished uploading yesterday.

Expect "Returning to Jedi" to start posting in a few days time.

Building Empire - Miami Film Festival Edition is now being posted to alt.binaries.starwars. (Sorry about the lack of an NFO file, I didn't have time to write one.)

The ISO image was built directly from the PAL DVD that Jambe sent me; it came out at around 5.05GB in size. An MDS file is also included for the convenience of ImgBurn users. Burn the image to a DVD+R DL.

As JD mentioned previously, this edition differs from the original in that it includes certain fixes and corrections, as well as footage from the 'lost' 'Making of The Empire Strikes Back' documentary thanks to Darth Neo. The disc doesn't include any of the extras that were on the original release, it's simply the feature length doco with a one-button static menu.

I'd be interested to find out if it respects Macorovision copy protection signals or not. If it refuses to copy commercial tapes, and there is no way to inset a "video stabiliser" into the chain, then this device is about as useful as a knitted condom. :-)

Building Empire: Miami Film Festival edition is currently being posted. Please be patient, it may take a while.

Andy, welcome. I recommend that you click here to enhance your forum experience.

Sounds like the problem is either in ripping the VOBs from the disc to the HDD, or demuxing the video/audio.

As mentioned in this thread, running time should be 2h 01m. Check your demuxed files.

All the best films were made in the eighties, so I couldn't pick 10. :-)

Here's the IMDb top rated films:

1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)     8.8
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)     8.7
3. Boot, Das (1981)     8.5
    Shining, The (1980)     8.5
    Aliens (1986)     8.5
6. Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988)     8.4
    Raging Bull (1980)     8.4
    Elephant Man, The (1980)     8.4
    Once Upon a Time in America (1984)     8.4
    Amadeus (1984)     8.4

And here are the films with the highest USA box office:

1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)     $434,949,459
2. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)     $309,125,409
3. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)     $290,158,751
4. Batman (1989)     $251,188,924
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)     $242,374,454
6. Ghost Busters (1984)     $238,600,000
7. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)     $234,760,500
8. Back to the Future (1985)     $210,609,762
9. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)     $197,171,806
10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)     $179,870,271

budwhite said:

I really like the -93 mix. That's the one I'm used too and the first one I played in surround. When watching the movie with d pro-logicII, I think it still kicks many 5.1DD soundtracks. So my question is this:

Did they remix the 2.0 pcm track for the 97 SE or did they just create a 5.1 mix?

The 1993 mix was mostly based on the original 70mm 6-track (with a few additional bits added here and there) - this is why it has such a satisfying dynamic range.

The 5.1 mix for the SE is not an upmix from a 2.0 Dolby Surround track; it was probably remixed from the original stems.

Puggo: I noticed this thread on Doom9 and thought you might find it interesting.

Hunter6 said:

...why would somebody keep hold of a 20 year VHS tape of an TV version.

Why not? I kept hold of mine.

As for Biggs scenes, Jabba scene, grappling hook miss, etc., show us video proof - or it didn't happen!

I seems to me that capturing analogue video is unfortunately becoming a dying art.

These days anyone and their gran can hook something up to a DVD recorder and hit the record button, and there is precious little info or comparisons on capture card specs.

I have both cards. I can assure you the PDI is much better.

Arnie, do you still have capture files from both cards? Could you post comparison screenshots to illustrate the better quality of the PDI card?

I suggest using AviSynth with the DGAVCDec plugin to frameserve the video into an MPEG-2 encoder.

See also:
http://neuron2.net/board/viewtopic.php?p=8711

Vaderisnothayden said:

(If you want a good list of the differences the 70mm had from the 35mm you can look at the Wookieepedia Star Wars wikia article on List of changes in Star Wars re-releases, in the Changes to the Original Trilogy section. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases )

(Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Wookieepedia is just a playground for TFN fanboys and EU nerds?)

Although it doesn't cite sources, I'm willing to bet that part of the article was copied/pasted from posts on this forum. The visual differences were posted by Neil S Bulk, sourced from a list compiled by Michael Matessino in Film Score Monthly. The audio differences are derived from the assumption that the 1997 SE audio is based on the 70mm mix.

The Starkiller later noticed from Puggo's telecine that the 8mm reels appeared to be from the same master as the 70mm version.

Yes please ; I will post to a.b.sw if no-one else has offered already.

(Edit: same goes for Returning to Jedi MFF version.)

SKot said:

Did I mention how much I hate Flash?

--SKot

Perhaps you should also mention it to whoever is going to be interviewing you?

:-)

What format does it record in? AVCHD or HDV?

The German DVD is now due out on 7 January 09, apparently.

It'll be interesting to see what the quality is like. I had a chance to compare the quality of the R2 Japanese Grindhouse theatrical and the R1 US Death Proof. The US version has the same scratched beat-up look, but in much better PQ.  (The scratches are sharper!) :-)

(Top R2, bottom R1)

Even has a trope named after it: George Lucas Love Story

ADM edited the love story completely out of Pearl Harbor, and the film was much better. Wonder if you could do the same for AOTC?

resonator said:

The THX edge enhancement halos are still noticeable, ranging from barely to terribly. It seems as if no matter what video source you use, there's always SOME thing really wrong with it. So far I've seen Pre-THX LDs which have very little detail, THX-LDs with DNR-smear and the GOUT... no matter how much effort

The GOUT DVDs were unfortunately from the same source as the NTSC THX LDs. Not only is that awful smearing retained, they also added new flaws such as the aliasing and vertical blur.

The pre-THX LDs do not lack that much detail, but the image does exhibit more dirt and a "greenish" colouring.

If we ever want to see the original Star Wars in HD (and with small TV starting at 32" and our viewing habits getting used to more and more HD we'll NEED it in HD soon enough) we'll need something like a cleaned up and color-corrected telecine of a theatrical print.

I'm willing to accept some of the minor changes present in the 2004 version (for which a HD source exists) - e.g. the digital composition, the tractor beam controls, the cell block corridor - just to have something in HD. Of course it all needs colour correcting, but Adywan has done that already. 

The new CGI shots and Han/Greedo exchange would have to be replaced with video upscaled from GOUT or LD source (maybe a hybrid of the higher-resolution PAL LDs, using the pre-THX LDs only where necessary to avoid the DVNR smearing).

ONE QUESTION THOUGH - If I intend to upscale to let's say 720p with InstantHD in AfterEffects, should I feed it the anti-aliased NEDI-doubled-in-size video or with the anti-aliasing commented out?

You'll have to compare the two methods to see which works best, but I'm guessing that leaving in the EEDI2/NNEDI line and removing the resizing (downscaling) section that follows it would give the best source to feed into AfterEffects.

Did you remove those SSE3 plugins?

How much memory do you have? If it's 1GB or less, you could try inserting the line:
SetMemoryMax(256)
at the very start of the script.

Yes it's possible to join lagarith-encoded AVIs with frame accuracy. You can encode smaller chunks either by setting start/end points in VirtualDub, or adding a Trim() command at the end of the script.

However, if your PC happens to crash before VirtualDub has finished saving out that chunk, then that AVI will require an index repair to be useable.

Sorry, I was incorrect in my post above: the comb filter on the PDI Deluxe/Sweetspot card is 'only' 2D.

(But consider that a 3D comb filter only gives an advantage on static images, any motion and the filter has to resort back to 2D mode).

Arnie.d said:

Also, left of the EXT SYNC connectors on the back of my player is this 75Ω on/off switch. Any idea what it's for?

Darth Mallwalker said:

If you had an external device like another LD or professional video monitor providing a sync signal, then I think you'd turn that switch on.

Without an external sync connected I believe you should leave that switch off so the player generates its own sync pulses from its internal clock.

You will usually find 3D comb filters in capture cards at the higher end of the range, e.g. the Sweetspot/PDI Deluxe, ATI Theater 550 Pro or the Compro Videomate X500.

Alternatively, as mentioned in the other thread, you could route the composite signal through a DVD recorder and capture the s-video output.

Talking of the Chinese; I read today that the pirates over there are now selling "fake" blu-ray discs - these are actually just 720p AVCHD discs on DVD9, in blu-ray style cases.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081117-fake-blu-ray-discs-hatched-in-china-industry-is-concerned.html

Here's something I originally wrote for the FAQ but never got around to posting:

Q. How do I get a copy of one of these projects?

Fan edits are unauthorized copies of copyrighted movies, therefore their distribution constitutes copyright infringment.

Although the originaltrilogy.com community has a couple of rules in place ("no selling" and "you must buy the original") to morally distinguish us from the common movie pirate, fan editing is still very much an underground hobby. To protect ourselves, we don't allow any download links on originaltrilogy.com.

If you want to obtain one of these projects, there are several avenues you can explore.

Physical Media (DVDR, etc.)
PiF
stands for Pay it Forward. Someone sends you a disc, in return you make a pledge to send out one or more copies of that disc to others.

B&P
stands for blanks and postage. DVDs are sent out on receipt of blank discs and a nominal contribution to cover postage costs only.

Trading
"Swapping discs". Only like-for-like trades should be entered into, i.e. fan edit discs should not be traded for straight copies of retail discs, nor for any items of "real" value (such as toys, figures or memorabilia).

All PiF, B&P and trading discussions should take place through private email correspondence between the two parties.

Internet Download
Torrents
Bittorrent is a popular peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. You need a bitorrent client (e.g. BitComet, uTorrent or Azureus).
Torrent files for fan edit downloads can be found at the following sites:

myspleen - registration required to download torrent and use tracker, registration is by invite only
demonoid - public tracker, private site. Registration required to site, registration is by invite only.
thepiratebay - no registration required
mininova - no registration required

Usenet
Newsgroups have been around since before the world wide web. Originally UseNet was a text-based bulletin board system, now certain groups can be used to share binary files. You will need a binary news grabber such as Grabit, and access to a news server (you would normally expect to pay for access to a premium provider, although some ISPs offer limited access to their customers).

Fan edits have been posted to groups such as:
alt.binaries.dvd
alt.binaries.dvd5
alt.binaries.dvd.midnightmovies
alt.binaries.multimedia.horror
alt.binaries.multimedia.startrek
alt.binaries.multimedia.scifi
alt.binaries.starwars
alt.binaries.superman

Rapidshare
Rapidshare.com is a website offering online storage for large files. They have restrictions in place to limit the amount of data that can be downloaded within a certain time period, which generally means that you will need to pay for a premium account if you want to download anything useful without frustration.
Links to rapidshare downloads can be found at:
fanedit.info
linktalk (aka rslinksforum.com)
tehparadox.com