Did you manage to get the Episode II preview on the beginning of ANH? I don’t think a good capture of that has surfaced anywhere either. Thanks for posting this!
Is this the '97 set, or the '00 set?
Cool, look forward to seeing a comparison! 😃
Looks great!
Just wondering if 1080p is really an improvement over 720p, with regard to detail. It might save encoding time to stick with 720p.
edit: wrong thread! 😦
The best way, I found to make an MKV from a BD with multiple crawl, or seemless branching in general (tested with the official BDs, not this but I’d assume it would be the same) is to import not the m2ts files into the muxing program, but the playlist file corresponding to the version you want.
That’s true, but Makemkv does a better job at joining multiple M2TS files than mkvtoolnix in my experience. Mkvtoolnix gives some error frames at joined points sometimes for some reason (I’m pretty sure it did this on one of my Alien discs, so now I only use MakeMKV to convert .MPLS to .MKV).
I usually join using TSMuxer v1.12 (versions 2.xx don’t work as well for this) before using mkvtoolnix. That eliminates the errors.
Hey everyone.
First, I commend your work. The despecialized editions are a fantastic version of the trilogy.
I’ve been checking this place out since I decided I couldn’t deal with the post-97 changes. I got into Star Wars with the 97 SE trilogy and prefer to watch that version of the films, bad CG and all. I naturally started by trying to find copies online, since I don’t watch anything on disc. And I joined the few who were bummed to learn that they never even made it onto DVD.
So I went ahead and bought the NTSC laserdisc collection and a laserdisc player. I captured local copies of the movies and all’s well. These are standard def, letterboxed, 640x480 copies. I even kept the laserdisc operation prompts and side flips to make it a true laserdisc experience. It looks rough but this is all about nostalgia for me anyway. Nothing more nostalgic than CRT-quality Star Wars movies.
My question is what’s the best way to contribute these to your efforts, or if it’s even necessary?
Most projects are uploaded either to alt.binaries.starwars on usenet, as a torrent on Myspleen.org, or using links to various file-locker sites on tehparadox.com.
The truth is that althor1138 has posted 720p upscaled versions of all the 97se laserdiscs which are at or near the best the medium can look. However, he has not included the side changes, etc. the way you have, so it might interest some folks out there.
schorman13 said:
The crowd shot and the Sebulba shot are available in HD, thanks to the “Digital Movie Collection”.They should be included in “The Podrace: Theatrical Edit”, right? Do you know if the deleted scenes are available in HD as well?
Some links that could be useful:
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/TPM-1080p-Theatrical-Preservation/id/17311
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/THE-PHANTOM-MENACE-THEATRICAL-HD-Toppers-Version/id/17137/page/1
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-97SE-in-HD-using-super-resolution-and-more/id/17781Upscaling laserdisc and/or DVB for the few missing shots is, until we have a 35mm scan, the only way to go - and the result is not bad at all - http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/195979 (don’t know if it’s possible to squeeze more details than this, from a laserdisc…)
Unfortunately, they aren’t HD.
BTW, if you’re just going to make an mkv file with the 1993 mix, you might as well just use flac instead of DTS-HD MA. You’ll get roughly the same savings in file size.
In TPM there is a shot of the crowd and a shot of Sebulba at the start of the race that were cut for the DVD. Also, the transitions during the brief extended speeder trip after they reach Coruscant are different. Both these areas don’t exist in HD. The earliest HD broadcast is of the DVD version where these changed were first made.
In A New Hope, the speeder entering Mos Eisley, the Greedo shooting scene, and Jabba the Hutt were all changed for the DVD.
You may be right about Empire.
In Jedi, the only section I can think of is the end Celebration where they added Naboo and changed Coruscant.
All the other changes between the 97 SE versions and the DVD/Blu-ray can be pulled from the 35 mm scans.
TeamBlu is about to release their scans of the 1997 SE of the original trilogy. Harmy used theirs as a source for his Respecialized Edition of ANH. Maybe we’ll see what turns out with Empire. If somebody is able to crop out some shots and possesses good editing skills (not me), it seems possible. We can use the Blu-Ray as a primary source, and as far as I know, not much editing is required, but just to replace some shots and reinsert the old visual effects. Would be a lot better if we can have access to You-Too’s (sorry if I spelled his username wrong) colour corrected version, I presume is in 1080p. And last but not least a high quality rip of the theatrical Audio Track and laserdisc mixes. Shouldn’t be that hard. At least compared to the effort put into the Despecialized and '97 Respecialized Edition. Sorry if I’m trying to be too much of a smartass.
Audio is already completed for the SE trilogy, LD ac3, LD pcm, and theatrical DTS.
The crowd shot and the Sebulba shot are available in HD, thanks to the “Digital Movie Collection”. TPM is missing the theatrical version of the sky taxi transition scene, the establishing night shot of Theed, without the bridge, and the shot of Orn Free Ta’s human aides.
I’m assuming these are only acquirable through 35mm scans. If so, can we get a high quality audio track too?!
There was someone here about a year ago that claimed to have an HDTV recording of the Theatrical version from Austrian TV on his DVR. He was looking in to getting it off his machine, but he/she stopped posting pretty soon afterward.
Also, I have audio done for the LD ac3 and LD PCM. I could get the DTS track done in an evening, if the time ever comes for it.
The crowd shot and the Sebulba shot are available in HD, thanks to the “Digital Movie Collection”. TPM is missing the theatrical version of the sky taxi transition scene, the establishing night shot of Theed, without the bridge, and the shot of Orn Free Ta’s human aides.
What is the difference between the 5.1 1980 mix and the 2.0 1980 mix? Are there any content differences, or are they just mixed through more channels?
Also, does the 16mm mono track differ from those two in any way?
IIRC, the 5.1 1980 mix is just the matrixed stereo upmixed to 5.1, with some of the LFE channel from other sources like the Blu-rays where they still seem decent. In other words, it’s a nice, tasteful upmix of the stereo mix. Unlike Star Wars, it is NOT an attempt to reproduce the original six-channel mix. And unlike Jedi, we know that there are content differences from the six-channel mix, but the six-channel mix didn’t apply to this cut of the film. So no content differences, just more channels, technically not theatrical but not actively revisionist in any way.
The 16mm track is way different. C-3PO gets some different lines (ones that later showed up in the Special Editions), and the mixing is occasionally a bit different too.
So in other words the 5.1 is just stereo? It does sound amazing but just interested as i thought it was a pure 5.1 source. Is there any interest in obtaining a true 5.1 source or using the 6.1 source from the blu rays etc?
- Rev
No, it’s an upmix of matrixed stereo, not plain stereo, which gives you 4 distinct channels. Mix in the LFE and it’s true 4.1, upmixed to 5.1. The channels aren’t as distinct as a modern discrete mix but they’re distinct enough. However, it is just the stereo mix, i.e. sound effects and dialogue specific to the stereo mix. No content from the original mono or six-channel mixes.
The point of the 1980 six-channel mix is to be authentic yet multichannel. You could certainly get more channels from the Blu-ray, but you’d lose everything else–quality, authenticity, etc. 4.1/5.1 is about as good as you can expect in this regards when the cadillac best-of-breed audio in 1980 was 4.2. The only thing theoretically better would be a preservation of the 70mm version of the video with accompanying six-channel audio, but that’s unlikely–and frankly I don’t like the 70mm cut as well, so what we have now is still better, IMO.
It is possible to insert 6.1 sound from the Blu Ray to the Despecialized edition, however the Blu Ray is the special edition cut with added shots not seen in the Despecialized edition.
Also the audio quality on the Blu-rays is fairly tragic, so if you can find a nice, alternative lossless source (which we have), you’ll end up with considerably better results than anything using the Blu-rays as a significant source. You’re not going to improve anything by pulling in audio from an inferior source, regardless of the nominal channels.
Excuse me, but how do I convert the raw .wav files of the 1993 mixes from schorman’s collection to DTS-HD Master Audio?
I am planning on doing a separate MKA with lossless 1993 mixes since Harmy only added the 1993 mixes in lossy Dolby Digital format.
I know the 1993 mixes aren’t theatrical mixes but I am partial to them since they were the most polished pre-1997 mixes IMO and are my favorite.
Send me a PM, and tell me what you’d like. I can probably do it for you.
Ok, I fixed the issue with my version of the 1980 mix, if anyone wants a replacement, send me a pm. I found a couple other issues with it as well that have been fixed.
oops 😦
Is it the one labeled 1980 or 1985? I’ll give it a look and see if I get the same issue.
Jedit: I’m seeing the same issue. I’ll look into fixing it.
I have some other suggestions:
I think the English mono tracks for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back should be LPCM 1.0 instead of DTS-HD Master Audio since there is little difference in quality and/or size and LPCM has increased compatibility compared to DTS-HD Master Audio.
I also think that the English 35mm Stereo mixes should be Dolby TrueHD instead of DTS-HD Master Audio so that there can be surround matrixing similar to the LaserDisc audio.
Dolby TrueHD has this Dolby Pro Logic capability but for DTS-HD Master Audio, I’m not sure.
There was apparently something called DTS Stereo which was used on some LaserDiscs and theatrical releases but I’m not sure if it can be used in the modernized DTS and DTS-HD codecs.
I also think that the alternative English LaserDisc mixes should also be in Dolby TrueHD, if it is still allowed in the 48MBps bitrate limit of Blu-ray.What do you think of the isolated score being in LPCM 2.0? Already posted about it but barely anyone replied to it.
I second this
Wait. I also forgot:
- I think the 5.1 mixes should be in 6.1 or 7.1 instead (most likely 6.1)
I actually talked to hairy_hen about this, he said he probably couldn’t perfectly test this as he only has a 5.1 system and is not entirely sure on how good it would sound.I’m not sure of the value of this. If the whole point of the 5.1 mix is to approximate the theatrical 6-channel mix, wouldn’t adding extra channels move it further from that goal? It’s already a little bit off because 5.1 doesn’t quite equal 4.2–but there’s no home video 4.2 standard, so 5.1 is about as close as you can get. I suppose you could do 6.1 and have the two rear channels duplicate the center rear (effectively 4.1), but that seems a lot of effort (and duplicated audio data) for a dubious return, and you could accomplish more-or-less the same with a phantom center in 5.1 if that was your goal. It’d upmix to sound exactly like that on 6.1 systems anyway.
Now if the point was to make an entirely new and spiffy 6.1 or 7.1 mix, without any attempt to be authentic to the original, maybe that’d be fine.
Okay. But how about a 6.1 Matrix style (AKA: 5.1-ES)? Will it still be different from a regular 5.1 mix if you only have a 5.1 system?
I am not sure which official Blu-rays have a DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 Matrix track but I do know that the Theatrical Editions of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended was 6.1 Discrete) and the Japanese, Chinese-language and French Blu-ray releases of Howl’s Moving Castle (US and UK release was plain 5.1, even if you select the Japanese audio and 6.1 Matrix only available in Japanese audio).
Here is the LOTR: ROTK Theatrical Blu-ray: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Return-of-the-King-Blu-ray/1973/
Compared with the Extended Blu-ray: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Return-of-the-King-Blu-ray/19931/Also, the Japanese release of Howl’s Moving Castle (misprinted as 6.1 Discrete but actually 6.1 Matrix according to BDInfo, also, English audio is always 5.1 regardless of version, it’s also the only Studio Ghibli film with 6.1 Matrix since everything else they did which was theatrically presented in DTS-ES 6.1 or Dolby Digital EX 6.1 is in 6.1 Discrete, but usually only in Japan): http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Howls-Moving-Castle-Blu-ray/28162/
Compared with the US version (US and UK Blu-ray is the only way to watch the English dubbed version with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio since Japan only has them in lossy DTS 5.1, unfortunately the Japanese audio is only plain 5.1 in the US and UK versions unlike the 6.1 Matrix audio in Japan): http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Howls-Moving-Castle-Blu-ray/48187/Also, I love the fact that you can matrix the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks of the Dolby Stereo version to 4.0 with Dolby Pro Logic.
It doesn’t work for every DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Blu-ray I tested but it worked on the Studio Ghibli Blu-rays which were theatrically presented in Dolby Stereo and it also worked with some Criterion Blu-rays like Brazil.
Please understand the the “Theatrical” 5.1 mixes on Despecialized are mainly derived from upmixes of stereo soundtracks. I’m not sure what the point of making 6.1 tracks would be. As CatBus said, 4.1 mixes would probably have been the most accurate with respect to what was shown in theaters. As for how to use your own 6.1 or 7.1 system at home, just go ahead and use the Pro-Logic IIx or DTS Neural Surround settings on your receiver. You’ll get exactly the same results as a newly encoded DTS-ES 6.1 Matrix soundtrack.
RIP Carrie.
Well, if there is some sort of push for this, I’d definitely be willing to donate.
My rankings of the Lucas films are pretty set at this point, but I feel like the two Disney flicks slot in somewhere above the PT. Not really sure about their order.
Well, in the case of my father, who had “the widowmaker”, they waited a week to do surgery.
But was he in ICU after a heart attack? I mean…we don’t even know if she’s awake. She’s on a ventilator.
Yes he was, for about a month. His heart had to be restarted four times, I think. He was not conscious for a couple days and still doesn’t remember the first two weeks or so afterward. Anyway, my prayers are with Carrie Fisher and her family, as they are with my own Dad. So happy he’s with us for Christmas this year.
Well, in the case of my father, who had “the widowmaker”, they waited a week to do surgery.
This sucks, Good luck, Carrie! Just watched my Dad go through this about a year ago. It is not fun.
Thanks for checking!
FreaQ, is TPM available from the recent German broadcast? Even if it’s a transcode, it could be useful to me.
I wonder why. Did they think no-one would get the sarcasm?