Ultimaate Kill Bill Question

[BobbyBlaze]

Hi Good VCD/DVDR/Videohelp folks!

I've purchased 3 copies of Kill Bill. The First was the Bogus PAL region 3 Thai so-called "uncut version" from DVDsFromAsia. Couldn't wait for that to turn up so bought the region 2 PAl one whilst I was waiting and was so gutted/choked when the Thai edition happened to be exactly the same thing minus the Jap-only subtitles, that I ended up buying the Region 2 NTSC Japanese version as well (I know, I know....).

Anyway, I'm aware that their will probably be an uncut release for the rest of the world with fixed subtitles one day but I damned if I'm gonna buy another version of this movie and thought I'd turn to my friends at VideoHelp for some video help.

What I want to do is this (deep breath...)

Edit together a super-version of Kill Bill that has the all the added content of the R2 NTSC Japanese print with the R2 PAL UK version with it's correct subtitles for an ultimate edition version.

There are 2 ways I can think of soing this.

1) Convert R2 Japanese to PAL and insert anime, House of Blue Leaves & "give me your other hand" (gotta love that one!) scenes into the movie at their respective points.

or

2) Edit the subtitle track (is this possible or is it all mutiplexed together in the VOB?) on the R2 Japanese and eliminate subtitles for English dialog.

It's an interesting project and I thought I'd ask you guys the pros/cons of each method. My gut instinct tells me that the first method would probably have more success but what would be the best way to go about it and what tools would be necessary to accomplish this task? After the bread I've blown on this film, it would be nice to have an all singing & dancing version that had the best of both versions.

Thanks in advance .

[jimmalenko]

I reckon you've got more money than sense, I mean, buying 3 copies of the same thing ???

I recommend that you save your time and sanity and buy the uncut release when it comes out.

[BobbyBlaze]

Ahhh, come on..... That's no fun

More money than sense? Not any more my good chum. Don't want (ie. can't afford) to buy again and fancy a bit of fun sorting this out.

Anyone got anything more constructive???

[BobbyBlaze]

Just thought I'd add this...

[BobbyBlaze]

Oops, once more

[jimmalenko]

Out of interest, have you bought all three online ?

[BobbyBlaze]

Thai rubbish from dvdsfromasia.com at a price I'm sure is only for gullible foreigners (£17.50 inc. £2.50 for a plastic carrier bag). PAL R2 from Tescos (£13.99) and R2 Japanese from my friend who bought it and didn't realise the subtitle conundrum (a Tenner and the bargain of the lot really).

Cripes! £41.49 - (first time I've added it up.) Bugger, could have bought all 3 StarWars films for that! Just thought that after that kind of investment it would be nice not to be jockeying the remote control for the whole movie. Besides, what's the point of having a great tool like a PC without doing some fun things with it?

So come on folks, I've read the guides on NTSC/PAL conversion and started the Japanese conversion as a starting point. Will I have to Re-encode the video after this stage or will I be able to simply join them together. Help, advice and suggestions appreciated.

Thanks again

[FulciLives]

I was under the impression that the Japanese NTSC R2 DVD was totally uncut ... the only drawback being that the English subs are either 100% on or 100% off.

So all you need to do is convert that video to PAL and edit the subs.

I've done this before although in the opposite direction (going from PAL to NTSC).

Here is how I did it:

RIP the subs to SSA format using the program called SubRip

Edit the subs (cutting out the stuff you don't need aka when English is being spoken) using the program called Subtitle Workshop

Now you should have a SSA file that you can use. But the file will be timed for NTSC.

Now most likely the Japanese DVD of KILL BILL is PROGRESSIVE NTSC i.e., 23.976fps so run the VOB files through DVD2AVI and select FORCE FILM

Now you will have your audio track(s) and your D2V project file along with your SSA subtitle track.

At this point the easiest way without using a hard-to-use authoring program is to only use one audio track (such as the 5.1 AC-3 track) along with burning the subs into the video. Since KILL BILL is 2.35:1 the subs should fit very nicely in the lower black band if you re-encode it as 4:3 widescreen instead of 16x9 ... but you could leave it 16x9 just will make things harder.

So now you set up an AviSynth script. Load the video. Overlay the subtitles. Now change the frame size (720x480 to 720x576) and change the FPS from 23.976fps to 25.000fps using AssumeFPS in AviSynth.

That will work.

I just did this with the PAL DVD of PHENOMENA (Intergral Hard Version) and I was thinking of doing it with the KILL BILL Japanese DVD as well although I will be keeping mine NTSC but I will edit the subs.

I just haven't gotten around to getting the Japanese KILL BILL DVD yet.

If you can't follow what I just said no problem! Just send me your Japanese DVD of KILL BILL and I'll do it for you :P

JUST KIDDING !!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

Here is the script I used for doing PHENOMENA although I did PAL to NTSC so I have modified the script for NTSC to PAL

LoadPlugin("mpeg2dec3.dll")
LoadPlugin("VSFilter.dll")
mpeg2source("D:\KILLBILL_VOL1\VIDEO_TS\movie.d2v")
LanczosResize(720,432)
AddBorders(0,72,0,72)
TextSub("D:\KILLBILL_VOL1\VIDEO_TS\subtitles.ssa")
AssumeFPS(25.000, true)
ConvertToYUY2(interlaced=false)

This is an AviSynth 2.5x AVS script. You will need to download VSFilter.dll which I got from GORDIAN KNOT but you can find it elsewhere.

Now normally I like to lay the subs down before I resize but in this case you have to do the resize first because the script is converting the 16x9 NTSC to 4:3 PAL. It will still be WIDESCREEN just not 16x9 "enhanced". Just make sure you do the subs in the script order prior to the FPS change so as to maintain sync.

You can use Subtitle Workshop to adjust the subs i.e., where they appear (how close to the bottom for instance) and what size and color they will be. I test this by loading the AviSynth script in VirtualDubMod (to see where the subs will be and what size, color etc.)

Hope this helps!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
That last line in the AviSynth script is only to be used if you will be doing your encoding with CINEMA CRAFT ENCODER. If however you are using TMPGEnc Plus then you should subtitute this instead:

ConvertToRBG(interlaced=false)

[uniquo]

where do you download vsfilter from if you don't want to get it from gordianknot?

[FulciLives]

where do you download vsfilter from if you don't want to get it from gordianknot?

Here is a link:

CLICK HERE FOR LINK

Good Luck

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Gurm]

Since this film has been available in stores starting around May 1, what exactly is the issue here?

Get the damn R1, which has Japanese dialogue AND subtitles, remove the region coding, and just watch it.

- Gurm

[FulciLives]

Since this film has been available in stores starting around May 1, what exactly is the issue here?

Get the damn R1, which has Japanese dialogue AND subtitles, remove the region coding, and just watch it.

- Gurm

The ISSUE is that the Japanese cut of the film is slightly longer than the USA version ALSO there is a major sequence in the film that is B/W in the USA version but completely in COLOR in the Japanese version.

The only problem with the Japanese version is that the English subtitles are either ON or OFF 100% of the time ... they don't come on only when needed (i.e., for the non-English speaking lines).

Please note though QT has said that he does have plans to eventually release this longer all color version in the USA.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[RottenFoxBreath]

the reason it was released in japan like this is because of the less stringent censorship laws.
the US release was released asis,so unless some major cuts are done(like the uk one),you wont be seeing it anytime soon.
QT said he would release a super version of it,vol 1 and 2 as one movie,but as for the jap version,looks like thats what itll stay as.
the subtitles,god,after the 10th time seeing it,you dont need them any more.
just switch them off if you dont need them.
the running time of the jap version compared to the UK release is about 8 minutes longer,and bout 5 mins longer than the US version.