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Moth3r

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Join date
26-Oct-2004
Last activity
16-Jul-2017
Posts
4,892

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Post
#75538
Topic
***The MeBeJedi feedback thread ***
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/75538/action/topic#75538
Time
Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
I downloaded the 16x9 Tantive .mpeg file but get an error opening it in Windows Media every time. As much as I HATE asking totally novice questions, do I need a particular codec to view this, or a different player? Thanks in advance.
WMP includes MPEG-1 decoders by default, but to view MPEG-2 (which is what this is) you will need to have DVD playback software installed such as PowerDVD or WinDVD. Alternatively you could use Media Player Classic or VLC Media Player.

Post
#75320
Topic
The "capture window" effect and preferred adjustment
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/75320/action/topic#75320
Time
As most of you will no doubt be aware, the majority of PC capture cards crop a small amount from the extreme left and right edges of the video image during capture (this is the "capture window").

If nothing is done about this then it can result in a small inaccuracy in the aspect ratio of the capture, i.e. if you only capture 2.30:1 and display it as 2.35:1 then the image will look slightly squashed.

The standard fix is to capture at a reduced horizontal resolution, e.g. 704 pixels, then add black borders 8 pixels wide either side to increase the image width up to the usual DVD-spec of 720 pixels. When displayed on a TV, these side borders are normally in the overscan part of the picture so are not noticeable. They can however be distracting if viewing on a PC.

If you are making an anamorphic version, then you have another option; capture at 720, but increase the vertical scale factor slightly to compensate for loss of the sides. By a quick calculation, I reckon the factor need to be increased from 1.33 to 1.36 (for a PAL capture, 327 vertical lines in the 4:3 source would normally increase to 436 after resizing to 16:9, but with the compensation it would be about 445).

So what's the vote? I am currently leaning towards the first option. Are side borders an issue to anyone? Would you prefer to see the full 720 pixels in use?
Post
#75328
Topic
Playing -mpg, -mpeg, -mov and -avi files on my DVD player
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/75328/action/topic#75328
Time
No, that one won't play AVI files I'm afraid.

If the MPG/MPEG files you have are in MPEG-1 format that is VCD compliant (or SVCD-compliant MPEG-2) then no video conversion is necessary, but the disc must be authored with the correct VCD/SVCD structure for your player to recognise them correctly. Simply burning the MPG to an ISO data disc will not work.

Post
#75096
Topic
.: The Zion DVD Project :. (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/75096/action/topic#75096
Time
Originally posted by: KaryudoI also discovered there is no difference between the cheapest RCA cable and Monster Cable's near-top-of-the-line fancy-ass thing.
Have you tried the s-video output?

Yes I know that the video stored on a laserdisc is composite to begin with; however, the D925 converts it to RGB for the digital processing circuits, then extracts the chroma and luma for the s-video output. The composite output is the chroma and luma recombined - it would make sense to use the s-video coneection and retain the separation.

For what it's worth, I use an OFC s-video cable with gold plated connectors - nowhere near "top-of-the-line" but a little better than your average freebie.

I also have a composite cable that came free with my graphics card - I guess I should really do some testing to see if there is any noticeable difference.
Post
#74761
Topic
.: The Zion DVD Project :. (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/74761/action/topic#74761
Time
Originally posted by: Karyudo
I kinda figured, "In for a penny, in for a pound," and got myself a Pioneer CLD-D925 -- the best PAL-spec player Pioneer ever made. That's the one I got. Although it's true that it was Pioneer's flagship model in their last range of laserdisc players, some people say that the older model CLD-2950 which it replaced had a slightly better picture quality (but fewer features). It's all subjective though.

Did you find, as I did, that turning the HQ circuit on actually makes the output picture worse? Certainly not as sharp.
Originally posted by: Karyudo
Also, maybe you'll know definitively: does PAL need IVTC? No, I know it doesn't need 3:2 pulldown reversal, but PAL is still interlaced on telecining, so I wonder if it would benefit from some Telecide() work -- without Decimate -- to get rid of 2:2 pulldown?
As I understand it, you should use telecide on the capture to combine the fields back into progressive frames before any processing. Don't know what effect this has on the filtering but it will help with the encoding if the source is progressive.
Post
#74370
Topic
Star Wars OT ANH - PAL Laserdisc transfer (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/74370/action/topic#74370
Time
Originally posted by: Wer-Al_Zwowe
It's great to read about all those plans to create a PAL dvd from laserdisc source. I'm planning to do the same.

I recently bought the French laserdisc of the trilogy with subtitles in the black bar. How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking? That's the one I wanted, but on eBay they go too high for me. I would love to get a digital rip of the uncompressed PCM that's on those discs.

Originally posted by: Wer-Al_Zwowe
I am planning to record it with my dvd recorder in the highest quality mode. Then I'll resize and color correct it on my pc. And I'll encode it with CCE. It will be an anamorphic dvd with Dutch, English and French subtitles.

Does anybody have any advise, about filters to use?
If you are going to use a DVD recorder, my advice would be not to touch the video. Your recorder will record with MPEG-2 compression (lossy), so if you then resize, filter, and re-encode you will have two lossy steps in the chain. If your recorder has some sort of noise reduction built in to it's hardware, by all means enable that while you are recording.

My LD player has a noise reduction circuit, however I find that if I turn it on it softens the picture too much. Therefore I am going to capture the video using the huffyuv codec (lossless) and use a noise reduction filter in software before the actual encoding.

Originally posted by: grisan
VirtualDubMod is easier to use, but I think Avisynth is more powerful and flexible.
Are you aware that you can load AVS scripts into VirtualDubMod?
Post
#74230
Topic
Info: eBay sellers - a rant
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/74230/action/topic#74230
Time

I get really pissed off when I see DVD sets of the original trilogy being sold on eBay, usually for upwards of £20-£25. And the descriptions are usually misleading, often implying that the discs will be of retail DVD quality. How much does it cost for three DVD-Rs + cases + a bit of ink from your printer + postage? Certainly no more than £5.

These individuals are taking advantage of the demand for these movies in order to make themselves a quick profit, and eBay are doing sod all about it (just had a check; there’s 5 sets on ebay.co.uk at the moment).

In fact, eBay seems to be a haven for chavs selling pirate DVDs, it’s actually quite difficult to find DVDs on there that look to be original! But as long as eBay get their listing fees, they couldn’t care less.

What’s even more annoying is that the MPAA and their cronies have a history of harrassing any innocent fan site that dares to display even a JPG still from a movie, citing intellectual property and copyright infringment. Yet they do nothing about the rogue sellers on eBay.

What can be done?

Well, if any of you have ever heard of MAME, my rant may sound all too familiar. Basically MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, and it’s purpose is to document and preserve long-lost arcade games. The data from the ROM chips inside the machines is dumped to a binary file, and a driver is coded that emulates the original hardware of that machine.

Since the emulator also allows you to play these games, it became very popular, and guess what - CDs full of ROMs began to appear on eBay. Again, an example of a distasteful element of the community trying to make a quick profit from the work of others.

One individual on the newsgroup alt.games.mame was so pissed off with this that he set up a website - Tombstones - that offered to burn a full set of ROMs in exchange for some blank CD-Rs and a return-postage-paid envelope.

A noble idea, and a good way to cut the profits of the ebay scammers - auction bidders could be notified of the site, and it was satisfying to see a long list of cancelled bids!

So what happened to the Tombstones burning service? Answer: they were forced to close by the MPAA. Yes that’s right, the MPAA. Read about it here: Tombstones

Post
#74086
Topic
Info Wanted: What other LDs are you all transferring?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/74086/action/topic#74086
Time
Originally posted by: DanielB
I'd like to see the Indy trilogy preserved in its theatrical format. What's different in last year's DVD versions? Apart from the reflection in the Well of Souls that was painted out for the DVD. Also, our UK version of Temple of Doom was butchered to get a PG certificate. I bought my DVD set from Germany to get the uncut version!

Originally posted by: The BizzleThe Frighteners DC comes to mind.
I guarantee that would spread like wildfire around the internet if a quality capture along the likes of what everyone's doing with Star Wars was done with Frighteners. Especially considering all the extras on that set.

I think someone capturing and doing up "Frighteners" would be even more anticipated than a capture of Close Encounters theatrical release.
A LD->VCD transfer has been done by a group called FLAiR, who release these kind of classics to the warez scene. See here and here. Unfortunately being spread over 7 discs, it was never really that popular so didn't filter down from the warez sites to Usenet/IRC/P2P.

I was thinking of doing Bambi, because the anniversary edition LDs go pretty cheap on eBay - but apparently the DVD is due out next March.
Post
#73821
Topic
<strong>The &quot;Dr. Gonzo&quot; Trilogy DVD Info and Feedback Thread</strong> (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/73821/action/topic#73821
Time
More info:
Encoding Process: Laserdiscs originally captured with Sony DV cam as DV bridge
at 720x480, video encoded to DVD-spec and IVTC'd with TMPGenc, audio ac3 (Dolby
2.0) encoded with Sonic ReelDVD.


An excellent set, only 2 minor things that bug me; one is that the surround flag is not set in the audio, so I get plain stereo instead of Dolby Surround unless I manually alter my audio system, another is that it seems to me towards the end of ANH the picture starts to shake from side to side quite noticeably. Anyone else notice this?
Post
#73813
Topic
Star Wars OT ANH - PAL Laserdisc transfer (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/73813/action/topic#73813
Time
Suprised to hear that the German LDs do not have the opening scrawl in English; my LDs have it in English but subtitled in French.

The mono soundtrack was in a recording made from when the film was broadcast on TV some 20 years ago, but I think the tape is still at my parents house somewhere. Even if I find it, it's going to be pretty hard to sync it, as all the adverts need to be cut (!), but you're welcome to a copy if I ever manage it.
Post
#73763
Topic
Star Wars OT ANH - PAL Laserdisc transfer (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/73763/action/topic#73763
Time
Hi folks!

Having just found this thread, I'm kicking myself for not having found it sooner.

But I was also quite thrilled to find out that there other people who are thinking exactly the same as me!

You see, although I have DrGonzo's versions, I too want to have the original trilogy in PAL format (I live in the UK) for 2 reasons:
- better picture definition (because PAL has an increased resolution)
- no "motion judder" from 3:2 pulldown (see the scene in Jedi where the rebel fleet is preparing for the attack on the Death Star; some of the fast horizontal movement looks awful to my eyes)

I decided a while ago that my VHS versions wouldn't give me the quality I wanted, so I bought a 2nd hand CLD-D925, and I've also managed to get LDs of Empire and Jedi (in French - the versions with the original soundtrack on eBay go way too expensive for me). I've probably been bidding against one of you lot for A New Hope! The VHS versions I have are the THX ones (from 1995?) and have the same artwork as the LDs, so I would think that the audio will be compatible.

I know a fair bit about analogue capture (I actually contributed in a very small part to the guide you will find at Doom9.org) so I'm looking forward to doing this.

Here's my "plan of action":
- Set up correct contrast and brightness on the PC monitor using screengrabs from the THX optimiser included on my Indiana Jones DVDs.
- Now run the same disc on a DVD player connected via s-video to the capture card - use the options in the drivers to make sure that the analogue capture is optimal quality.
- Make a capture of my VHS tapes, for the analogue Dolby Surround English audio only, but keeping the video for frame-by-frame reference for synching later on.
- Cap the laserdiscs - I have a digital input that could record the digital stereo French soundtrack.
- Process the video with AVISynth, clean with minimal temporal/spatial noise filtering (probably PixieDust), then do a Lanczos resize to make it anamorphic without blurring the edges too much.
- Encode the video using CCE 3 or 4-pass VBR (this will tie up my poor old XP2700+ for some time!)
- Encode the audio streams to AC-3 (making sure the Dolby Surround flag is set for the English track - unlike DrGonzo's version). Also for A New Hope I may be able to find the original mono soundtrack off a VHS tape somewhere - this would be an interesting addition if I can manage to sync it, for those who have never heard the "close the blast door" line and other differences.
- Do the subtitles in English (for Jabba/Greedo) and French (Jabba/Greedo and the opening scrawl)
- I wasn't going to bother with menus or extras because those sorts of thing are not IMO as important.

So, a hell of a lot to do and I need to do some further reading on audio encoding, subtitles and DVD authoring (was going to make the chapter points the same as the LDs).

I'd be interested to hear any comments on my plan!