spoRv

_,,,^..^,,,_ presents the  JP [ruLes] project

Jurassic Park restored using Laserdisc editions

Project mission: restore Jurassic Park 2D using audio and video from various Laserdisc editions.

Video sources: analog video captured directly from Laserdiscs.

Audio sources: uncompressed PCM and DTS soundtracks captured directly from Laserdiscs.

Subtitles sources: Based on Blu-Ray commercial release.

Project prohibition: to use DVD, BD, DVB, HDTV or any other audio or video from any digital sources.

Supplemental material: maybe will be released in a future version.

JP [ruLes]

Source Material

Video: laserdiscs

• Jurassic Park - PAL Italian CLV (two copies)
• Jurassic Park - PAL English CAV boxset
• Jurassic Park - NTSC THX U.S. DTS CLV

Audio: laserdiscs

• Jurassic Park - PAL Italian CLV (two copies)
• Jurassic Park - PAL English CAV boxset
• Jurassic Park - NTSC U.S. DTS CLV

• Jurassic Park - PAL French CLV

Subtitles: english (full), italian and french (full and forced).

Capture setup & processing info

Hardware:

• Pioneer CLD-D925 PAL/NTSC laserdisc player
• Pioneer DVL-909 PAL/NTSC laserdisc/DVD player

• Sony Vaio VGX-XL201 PC Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD
• AverMedia BDA A16C internal video card (with Philips SAA713x chipset)
• Western Digital Elements 1TB external USB HD
  

• Monster Cable S-Video 5pin cable (very high quality)
• SONY optical S/PDIF cable (very high quality)

Software:

• VirtualDub as capture software
• VirtualDub and AviSynth for video editing
• AviSynth + SoundOut and Foobar2000 for audio conversion
• Audacity to sync french laserdisc soundtrack
• tsMuxeR and GDSMux for muxing/demuxing

Settings:

• video captured at card native resolution 720x576 @25fps (PAL) and 720x480 @29.97fps (NTSC), YUV Lagarith lossless compression
• PCM digital audio from Laserdisc to PC via S/PDIF bit-perfect 16bit 44,1KHz stereo
• DTS digital audio from Laserdisc to PC via S/PDIF bit-perfect 16bit 44,1KHz stereo

Project status: VIDEO PROCESSING IN PROGRESS.

Captures:

I decided to use mainly the Pioneer DVL-909 as its video quality (resolution, noise, drop outs) is better than the others; the connection used is S-Video, as the laserdisc player comb filter seems slightly better than the capture card's; I also used the Pioneer CLD-D925 to make a third capture of one of the PAL italian laserdisc due to median process.

Video treatment:

main video parts are from two italian PAL laserdisc copies, one of them captured by two different laserdisc players; these captures are time and space aligned, then with AviSynth median scripts are overlaid to eliminate some noise and drop-outs; the english PAL laserdisc single capture is used when italian subtitles are on pictures, to use english subtitles or no subtitles at all, while the NTSC DTS laserdisc single capture is used where the italian and english PAL laserdiscs fades off at the end of a side, and fade on in the other side (italian) or disc (english); derainbowing, little noise reduction (new scrip used, less aggressive) and sharpen; no color correction, only levels are adjusted minimally to let the three sources match in saturation, brightness and contrast; upconversion from PAL 720x576 4:3 and NTSC 720x480 to 1280x720 16:9 - no frames are lost in the process, at the contrary, there are few frames in some laserdiscs and not in the others, so at the end the final video will show some frames more than the single capture.

Video tracks:

• the original PAL video format is 720x576@25fps 1.85:1 letterbox, with a video resolution of visible image around 700x412; the original NTSC video format is 720x480@29.97fps 1.85:1 letterbox, with a video resolution of visible image around 700x346; captured using the Lagarith lossless codec; video is upconverted to 1280x692 1.85:1, inside a 1280x720pixel 16:9 frame, using x264 code; frame rate changed from 25fps to 23.976fps with TSmuxeR.

Audio treatment:

the original soundtracks are: english, italian and french laserdisc PCM 16bit 44.1KHz 1441kbps stereo, Dolby Surround encoded, and U.S. laserdisc DTS THX 16bit 44.1KHz 1441kbps 5.1 discrete surround.

All the soundtracks will be converted only when necessary; from PAL 25fps to 23.976fps (pitch corrected); from 44.1KHz to 48KHz; from PCM 2.0 to AC3 2.0; from DTS 5.1 to AC3 5.1.

AVCHD Audio tracks:

• english soundtrack from U.K. PAL laserdisc, PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround Encoded converted to AC3 2.0 384kbps 48KHz
• italian soundtrack from italian PAL laserdisc, PCM 2.0  Dolby Surround Encoded converted to AC3 2.0 384kbps 48KHz
• french soundtrack from french PAL laserdisc, PCM 2.0  Dolby Surround Encoded converted to AC3 2.0 384kbps 48KHz

BD Audio tracks:

• english soundtrack from U.S. NTSC DTS THX laserdisc, DTS 5.1 Digital Surround converted to 1536kbps 48KHz
• english soundtrack from U.K. PAL laserdisc, PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround Encoded converted to 1536kbps 48KHz
• italian soundtrack from italian PAL laserdisc, PCM 2.0 Dolby Surround Encoded converted to 1536kbps 48KHz
• french soundtrack from french PAL laserdisc, PCM 2.0  Dolby Surround Encoded converted to 1536kbps 48KHz

Subtitles: based on the commercial Blu-Ray; SRT format, english full, italian (literal, transcripted from dialogs) and french full and forced.

Final formats:

• AVCHD folder, 720p/23.976fps with three audio tracks and five subtitles (english full, italian and french full and forced)
• BD folder, 720p/23.976fps with seven audio tracks (including DTS) and five subtitles (english full, italian and french full and forced)

• other formats will maybe available in the future

Jobs to do for the next version:

• try a non-Pioneer laserdisc player to avoid some edge halos
• transcribe the french dialogs to do french literal subtitles
• adding the eventual german and spanish laserdisc soundtracks, if someone will provide them
• adding the corrisponding subtitles (possibly literal) for the eventual added soundtracks

To do later (maybe):

• author AVCHD and Blu-Ray discs properly (menus, audio and sub tracks etc.)

Credits:

• ilovewaterslides for the french laserdisc PCM soundtrack!

Self comments: Altought there are several BD original releases, they have some problems (IMHO): the 2011 BD has a lot of edge enhancement, and the 2013 3D BD shows different colors in comparison to the laserdisc and 2011 BD, some details in dark scenes are lost, and it could not be seen in 2D, as the companion 2D disc is merely a 2011 BD version; finally, the BD are more cropped than the laserdisc, and some small details, albeit not fundamental, are lost forever in BD, but still could be seen in this project.

As I like a lot the movie - it's the first laserdisc I've bought in 1995 brand new! - I remembered it was a really good laserdisc, with powerful colors and good resolution. This is my personal homage to one of my preferred movies!

Clip download (1000 frames, silent, 25fps, x264@8000kbps): sendspace (about 40MB)

Here you are the third clip, source NTSC DTS laserdisc, with DTS audio.

Download link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/otd2z0

Feedbacks are welcome.

My "old" equipment, the one I used for my projects - follow one of the links in my signature.

This time I refined a bit the denoiser script, and I like the results more than SW. It must be taken in account also that is a 1993 movie, Vs 1977, and it shows... also, the PAL laserdiscs (in particular the italian edition) are really really good, on par (if not superior) with the DVD.

Jetrell Fo said:

What is the source of the test clip?

Guess what... PAL laserdiscs!!!

Second test clip - 1000 frames, 1280x720 25p, no audio, compressed at 8000kbps with x264 - youtube link

Could be downloaded here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/e6m9nh (37MB)

At 8000kbps, it's definitely better and close to the original uncompressed.

Next time, I'll post clip from NTSC DTS laserdisc.

Just a test clip - 1000 frames, 1280x720 25p, no audio, compressed at 2000kbps with x264: youtube link (watch at 720)

Could be downloaded here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ahbob6 (10MB, low quality)

I'm capturing right now the third side of the DTS laserdisc; I wonder if its soundtrack is the same of the theatrical DTS CDs or not...

I read somewhere (IIRC widescreenreview) that the AC3 LD soundtrack was a mere conversion from the DTS LD... anyone could confirm that?

Sure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51yVV_MOZF8

Obviously I can't be sure, but why youtube edited out that part of the scene, while there are so many worst examples not edited? By the way, the only chance to verify that is from someone who owns the 3D BD and that could check that scene.

Here you are the link to the comparison I've made (better viewed in HD) - top PAL laserdisc, bottom 3D BD (from youtube) - hope it will be useful for someone who decided to check his 3D BD.

I've found some HD clips of the 3D BD on youtube; the colors, indeed, are better than what I thought at the beginning... watching a clip instead of screenshots revelals more things.

So, I downloaded two clips (T-rex and Gallimimus) and compared them with my PAL laserdiscs, just for fun.

Here you are my conclusions:

• laserdisc is less cropped than 3D BD
• obviously laserdisc has less resolution, but it is not that bad - it seems that the 3D BD has less resolution than what could be achieved by a BD, but it could be due only the youtube compression
• 3D BD is darker in comparison
• in the T-rex scenes, a lot more things could be discernable in the dark in the laserdisc, while the 3D BD seems to have more natural skin colors
• in the Gallimimus scene, the grass and the sky in the laserdisc have "pumped" colors, but in the 3D BD the clouds are pinkish...
• ...and the 3D BD CUT MORE THAN SIX SECONDS the scene where the T-rex tears apart flesh from a gallimimus...

I was not aware that the 3D BD has scenes that were cut... I mean, six seconds are A LOT in a single scene, guess how many other scenes are cut, and how much time is "lost" in total...

My PAL DVD is not cut; what about the 2011 BD?

borisanddoris said:

As far as the image, the 3D disc is so much closer to the film print I saw.  Surely not the same, but it's so much closer and better than the 2011 disc.

Don't know... the first image is a bit dark, but colors could be OK, as the second one; but the third image I posted (amber mine) seems from an old '60s italian spaghetti western film print in a bad status, you know what I mean?

About the fourth image, I've never seen a sky with that color when the sun shines... fifth could be OK, too.

At least, the laserdisc colors are more coherent for the whole movie.

Let's be frank too: this is a 3D only release, that is designed to be viewed in 3D, with glasses.  We aren't really giving it a fair assessment if we're looking at it in 2D, on computer monitors.

and I agree with you on this. But, as I have not a 3D TV, as seen as 2D I prefer LD's colors, and also its less cropped image. If only LD has the same resolution as BD... (^^u)

Just for joking, I've done a comparison between the 3D BD and my PAL italian laserdisc; pictures of the 3D BD are taken from here (PNG uncompressed 1920x1080, downscaled to 640x360 with bicubic interpolation); LD pictures are from the capture I've done with my PC and a Pioneer LD-V4300D, video composite cable, a bit of sharpening and noise reduction and downscaled via avisynth; first the 3D BD, then the PAL LD:

(look at the blue box and the monitor, on the BD they are bigger... maybe is only due to the fact that the movie has converted to 3D?

As you can see, 3D BD has (obviously) more resolution, but the image is cropped on all four sides, and the colors are worst than the LD...

With a better laserdisc player and different LD editions for average/median, the quality could be better - I have more than one copy of the Italian PAL, plus the UK PAL boxset that could be used for the english subtitled parts; plus, I could still add the DTS soundtrack...

I must admit that, after I've done this job, I noted a link to the 2D BD screenshot page, but I'm too lazy to redo everything... well, the 2D has better colors than 3D, still they are different from the PAL LD, but can't say which one is the closest to the original.

To whom it may concern: both SET and OUT are on usenet.

Any feedback (both good and bad) is really appreciated.

To whom it may concern: both SET and OUT are on usenet.

Any feedback (both good and bad) is really appreciated.

Leonardo said:

However, as I said, let's go to Ravenna and actually see for ourselves. The more I think about this, the more I want to go.

Unfortunately, also if Ravenna is less than 200km from my home, I couldn't be there... May the Force be with you!

Leonardo said:

Wait, wait, hold your horses, where did I say that? I don't think I've said anything of the kind.

Sorry, I was wrong, you were talking about video releases... the subtitles were present on theaters, right? But unfortunately I was not present there at the time, so I can't remember...

Leonardo said:

- Dove stai andando, Solo?

in english: "Where are you going, Solo?"

- Vai da qualche parte, Solo?

in english: "Going somewhere, Solo?"

...obviously, the former is wrong, while the latter is right - infact, I decided to correct this line in my literal subtitles.

L'errore più grosso è "Questa è la sua intenzione." No! Questa è l'intenzione di Greedo, non di Jabba come vorrebbe far intendere il sottotitolo. Jabba vuole i soldi, Greedo vuole invece prendere i soldi della taglia più tutto quello che riesce ad arraffare uccidendo Han.

in english: "The biggest error is "This is his intention" No! This is the intention of Greedo, not Jabba's...

Leonardo, I agree with you that Greedo may think he could kill Solo and take the reward, but I think that the subtitles could be also right, following Solo dialog, instead the first line that is surely wrong... I mean, if Jabba put a big reward on Solo, don't you think that it should be higher is Solo it taken to him alive? And, following Jabba's dialog (that, it's true, we could listen only 20 years later on the SE), he said "why you fried the poor Greedo", so it means (to me, at least) that Greedo was not a "freelance", but one of the Jabba's "men"...

Well, those are only speculations, becasue, as you wrote in this thread at the beginning, there were no subtitles for Greedo at theaters in 1977!

At the end, you could always use literal translation from english sub "That's the idea" = "È questa l'idea" - sound good, don't you think?

Here you are a comparison clip of Greedo scene - note that the SE has different subtitles at the end.

SENDSPACE

Leonardo, here you are the Greedo subtitles for the scene you posted before, according to the italian 1995 THX VHS - the top of the subtitles are in pictures, just some scan lines:

Jabba ha messo una taglia
sulla tua testa

Tutti nella galassia ti
inseguiranno.

Per mia fortuna ti ho trovato
per primo.

while in the 1997 SE VHS, the first two lines appear together in the same scene; the subtitles have smaller fonts, condensed, and they are all out of pictures.

If you need some screenshots, let me know.

skyjedi2005 said:

The rarer Definitive box second issue with the mistakes corrected from first issue boxset had making of star wars, spfx and classic creatures in new digital transfers also available separately.  But they left off the Creative impulse book.

I got that one!

Treadwell said:

All of EditDroids documentaries came from laserdisc. I don't know about digital vs. analog audio though. But given the very limited mono source material, I don't see how that would matter much.

Obviously, the analog Vs digital difference don't lies only in the audio quality (that should be better, if maybe only slightly, on the digital soundtracks), but, IMHO, on the fact that the digital audio versions were released about ten years after, and probably also mastering/restoration techniques and/or masters used were better - it should be verified taking two different captures from old (analog) and new (digital) laserdiscs and comparing them side by side...

Some of them, I forget which, had the burned-in Japanese subs.

"From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga" and "Star Wars: Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi" should have them; if not, they WERE NOT captured from laserdiscs, as they exist on laserdisc format only as japanese subtitled ones... reading this uncovers why FStJ:TMoaS is not present in the official BD box set...

The other two could be from US laserdiscs - hence, without japanese subs - but I don't know if the video quality is the same of the japanese counterparts, as it is well known that at the beginning of the laserdisc history (about up to the first half of the (19)80's) the US laserdisc editions were not high quality, and often prone to laser rot, where japanese edition had highest video and mastering quality.

They did replace all of the trilogy movie footage and some of the clips from other movies with cleaner sources though.

If I'll try to do the same, I will first make the TESB and ROTJ restoration...

I still don't know if a "comprehensive laserdisc supplemental project" should be started, as the EditDroid and RowMan sets supplemental discs are stuffed with all the OT docs I intended to use, plus something more... They only lacks 1997 SE docs, but, how many persons could be interested in them nowadays?!?

Plus, when released on AVCHD and/or BD and/or DVD, they will must have proper menus, and I can't do them for now...

darth_ender said:

I'll be checking this out for sure!  Thanks for doing this. :)

Thank you! Hope you will like it!

Any chance you'll be working on the other two 97SE movies?

Sure! I'll do TESB and ROTJ both OUT and SET.

I just released the AVCHD version - english AC3 5.1 from NTSC and english AC3 2.0 Dolby Surround from THX PAL PCM.

HAPPY EASTER!

As I wrote before, I will do it for sure, if only someone will transcribe the extra's dialogues in english; I'll then use those transcription for english subtitles, I'll do the italian translation myself, and eventually someone else could use them to do translation in other languages...

Should I start this project?

It seems there is no interest in it, at the end...

I finally released SET! You could find it on myspleen.

Enjoy!