captainsolo

You've got to be f***ing kidding me. Well, here goes another attempt to replace a defective disc with one that has corrected audio. My last one at WB to fix the opening of Get Carter actually worked so who knows..

I bought the set thinking they would never touch the restored mono...but of course we needed another blu-ray to obtain just to have yet another thing to do...;) Here's hoping my message to Foxconnect will go well.

I bought it off ebay from a good seller who had used it a few times for LD capture. I don't think I can return it, but I don't think it would be the card either since someone else used it perfectly.

Music Choice I'm guessing? They always seem to pull out some interesting stuff on the specialized channels. Indeed if your cable box has optical out, you get a much better signal despite being DD 2.0 192 kbp/s. The difference is staggering over the normal RCA.

Also, they have streaming on their website once logged in with cable info. I'm not for sure if it is the exact same thing as what the channel is currently playing but I think it would be as you can select from every channel available on cable.

Thanks to those on this thread. The WOWOW certainly seems to be the source element for the re-timed Raiders and corrects many of the issues I saw in the new 35mm print and feels much more natural to my eyes.

I give up. My PC had to have system restore done again and again, plus I got a lovely BSOD. I'm done with this thing. Pulled it out and now have no idea what to do with it. By all means it should work fine but it doesn't.

Is the WOWOW still around anywhere? I've been thinking about finally going for the BD set, but think the WOWOW is more natural for Raiders.

BTW Temple and Crusade are the same transfers on WOWOW and the Blus right?

Still got the black screen, it seems that virtualdub has locked in custom capture settings for this card no matter what I do or what version of the program I use. What settings for capture are best for this card? Maybe if I can get the right ones it will work again.

My third Bond film and the first I ever owned. People should always give children the gift of Tom Mankewicz, pissy Roger Moore, tri-nippled Christopher Lee and the world's premiere personal chef to children for Christmas.

TMWTGG gets a raw deal, and for years it was the Bond that people gave hell despite never seeing it. It is a low in terms of budget and production, plus it was made at the height of Saltzman's money troubles in addition to the Broccoli-Saltzman partnership fraying. Then add on that it was based on Fleming's novel which itself was unfinished, chose to add elements of popular kung-fu entertainment which itself was exploitative, was not extravagantly budgeted, had waning audience interest, and a general degree of low key emphasis that results in some bland moments and a number of far too silly gags that do not really work.

But what is present is one of the best villains ever onscreen in Lee's most charming performance. You don't want him to fail actually. Why can't Scaramanga and Nick Nack live in affluent peace? Roger does quite well in a very tough and gruff performance that makes the mistake of trying to mimic some Connery moments but proves that Roger could be just as nasty if required. The Mankewiczian wit is so on point that it may be the best of the three in terms of dialogue gags. Just incredible, right down to the Phuyuck bottle.

I've always loved how the film has a golden cast to the cinematography and the it was both the last shot flat spherical and the last by Ted Moore.

The locale is exotic, Bond has a nasty edge, the villain is grand...but the plot doesn't shape up to match the strength of the setup, and what could be extremely suspenseful just peters out into harebrained mediocrity that has some explosions at the end. The fun becomes more in the ridiculousness of the journey and less the plot. And Britt Ekland is just hopelessly miscast. Why they had to make Goodnight so much of a dumb bimbo and Maud Adams a cardboard cutout is beyond me.

Hip should have been the sacrificial lamb and the ending sequence between titans should not have been so cut down as it was, because ti creates a huge lapse in the narrative payoff.

Thanks, I'll give it another try. I never used what the immediate loading driver did, instead I used the on disc driver and the newer one from the website. The included software did indeed crash my system.

My setting was always composite, but as soon as I tried to make the capture setting in VirtualDub it immediately went to the black screen. I tried restarting, I tried reinstalling files and finally a new updated Virtualdub but still nothing. Some on videohelp have had this same thing happen for no reason.

Go figure. It would have been the same fake mono as the DVD anyway. Sicne their 35mm restored print is similarly incorrect I wouldn't expect MGM to do anything differently.

I've yet to even order a copy until the reviews start coming in. There should be no reason for this disc to look bad as that 35mm print is gorgeous and perfect in nearly every way.

FanFiltration said:

Here are some comparisons from the different laserdisc versions of "Goldfinger".

 

THX BOX SET

 

The Criterion Collection

 

The Connery Collection

THX BOX SET

 

The Criterion Collection

 

The Connery Collection

 

THX BOX SET

 

The Criterion Collection

 

The Connery Collection

 

 

This is how all three appear on CRT. I now have all three, and the Criterion is indeed direct from a print source that appears to be of an older release printing. It has an emphasis in darker blue/greens but I don't know if could be Technicolor in origin. The CC version has a bit of increased contrast but appears to be more normalized in terms of color and does not have the shift in the Criterion. The THX version has a much more delicate and golden hue overall and is easily the best appearing, richest colored version on LD. The MGM versions are from Interpositives as far as I can tell. The THX version is a differently sourced master as well. The mono has been cleaned up too, but only the Criterion has the title song in mono.

Two new additions to add to the growing comparisons:

TLD on the old CBS Fox LD holds up quite well despite the pan and scan. Color is outstanding with a bit of harsh white backlight reminiscent of a print. The white skies of the opening are now very white lit. Gunbarrel, opening shot and titles are in scope and even these hold up pretty well. Dial back the contrast a bit in the interiors and you have a nice looking picture. The analog stereo appears to have the surround encoding, Quality is very good. Overall, I'm really impressed with this. If it had been letterboxed the color should match the later MGM disc but a touch softer due to the earlier pressing date.

And...now I have a new top 5 entry. Moonraker looked terrible on the WS LD, and you get used to it. It is very noisy and lacking in fine details with a very video-y look in many scenes that are filled with noise. The audio was outstanding however.

The rare THX reissue fixes ALL the video problems, has a different color balance that is better for home viewing, and is among the best I've ever seen in Bond LDs. By this time LD mastering had become an art form, and it's near DVD on a good CRT. The audio seems to have been remixed slightly in EQ, going back and forth makes the THX PCM track seem a bit more balanced to the low end and surrounds with a slight less emphasis on the highs as found in the earlier disc which may have been a bit too bright.

If I nitpick, and I do, the THX MR disc is great but the earlier one may have some coloring that better replicates 35mm. The new transfer though has a better rendering of overall color shading, for example the many instances of brown that crop up in the film and its sets. M's office in the old disc is a mess of lines, noise and artifacts. The THX is gorgeously free of these and the color in the walls really pops out.

EDIT: I popped in the SE DVD, and they are the same transfer. The LD is so good that it almost matches the DVD on a CRT, the DVD being technically better over component. The 5.1 ac3 is the same on both @ 384 kbp/s. The PCM and 5.1 on the THX LD are the same mix, and I'll have to go over with headphones to compare to the older discs PCM track but I think the audio on the later copies may have been slightly remixed.

It looks as if MGM had done all the films over for their announced and later canceled THX LD releases in 1998. Only six ever came out before cancellation and then came the SE DVDs. The video is the same. This way we have a perfectly useable GOUT-like source for the entire series to work from as a reference.

If some useable 35mm frames can be found we can finally have a proper basis to work from. For years we've only been able to guess at if the MGM work was correct.

I think it would be worthwhile to have both Criterion and DC on hand as even though they are similar it would represent the 82 and 92 theatrical looks.

Indeed everything seems to have the same overall appearances in the contrast/brightness levels '97 and before, and the '07 era new transfers mimic each other.

If only we could ask someone on the staff, maybe even de Lauzirika, if the new source scan was reprocessed in any way.

Again, we're never going to know for sure until seeing hard celluloid evidence.

On the lddb forum, someone mentioned checking bios to make sure all PCIe slots are active. Anyone know how to do this exactly? I'll be the first to admit I'm not very inclined to computer knowledge.

Fully with the sentiments already expressed. These films deserve a far better treatment than what they have received, and after personally having to resort to poor bootlegs to see them originally some time ago, I'm really looking forward to seeing what rabbit you can pull out of the hat.

Indeed it is Zorro. (still pissed about that limited DVD reissue a few years back, priced way out of reach for broke college students! Now I don't have $400 for ebaying a part of my childhood!)

I went through my many video copies in a few scenes. (Embassy VHS, Criterion CLV, DC LD, 97 DVD, 5 disc DVD UCE, 30th Anniv BD) Still working on my ATI HD750 card for captures but I can't get the darn thing to work.

The Embassy VHS is the same pan n' scan as the LD. Compared directly against the Criterion on my calibrated Trinitron reveals that the older transfer has a contrast boost which dials back some of the deeper color. The Criterion has better blacks and a deeper overall saturation in the color. For example the blue lighting in the opening interrogation is much bluer. The print source is also different, with the Embassy having damage inherent of a release print, and the Criterion seeming to come from a clean scope IP.

Comparing the IC and DC LDs against one another reveals that they really aren't that far apart. The DC LD is wonderfully transferred and benefits from the greater technology from apparently a fresh scan. It is far cleaner and in direct comparison has a fuller color depth than the Criterion IC presentation. It looks a bit more filmlike but otherwise looks very close to the Criterion issue. Imagine toning back the saturation level just a touch and increasing the depth. The DC has much deeper blacks and a greater clarity, but again this is likely from being a more modern scan than anything else.

Comparing the DC LD and DVD shows that the DVD has a red-pink push to it, that pops up in the opening skyline and the now reddish skin tones of Holden and Leon in the interrogation. The digital transfer is technologically superior but one has the awful digital noise look of early DVD and poor compression, and thus the CAV LD offers a more natural presentation and lacks the very slight red-pink push. The DVD is also cropped.

The archival branched DVD reveals a new far more detailed scan of the film that is conformed to all three versions. The biggest difference comes in how the lighting is captured, as from this point forward the film's lighting is no longer limited to NTSC standard and just in the way it comes across the screen in each scene drastically affects the way in which the color appears. The interrogation now alternates between a delicate white and blue light, and Deck's sushi joint has its lighting really carry over the fluorescence and is far closer to what we see in the altered Final Cut.

The Workprint despite its resurrected form from a deteriorated 70mm blowup is the real clue. The new transfer and color correction presents it in as best shape as possible. The color, contrast and brightness actually place it somewhere between the film print based Criterion and DC LDs and the newer transfers done from fresh scans for the Final Cut in 2007. The workprint has the filmic look and brightness levels of the old LDs despite being a new scan because it is film print sourced, but because it was a modern scan it is also able to show and display the greater detail in the intricate lighting scheme. Thus you actually have a representation of the film that has the greater clarity of the new scans with at least some of the look that was generated by printing back to film for release in 1982/1992.

The big difference between the film based transfers and new scans is in the brightness levels and how they work with the intricate lighting. The film printing seems to have darkened the image and taken some of the edge off the lighting in addition to deepening the color saturation. With the new scans the detail was far enhanced and the lighting able to fully work the way it was intended. But without the film transfer there was no manipulation of this through the printing process.

Just my two cents and a real 35mm frame could shed some potential light here. That is what we need to be sure of what was originally presented, as the 4K scan that sourced the Final Cut and presumably the archival versions on DVD/BD could have obviously been slightly manipulated to something more akin to Scott's preferences. For example, Deck's face while messing with chopsticks has bluish light all over it from everything 2006-onwards and is a regular skin tone on the LDs.

I did this as a break from working. Am I mad? ;)

Never mind, it's only got PCI. Back to the drawing board.

Hmm...our old PC with XP is sitting down in the garage...may have to try to get it up and going and install this...

Had to take the damn thing out to fix my PC. Guess it doesn't work with my Win7 as it claims. Go figure.

SilverWook said:

No clue, Taxi Driver?

BTW, I love photos and shots in movies where you can see what's playing on the movie marquees.

 Shaft actually.

EDIT: I think this card is screwy. I've tried every driver and nothing works. The software included crashed and necessitated a system restore. Each driver I try causes a system restore on startup.

...It's supposed to work on Windows 7.

Just installed my new ATI HD750. I know it's not the greatest, but it seems to do okay, and I'm more concerned with archiving audio tracks for the time being.

I haven't gotten a new soundcard yet but wanted to get started learning this. My problem is that once I got into virtualdub, at first I could see my LD player connected and now I get nothing besides a black screen.

How do I go about learning this for a straightforward capture?

Good shots. It's nice to be able to compare the CC side by side with the others.

I'm now pretty much convinced that the CC is the relative closest to the 1982 theatrical look, but that the 1992 DC reflects more of what the shot material looks like.

Saw this and spit my ginger ale. What a double bill!!!!!

Thought of this thread.

Name the film. ;)

Regrading will be tough due to researching transfers etc.

From what I've pieced together:

All the Embassy/Pre-Criterion copies on VHS, LD etc. use that same transfer of the early LD. The Criterion uses a similar looking 2.35 print. All of these are very colorful but full of a contrasty look and to be honest it doesn't seem quite accurate to the film's composition. Plus they are very soft, and the Criterion noticeably so. They seem video-ish.

The Director's Cut was of course based off of the 70mm blowup of the Workprint that surfaced in 1990/1991 (supposedly due to Steve Hoffman and other unearthing it in some vaults) at the NuArt and other places AND the 1982 US theatrical release. Because it was a rush job and Scott not being available to supervise...I think it is actually a very good reference to how the film was shot and processed.

The 1997 DVD is terrible and has color that is not accurate-the full CAV LD actually bests it in terms of image and sound. All it requires for completion is the reintegration of the International cut snippets.

I have the DVD and BD sets and have never been fully pleased with the way the archival versions look. They seem a bit dead looking. Has anyone compared them to the limited 2006 DVD reissue of the DC? Or is it thye same?

The Final Cut looked far better in 35mm. The colors seemed more subjective and far less jumping out.

I think the best balance is somewhere between the deep saturation of the 80's era transfers (from release prints) and the colder look of the DC on Laserdisc/archival version DVD/BD.

God, WB really needs to redo these masters. BADLY!

That right there was my exact situation when I joined this forum, and what I lived with for three long years.

Best advice: WAIT TILL YOU GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If on campus they have all your rights and no matter how you try and defend yourself; you will have no defense in their eyes. College offices are 99.99% absolute evil. I used to wait to get stuff on breaks at home and then actually view/study them in private in my dorm or better yet in the film department I ran on weekends in the Comm building, where I was alone and fixing equipment day and night three days a week.

In other words keep it quiet. It's very hard to do much of anything in school.