I used a lagarith "intermediate" version, to speed up the process, but x264 had some problems with few frames; so, now I'm encoding using directly the avisynth script; the problem is, it will take about 26 hours just for the 1st pass, and probably the same for the second pass... well, hope it will be ready before May...
As both HDTV versions are pixel perfect, what I did is to color grading the one with no logo in the image, then I took the "patch" (rectangular) from it and overlaid it to the residual logo of the other one; simple, eh?
The final encoding is on its way right now; if all will go well (touching wood) the final release will be today or tomorrow!
Mea culpa... I was so involved lately with Supernova and a lot of (too much) other project, that I almost forgot about it...
I hope to release Supernova very soon, then I'll be back to work to BATB, and hope to release it soon, too!
Decided: one disc for the movie, the other (later) for extras and open matte version - that, probably, will be almost logo-free...
The best commercial available version of the Special Edition is the Chinese R6 DVD; anamorphic with 1536kbps DTS; until the BD will be out, or someone will do a new preservation... (^^,)
I have to finish Supernova first... hope to work on it soon!
The problem is, even if it's open matte, it has not simply more details top and bottom that was masked in the BD version; it has also LESS details on the left and right side... plus, add the fact it is not only the chroma to be changed (or replaced) in the BD to have a color grading like the DVD, but also the luma!
About DTS track, it's probably a conversion from the TrueHD track; russians do a lot of their tracks in DTS, even if quality is rather low - due to the fact they use almost always a "lector" - so mere AC3 tracks will be more than adequate most of the times...
Quality is improved in comparison to the old MPEG2 version, but I agree tha fine details are lost, and grain is virtually absent, even in comparison with the upscaled DVD I used for my project... but, it's still the best HD version of the color grading found on DVD.
...and, again, with ALL the 40 minutes re-inserted, the original Walter Hill movie could have been a very good sci-fi movie!
What about the two discs idea? One with movie only (ASAP) and the other with reduced quality but open matte, plus extra, later?
Difference between the so called "classic" and the "more colorful" version is slight, but I prefer the classic one; to me, you can go for it, but I'd wait for other's opinions.
Great job, by the way, bravo!
Well, the open matte is only 720p so quality is not as goog as the non open matte... so, I thought to use the non OM version(s) for the main preservation, and the OM as an extra feature.
According to The Seattle Times:
The official press kit claims that it's R-rated and runs 125 minutes, but the movie that appeared at matinees yesterday is PG-13 and it runs about 85 minutes.
and to The Guardian:
...journalists at a Digital Domain press junket in February 1999 were shown almost 40 minutes of what one viewer describes as "absolutely cutting edge, moving-camera effects shots".
We have good evidences here, but AFAIK no home video releases contains this footage; if it still exists nowadays, it should be into the MGM vault...
Side note: as lately I found an open matte version of the movie sourced from HDTV but with an annoying logo, I'd like to fix it and release it too; because it will take some time to do it, I thought to release the movie alone - it could be ready in two or three days, and then later an extra disc, with the open matte version, deleted scenes, trailers+teasers, two soundtracks, image gallery and the special extra "thing" I'm working on.
What do you all think about this?
The best will be to get rid of this logo; you could try to cancel it somehow, using an avisynth script (or some other method) but result will be less then perfect; or you could use the source without logo, OR... you could try to use the source with no logo as a "patch" to cover the logo... it's a hard task, but could save a lot of time; I have done it with Supernova, and results are perfect, but in your case, with blended frames, you have to test it...
Good luck!
dvdmike said:
Shame we cant get the shooting script and re-edit it
Agree... if only we could take our hands onto the other 20 minutes of deleted scenes...
I must admit it's one of the few trailers that seems to scream "don't go to see this movie, it's awful!" while the movie, even if with heavy cuts (indeed, some deleted scenes NOT included in the DVD are present in the trailer) it's not that bad...
I was also lucky enough to find out three pre-production teasers, much much better than the final trailer, and these ones promote the movie in the appropriate manner!
First impressions of the Sweetspot.
After installation, the driver didn't work and PC freezed... then, after removing the old PCI catpure card everything was OK.
I used first DScaler (tailored specifically for this card); quality is really high; it could be used as a real-time video processor, with nice filters; the only critic is that it's not possible to record video at full heigth...
Then I used VirtualDub; here quality seems lower, maybe because it must be properly set, where DScaler is preset to works perfectly. A strange thing is that I must capture in RGB24, as no other color space is supported...
I'll report more info when I'll finish to discover its secrets!
Thanks in particular to "The Abyss" and AVP:R, I think this technique is consolidated; final results are very good, better than any single PAL or NTSC upscale.
Many thanks for the offer anyways; maybe you could help for the next technique/method - still to be discovered... (^^,)
I'm waiting some feedback about AVP:R, as, thanks to Chewtobacca, now it seems I solved the compatibility problems; if there will be no feedbacks, I'll encode another new project, until I have confirmation about good compatibility; THEN, I'll re-encode older projects like this.
Hope you understand, it takes about two days to encode one single project, so...
Oldfan, happy to hear I'm not the only one who likes this film!
I took all the deleted scenes, enhanced, upscaled; put them in one single file, divided in chapters; file is encoding right now.
After that, I'll work with some trailers and teasers; then, I must compile a still gallery, even if until now I have not discovered how to stop the player after each image - I guess I'll play each picture for 10 or 15 seconds...
Last extra I'm working on is a surprise, hope everyone will be happy with it!
Heiry_Hen, I want to thank you too; you are an audio guru and all the things you are writing are food for thought for me - and I think for many others here.
I want to add that not everybody has access to such softwares, or want to use them for whatever reason... to me, for example, making a free "product" like a fan restoration project, should be reached using free (possibly open source) softwares, and I'm faithful to my mission, so the question is: as you published that interesting link in post #165, but I'm not sure to interpret correctly all those graphs, could you please let me know your opinion on a free way to make a frequency conversion?
AFAIK, SSRC is one of the best method, even in comparison with some paid software; eac3to is also regarded as one of the best free audio conversion tools; the fact is, how can eac3to (using SSRC) results be better than SSRC alone?
Also, SOX and r8brain (1.9 free) seems to be really good alternatives.
The point is, will we, over 20, with good (but not high end) equipment, be ever capable to hear the difference between a state-of-the-art conversion and a "mere" very good free version?
Last thought: after that DVD set the standard sample rate at 48kHz, don't you all think that many soundtracks - in particular at the dawn of the format - were probably a direct conversion from the 44.1kHz digital master done for laserdisc, instead of a new remastered version? I mean, we all know industry; if the could achieve their objectives with few or no money and/or men work...
@Chewtobacca: I agree, the two tracks solution is the best; I make (when needed) audio editing before any eventual sample conversion, but I usually don't release the 44.1kHz version simply because I do Blu-ray based projects; anyway, I'm open to give them to anyone is interested, as I've done in the past.
But I want also to make a little provocation: why don't we use sometimes the analog laserdisc tracks? Quality is very good, comparable with the PCM tracks, and they could be captured at 48kHz 24bit, without further conversions, so everybody will be happy! (^^,)
hairy_hen said:
This website has comparisons of many SRC algorithms and is a great resource for seeing which ones are usable and which are not: http://src.infinitewave.ca
Interesting link: at the end, EAC3TO (SSRC) seems not that bad, isn't true?
Many thanks to zeropc for the NTSC DVD video and english 5.1 audio track; now all the sources needed are ready, so project will be finished in few days.
Really? Great!
Video Collector, things like the ones you wrote keep me continue... thank you very much!
By the way, no sharpening, no grain plate (apart the replaced shots)... they are only "collateral damages"! (^^,)
What about the spot at the end? Did you like it?
No, I don't say it's a pain, just a new challenge... it may work or not, but it should be tested; if it works, it opens a world of new possibilities... think about the many open matte projects that could be made, leaving the viewer the choice to view it "as is" (open matte) or soft matted!