Problem Child (1990) Laserdisc [41014] synced to BD

Movie: Problem Child (1990)
Format: Laserdisc [41014]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: Bluray (Studio Canal)



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Lord Of The Flies (1990) Laserdisc [77466] synced to BD

Movie: Lord Of The Flies (1990)
Format: Laserdisc [77466]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: Bluray



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King Of New York (1990) Laserdisc [ID7612IV] synced to 4K UHD

Movie: King Of New York (1990)
Format: Laserdisc [ID7612IV]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: 4K UHD



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Kindergarten Cop (1990) Laserdisc [41051] synced to 4K UHD

Movie: Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Format: Laserdisc [41051]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: 4K UHD

Note:  Video frame-rate needs to be changed from 24 to 23.976 fps.



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Say Anything (1989) Laserdisc [PILF-1071] synced to 4K WEB-DL

Movie: Say Anything (1989)
Format: Laserdisc [PILF-1071]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: 4K WEB-DL (TEPES)



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Son In Law (1993) Laserdisc [1998 AS] synced to WEB-DL

Movie: Son In Law (1993)
Format: Laserdisc [1998 AS]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: WEB-DL (monkee)



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Adventures In Babysitting (1987) Laserdisc [595 AS] synced to BD

Movie: Adventures In Babysitting (1987)
Format: Laserdisc [595 AS]
Input Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo (bit perfect)
Output Soundtrack: 16-bit, 44.1khz, Stereo
Ripped/Synced by: emunateD
Synced to: Bluray



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this is an idea ive had for a good while, but haven't really gotten that far: Blu-rau PiP (Picture-in-Picture) ripping/archival.

PiP is a kind of bonus feature where a secondary video stream is presented simultaniously alongside the main feature presentation. it allows interviews/commentary, BTS footage, etc. to be shown at relevant parts of a film, and imo its pretty neat.



while the vast majoirty of Blu-ray extras are just in the form of a video file, which is pretty easy to rip (and therefore archive outside of the Blu-ray format). however, PiP tracks are not. PiP video is a seperate video track which is composited onto the main video stream at playback.

it is possible to rip the PiP video and audio themselves; while MakeMKV seems to ignore the video, MKVToolnix will see and mux it just fine from a decrypted backup. the video seems to all be 720x480 and audio is 2.0 E-AC-3 or DTS-Express. the streams themselves offer little issue.

however, its not quite that simple. for starters, i have not encountered any player that will playback some kind of PiP image outside of Blu-ray player software (which only do it when playing back the Blu-ray itself). it doesnt seem too hard to overlay the video/audio in post, but there is some missing information unfortunately.

the PiP video/audio arent a constant. the video turns on and off, and the audio fades in and out (shifting the volume of the main audio alongside it). the video and audio come in and out at different points. the PiP video doesn't have a constant position, it can be shown in different corners. and finally, ive seen some titles show additional text onscreen.

and so, i'd like to look into the archival of these titles, so they can be as true to the disc as possible, while not being bound to the Blu-ray format. which basically means burning everything into a single video file. imo there are genuine reasons to do this. personally, i like to include extras on my media server and these are extras which i have and enjoy, but cant have on my media server, because they are more than just a video stream. but also just general archival stuff as a video file is so much more versatile than a Blu-ray backup.

ideally, it may be possible to generate a file from the PiP data on the Blu-ray itself; it could theoretically be done automatically for an arbitrary number of titles with no intermediate and custom quality settings. that being said, haven't made much progress in that direction. diving into the files of decrypted backups, ive found nothing. using BDedit, ive managed to extract some "PiP metadata" supposedly, but of the ones ive tried, some look to be tiny (<100 bytes) so not sure wut kind of data is here or how useful it may be, not to mention its in a binary format i have not been able to decypher.

alternate routes:

playback capture. ive managed to capture The Matrix's PiP presentation, its a bit shoddy if we're going for perfection but not bad in terms of viewing quality. capture of course requires full length playback and large intermediate files to try and maintain quality. could potentially get better if i can figure out how to capture a 24Hz image at 24fps rather than the 60fps capture i have. however if that doesnt shake out theres always:

manual reconstruction. capture can be used to simply obtain reference to be used to manually reconstruct the presentation in an editor. main downside is it takes a lot of time and may not be perfect. could be augmented with some automation like perhaps analysing the video/audio for black frames/silence to determine rough timing.

regardless, i.. dont really know how to proceed with this idea, research has dug up absolutely nothing helpful beyond some top level technical details, but maybe im not looking in the right places, and i know just enough about the tech stuff to know roughly how it works, but not enough to actually reverse engineer anything useful. any ideas/input/help would be appreciated

Happy 2024!

   



Background
As I'm sure many of you know I am for some reason obsessed with the 1991 disasterpiece Highlander 2: The Quickening. Part of why I enjoy the film is the crazy story and car crash of a production that lead to an almost unintelligible US Theatrical release, but another reason I love it is becasue there are so many different cuts of the film. From the 1991 International Cut to the 2004 Special Edition the filmmakers have continuously revisted this film, adding something here, removing something there; always trying to force it into something that the fans would accept. Over the years the film got five main versions, and watching them almost feels like getting a glimpse into the editing room.

The International Cut is my favourite of the official cuts; maintaining the infamous Zeist subplot and much of the footage that wouldn't be seen in the US until the Renegade Cut...but it also loses vital characterisation scenes and the story is still told out of sequence.

So as I sat at my computer, slowly restoring the 35mm print, my mind wandered and I started dreaming up how I would have edited the film...



H2R - Highlander II Rebuild
Early 2023 I found myself pretty much isolated on a remote Scottish island for several months...it's a long story. I didn't have any access to my editing PC or my usual projects but I still had a strong urge to tinker with something...so I finally started to put together my own personal cut of Highlander 2.

This isn't an attempt to "fix" the film to make sense with the original, nor a kitchen sink edit where I try to include every possible shred of material available, nor just the Renegade Cut with Zeist put back in. This is an attempt to rebuild Highlander 2 from scratch to make the best film I can out all the material available. I went through each scene and rebuilt it shot by shot, cutting or adding lines/shots/frames where I thought they were needed. Using the shooting script as reference (but not gospel) I restructured the film and brought back a few abandoned subplots.

In my opinion the end result is a standalone, enjoyable, and internally consistent early 90s sci-fi action flick. Think Freejack, Fortress, or Total Recall; this isn't meant to be art or part of something bigger...it's just dumb fun.

The core edit of the film was completed in two weeks...but I ended up spending the next year polishing and tweaking it until I felt it was ready.

It would be impossible to list every change in this edit but here's a taste of what to expect:

• Zeist!
  
• Red Shield.
  
• I've tried to structure and pace the opening of the film to better introduce the viewer to the settings and crazy world of Highlander 2, without relying on a lazy opening text crawl. It's still a bit of wild ride as the film has to set up two worlds completely alien to the audience, but hopefully the viewer shouldn't feel lost for long.
  
• I've done what I can to restore the character of Louise. In all released versions of the film she has little purpous beyond the bland love story, but now she hopefully comes across as the independent terrorist leader she is!
  
• I've removed many instances of un-needed attempts at humour. This helps to concentrate most of the film's humour on Ramirez who is the comedic core of the film.
  
• I've done what I can to add a bit of depth and tension to the film's flimsy love plot. Part of this came naturally through repairing the character of Louise, but removing what the director calls the "banging against the wall" scene helped too. Now their relationship forms at a slower, more natural place, with their first kiss coming at a much more satisfying moment.
  
• I wanted to make Katana feel like more of a threat so I cut out all the pop-culture references I could and toned down his zaniness.
  
• I restored some missing subplots that were scripted, filmed, and dropped; mostly relating to the "sky writing" subplot, Zeist, and the power of the Quickening.
  
• I attempted to complete unfinished effects shots in a manner consistent with the 1991 look of the film.
  

Excited to be part of this community!