"Song of the South" conversion

[dphirschler]

I am converting my "Song of the South" PAL VHS tape to NTSC DVD. I have the video and audio done already. Now I am at the point where I start assigning chapters before I author the DVD. Can somebody with the LD please post the chapter times and/or frame numbers? I'd like to match the LD chapters if possible.


Darryl

[mikel]

dphirschler,
You may want to be aware that Diz is rumored to finally be releasing
Song of the South on DVD ... Fall 2006.
A 60th Anniversary Edition.

[dphirschler]

I hope that is true. Disney will make a far better DVD that I ever could. I hear the animated bits are in excellent shape, but the live action segments need restoration. Here's hoping Disney restores this classic. In the mean time I will watch my conversion. It's not bad considering it's VHS.

I have a decent photo of the back of the LD cover (with the chapters listed) but it's in Japanese! I know there are 11 chapters on the LD. I just need to know where they occur.


Darryl

[tonydead]

I will check and see if mine has the chapters.

[alanfox]

I assumed from you post that you have the Japanese LD version. Have you ever converted it to DVD?

[ROF]

http://songofthesouth.net/movie/script/index.html

[dphirschler]

@ROF
Yes, I got the script and it's a good starting point, but I wanted to make sure my chapters coincide with the LD (which may or may not match the splits in the script).

@tonydead
Thanks! Looking forward to whatever info you can give me.


Darryl

[gshelley61]

I've converted both the Japanese LD and the mega-rare Hong Kong LD (don't ask, already sold it!). I wound up picking my own chapter points because they made more sense to me, and I added quite a few more than what is on the Asian LD's.

The Japanese LD looks much better than the Hong Kong version. Very sharp and colorful. The HK laserdisc transfer has a very soft picture and bland color. Plus, there is a flaw in the HK version (in some scenes the hue constantly shifts in a slow, pulsing pattern). The only advantage... no subtitles. The Hong Kong version has English and Cantonese soundtracks.

I hope it is true that Disney is restoring this film and plans to release it on DVD next year. There is nothing wrong with the movie that I can see. The controversy surrounds what some find is a sugar-coated (and less than flattering) portrayal of post-Civil War (Reconstruction Era) black plantation workers, but the acting and dialogue are no different that what you see in Gone With The Wind.

[BJ_M]

yea but remember that Huck Finn is still banned in something like 45% of USA schools and you can get a feeling how something like SoTS has not been released

[mazinz]

ARE you guys kidding, do you know how bad Disney will probably bastardize this movie?

I still have my Jap laserdisc (and slapped it on disc a while ago), but i do not believe Disney would ever re-release this film without tinkering with something..

[SatStorm]

They gonna release it through the "Threasures" DVD series from what I know

[ROF]

LINK REMOVED / Cobra

DVD has eleven chapter, split exactly as the link in my previous post in this thread.

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning.
/ Moderator Cobra

[dphirschler]

I envy you guys that have the LD. My VHS transfer looks pretty good, but there is the typical noise and color bleed common with VHS. Here is one of my early screen caps. I've since shifted it a bit darker.



By the way, I bought one of those bootlegs a while back and was extremely dissatisfied with it. It looked to me like a PAL real-time conversion* with all kinds of interlacing (complete with blended fields - ugh!). And it was still 4% faster. Also, the picture was too dark and had blocking artifacts (looked like real-time encoding too).

That was the whole reason I started my own project. Even with the VHS color bleed and the other VHS anomolies, this looks way better than the bootleg DVD I bought.

* So was there a PAL LD of this movie released? Is the Hong Kong version PAL?

Here is another cap. This one shows the color bleed better:



Darryl

[ROF]

While I know the DVD is a bootleg, the quality is excellent. One of the best conversions I've ever seen. I'd imagine the source for this was a LD Copy and not a VHS because of the issues you've described that are not present in my copy.

[gshelley61]

The Hong Kong LD is NTSC. One other flaw it has is that it runs slightly faster than the Japanese version by about 4 minutes total. Perhaps it was a PAL to NTSC conversion to start with.

[dphirschler]

That makes perfect sence. I believe the PAL VHS I have is 91 minutes and the conversion I have made (slowed to 23.976 fps) is 94 mins.


Darryl

[dphirschler]

Well, I went ahead and got me a laserdisc off Ebay this weekend. I just couldn't stand not having the best possible quality. I'll have to use bits from my VHS tape during the songs, but I hope to be able to cover only the subtitles with the same portion of the VHS frame. Should make for an interesting AviSynth script.

Watching my test DVD this weekend, I was just really impressed with the quality of animation and the integration with live action. It was almost as good as Roger Rabbit. Not bad for 1946.

Anyways, I will post the chapter times/frame numbers when I receive my LD if anybody is interested.


Darryl

[gshelley61]

Sounds ambitious (and difficult!)

[Kool_Aid]

I have the Hong Kong DVD and it's perfect.

gshelley61, I've not seen the flaw you speak about. Do you remember where in the film it is, so I can check again?

There are lots of extras on this version, also.

[hiptune]

Well, I went ahead and got me a laserdisc off Ebay this weekend. I just couldn't stand not having the best possible quality. I'll have to use bits from my VHS tape during the songs, but I hope to be able to cover only the subtitles with the same portion of the VHS frame. Should make for an interesting AviSynth script.

Watching my test DVD this weekend, I was just really impressed with the quality of animation and the integration with live action. It was almost as good as Roger Rabbit. Not bad for 1946.

Anyways, I will post the chapter times/frame numbers when I receive my LD if anybody is interested.


Darryl

Ok, so what happed? Did you get your disc, but having a bitch of a time trying to slice in a vhs picture?

I did the Japanese LD to 2 DVDs several years ago. That was before I learned how to leave the sound in PCM or encode to ac3. So it has (very high bit rate) mpeg sound. Oh well, my picture came out stunning! And I have nicer quality due to the 2 disc split. Sound is high bit rate perfection anyway.

[dphirschler]

I got my LD and did a quick test capture just to see how it looked, but I have to finish up another project first before I jump into this again.

I hear that Zip-e-dee Do-dah is in its entirety on the Alice and Wonderland DVD. That will save me the trouble of removing subtitles on that section.


Darryl

[Cherbette]

I know this is a really old thread but I'd love to see some caps from you guys who have the Japanese LD of "Song Of The South". Some people apparently prefer it over the BBC broadcast from a few years ago