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Moth3r

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Join date
26-Oct-2004
Last activity
16-Jul-2017
Posts
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Post
#101368
Topic
Info: Laserdisc Chapter Points
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/101368/action/topic#101368
Time
This is what I've ended up with, using elements of both the US and the French versions:

01 THX logo.
02 Main titles.
03 Princess Leia's futile flight.
04 The Imperial boarding party.
05 R2-D2 receives the stolen plans.
06 Princess Leia's capture.
07 R2-D2 and C-3PO escape.
08 Darth Vader confronts Princess Leia.
09 R2-D2 and C-3PO lost in the desert on Tatooine.
10 R2-D2 alone in the canyon.
11 The Jawas capture R2-D2.
12 Stormtroopers search the desert.
13 The Jawas sell their wares.
14 Luke meets C-3PO and R2-D2.
15 R2-D2's secret message.
16 Luke's dinner conversation.
17 R2-D2 has gone.
18 The search for R2-D2.
19 Attack of the Sand People.
20 Ben Kenobi to the rescue.
21 Ben reminisces.
22 Princess Leia's message.
23 Strategy meeting on the Death Star.
24 Ben and Luke discover the Jawa massacre.
25 Vader interrogates Princess Leia.
26 Luke decides to go to Alderaan.
27 Mos Eisley spaceport, a wretched hive of scum and villany.
28 The Mos Eisley cantina.
29 Ben hires Han, Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon.
30 Greedo the bounty hunter confronts Han.
31 The Death Star sets course.
32 Preparing to leave Tatooine.
33 The Millennium Falcon makes a quick exit.
34 Imperial Cruisers attack the Millenium Falcon.
35 The Death Star destroys Alderaan.
36 Luke's lightsabre training.
37 Grand Moff Tarkin is outraged by Princess Leia's deception.
38 The Millennium Falcon is captured.
39 The crew of the Millenium Falcon sneak onto the Death Star.
40 Han and Chewbacca overwhelm the guards.
41 Ben's destiny lies on a different path.
42 Luke has a plan to rescue Princess Leia.
43 Phase one: Chewbacca plays the role of prisoner.
44 The attack on the detention block.
45 Luke finds Princess Leia.
46 Vader senses the presence of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
47 Imperial troops are alerted.
48 Into the garbage chute.
49 The Dianoga's attack.
50 Trapped in the garbage masher.
51 Ben disables the tractor beam.
52 In flight to the Falcon.
53 The Death Star bridge chasm.
54 Obi-Wan meets Darth Vader.
55 The rescue party's escape.
56 Dogfight with the Imperial fighters.
57 Tarkin takes a risk.
58 Han Solo boasts to Princess Leia.
59 Arrival at the Yavin moon Rebel base.
60 War room briefing: the Rebel strategy.
61 The Death Star approaches.
62 Han Solo prepares to leave.
63 Prepare for battle.
64 The Rebel fighters begin the attack.
65 Enter the TIE fighters.
66 Lord Vader joins the fray.
67 Vader foils the Gold Squad's attack.
68 Tarkin scoffs at the Rebel's chances.
69 Red Leader's foray fails.
70 Luke begins his attack.
71 Vader's squad faces the X-wing fighters.
72 Vader zeros in on Luke.
73 Luke turns off his targeting computer.
74 The Death Star clears the planet.
75 The Millennium Falcon to the rescue.
76 Luke's shot.
77 The end of the Death Star.
78 Vader's ship hurtles into deep space.
79 A hero's welcome.
80 A ceremony in the honour of the heroes.
81 End credits.
Post
#101359
Topic
.: Moth3r's PAL DVD project :.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/101359/action/topic#101359
Time
My Star Wars ANH DVDR (V1.0) is now completed.

Good Points:
- The overall picture quality on this DVD is very good. IMO it is significantly better than DrGonzo's version, and also shows an improvement over the TR47 and EditDroid transfers. (At least until TR47's next release, or one of the versions derived from the X0 project, becomes available.)

- AFAIK it's the only PAL version that's been made available for download. I would be interested to know how this capture compares to those others who have made or attempted to make DVDs from the PAL laserdiscs (i.e. Karyudo, Grisan, Norinadd?)

Bad Points:
(Or, things I want to improve on for V2.0!)
- The capture card I used is one of the cheapest available. Also, the outdated comb filter inside the LD player (Pioneer CLD-D925) is used for Y/C seperation, so there is a small amount of dot-crawl. I have a feeling that an overall improvement could be obtained by using the unseperated composite output from a Pioneer CLD-2950 with something like a SweetSpot capture card (containing a more advanced 3D comb filter). This is something I would like to explore in the future.

- Halos to the left of dark objects in front of a light background. This is *not* a digital artefact caused by a sharpening filter, it's an analogue "sharpness" effect present in the source capture. It's not really noticeable on a normal CRT TV, but may annoy those with large LCD or Plasma displays. Again, I would hope that this could be reduced by using the combination of hardware descibed above.

- Occasional spots or lines caused by dust or scratches on the disc surface. I used a filter to remove the worst of the lines, but I was worried that trying to remove all defects would have unwanted side-effects, such as eating up the starfields in the space scenes. I should look into getting a proper cleaning solution and giving the discs a good polish. (Also keep in mind many of the defects you may notice are actually a result of the transfer from film to laserdisc).

- The audio is from an analogue source (VHS). The signal-to-noise ratio of VHS hi-fi audio is actually pretty good, but there will be some noise introduced nonetheless. Also I only used the line-in from my motherboard's onboard sound, not a high-end sound card. Some minor jitter in the tape playback meant that I had to remove the occasional 40ms to keep the sound in sync; I ran the audio through SoundForge to remove any clicks so hopefully even those with good ears won't notice this. (Ideally I would like to get a soundcard with SPDIF input and get a digital to digital copy of the audio from an English language laserdisc.)

- The side change from 1-2 is pretty abrupt; a screenwipe is missing. This is a problem with the French discs. Apparently the German LDs are from the same film transfer but with the side changes at different points, so I need to get hold of the German discs to fill in the missing frames (more expense!) Side change 2-3 is fine, change 3-4 is I think only missing about 7 frames.

- I've noticed some minor interlacing artefacts in a couple of shots; this seems to be a problem with some sort of phase shift in the disc in places. However, you only notice this when viewing frame-by-frame in VirtualDub.

- Variations in colour saturation seem to occur occasionally. I've got no idea what caused this.

- Some dark scenes have what look like MPEG compression artefacts (macro-blocks) in the picture. This is not caused by bitrate starvation of the encode, it's actually a side-effect of the filter used for noise reduction. Again it's probably only those with digital displays who will notice this.

- Subtitles are hard-encoded into the picture. Yeah, I know it's not the ideal method, but it was quick and simple.

- Chapter points don't always exactly match the chapter points of the laserdisc with frame-accuracy (because I didn't tell the encoder where the 'I' frames should be).

- No menus or extras whatsoever. Personally I like to put a disc in and have it play from the start without a menu appearing, I feel it stays more true to the laserdisc this way. However, in a future version I'd certainly like to put in alternative audio tracks (mono, original dolby surround); it would then make sense to have a simple audio selection menu.

Other ideas I'm considering for the future:
- An NTSC 16:9 version created from the PAL laserdiscs. (Just curious how they would compare with the NTSC captures off the X0.)

- A multi-lingual version.

---

My immediate plan is to do ESB and ROTJ using the same hardware and process as this version, to complete the set. Then I'll have a bit of a break, do some other stuff that's been on the back burner for a while, hopefully get into the wife's good books so when I mention spending £100's on a new capture card and *another* laserdisc player I won't get killed.
Post
#101357
Topic
The Official babyhum Release Thread
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/101357/action/topic#101357
Time
To play PAL, don't you need a compatible TV as well?

I'm in the UK; my DVD player will do on-the-fly conversion to play NTSC as PAL, but the playback is jerky. If however I set the player to Auto, so NTSC is output in its native format, the TV will switch from 50Hz (PAL) to 60Hz (NTSC) and playback is smooth.

Similarly for those of you in the US, I would think that on-the-fly conversion from PAL (576 lines @ 50Hz) to NTSC (480 lines @ 60Hz) would result in loss in resolution and framerate problems. I've heard that multi-sync (50/60Hz) TVs, whilst common over here, are rare in the states.

There's also the colour signal issue. My TV can't decode NTSC 3.58 - but that doesn't affect me as I use a SCART connection in RGB mode. But if I use composite or s-video connections I get a black-and-white picture.

Anyone in NTSC-land care to clarify what exactly happens when you use one of these $35 players for PAL discs?
Post
#101212
Topic
Info & Help Wanted: Monty Python preservation - Help!
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/101212/action/topic#101212
Time
I have a European model JVC pro editing deck (with s-video out and built-in TBC) which is an ideal source for capturing VHS. My capture device is only a simple BT-878 card, but it has given me fairly good results with my laserdisc capture.

I'd be happy to help, the only thing is, I can't commit to starting anything straight away. I want to get my ESB and ROTJ laserdiscs transferred first.
Post
#100808
Topic
Info: Laserdisc Chapter Points
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/100808/action/topic#100808
Time

Inside the gatefold of my ANH laserdisc cover, there are 81 chapter points (20/18/18 & 25 for sides 1/2/3 & 4 respectively). All the description is in French, unfortunately.

I thought I’d been through the sides and put them all in, but I only have 80 chapters!

DrGonzo’s disc uses (I believe) the original chapter stops from the Definitive Collection disc; his appear to be the same as mine (except he only has 79, because I have the THX logo as chapter one whereas he starts at the 20th Century Fox title).

If the DC chapter points are equivalent to the French laserdiscs, can anyone list the chapter titles to save me having to do a French translation, and it might also help me locate the missing chapter stop.

Ta!

Edit - I found the missing stop - it was chapter 2 on side 4 (chapter 1 is only 19 seconds long, no wonder I missed it!) I would still like the French translated into English, but I don’t need the translation straight away.

Post
#100709
Topic
limitedsharpen() with avisynth
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/100709/action/topic#100709
Time
I remember it was quite tricky getting dust to work, as it's a filter for Avisynth 2.0 which hasn't been updated for 2.5. I think I used the method described on this page.

Isn't scenalyzer more suited to DV capture? What capture device are you actually using? If it's something like a ADVC-100, then you won't be able to capture with huffyuv.
:: Edit - OK I just looked back at your previous posts, and you indeed using a DV capture device.

Keep in mind that what works for me isn't necessarily best for your situation.

If you get dust installed correctly, just insert a simple
PixieDust()
command before LimitedSharpen().
Post
#100550
Topic
limitedsharpen() with avisynth
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/100550/action/topic#100550
Time
What format/codec are you using to capture? I use YUY2 and huffyuv compression.

It will be choppy on playback, because you've put a slow filter into the video chain. This filter is for encoding, not real-time playback.

A sharpening filter will sharpen the noise as well as the real detail. Therefore you should generally put a denoiser in front of the sharpener. There are many available for avisynth, I use a plugin called dust (PixieDust) but it is very, very slow (takes me 14 hours to do one encode pass on an Athlon XP 2700).

(BTW I notice you are using VirtualDub to trim the video - it may be more convenient to put a Trim command into your Avisynth script.)
Post
#100473
Topic
Idea: Can we make Multi-Lingual OT DVDs?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/100473/action/topic#100473
Time
I have the French laserdiscs so it wouldn't be too difficult to add French subtitles (for the aliens and opening scrawl) and a French audio track to my DVD. Maybe for a later release.

I had to sync the English audio from my VHS capture to the video from the laserdisc, and believe me it's not that easy (although you don't have to worry about lip-sync being spot-on if it's a foreign soundtrack!)
Post
#100275
Topic
limitedsharpen() with avisynth
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/100275/action/topic#100275
Time
Originally posted by: dark_jedi
thanks guys for all the help,i have spent hours downloading everything you guys mentioned.here is my script please tell me what i am doing wrong cannot get it to work at all
Import("C:\Program Files\AviSynth2\plugins\limitedsharpen.avsi")
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth2\plugins\MaskTools\MaskTools.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth2\plugins\warpsharp.dll")
AviSource("c:\capture\Hunter\Hunter 1.avi")
LimitedSharpen()
What do you mean by "cannot get it to work at all"? Do you get an error message?

Did you install AviSynth 2.5? (The directory naming above implies you installed 2.0)

You don't need the first line; giving a script an avsi extension means that it is automatically imported.
Post
#100190
Topic
limitedsharpen() with avisynth
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/100190/action/topic#100190
Time
Originally posted by: drjimmy526
Mother, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe it's quite that simple to set up. LimitedSharpen() is not an internal AviSynth filter, so you have to load it somehow. Go to this site: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84196&perpage=20&pagenumber=1 and paste the code from the 3rd post into a blank text file and save it with the extension .avsi and put it in Avisynth's plugin directory. You also need something called masktools for LimitedSharpen() to function, so download that and load it in your script like any other external plugin. THEN you can call the LimitedSharpen() function.
Yes, you're correct. I assumed he'd already saved the function as an avsi file, but I forgot that you needed masktools. Download it from here and place the dll in C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins.
Post
#99996
Topic
New Doctor Who
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/99996/action/topic#99996
Time
Anyone watching it? What did you think?

I'm still undecided. I think Eccleston makes a good Doctor and the teaser plot line hinted in Ep 2 could get interesting. OK some of it is a bit crap - but that sort of gives it an authentic Dr Who feel.

The only thing I would say is that I don't like the 45-minute long stories. Four episodes per story with cliffhangers at the end of each episode would be better IMO.
Post
#99908
Topic
Info Wanted: on attempting to preserve my laserdiscs to DVD
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/99908/action/topic#99908
Time
OK, I see your point. Upsampling does degrade the picture - but if you use the best possible algorithms, the effect is practically negligible. (Similarly, compressing BMP to JPG is lossy, but if you use the highest quality setting then the majority of people wouldn't notice the difference.)

And the 150% supersampling is implemented in the default settings:
ss_x = default( ss_x, 1.5 )
ss_y = default( ss_y, 1.5 )
I just left it unchanged.
Post
#99900
Topic
Info Wanted: on attempting to preserve my laserdiscs to DVD
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/99900/action/topic#99900
Time
Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
It's not a misconception. When converting a letterbox transfer straight to anamorphic, it does make the picture softer. It can't be helped, since you are simply taking the existing image and making it larger (unless you use some super-duper scaler in the video chain, and I don't know anyone who has done that).
Check the sreenshots I posted in that thread - I can't detect any softening. But I use an Avisynth function called LimitedSharpen(), which supersamples the video to 150%.
Post
#99855
Topic
Info Wanted: on attempting to preserve my laserdiscs to DVD
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/99855/action/topic#99855
Time
Originally posted by: dark_jedi
now my question is when i transfer to my hd through my canopus in widescreen will it be in widescreen on the finished dvd or is there more to it i already did the first set but it wasnt widescreen and it turned out pretty good,but i am curious if it will remain widescreen for me or are there more steps to make it anamorphic widescreen
The laserdiscs are letterboxed widescreen, if you don't do any resizing then the resulting DVD will be letterboxed widescreen too.

If you want to make it anamorphic widescreen, you must crop then resize vertically by 33.3%. The exact method depends on your choice of post-processing.

Regarding the "softening" misconception, see this thread.