Ghost in the Shell is one of my all-time favourite movies, mainly thanks to its beautiful cinematography, cyberpunk elements, and an amazing score from Kenji Kawai. But did you know this movie was part of an obscure format called MovieCD? Never heard of it? Well, let Phelan Porteous give you the knowledge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw5gutjmByc)
So, I decided to go ahead and do my own take on what a MovieCD preservation would look like. Keep in mind that the format is only supported through 16-bit Windows PCs, meaning it won’t work on Windows 10 and 11. Besides, every disc would only just contain an installation for the player, the MVI2 codec, and the video file for the film split into 2 discs.
How I made this preservation was that I used my Windows XP VM with the NT version of the MVI2 codec installed, then used TMPGEnc 2.525.64.184 to save the two files into a raw uncompressed AVI file, then merged them together to another uncompressed AVI file using VEGAS Pro, then converted it to HEVC using HandBrake with CRF 0 and the chroma subsampling to 4:4:4, then extracting the raw PCM streams from the original two files using Avidemux, then merging them using Audacity, resulting in a near 3GB file, much higher than the original two files combined, only being 1.1GB.
And for fun, I noticed that these discs seem to have problems with the aspect ratio and the mastering. Even though the film is in letterbox, notice how it looks like it is shown in the raw NTSC square pixels and how Sirius used a PAL master of the film instead of the NTSC master. So I decided to make a fixed version of it, where I stretched the film to the NTSC pixel aspect ratio, slowed down to NTSC Film (23.976 fps), and helped with ChatGPT to figure out the frame rate to prevent a much higher file size when set to 60fps. ChatGPT concluded, based on what I figured out, that the slowed-down FPS from the Half NTSC frame rate was 14.4 fps. Turns out the AI was right, since when I compared the final raw AVI file to the project while changing the setting to 60fps to make sure, there aren’t any noticeable dropped frames in there, so that was cool. This fixed version also cut out the FBI warning and logos since I know right off the bat you just wanted the film.
By the way, I noticed that the color grading looks weird in this one. Even though it does look close to the Premium Box LaserDisc I have, which honestly looks way better than the UHD, it was way more saturated and brighter, though I can guess this was due to the master that Sirius had, since you can see the grading from the screenshots on the back of the front cover as well.
Also btw, English dub only, so English opening text, English ending credits, and “One Minute Warning” by U2 and Brian Eno, though notice that the latter song immediately cuts out as the credits finish instead of letting IT finish. That wasn’t me or any software, that was how the file for the second disc ends.
So I wanted to do this preservation just so anyone can have a look at what this 90s FMV version of a 90s cyberpunk film looks like, especially for those who prefer to play this on modern video players rather than just fire up a Windows 95 VM just to watch it.
I would’ve originally included the ISO images too, but since you can easily find copies of it on eBay, I’ll give it a pass.
Of course, be sure to PM me if you want to see it.