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fwibbler

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Join date
14-Jan-2005
Last activity
19-Aug-2020
Posts
22

Post History

Post
#314562
Topic
Mysterious Cities Of Gold - PAL Project. * Cancelled * (with lots of info)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/314562/action/topic#314562
Time
I'm starting to feel a tad guilty for making such a negative post now.

Thanks for explaining some of the problems and pitfalls that FF have had to deal with CW. Makes things a lot clearer.

I really hate the way that series like these were edited and cut for various countries.
It often means there is no definitive version (that we're ever likely to see anyway).

Post
#314507
Topic
Mysterious Cities Of Gold - PAL Project. * Cancelled * (with lots of info)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/314507/action/topic#314507
Time
Actually, you may be a tad disappointed.
I am!

Having just received the official boxset, there appears to have been a good effort made with regards to extras and presentation, but the picture quality is lacking compared to yours.

There is a powerfull green/yellow tint to the picture whereas the colours of your version look much more natural (if perhaps a little faded).

Also, the picture seems to shimmer constantly while yours is rock stable.

There just might be a small amount more detail in the Fabulous films release, but with the shimmering and colour tint it gives the general appearance of being siginificantly inferior to your version.

It amazes me that a professional company can achieve such inferior results compared to a fan made release.

Finally there are a couple of seconds of footage missing from the begining of the first episode.

On the up side, there is no preachy anti-piracy video to watch and the menus are professional (as yours are) and not too jazzy.

I'm still only on the first episode so far so I'll see if things improve, but I doubt it.

Here are a couple of screen shots:
Official version:
http://www.thedeathzone.free-online.co.uk/oddfiles/official.jpg

and unofficial version!
http://www.thedeathzone.free-online.co.uk/oddfiles/CWs.jpg
Post
#284648
Topic
Mysterious Cities Of Gold - PAL Project. * Cancelled * (with lots of info)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/284648/action/topic#284648
Time
Lol!
This happened to me on both of my projects too.
I'd almost finished my PAL boxset of Star Trek: The Animated series (transferred from LD) when rumours of an official release started.
Fortunately as I was almost done I carried on and finished it.
Glad I did as it took about a year and a half before it was finally officially released (although it does look better than mine).

Then the same thing happened again with my other project 'This Island Earth' (thinking back, thismay have happened first).
The difference with this one is that when Universal finally re-released it, it was still only in NTSC format and hardly any better picture quality than the first (long deleted) release ages ago. So my version is still better in some ways and I'm still working on it.

Anyway, I managed to obtain the first two discs of MCoG. It will be interesting to see how they compare with the official versions.
Cheers!
Post
#283708
Topic
Mysterious Cities Of Gold - PAL Project. * Cancelled * (with lots of info)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/283708/action/topic#283708
Time
Just want to add how much I'm looking forward to these being released. I only just noticed this thread.

Funnily enough I started downloading this series (via bittorrent) a couple of days back, and the picture quality was awful to watch.
Very overcompressed (why do people do that?)

So, I'm going to stop downloading it and wait for your version to be released.

There seems to be no sign of an official release, and even if there was, there is no guaranttee it would be as good anyway.

Cheers!
Post
#187759
Topic
Any good dust, dirt and scratch removal software?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/187759/action/topic#187759
Time
Hi,

I've found I can get pretty good results with noise removal with the noise filter in TMpegEnc but now I need to find some software that can remove/repair film damage, scratches, dirt etc...
I've uploaded a couple of shots so you can see the sort of thing I mean:

Capture1
Capture2
Capture3

Does software exist that can automatically go through and repair these things?
If not, then with some films I'd be prepared to go through frame by frame.

Any recommendations?

Cheers!
Post
#111616
Topic
.: Moth3r's PAL DVD project :.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/111616/action/topic#111616
Time
Originally posted by: Moth3r
Yes, unfortunately you're right, I've just checked the end of side one and that wipe is missing. I hadn't realised that before.

Anyway what to do about it? I'll have to insert those frames captured from another source, I'll try my VHS tape to see if the quality difference sticks out - I suspect it will. Maybe I'll have to get them from one of the NTSC captures and resize it to PAL res.

The French soundtrack is also going to end up with a gap at that point, fixing that is also going to be messy.


Hi,

Going back to A New Hope and the problem it has with missing footage, do you know if the German or Spanish versions have this problem?

Cheers!
Post
#110278
Topic
***The "official" Screenshots thread ***
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/110278/action/topic#110278
Time
Ok, I've had another play with the card settings (fourth time) and here are the latest results:

shot1 shot2 shot3 shot4 shot5 shot6 shot7 shot8 shot9 shot10
shot11 shot12 shot13 shot14 shot15 shot16 shot17 shot18

Unless I can get hold of the PAL format discs (French, German or Spanish right?) these will be the discs used and with these settings (I don't think I can get them any better at the point of capture), to make my PAL format versions.
Post
#109326
Topic
***The "official" Screenshots thread ***
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/109326/action/topic#109326
Time
Hi,

I've finally got round to doing my Star wars capture.
I'm capturing from a Pioneer CLD-D925 using a Sweetspot PDI deluxe capture card.
I'm capturing from the NTSC Faces edition which will eventually be converted to PAL format (I hope!)

These first shots are just the raw captures with no other processing.
shot1 shot2 shot3 shot4 shot5 shot6 shot7 shot8 shot10

Cheers!
Post
#94225
Topic
Easy part done - Now 29.997 > 23.976, the hard part
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/94225/action/topic#94225
Time
Originally posted by: Moth3r
Originally posted by: fwibbler
I've finally got a capture of Star Wars from the Faces LaserDisc (50gigs compressed with Huff codec) using a Pioneer CLD 925 into a PDI Sweetspot Deluxe capture card.
The quality is decidedly average...
I would expect that combination of hardware to yield better-than-average quality - perhaps it just needs some post-processing to bring out the best in it?


Perhaps, I've not done any yet, but I was hoping it would be better than it is. We'll see.

Anyway, I know for a fact that my captures dropped two frames during the actual movie which I should be able to avoid if I do the capture again. Since the dropped frames can make the IVTC procedure difficult I shall recapture.

Laserman is right about needing a turdload of storage space. The 200gig drive I fitted this week is too small!
300gig drive on order.

Thanks for all your help guys.
Cheers!
Post
#94087
Topic
Easy part done - Now 29.997 > 23.976, the hard part
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/94087/action/topic#94087
Time
Hi,

I've finally got a capture of Star Wars from the Faces LaserDisc (50gigs compressed with Huff codec) using a Pioneer CLD 925 into a PDI Sweetspot Deluxe capture card.
The quality is decidedly average but is the best I've achieved so far (having gone through about 6 capture cards!) and I've decided to go with it for now.

The problem I have now is converting the 29.97 fps AVI to 23.976 fps.
I've tried using both TMPGend and VirtualDub to do the inverse telecine process but both seem to give a jerky result.

Has anyone else succesfully managed to perfrom this step? How please?
Cheers!
Post
#87565
Topic
Capture Card Comparison
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/87565/action/topic#87565
Time
So using a CLD 925 (which I am) S-Video is always the best output to use right?
I now have a Pinnacle DC10 capture card which captures both PAL and NTSC.

Below is a link to first captures I have made from them.
Capture screenshots

Personally I think the DC10+ has the slight edge in detail over the Winfast card.
Both captures are from DVD.

I'll get round to doing the LaserDisc captures soon.
Post
#86745
Topic
Good capture cards - recommendations?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/86745/action/topic#86745
Time
Originally posted by: Moth3r
Originally posted by: fwibbler
It needs to capture at full DVD resolution and in AVI format. New capture cards will, but the rest of your PC must be pretty fast or you will get dropped frames (esp. CPU and hard drive).
I think my PC is fast enough: AMD 2500XP (o'clockable to 3200XP) and I get reasonably good IDE transfer rates.
Even so, the PC is heading for an upgrade soon (may build another machine entirely, haven't decided).
I'd agree that capturing to AVI (huffyuv or mjpeg) is preferable; but why would you want to convert NTSC to PAL? Most European DVD players will play NTSC just fine.
I know, but if I can do the conversion as easily as I think, then I may as well.
Originally posted by: fwibbler
Cards i've already tried are:
ATI All-In-Wonder 9600XT - This worked fine except would only capture in Black and White via the S-Video input.
ATI All-In-Wonder 9800SE - Same problem as above which is really annoying as the picture quality was quite good, as above.
TBH this sounds more like a PAL/NTSC format mixup than a problem with the cards.

Trust me, it wasn't. I spent a LOT of time on them!
You can't get a better PAL player than the D925! (Well, maybe the 2950, but that's up for debate...)

Yes, we're quite pleased with it. It'll also be good for transferring This Island Earth (PAL) to DVD (yes, yes I know)
Welcome aboard!

Thanks.
(Hopefully I haven't fecked up the quoting in all that lot!)

We did some tests, capturing with the ATi via composite (using top quality cables) and the MSI via S-Video cables.
There was little to tell between the two of them. While one was better in one way, the other was better in another.
I think(hope) we can get better results (I could be wrong!)

I'm having a look at one of those PDI Deluxe cards now. It might be just the thing I'm after.
Cheers!
Post
#86409
Topic
Good capture cards - recommendations?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/86409/action/topic#86409
Time
Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good capture card for LD transfer?
To be honest, this is not just for transfer of Star Wars films but also for various other LaserDisc films we have here (not available on DVD)
I've tried a few cards now which have all been unsuitable for one reason or another and am begining to wonder if a card exists to do what I want.

It needs to capture at full DVD resolution and in AVI format. I don't like the idea of a card like the Hauppauge PVRs that only capture in MPEG as I want to convert the NTSC footage to PAL format which will require a re-encode (and thus more loss of detail).
Obviously it needs to be able to capture NTSC as well as PAL format signals.

Cards i've already tried are:
ATI All-In-Wonder 9600XT - This worked fine except would only capture in Black and White via the S-Video input.
ATI All-In-Wonder 9800SE - Same problem as above which is really annoying as the picture quality was quite good, as above.
MSI TV @nywhere Master - This worked fine but the picture quality wasn't really good enough (it's only a cheapish card) even through S-video.
Leadtek Winfast PVR 2000 - This works well and has only a slight reduction in picture quality but won't accept an NTSC signal! Doh!

I have a maximum budget of about £150 (about $280) to spend on a card.

I know I could probably get a better quality film if I bought one from someone here who has already done the work and with better Equipment than I have here (Pioneer CLD925) but I have the LD player and I have the time, and as this is something that I have an interest in, I'd like to have a go myself and see what results I can get.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Many thanks.