Star Wars Conversions-Hit me with your best shot...

[DivXExpert]

Bittorrent, or even eMule, would be a better solution of distributing than kazaa.

[Supreme2k]

I done A New Hope. 1.3 gigs. 640x480 mp3 sound. Looks ok for what i want. Can I put it on kazaa to show u all?

No. That's illegal.

[viande]

This complicates things for me if it works.

Hey, me too, i just got home from work (i found out about the link while googling over lunch) just tried it over a VERY ugly case of dot crawl in ESB.
and it indeed does wonders!

It complicates things cause... i feel to urge to redo ESB and Jedi,
thank god i didnt start on star wars yet.

Oh btw, i still have a slight chroma shift problem too.
and i tried "chroma noise reduction" vdub filter and the dot cral remover,
but im wondering in which order i should do them, and also if i should bother for 411 helper too since my tapes are DVed

Cheers

[viande]

Heres a before after shot x2 , im sure i can tweak it more

[vhelp]

@ LeedsStriker,

not a good idea to talk about kazza here though we do know you mean
well, but others might overlook this or take this as an excuse to discuss
bad activiti (if you know what I mean) plus, I don't bother w/ these sites
and things .. anyways..

If you need to post a sample, you'll have to find either a provider that offers
email accounts (they usually offer some storage space, i.e., mine offers an
e-mail account w/ 20mb space, for $5 a month - not a bad deal.. and I've ben
using them for over a year now)
.
.
I think that 20mb is max for most people willing to D/L a file these days, unless
they have DSL/Cable modens, of which I don't have have. I'm still on dialup,
and 20mb is my max for uploading anything, which takes forever, unless
I walk away to do other things. All in the timing of things ?

Anyways, good luck in your storage space search.
-vhelp

[vhelp]

@ Perro Grande,

excellent idea. I'm going to try that DV passthrough suggestion you gave, to
see if I get the same thing like I do w/ my ADVC. I'll let you know what I
find out

Sony TRV-22

-vhelp

[offline]

Hey people,

Just a short note to remind you to make sure you are familiar
with the forum AUP and rules at:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=124514

I know you are all discussing samples transcoded from LD's that
you all own, but talking about distributing large samples
over a p2p connection may make it seem like you are distributing
a complete movie - which could be considered warez.

DivXExpert / LeedsStriker : take note

Thanks

Mod Offline

[DivXExpert]

I was under the impression that he was talking about samples he made from his 1.3 gig avi file he completed. but now that i re-read it, i think he did mean the whole movie. sorry. i did not mean to encourage warez.

[Perro Grande]

Preliminary report on the Dotcrawl filter mentioned in a previous post:

I ran several short clips through the filter. I loaded the captured AVI file in to VirtualDub, and ran it as a frameserver to TMPGEnc.

All in all, the results were most impressive. I tried several different settings on both low-light, low motion scenes, as well as contrasty action scenes.

In all cases, I ran IVTC with TMPG, as the original source was film. All the sources were laserdiscs. Note: It is best to fire-up the frame server without any filters and let TMPG set its IVTC. This is much faster than running the source through unnecessary filters.

When viewing the filter's effects on a computer monitor, some of the subtleties of the settings were more noticeable, especially in PowerDVD. Viewing on an NTSC TV, though, it became much harder to notice the differences in the settings. In PowerDVD, instead of a constant "chop" in the background of really dark scenes, I noticed a lack of chop followed by a brief chop -- almost a pulsing effect. Playing the same video in Media Player, however, did not show this at all. Either way, though, the improvement over no filter was dramatic. Making the settings a bit more "agressive" reduced this pulsing slightly -- not noticeably so on an NTSC TV, though.

With the exception of the experimental spatial filter which I did not test, adding the filter added about 20% to the overall capture time. As the author of the filter points out, in most cases the defaults will work fine. I found this to be true, especially when displaying the output on a TV.

Another item that I noted is that the filter seems to reduce the overall luminance slightly. On my un-filtered capture, I could detect the unclipped "black" areas above the letterboxed movie area. They were slightly less "black" than the real black. However, once the dotcrawl filter was applied, this was much less noticeable. The Chroma side of things seems to be quite accurate, and I noticed no color 'casting' from the filter's presence.

For me, this filter really improves dark scenes dramatically. I've always been able to see problems in these scenes -- something that should be steady and dark has dancing "stuff" moving around on it. This filter REALLY improves that. I've not had a repeat of my stupid bright-scene checkerboard problem, but bright, contrasty scenes did well, too. I've been able to reduce a lot of the chop at the expense of sharpness. With this filter, I did not notice a sacrifice in sharpness.

For my eyes, converting a portion of Return of the Jedi, I got my best results with this:

dotcrawl filter (vdub)
Inverse Telecine (tmpg)
2-pass VBR (tmpg)
Soften block noise settings at 5. (tmpg)

(I didn't get a chance to experiment with adding the 411 helper filter yet).

Even though it adds 20% more time to the conversion process, I suspect this filter is going to get used on virtually every SVideo/Composite source I capture. It is outstanding, at least to my eyes. If the author is looking for donations, he's surely going to get one from me!

[dphirschler]

Wow! The dot crawl filter does it!

Before:
http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~dhirschl/starwars/rgb_decomb.jpg

After:
http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~dhirschl/starwars/dot_crawl_leia.jpg

And I didn't even have to do the filter before inverse telecining.


Darryl

[Gorgoloch]

Is anyone else using Ulead DVD Workshop2? I'm getting the really helpful 'Unspecified Error 800413a3' when I try to burn now. I di da new version of ANH that I used ITVC on and now I get this error. Not sure if has anything to do with that (I'm going to do some tests), but I wanted to know if anyone esle was getting this.

I did a quicksearch and saw nothing on it. Figured I'd check here as I know people are doing the same thing.

G-Loch

[offline]

You may need to report this error to Ulead but people with
similar errors have found that they have started after a patch
update - so installing WS2 without the updates has worked for some.

[Gorgoloch]

Thanks. I re-installed and ran some tests. Seems my problem is with ITVC. I get an error at the end of it doing the video/audio multiplexing. But if it's not ITVC, then it's fine.

Tiem to do some tests and research.

G-Loch

[LeedsStriker]

Sorry, didn't know i was doing anything wrong.

[Gorgoloch]

Hi,

I just did an encode of ANH using Canopus Procoder. Very happy with the results. With a 2-Pass VBR I got great results. There was slight macro-blocking on really fast motion (the explosion when the Stormtroopers blast the door on Leia's Custodian was the first I noticed). But it was slight. They have a 'Mastering' option, but that takes an incredibly long time. Maybe 40 hours or so. I haven't tested that, but it might be worth it for this.

Wasn't sure if anyone else had tried this, so I figured I'd thow my .02 in. I still have slight vertical lines that are noticeable on black. That seems to be related to doing a pass with VDub to put the subtitles in. Does anyone have any explanation for that? Still curious. Don't think I can frameserve to Procoder, and even if I could not sure if that would solve this.

Anywho, figured I'd chime in with that. If anyone cares

G-Loch

[destinyknights]

Hey, could someone post a chapter listing of "Empire" and "Jedi" from the laserdiscs or post a scan of the lists. SV_Trinity did a great job with "ANH." It would be great to have all three films with proper chapter breaks. Thanks.

[MJPollard]

Hey, could someone post a chapter listing of "Empire" and "Jedi" from the laserdiscs or post a scan of the lists. SV_Trinity did a great job with "ANH." It would be great to have all three films with proper chapter breaks. Thanks.

I don't have exact timings handy, but here are the chapter titles for each movie. And, even though it's heresy in this thread , the titles for the additional chapter stops in the SE version of "Star Wars" are listed as well. (These chapter titles are used on both the SE discs and the original trilogy "faces" release, so I figure it's a pretty safe bet that they'll be the ones used on the upcoming official DVDs.)

STAR WARS

1. Main Titles
2. The Imperial Boarding Party
3. Darth Vader Confronts the Princess
4. Lost in the Desert
5. The Jawas Capture R2-D2
6. Droids for Sale
7. Leia's Private Message
8. Dinner Conversation
9. Attack of the Sand People
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi
11. A Tale of the Past
12. The Death Star
13. A Grisly Find
14. Mos Eisley Spaceport
15. The Cantina, a Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy
16. Han Solo
17. Cornered by Greedo
18. Jabba the Hutt (*)
19. The Millennium Falcon
20. Alderaan's Fate
21. Luke's Lightsaber Practice
22. "That's No Moon... It's a Space Station."
23. Infiltrating the Death Star
24. To Rescue a Princess
25. Into the Garbage Chute
26. The Walls Close In
27. Disarming the Tractor Beam
28. Obi-Wan Meets Vader
29. Dogfight
30. Han's Boast
31. The Rebel Strategy
32. Han Prepares to Leave
33. Luke and Biggs (*)
34. Assault on the Death Star
35. Navigating the Trench
36. "Use the Force, Luke."
37. A Hero's Welcome
38. To the Victors Belong the Honors
39. End Credits

(*) SE version only.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

1. Main Titles
2. Luke on Reconnaissance
3. The Rebel Base
4. Escape from the Ice Monster
5. The Snow Men
6. Rogue Two's Frosted Find
7. Luke's Recovery
8. An Imperial Probe Droid
9. The Imperial Fleet
10. A Call to Arms
11. The First Transport
12. The Imperial Walker Attack
13. Fall of the Walker
14. The Falcon Flees
15. Luke Leaves for Dagobah
16. The Empire in Pursuit
17. Asteroids
18. Crash-Landing on Dagobah
19. Swamp Thing
20. Luke Meets Yoda
21. A Kiss is Just a Kiss
22. Vader Gets the Message
23. Yoda Agrees to Train Luke
24. The Cave is Alive
25. The Way of the Jedi
26. Braving the Tree Cave
27. The Falcon Disappears
28. Using the Force
29. Apology Accepted
30. Out with the Garbage
31. Looking at the Future
32. Approaching Cloud City
33. Lando Calrissian
34. Luke Must Go
35. Something's Wrong in Cloud City
36. Captive Rebels
37. The Carbon-Freeze Chamber
38. The Guinea Pig
39. Luke Shadows the Prisoners
40. Face to Face
41. Lando's Double Cross
42. Lightsaber Duel
43. Evacuating Cloud City
44. The Bitter Truth
45. The Falcon to the Rescue
46. The Empire Closes In
47. Reunion with the Fleet
48. End Credits

RETURN OF THE JEDI

1. Main Titles
2. Vader's Unexpected Visit
3. Unusual Envoys to Jabba's Palace
4. A Message and a Gift
5. And the Band Played On...
6. The Price for Chewbacca
7. Free from the Carbonite
8. Enter Luke Skywalker
9. The Rancor
10. Jabba's Decree
11. On the Sail Barge
12. The Sarlacc
13. The Emperor
14. Yoda's Twilight
15. Obi-Wan's Point of View
16. Outlining the Rebel Attack
17. The Stolen Shuttle
18. The Emperor's Strategy
19. Passing Imperial Security
20. The Endor Task Force
21. Speeder Bikes
22. Leia Meets an Ewok
23. The Emperor's Orders
24. An Ewok Trap
25. A Banquet for C-3PO
26. C-3PO's Story
27. Leia Hears the Truth
28. Luke Surrenders
29. The Rebel Plan of Attack
30. Jumping to Hyperspace
31. The Back Door
32. Luke and the Emperor
33. "It's a Trap."
34. The Emperor's Taunt
35. Ewok Counterattack
36. Fully Operational
37. The Battle Rages
38. Luke Loses Control
39. The Ewoks Turn the Tide
40. Luke Battles Vader
41. Awaiting the Shield Deactivation
42. Luke's Fury
43. The Shield is Down
44. Luke's Death Sentence
45. Vader's Redemption
46. Penetrating the Death Star
47. The Unmasking
48. The Death Star Destroyed
49. Vader's Funeral Pyre
50. Celebration
51. End Credits

You should be able to figure out a reasonable chapter stop for each title based on the action described. Listing the timings would be meaningless since they vary from one laserdisc set to another (especially in the SE discs, with their additional long scenes and short snippets).

[destinyknights]

Thank MJPollard. You are great.

[ironwood321]

Its out on DVD in a triple box set soon.
20th Sept 2004 in the UK.

How about getting this version?

[MJPollard]

Its out on DVD in a triple box set soon.
20th Sept 2004 in the UK.

How about getting this version?

(A) It's the Special Edition, and many people prefer (or want to preserve) the original versions.

(B) It's a fun learning experience to do it yourself.

I personally plan on buying the trilogy when it comes out (I already have my pre-order on file at Amazon.com), but why not have the best of both worlds if you can, right?

[Gary Lightfoot]

Hi Martin,

you've hit the nail on the head theer I think.

Of course, some of us may use the DVD menus etc for our own OT conversions if we like them.

Gary.

[dphirschler]

I think it goes without saying that most of us here in this thread will be making our own edits to the SE versions. I myself play to make a supreme anamorphic Original Trilogy using the best footage available from the SEs and the PAL LDs. I must be crazy. So, should we start a new thread when that time comes around? I just know everybody else is think of doing the same thing, so don't even lie! haha!


Darryl

[flaninacupboard]

dude, you got me! i was thinking just this morning "i suppose i'll have to decode the DVD to .avi so i can edit it all together. shall i use DV or is it worth using huffy? damn, i'll need a bigger HDD."

We're truly sad. i think i'll build something inbetween the two, i don;t really want to see through snowspeeders - and i don;t have anything against realistic stormtroopers standing in the landing bay in the deathstar, but i REFUSE to watch the most poorly rendered character i have ever seen get his tail trodden on and then have a hand wafted through him..... total shit. plus those shit fiery rings (haha fiery ring) can go as well.

[Gary Lightfoot]

Add me to the 'Sad Crew' for DVD/Laserdisc hybrid club.

If you start a new thread (good idea as this one will still be running with the lasers/vhs), post the link here to make sure none of us saddo's miss it....

Gary.

[vhelp]

TGIF guys :P

Well, if a new link is such, (that's ok w/ me) make sure you state from DVD source

This thread is really from LD and VHS sources only.
-vhelp

[vhelp]

Well guys, another TGIF (for me anyways)

This evening, after comming home from work, I was greated by TWO packages. Can you guess what they were ?? ..hehe.. ..hehe..

yes, both versions of Star Wars - - Original, and Special Edition.
I wanted both worlds, and thought that at $50 each version, I couldn't go wrong. So, now I got both.

I'm currently playing around w/ Orig SW now. I'm hoping to have a sample clip
of each LD version soon.

Finally, I can't wait to tackle this long over duew project. Yippieeee!! :P
-vhelp

[Gorgoloch]

OK, so I'm still an amateur at this stuff (getting better due to this site), and no matter how good I get I'll still never know as much as some of you. But after following this thread for some time I want to throw something out there.

I think people have all worked a long time on this thing and I think it would be great if people could get together to take a peak at some of the progress and work people have done. Let's face it, no matter how good your project comes out your friends and family will like it, but won't appreciate it as much as people who are working towards the same thing. So I'm suggesting that if possible, people get together for a SW viewing or two. Have a party, talk some shop, pass on some tips, share some insight. In person. This site is great, and we can see some progress, but it would be fantastic to see the results first hand.

Sure, it's weird to meet people 'online', but we're all geeks to an extent. Let's revel in it. This thread has been going on for a couple of years. I think it's time to kick back and celebrate. It's deserved.

As I said, I'm still an amatuer, so my setup isn't going to blow anyone away, but if anyone's around Boston and wants to get together I'm up for it. I'm guessing a big 'convention' is out of the question, but pockets of get togethers might be possible. Any thoughts? And if I'm crazy for thinking this, let me know.

First rounds on me (I owe you guys that much).

G-Loch

[Gary Lightfoot]

That's a great idea, but unfortunatley I'm in the UK so it would have to be a 'long weekend' type convention to make it worth my while flying out.

Gary.

[Perro Grande]

For me, my next project related to Star Wars and the like is to take the Special Edition (or perhaps DVD) 5.1 Dolby Digital surround track and fix/edit/sync it to the original edition...

[Gary Lightfoot]

That will be very tricky because some of the dialogue and sound effects were changed too, so you'll have to decide which to keep - original or SE.

Gary