rnranimal

User Group: Members
Join date: 21-Nov-2004
Last activity: 25-Mar-2015
Posts: 69

Post History

Post: #115015
Topic: .: The X0 Project Discussion Thread :. (* unfinished project *)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/115015/action/topic#115015
Time: 14-Jun-2005 12:50 PM

Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
Agreed. One thing we ran across was that a few scenes, such as Luke with the lightsaber in Ben's hut, had a badly split lightsaber - and this was after IVTCing. This was in the Def. Col. as well as the Japanese faces set. This same scene was intact in the US Faces set. One can only imagine how many other frames are like this in the Def. Col., but having gone through ANH frame by frame, I can tell you that the Faces set doesn't suffer this problem..

Actually, the split saber flaw was fixed in a later pressing of the US DC set (I have it). I don't recall this happening anywhere else on the discs. At one time I had both the DC set and faces set. I bought the DC just for the extras, but quicky found it to be of much better quality (no smearing) on my player. However, my DC set was the very early pressing with all the flaws (missing 7 seconds, split saber, ship ghosting, misspelled subs), so I sold it and hunted for a late pressing with these all fixed. I also sold my faces set as I was 100% happier with the DC set. This is on my player, though, Which smears pretty noticably with CLV discs and not at all with CAV discs.

Post: #114653
Topic: .: The X0 Project Discussion Thread :. (* unfinished project *)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/114653/action/topic#114653
Time: 13-Jun-2005 3:03 PM

Unless I'm missing something, it can't be a capture issue as the info missing is from the top & bottom and this is a letterboxed source.

Post: #112706
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/112706/action/topic#112706
Time: 7-Jun-2005 11:48 AM

Thanks for the screencaps. I have to agree, the NTSC looks sharper. Does anyone have this frame from the French LDs? Maybe it's a different transfer. Looks like the German set is a no-go as the ultimate source. I didn't even think about the crawl and sub scenes. How is the crawl and sub situation on the French set with english audio?

Post: #112595
Topic: Idea: Working & Releasing the Audiotracks separately?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/112595/action/topic#112595
Time: 6-Jun-2005 11:57 PM

Great idea. I was actually about to make a post asking if someone could provide me with digital rips of the US DC set- the films, not the extras (in original 44.1 form, still split up to each LD side). So... if anyone could help me, my PM is on. Don't really have anything to trade, but I'm currently d/ling the Editdroid set or could provide B&P. Also have Troops vob from the original "Total Movie" DVD with commentary.

Neil, was that 1977 Dolby stereo mix digitally ripped from the LD (or was this mix never in digital form on an LD?). Do you also have the ESB & ROTJ soundtracks from this set, were they theatrical stereo mixes as well?

Again, great idea and wish I could help. Don't have a digital out on my player and only have the US DC set. I could do the commentary as that's on the analog track. I can record up to 24/96, but that's major overkill for this. Btw, I can playback the commentary properly. It was incorrectly flagged as CX and it's not. That's why the volume fluctuates so badly on a lot of players. My player auto-detects an incorrectly turns CX on, but I found the pin inside to pull that disables it. Also, I've checked and the commentary is completely mono, so I could record in stereo and put the movie soundtrack in mono on the other channel. This will make it easier for those wanting to sync it back up to the film.

Post: #111729
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/111729/action/topic#111729
Time: 3-Jun-2005 11:35 PM

I don't think CLV 'holds half' what CAV does

I meant that CAV holds half the amount of video than CLV, timewise.

I suspect they actually hold the same amount of signal information, just distributed differently. However, like I wrote before, I suspect purely mechanical considerations come into play. The laser spot size is finite for both kinds of discs, so it stands to reason if the data are further spread out (i.e. in CAV) then it will be easier to read accurately.

Imagine you're re-typing a block of text. If that block of text came in two versions, one on two pages, double-spaced, in a large readable font and the other on one page, single-spaced, in 8-point Arial Narrow, which do you think you'd have an easier time re-typing? Same information, different packaging. I don't know for a fact, but I strongly suspect that this is akin to how CAV and CLV differ.

That's actually kinda what I was trying to say, but you said it better. I'm not trying to say that I think the CAV discs actually have more or even better information than CLV (and I'm not saying they don't, I don't know). I just mean that my player (and surely some others) do play CAV & CLV with different results, whatever the reason. Which causes me to prefer the CAV format, regardless of wheather the CLV have the same info or not. As said previously, if it can't be extracted, then it doesn't do me any good if it's there or not. If my player played them both at the same quality, I wouldn't care which format I had.

Post: #111590
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/111590/action/topic#111590
Time: 3-Jun-2005 4:06 PM

Ok, thought you meant the cigarette burns at the reel changes, as I've heard them called. So you actually mean bulb burn like when you're watching your old home movies and it gets left on a frame too long? That's pretty bad, but still wouldn't bother me as much as the NTSC disc's problems.

CAV/CLV issue I know has become quite the arguement in the past (on other boards, don't know about this one) and a lot of people say they're the same quality-wise. However, I've seen it with my own eyes when comparing the faces & DC sets on my V8000. Wish I still had the faces set and I could post some screenshot comparisons. I can't tell you what the difference is within these formats, but one holds half what the other does and looks better on my player, so there is something going on there. So much that originally I was going to use my faces discs for my transfer (I had a stand-alone recorder at the time and wanted the least side changes) and picked up a cheap DC box for the extras. For the hell of it I checked out the movie to see if there was any difference. Right away, I thought it looked better (sharper, no smear), so I pulled out the faces set for a compare and sure enough the CAV set was enough of an improvement that I sold the faces discs, sold the DC set and scoured the universe for a late pressing DC box with the flaws fixed (not just the Leia disc replaced). Actually, I do have the CAV Jaws & ET boxsets which both contain long docs in CLV. I could grab a frame from the movie that is also shown in the docs. Will do that when I get home Monday. Like I said, I don't doubt that some players can make the 2 formats look the same quality, but I also know for a fact some players have CAV looking better. Noise is also better on CAV on my player (for most of the disc). CAV disc's s/n ratio keeps getting better until the end of the disc. When comparing the 2 sets, the CLV had the same amount of noise that the very beginning of the CAV sides have. After a few minutes into the CAV discs, the noise was already improved over the CLV (which has the same noise throughout). Let me put it this way, I WISH my player played CLV as good as it does CAV, I don't see a difference because I want to.

Post: #111484
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/111484/action/topic#111484
Time: 3-Jun-2005 12:36 PM

The DV format has it's issues, but does not cause such jaggedness. It's only real problem is blockiness in solid color areas and that's basically just for NTSC. It's not from the DV format, for sure. I would bet money that not only does that shot not improve (in the way of jaggies) with the X0, but that the faces and Japanese DC all look the same. That's what I was saying in my original post, it's just the NTSC disc's transfer. Still, it's greatly appreciated whenever someone takes the time to do some screengrabs and turns the guessing into fact. Would be glad to help out, if I had any of these discs. Lucas has always been ahead of things and it almost looks as if he did a higher resolution transfer (maybe even HD, which means only more reason why we could've had a nice OT release) and then scaled down to 480i. That could certainly cause this. Of course, HD to 480i scaling now can look a lot better, but maybe it didn't do so well in '93, even with what Lucas was using. Whatever the cause, it's from the transfer. It does look a lot like crappy de-interlacing where they just remove every other line, so maybe somewhere along the line in the film>video transfer, this major boner was made. Wouldn't be the 1st or the last time in the case of SW releases. Oh, wait, maybe it was a creative decision!

The US DC set doesn't have the burns, I know I would've noticed those. You're talking of the burns signaling a reel change, correct? I also am not bothered by these. I actually have seen them on DVD releases before (cheapo ones, mind you) on movie channels (70's movies) and in the theater as recently as Harry Potter 3.

Dot crawl does bother me (the main problem with the otherwise great Editdroid set) and usually can be reduced or done away with when using composite and a good capture card, unless this is one of those players that simply outputs the s-video treated signal from the composite. Then there's really nothing that can be done.

Post: #111309
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/111309/action/topic#111309
Time: 3-Jun-2005 3:11 AM

Originally posted by: Karyudo

Originally posted by: rnranimal
[the German set] should provide the ultimate transfer, if done properly.

You'll have to define 'properly'. I don't think anyone's gotten further than I have (even though I haven't released jack), and even I am not convinced PAL will be better. It is just incredibly difficult to find a PAL player that will rival the best NTSC-only players. No such animal seems to exist, in fact. I haven't given up (I have a line on a prototype player that may just do the trick), but once again there is a huge gap between the theory of saying "PAL is better," and actually getting better results.

I don't know that any transfer from the NTSC set could [measure up], it just doesn't seem good enough. The PAL set has much more detail and is without the bad jaggies. Not to mention not having to mess with reversing telecine or the 7.5 IRE NTSC black level boost.

The X0 transfer will be the best NTSC can offer. You'll have to see then if it stacks up. The PAL set has somewhat more detail, and includes a fair amount more dust and crap. If you get the Japanese Collector's Set, the black level is at the NTSC-J standard 0 IRE.

I didn't mean there was just one proper way to do it (or that I knew what it was). I just meant that the way the transfer is done is quite important in my theory that the PAL discs are better and that just because the PAL discs are the source, doesn't mean it's better than any transfer from the NTSC discs. At this point, I find the Editdroid discs to have the best picture (though, it has it's problems and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the X0 & Cowclops transfers), but think it could be outdone by the right PAL transfer. I have seen screengrabs of the current X0 transfer and the PAL grabs still look better to me. I know saying they have much more detail is subjective, but I said that as detail is very important to me and I chose the Editdroid set over the TR47 set for the minor amount of extra detail it had on it. So I chose to say much more detail is found in the PAL discs, because to me there looks to be. You can actually see the stars on this transfer, the crawl and opening shot look so much better. As far as a good enough PAL player not being out there, I see nothing wrong with the sample clips I've seen. But you can talk from actual experience, since you have these things. You certainly are better qualified than myself. These are just the conclusions I've come to from the many, many (and yes, many) hours of research and messing around transferring my own set and dowloading others, which I admit has nothing on hands-on experience. I could be dead wrong and this is another thing that keeps me from springing for the materials needed in my idea of the "ultimate" transfer. You're right about the Japanese LDs having the correct black level and I have seen grabs from them that suggest they would be a slight step up from the US discs. The dust and crap doesn't really bother me and I can accept that and the cropping on the PAL discs, I feel it a worthwhile trade off for the better detail. On the subject, does anyone know if any of the prior PAL releases are worth checking out? I've read posts by a few people that actually prefer the 1989 WS NTSC discs to the NTSC DC/faces sets. I've never seen them myself and can't comment, but the posters claimed that while the '89 WS discs have more dust and noise, the picture is more detailed and not flat looking like the DC transfer. I could go for that if it's true (but either way, they'd look like crap on my player with the CLV smear, so I haven't bothered). I can live with film sourced flaws when trading for them with mastering flaws like heavy handed NR, poor color correction, jaggies and such.

Post: #111197
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/111197/action/topic#111197
Time: 2-Jun-2005 8:22 PM

Congrats on the German set. That along with english audio from one of the other DC sets should provide the ultimate transfer, if done properly. Would love to have the set myself, but then I'd have to also buy a PAL player. Just can't get myself to do it (yet, maybe for Christmas). My dream transfer I'd like to do is the video from the German set framerate corrected to 24fps and slightly scaled up to NTSC anamorphic resolution and synced up to the english audio digitally captured from the NTSC DC set. I'm not even close, though. I have all the computer hard/software needed, but don't have the German set, a PAL player or even an NTSC player with PCM out to cap the audio. I keep watching the 2004 DVDs trying to get used to them so I can let go of this expensive & time consuming dream, but it has the opposite effect. The more I watch them, the more I cringe and want to do the "ultimate" transfer. I have the DC NTSC set and a Pioneer LD-V8000, which together look great on my 27" TV, but they don't cut it at all on my projector. I don't know that any transfer from the NTSC set could, it just doesn't seem good enough. The PAL set has much more detail and is without the bad jaggies. Not to mention not having to mess with reversing telecine or the 7.5 IRE NTSC black level boost.

Post: #110530
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/110530/action/topic#110530
Time: 1-Jun-2005 12:46 AM

Thanks for the info, I was wondering how Jedi fit on 4 sides.

In most of what I read, it says there's no quality difference between CAV & CLV and I believe in most cases that is probably true. But for some reason, my Pioneer LD-V8000 has smear with all CLV discs. CAV have no smear and a noticably sharper picture (on my player). I don't doubt that CAV & CLV discs carry the same quality picture, but it comes down to how the player handles each format. On my player the DC set wins hands down over the faces set, because of this issue.

Post: #110529
Topic: The "EditDroid" Trilogy DVD Info and Feedback Thread (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/110529/action/topic#110529
Time: 1-Jun-2005 12:34 AM

Thanks guys for the info. I read the SW info and it just said it was a Pioneer, don't have Jedi yet. I asked because I find this set to have the best detail of all the sets and since you can't really add detail, I figured this was because of the LD player used. I also assumed the dot crawl was from the use of s-video and that maybe it could be gotten rid of if the composite was used. However, in researching the M90, it seems this only has composite. So why such bad dot crawl? Are you sure the M90 wasn't what they used for their first version? I read somewhere in this thread that they upgraded the LD player and re-did it. Though, it sounds like Jedi was just done once and the M90 was mentioned in that NFO, so...

Post: #110271
Topic: The "EditDroid" Trilogy DVD Info and Feedback Thread (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/110271/action/topic#110271
Time: 31-May-2005 4:41 AM

Anyone know what LD player model was used for these transfers.

Post: #110263
Topic: PAL vs NTSC laserdiscs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/110263/action/topic#110263
Time: 31-May-2005 4:02 AM

Are all sides of the German set in CAV?

Post: #103547
Topic: Info: Interest in DVD Trading Anyone?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/103547/action/topic#103547
Time: 3-May-2005 5:53 AM

The Original Trilogy - The “Kristhemovieman” Edition

Don't remember hearing about this one. How is it?

Post: #82869
Topic: The Cowclops Transfers (a.k.a. the PCM audio DVD's, Row47 set) Info and Feedback Thread (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/82869/action/topic#82869
Time: 30-Dec-2004 6:25 PM

This is probably the set I'm looking forward to the most. I thought the first one was great, especially for how old it is and the equipment that was used. Now that it'll be done on a CLD-97 and captured to uncompressed video, should be quite a step better. And I like the idea of using as little video processing as possible.

One question, will the audio be captured digitally or via the analog outputs?

Post: #79836
Topic: ***The "SPIDER" Trilogy DVD Info and Feedback Thread***
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/79836/action/topic#79836
Time: 29-Nov-2004 9:43 AM

Originally posted by: norinradd
Interesting rnranimal, may I enquire as to which DV capture device/card you used?

I have used a ADVC 300 with the french pal discs and have been fairly pleased with the test output, when I'm back in work on thursday(I don't have the connection for this at home) I will try to upload the sample mpeg so everyone can provide feedback if they wish.

I have the ADVC-50. The reason you aren't seeing the stair-step issue is that PAL DV is 4:2:0 color space, which is the same as the DVD standard (for PAL & NTSC). NTSC DV is 4:1:1 and that causes the vertical banding seen in the screencaps. I was only speaking of NTSC when I said DV wasn't good enough to capture LD in. Lossless capture is, of course, still gonna be best, but you should be fine with capturing in PAL DV. No issues with it that I know of, but I haven't captured anything higher quality than S-VHS dubs in PAL.

Post: #79756
Topic: ***The "SPIDER" Trilogy DVD Info and Feedback Thread***
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/79756/action/topic#79756
Time: 28-Nov-2004 8:40 PM

Actually, the stair-step issue is with it being captured to DV (read ALL about it here). That's a problem with DV and it can only be masked with blur filters which do more damage to the rest of the picture than help the few problem areas, IMO. You gotta capture to a lossless codec to avoid these types of issues. This is what ended my mission for my own OT transfer. All I have is a DV capture device and it works great with the 99.9% of stuff I transfer as it's VHS and VHS just doesn't have the clarity to show this problem (at least not in my experience). The few LDs I transferred just weren't important enough for me to upgrade my whole computer system around to accomodate lossless capture. In my test OT transfers, I was able to actually get a (very, very) slightly sharper transfer than the TR47 set and this was after anamorphic scaling, but the vertical color banding just killed it for me and I gave up. It's actually not too bad on the Lou Reed concert LDs I transferred and doesn't bother me, but on a movie like SW with sabers, blasters, light-up panels, etc it just stuck out to me so much. The Dr Gonzo set doesn't show this problem at all that I can see, but it's so soft that it may have been blurred-away. I also have a Panny DVD recorder that I did a test transfer with and while I was quite happy with how well it could stay true to the LD picture (though when blown up to 8ft on my projector, I could tell that the DVD was a little softer), that was also the very problem that killed it for me, since the LD picture wasn't perfect. You can't color correct, scale, remove 3:2, frame accurate edit, blacken the bars, etc. I also wasn't able to get satisfactory MPEG encoding unless I went 2 DVDs w/ 2.0 AC-3 for each movie, while I could easily get even better encoding via PC on 1 DVD. And my recorder doesn't have a HD, so I can't edit the LD sides together (though even with an HD, you can only edit on I frames which almost always will leave you with some black screen or some missing frames).

Post: #79653
Topic: STAR WARS: The Torrents thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/79653/action/topic#79653
Time: 28-Nov-2004 2:17 AM

Originally posted by: TheSessler

Originally posted by: Z6PO

Originally posted by: Dr_Gonzo

Actually, I just posted the first of two DVD-R's in alt.binaries.starwars. [...] They've also been torrented in a couple of places.

I would really like to know those "couple of places".

Thanks!

I second that.

And I third that. Looked in the usual places and can't find them.

Just tried to get this off the binaries group and don't know what went wrong. Downloaded all day and seemed like it was gonna work and then it just stopped downloading articles. I ended up with only about a gig and a half of files, but they won't decode and I doubt very much that's the whole DVD anyway (but I just can't get it to start downloading again). I never could get a binaries download to work the few times I tried it over the years. I was so happy with bittorrent when it came along.

Post: #78698
Topic: .: Moth3r's PAL DVD project :.
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/78698/action/topic#78698
Time: 21-Nov-2004 1:17 AM

Better yet, rather than crop to NTSC res and have the ratio off, scale it straight up to NTSC anamorphic DVD res. This way you not only keep all the PAL res, but have it in the correct ratio. This, I feel, would be the ultimate SW transfer (using the French set that has Eng audio) as it would run at the proper speed and res would not be inferior to a PAL transfer of the same set (since the extra res over the NTSC transfer would just be scaled res). Wish I had the set & equipment to do this, would be great. That PAL screencap looks awesome.