I just found the screenshots I took of the Goldfinger THX DVD. It contains both fullscreen and widescreen versions on a single disc. As you can see, the image is cropped in both versions.
captainsolo said:
Does anyone here have the old THX DVDs for the first three films? I've come across some references that claim that while the SEs were the same and added the bonus features, that the old discs were 1.66 like their LD counterparts. Can anybody confirm this?
I have these THX DVDs. The widescreen versions are the same as the SE versions (I ripped them both with makemkv and the output was within a few bytes).
I did a comparison of the widescreen and full-frame versions of Goldfinger and noticed that the full-frame is not a simple crop, it has a little more image at the top and bottom (but the sides are cropped).
I might double-check this in the next couple of days, as it was about 2 years ago that I looked at this.
rockin said:
I have heard that the Ghostbusters Superbit DTS mix is different/better than the other mixes found on DVD and Blu-ray. Does anyone know if this is true?
I used to own these (and Ghostbusters 2). I'm 90% sure they're the same as the mix on the 2005 dvd. I ripped the dts files before selling them, so I could check if there's anything specific I can listen out for?
captainsolo said:
Silver that is an error that was never addressed, along with the OHMSS accidental minor edits found on the SE DVD.
I first read about the error on The Man With The Golden Gun here:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/2003384-post1.html
The same page refers to corrections to the OHMSS dvd as not confirmed, while it states for TMWTGG:
"You can call MGM Customer Service to get your copy exchanged."
Anyway, I bought another copy (also Region 1) and it doesn't skip at 81:30.
SilverWook said:
I'll have to try it on some other players then. Thanks for the info!
My original dvd had this problem, but it wouldn't play on any of my dvd players. I would just skip to chapter 21 and see if the corruption starts at 81:30 (an evening car chase IIRC).
I bought another copy from amazon, asking the seller to check that chapter 21 played before buying. Got lucky with my first enquiry, so I don't expect the corrected version is rare.
SilverWook said:
Anybody watch their SE DVD's lately? I found another rotter. The Man With The Golden Gun breaks up severely past the layer change, to the point of being unwatchable.
Are you sure this isn't the known mastering error with this dvd:
"Chapter 21 at the beginning of the car chase (81:30), the picture will pixelate and freeze up many DVD players. This was a mastering error and has been fixed. Supposedly, the fixed copies have *** around the title on the white sealing sticker on the top."
I have all the THX dvds as well as the SE dvds (took me a while to find a copy of Moonraker which hadn't rotted). I have backups of Moonraker and TSWLM, but this is a reminder to backup the rest.
Here are some captures from the 1080i HDTV version (compared to the 1999 DVD). I think #3 best shows off the extra detail of the HDTV. Note that the colours are exactly the same (unlike the blu-ray):
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/10757/
I chose the frames to match this comparison:
http://www.theraffon.net/~spookcentral/gb1_homevid_compare.htm
bigrob said:
I'd be very interested in hearing that as well. It's a shame though that the Blu-ray's colour timing is a tad off
http://www.theraffon.net/~spookcentral/gb1_homevid_compare.htm
That's a really good comparison site. I have a 1080i HDTV capture of Ghostbusters, which has the same colour as the original DVD but much more detail. It's an MPEG2 capture, but only around 8GB, so there is some macroblocking. I can post some captures if anyone's interested.
Anyway, it would be great to hear the original stereo mix.
Edit: I also used to own the (genuine) superbit dvds, but they have the same colour issues as the remastered dvd and the blu-ray.
Just checked my Moonraker SE (Region 1) and while the box shows "Dolby Digital English: Stereo Surround", playing or extracting the audio on my PC shows that the only English non-commentary track is AC3 5.1 384kbps. Unfortunately, I don't have a surround setup to check that all 5.1 channels are actually used. It would be interesting if there was another issue of the SE with a different audio track.
SilverWook said:
I've got the THX Moonraker DVD on the way, and more factory sealed Bond LD's in my future. There is no cure for Laserdisc fever!
Been reading this thread with interest. I have 2 copies of the Moonraker THX dvds, neither of which plays in 5 drives I have tried.
I also have the THX DVDs for Goldfinger and TSWLM and can confirm that the audio and video streams are identical to the SE DVD. I suspect this is the same for Moonraker, and found the following note which suggests the audio is the same:
www.hometheaterforum.com/t/100184/moonraker-thx-vs-special-edition
I read that the Moonraker THX DVD has an teaser trailer which is not on the SE. Either way, the packaging and discs of the THX versions are nicer. I'd be interested to know if all Moonraker DVDs have rotted, or if it's worth me buying more.
A sidenote:
These problems are further compounded by the image 'enhancement' features of modern TVs (often turned on by default).
I'm mainly thinking of the 'dynamic' contrast feature, which assumes that the darkest part of the picture at any given time is pure black (and the lightest part is pure white). This increases contrast at the sacrifice of a realistic image.
Another common issue is overblown colour settings.
Combined with poorly mastered DVDs as identified above, this gives a really second rate image, which I can only imagine people just get used to. It's a shame when most spend £100s on TVs and blu-ray players.
I agree with msycamore. Oversharpening (or excessive edge enhancement) produces a white 'halo' outline around dark objects. Once you spot it, it's very distracting! Unsharpened video can always have shapening applied to it (eg using ffmpeg for playback), but once it's sharpened it can't be undone...
Good example of saturated whites too.
Just a reminder that some of us are really looking forward to this release... I hope you plan to finish it (and hopefully release the raw capture too!).
Arnie.d said:I was thinking of doing a more or less direct transfer (only rainbowing filtered) and doing a completely filtered version.
Does that mean you'll release a version with minimal post-processing?
That'd be really, really great - personally I love a bit of noise on my videos - it always looks worse on snapshots. At 24fps it all averages out and provides a small amount of extra detail too.
There are always tradeoffs with filters, it's just a question of whether the side-effect is worse than the original problem, at worse you can get:
cartoon-like images (caused by excessive noise reduction)
halo effects (caused by edge enhancement/sharpening)
smearing (caused by temporal smoothing)
loss of image area (caused by image stabilization)
Thanks for trying anyway - I just hope those other JSC projects come to fruition like yours clearly was. I know this set hasn't got the greatest image quality, but it seems to be the only choice for anyone who finds DVNR-smearing really irritating.
I am just a little concerned that all these sets will all be a little over-post-processed. Certainly the image looks much much cleaner, but it's so easy to apply too much noise reduction and sharpening. I'd really like to see a JSC trilogy warts-and-all release... but I can't see that happening.
Looks great, really great - looks like you're squeezing the very best out of these discs!
That looks great. I did notice some edge enhancement artefacts though.. it's visible in several scenes, for example see the back of Darth's.. erm... dress. Here, next to the white line I drew. It's visible as a halo wherever you have two different colours with a high contrast between them:
I was wondering if this was a feature of the source, or of post-capture filtering. Either way, I'd take some EE over DVNR smearing any day!
Mielr said:So, is this the "X9 Project" now? :-)
Noooooo! Don't curse it with that title!!
Cade Skywalker said:I'm sorry if the question is stupid, but will these have any advantage over the g-forced GOUT when cleaned up/processed/etc?
AsI understand it, this version was not subjected to DVNR (noise reduction) - the GOUT comes from a source that has DVNR. A nasty side-effect of DVNR is smearing of the image when there is movement on screen. Of course, the image will contain more noise because of this (though with modern techniques, and a gentler treatment, this can be reduced without smearing).
Just wanted to say that this looks great. The still shots don't really do it justice, it's when there's movement or panning - that's when it looks great - no smearing!!
Noise/grain always looks worse on stills... on playback, it's only there for 1/24 second, then it changes.
Just wanted to say that I downloaded the preview clip and it looks great!
There's a little aliasing visible on C3PO's shoulders, I guess that's a feature of the source, not the encode.
Keep up the good work!
I just did some reading on the X9... now I'm excitied about this!!
Any update on this? I'd love a special collection no-DVNR star wars - I'm sure others would too!!
Wow, I haven't read the forum for a while - I come back and find this! An LD transfer for a pre-DVNR disc - it looks great to me! Keep up the good work.