Converting Star Wars Original Trilogy LD to DVD.....advice?

[crazydiamond]

I've read numerous threads about converting the original Star Wars Trilogy (not SE) LaserDiscs to DVD and they've all been very helpful.

I own a Philips DVDR75 standalone DVD recorder. My brother has the LaserDiscs and the LaserDisc player. Next week I am driving to his house (10 hours from me) and taking my recorder with me so I can do the transfer, along with a faithful trusty set of s-video cables and such.

My question is this: What quality setting do I need to use on my DVD recorder to get a DVD that looks the same as the LaserDisc? I could use the M1 setting, but that would only fit 1 hour on each disc. Should I use the M2 setting or the M2x (2 and a half hour) setting?

Also, is there anybody else out there that has done it this way? I have seen many posts of people using PC video capture cards, but never any DVD recorders. Are there any problems that I should anticipate?

[dvdguy]

why its coming on dvd in sept 21st.
r u one of those people who want the original version? Me, i dont care which version I get. have both original and special edition on vhs.

[elkfir]

On my Panasonic DMR-HS2 I used the 2-hour mode (SP) and it worked great, can't tell the difference between the DVDR and laserdisc (at least on my 15 year old TV with s-video inputs.)

Had no problem fitting it to 1 DVDR either. I find the SP mode actually allows more than 2 hours when I transer to my PC for authoring (no re-encoding.)

Not sure how this would equate to your Philips though.

[geek rock]

hmm. if i were in your situation, this is what i'd do, assuming i had both a dvd recorder and a dvd burner, and i was being a real pedant about the editing between laserdisc sides..

1. record each side of an LD to a seperate disc (if sides are under 30 mins long, put 2 sides on one disc in 60-min mode)

2. transfer your files back onto your computer and do any necessary editing, etc.

3. re-encode your video as mpeg-2 with a bitrate that will fit on a single dvd-r.

alternatively if you have a DV camera, record each side/sides on an LD to a 60 min DV tape and import to computer (or even recorder) later on.

it might be a good idea to run your LD player thru your DVD recorder anyway if you want to go the DV tape way, i think the DVD recorder's timebase corrections will help here..

-Mark

[yodel]

Doing the transfer purely on a hardware basis, you could expect a
MacroVision problem.... or is this not the case ?

[DaeMoNiC]

Listen, quite frankly, you may as well save yourself the TIME, the EFFORT, the FRUSTRATION, and the money spent on coasters. Theres only so many times you can burn a disc, with 300 DIFFERENT, SEPERATE problem from the time you burnt it before.

If you've read the threads on this site before, then you know there are about 47 PAGES worth of errors, disc problems, movie/conversion problems, etc, etc.

Frankly, to avoid wasting your time, you may as well just do what I did:
BUY IT. I know that most people bitch and complain about "bootlegs", but you know what? Your conversions? All the things your doing to the original LDs? THATS BOOTLEGGING, so morals aren't an issue here. Money is.

I bought three different Star Wars Trilogys off of eBay, until I found one that I was EXTREMELY happy with. I would have KEPT buying too, but I was very happy with my set. However, Ive also wasted about $300 on all of my different purchases.

If you want info on people to buy from, e-mail me.

NazgulofNY@aol.com

Later.

[lchiu7]

If you really want to know what folks will do to transfer their SW LD's to DVD check out

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=383743

[pcexpress-guy]

why its coming on dvd in sept 21st.
r u one of those people who want the original version?

Is this true?

[Hardcoreruss]

Certainly is

[pcexpress-guy]

Cool!

So why would anyone screw with a laser disk conversion?

[Hardcoreruss]

Bcause the new ones are the Special Ed's, the original thx laserdiscs were the highest quality unedited version. Hence people wanting THEM on dvd.

[pcexpress-guy]

ok, that makes sense.

so...

I see two camps... those that want the orginal closest to possiable version as to what they had seen at the theaters back in 1977, and those that want the best possiable version George Lucas would create. I mean the orginal had some pretty obvious production glitches. but that just might be me then. I think the new versions are much improved.. I know that's not the purest way of thinking about this.

ahh... I might not be fair and balanced, and I may have just pissed in one camp's tent, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

But I guess that makes sense... btw, is it true that the signal on LD is really an analog signal? (don't ask me how... I just read that on another site.)

cheers!

[Hardcoreruss]

Yes you are correct about the two camps.

As far as I was concerned with laserdiscs (I used to own one). The picture is digital but the sound (on the majority was analog). To get digital sound you needed one of the higher end players such as the pioneer 925, 909 or 919 which had ac3 output. Or you could pay for a board to be fitted in an older player, which outputted ac3, however this ac3 signal would then need to be fed through a suitable demodulator to convert the sound to DD 5.1.

I THINK thats correct, please feel free to correct me.

[pcexpress-guy]

check out this page and scroll to item 8 how can it be non-digital?

[Hardcoreruss]

I do not know the answer to that and from the look of that page LordSmurf does not either, maybe someone who does will care to fill us in

[lchiu7]

This should answer that question

http://www.access-one.com/rjn/laser/legacy/ld96.html

Also note LD's had 4 kinds of sound, 1 analogue, 3 digital

- PCM
- DD
- DTS

[pcexpress-guy]

that clears it up...

1972 technology?

I want an 8-track tape deck, so i can hear orginal dolby bros. album.

click here $50 USD, that's a bargin!

let me know if you guys think this would work for me.

[dphirschler]

LDs do have analog video as well as analog audio. However, digital audio was introduced eventually as well. They store it in an interesting way. I read about it once. It has something to to with the length of the "pits" and the amount of space between pits.


Darryl

[smearbrick1]

I've seen that posted many times on here. Many people think that just because laserdisc is an optical format, it is automatically digital. That, however, is not the case. The picture is analog. They audio is analog... unless otherwise indicated...

[pcexpress-guy]

Many people think that just because laserdisc is an optical format, it is automatically digital. ...

Yes, it reminds me of physics and the study of "light." Light can be observed as a particle or as a wave. It is interesting how an optical head can "read" analog.

The LD, is strange animial.

[elkfir]

Doing the transfer purely on a hardware basis, you could expect a
MacroVision problem.... or is this not the case ?

Laserdiscs never had Macrovision, so this is not an issue when when backing up a laserdisc.

[pcexpress-guy]

Macrovision

[gitreel]

cheer up. at least jar jar is not in the originals or the special editions...yet

[pcexpress-guy]

hey now that is one thing I think needs to be deleted in all versions of star wars... the silly kid stuff.. if it wasn't for these segments, Star Wars would get A+ 100 score... with the silly kid stuff, it get just an A.

[gitreel]

I agree but when we were children and the original trilogy came out, we had jawas and ewoks, so some would say those aspects were always there.

[pcexpress-guy]

yea, we have to delete all the little playful characters... star wars needs to be darker... as it is in many places. Star Wars needs to be pure drama with a little humor here and there.

just a thought...


btw, now that G. L. is wrapping up his life work (darn took him long enough) do you think he is all warped out of ideas for anything? Maybe we should just him and take him out of his misery?

[gitreel]

no. he will just go back into each starwars movie and add more goofy characters just so he can sell another 10 different versions of each movie. What he really needs to do is fix the time discontinuity. Hopefully some of that will be repaired with ep.3

[pcexpress-guy]

time discontinuity

explain?

[gitreel]

sorry.meant character discontinuity

[gitreel]

you have certain charaters in the parts 1&2 that are not in 4-6