spoRv

I'm working on a Usavich Complete Collection project, and as there are no subtitles at all for the extras, I need a japanese speaker who is willing to help me... I tried to do it by myself, using Wikipedia japanese alphabet(s) and painfully trying to find out which character is which, and it took more than an hour to translate a single name... (^^,)

What I need are essentially two things:

1) translation of simple, short phrases - mainly characters and vehicles description - found on video; there will be around two dozen descriptions, with few rows each (example), and for a japanese speaker it will take one or two hours (I guess) to do it; final text will be superimposed over the japanese original text.

2) translation of the "Making of"; in this case, the speech needs a transcription, and it will take more time than 1), even if it's only about 11 minutes long; final text will be used for subtitles.

Most needed is 1), as it will take some time to re-do the video, while 2) could be done in almost no time when the final text will be ready.

Many thanks in advance to whom may help!

I agree that the Criterion edition has darker scenes brightened - probably because it was released in the "cathod ray tube TV era"; but the brightning is not excessive - and, at the contrary, the brighter scenes are darkened...

And, most important, color grading is different from both 35th BD and THX DVD - even if sometimes it is similar to one or another, often is different from both, so... is the Criterion LD color grading "truer" than 35th BD or THX DVD? Don't know... Should it be used as color reference for a color regrading? I think so... it could be considered a third point of view!

I'm curious about color grading differences of all the first six movies, on laserdisc, DVD, HDTV and BD.

As the EP4 internation version difference consists only in an added prologue before the movie, made using shots from previous movies, I think it will be better to recreate it using HD version of those shots.

Thank you very much; you know, it's very rewarding to work so much to a project, and find someone that is really happy with that work, like you, and all the others who posted here and on MyS.

You are right, Matrix was really tough to do - in comparison, Halloween was like a walk in a park during a sunny day, Vs a runaway from a bear in a snow storm... (^^,)

It will be quite easy, at this point, to use the Criterion laserdisc as color reference to make another version; don't know if there are someone else who could be interested in it... anyway, it will not be done so soon, as many other projects are on my todo list.

Thank you very much; you know, it's very rewarding to work so much to a project, and find someone that is really happy with that work, like you, and all the others who posted here and on MyS.

You are right, Matrix was really tough to do - in comparison, Halloween was like a walk in a park during a sunny day, Vs a runaway from a bear in a snow storm... (^^,)

It will be quite easy, at this point, to use the Criterion laserdisc as color reference to make another version; don't know if there are someone else who could be interested in it... anyway, it will not be done so soon, as many other projects are on my todo list...

Jetrell Fo said:

 The one we obtained was like 19GB.  I could not find anything larger so I'm guessing what we have is fairly close to the "floating in the wild" one.

it must be the same...

ID                                       : 1 (0x1)
Complete name                            : Alien.ts
Format                                   : MPEG-TS
File size                                : 18,5 GiB
Duration                                 : 1o 56min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 22,8 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate                 : 35,5 Mbps

Video
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : MPEG Video
Format version                           : Version 2
Format profile                           : Main@High
Format settings, BVOP                    : Yes
Format settings, Matrix                  : Custom
Format settings, GOP                     : M=3, N=12
Codec ID                                 : 2
Duration                                 : 1o 56min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 21,0 Mbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 45,0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1.920 pixel
Height                                   : 1.080 pixel
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29,970 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bit
Compression mode                         : With loss
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.338
Time code of first frame                 : 04:16:49;09
Time code source                         : Group of pictures header
Stream size                              : 17,0 GiB (92%)

Infact, there is a way to send the encrypted signal via firewire to a non-compliant 5C (or just buggy, who knows?) decoder; it then send out a non encrypted signal via its own firewire cable, that could be captured with any PC.

I think Alien (and most, if not all, D-Theater tapes) was ripped (and not captured) with this method; of course I could be wrong... but if I'm right, the copy that is "in the wild" (^^,) should be better than any capture one.

Sorry, but... what capture? The D-Theater is digital, so it should be a 1:1 rip - like DVD or BD, not a capture like laserdisc or VHS - hence, two tapes should be (theoretically, apart eventual tape errors) identical... am I wrong?

I think I should leave this project to you; I could contribute to it with my bit-perfect laserdisc capture of the Theatrical Cut - AC3 from 70mm version; obviously, there is A LOT of work to fix it for the Director's Cut - this is the reason I prefer to leave this to you two... (-^,)

,^…^, presents Usavich (Ultimate Collection) [spoRv]

**    **

| Released projects | Projects in progress | Future projects | Mission & Setup |

Mission: to release all Usavich episodes (including bonus episodes), plus extra material, in a single disc.

Sources: BD (seasons 1-3 +3 bonus episodes); DVD (seasons 4-5 +1 bonus episodes, seasons 1-3 extras); the net (extras).

Subtitles sources: not needed for main features; asked for help for extras.

Project info:

“Usavich” is a slapstick animated series of mini-episodes; at the moment, there were five seasons released for a total of 65 episodes, plus 4 extra episodes; for this project, the making of, plus some other extras, will be added - not present in any commercial release.

The first three seasons were released on BD, but, as the original video format is 4:3, the video is “filled” on the sides with still images; for this project, simple black sides will be reinstated. Fourth and fifth season from DVD will be upscaled. Final credits for each season will be added in the proper place, plus the episode 2.5 will be placed in the right chronological order. Making of, character descriptions and promotional videos will follow the main program.

**Project status: all video material ready and processed!
**

Final format: BD-25, AVCHD

Thank you very much to all!

Hope next projects will be on this level, if not better...

I need some feedback in particular for the main mono soundtrack from the Criterion laserdisc: is it in sync? It's important to know it for me, as if it's (almost) perfectly in sync, I will use the same method for the future projects.

Fixed links - too lazy to add the new ones, even my own... (^^,)

moth3r, feel free to use them to replace the first post, and delete this.

Also, anyone who wants to add fixed links to new projects, please post them here!

____________________________________________________________________

Star Wars Preservations
____________________________________________________________________

The Star Wars original trilogy from laserdisc:

The Dr Gonzo DVD set
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

The Cowclops/TR47 DVD sets
• Details (v1): IV, V, VI (v2): IV, V, VI
• Discussion

The EditDroid DVD set
• Details: IV (v1), V, VI, IV (v2)
• Discussion

The ISOMIX set
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

The Farsight set
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

The Moth3r PAL DVD set
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

Citizen's NTSC/PAL DVD & Xvid sets
• Details (NTSC): IV, V (PAL): IV, V (Xvid): IV, V
• Discussion

Grinder's PAL widescreen project
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (Conversion of Moth3r's PAL DVDs to NTSC)
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

The OCP/Dark Jedi Pan & Scan O-OT project
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

The Dark/Sega Special Collection
• Details: IV, V, VI
• Discussion

(See the Official Screenshots Thread for comparisons of laserdisc transfers.)

Star Wars preservations from other sources:

1977 pre-ANH bootleg
• Discussion

1977 pre-ANH bootleg - widescreen version
• Discussion

The Puggo Edition (Super-8 transfers)
• Discussion

Puggo Grande Edition (16mm transfer)
• Discussion

• MoveAlong's The Story of Star Wars
• MoveAlong's The Story of TESB

____________________________________________________________________

Star Wars Custom DVDs
____________________________________________________________________

The Lucasfilm Pwnage Edition
• Discussion

g-force's GOUT image stabilized
• Discussion

Neil S. Bulk's "Deliberate Creative" fixed audio for 2004 DVD
• Discussion

Backstroke of the West with retail DVD quality
• Discussion

____________________________________________________________________

Star Wars Restorations
____________________________________________________________________

Ocpmovie's "Classic Editions"
• Discussion: IV, V, VI and IV 2.0

PaulisDead2221's "Vintage Editions"
• Discussion: IV, V

The Phantom Menace - Theatrical Version
• Discussion

____________________________________________________________________

Star Wars Fan Documentaries
____________________________________________________________________

Deleted Magic
• Discussion

Building Empire
• Discussion

Returning to Jedi
• Discussion

To do:

• Wookie Groomer's Split Screen DVDs
• The RowMan "Star Wars" Releases
• The Official babyhum Release Thread
• The Official ANGRYSVN STAR WARS Release Thread
• Ocpmovie's Special Edition Hype
• Ocpmovie's Return of the Ewok and Other Little Films
• Preserving the...*cringe*...Star Wars Holiday Special

@CatBus: P.M. sent.

@drngr; I'm curious to see the results of thos filters anyway; could you post the links to them, please?

Another thing I forgot to write yesterday: apart the obvious difficulty to find out the settings, because for different scenes I should find the final resolution of HDTV (width and height, and the aspect ratio is NOT fixed perfectly to 1.75:1 as AntcuFaalb noted is his thread, but varies slightly), the coordinates to where put the HDTV over the upscaled DVD (or BD), but there is another problem... the difference between HDTV and DVD (or BD) is they have different rotations!

I mean, after spending some hours finding the exact width and height, and the x and y position of the HDTV, it never fit perfectly; I changed shots numerous times, but nothing... then, I noted that fact; I rotated the upscaled DVD 0.15 degrees, and at the end it fit... and I strongly hope the rotation will be the same for the whole movie... I can't think to do it for each shot with artifacts, it will be a nightmare...

Hope to improve my ColourMatch script to produce less shots with artifacts - so, less shots to fix - and I hope many will be "easy" like the ones I posted before (read: to be cropped only); for the others, I will need some help, because it's really really hard to find out settings for each shot, and because we are talking about hundred shots - not dozens - if it will take a day for each shot, I'll release V. 2 in few years... (**/)

Oso Blanco said:

I had registered to the newsgroups for a test period only, just to get those movies. I'm not in there anymore, and I only remember very vaguely how it works.

But I could try to upload it somewhere else. Am I allowed to upload such material on myspleen? Or is there any other place I could upload the movies safely?

Better to use another method... Mega works fine; also, I use a lot Sendspace, but free limit is set to 300MB per file - no problems, at the contrary, if some "chunk" is corrupted, is possible to replace only those ones.

Another way is to set a private torrent tracker; in this way, who wants to download have not to wait for you to upload, but he could start to download immediately!

Thanks to you to have moved them to the first post, and deleted the non working links; it's better for the whole forum to find them there.

Actually, I used that shot because it was static enough, easier to find the right settings for HDTV rescale and space alignment; but, as it's static, it obviously looks good in motion...

I'm still testing, though; for example, I discovered that some scenes are almost perfectly open matte in comparison to DVD - loosing only few pixels at one or both sides; they just need to be cropped, without resizing:

(link to larger image: http://s16.postimg.org/niaji8t8z/matrix_040947.jpg)

(link to larger image: http://s16.postimg.org/6j1l2zi1f/matrix_044978.jpg)

(link to larger image: http://s16.postimg.org/fo9xwulg3/matrix_048055.jpg)

while for the other scenes, the HDTV need to be downscaled, and placed exactly over the upscaled DVD - I just have to test them over the ColourMatch'ed BD yet, probably it will work well too...

If only I could find an avisynth script that could find out automatically the overlay alignment between two clips...

***

another idea: does exist an avisynth (or virtualdub) plugin that could try to recreate the "missing corners" of the following image

(link to larger image: http://s22.postimg.org/6bo6toefj/matrix_PLUS.jpg)

using some kind of space and time interpolator? I found this thread about using SVP for "ambilight-like" effect; the script could be modified, but of course it will not fill the corners with high resolution images, but only with "lights"... any other solution? I'm pretty sure that does not exist, it will be too easy! (^^,)

The list of released and in progress restoration project had all its links dead; today I managed to fix all the links, and added a lot of recent (and less recent) entries; maybe I missed some projects, so any new entry is welcome! The link is HERE.

UPDATES:

jerryshadoe kindly sent me the german 5.1 soundtrack; I managed to find out the german subtitles, but the file is only a .srt - maybe CatBus could convert it to make it looks like the other ones he sent me...

I managed to use the HDTV to fix the shots with artifacts; it's quite *simple* (cough, cough...) - just overlay the rescaled HDTV on the upscaled DVD, and it's done... well, if the settings are the same for the whole movie, it could be defined simple, but actually, there are MANY different settings that changes scene by scene... at the moment, I found only one that is almost perfect, and it took a lot of time to find it... I strongly hope that just few settings could be used, or it will take ages to find out more than few ones...

By the way, here you are a preliminary test; top, upscaled DVD, bottom, upscaled DVD with HDTV rescaled on top of it (click for larger image):

(if you can't see the image: http://s27.postimg.org/e4zlsc6w1/matrix_083217.jpg)

OK, not blu-ray quality, but better than upscaled DVD...

I dropped the center channel, as it lacks a lot of effects, and when mixed with the M&E track, it didn't work, as the M&E has different sync... I mean, if the M&E music is in sync with the BD music, effects are not, and vice versa...

So, I used the other track you sent me - with quite good result, I think...

moth3r moved the fixed and updated links that were here to the first post, so I think it's better to delete them here and leave only there, to avoid confusion.

@PDB, about Indiana Jones trilogy soundtrack captures: are they bit-perfect, and perfectly in sync with the Blu-ray versions? I ask because when I worked with Halloween, even if video from laserdisc was frame-by-frame identical to Blu-ray, audio was not... I had to work hard to reach near-perfection sync (read: around ±8.5ms, half ntsc field)... so, if you did all the hard work, I'd like to profit about it and use them for my next Indiana Jones trilogy project... (^^,) if you agree, of course!

Jetrell, it's possible to split each movie in small chunks and use for example sendspace or mega, instead of torrent... what about ep. 10?

It's difficult - if not impossible - to color regrade a movie only with some stills as reference... and, looking at the last comparison, it seems to me that the BD is pinkier than DVD... are you sure there are no other versions that could be used as color reference? Maybe a rare VHS, or a workprint DVD... (^^,)

And, I didn't want to be bad, and never thought you wanted to be bad, too... it's only a discussion between persons about an interesting topic, isn't true?

The project is on standby for the moment, because I need a new HDD, as the one reserved only for project is almost full - the same of all the others...

When the german and french soundtracks will be available, I could start it - probably in the next week. I'll try to finish before Xmas - at least, to release it, so it could be watched before the end of this year.

Also, "Halloween" sucked away all of my creative energies left, so I need some rest... (^^,)

If I well understood, the BD video should be regraded, right? But, what it should be used for color reference in your opinion? If HDTV, DVD, LD, VHS have all a pink blanket, the only reference left to be used could be film reels...
In the first example, the third image is from BD, right? If so, it's very pinkish, and regraded version is a lot better.In the second example, the second image - BD color corrected using HDTV as color reference - looks better than the BD (third image).

This is my attempt at color regrading the BD, using the images found in this thread

top "original", middle BD reg., bottom BD:

top BD "facebook" reg., middle BD "TB" reg., bottom BD:

(the laserdisc colors are really close to TB, by the way)

I'd love to try to color regrading the full movies, but I need the HDTV versions...