Now that I have your attention, don't be afraid!

I was recently informed from an user that often (if not always), the French and Spanish tracks on Blu-ray are not the "real deal", but instead Canadian French and Latin Spanish; this seems to happens not only in US (where it could be acceptable), but also in Europe; I guess, to spare some cash, they "recycle" US tracks also for European edition - instead of looking for the proper lossless multichannel masters, with subsequent encoding etc.

Now, I don't want to seem extremely picky - there are things much worse than this in our audio/video field - but at least, I'd like the studios to put some kind of warning... at least, for European versions; I mean, a French speaker could of course understand Canadian French, as a Spanish speaker could understand Latin Spanish; but it's not only the different language "versions", it's the fact that many, used to listen to their favourite movies, would find a new track, with new voices!

The best would be to add both versions for each language - but I'm pretty sure it will never happen.

Long story short: dear French and Spanish movie lovers, DO... NOT... SELL... YOUR... DVDs!!! Keep them, at least if you want to be sure to listen to the original audio tracks - more or less!

P.S. From now on, whenever possible, I'll try to include into my projects only the "real" French and Spanish tracks; I'll update Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 ASAP.

It's the first time I encountered a Blu-ray with two different cuts of the same movie, and that didn't used seamless branching... instead, there are two huge m2ts files, one for the theatrical cut, and the other for the extended edition; the movie is The Chronicles of Riddick, US edition, BD-50.

I must admit it's a way to avoid possible (even if remote) player compatibility issues, and probably it's easier (and cheaper) to do so, but if they used the seamless branching, the bitrate would be almost doubled...

Anyone got a BD like this?

Lately, I had to fight with an m2ts file with video encoded in VC1; loading it with FFvideosource was not possible, and other methods gave me bad and/or missing frames...

At the end, what I did was to demux just the video track, and remux it using MKVToolnix GUI; after that, FFvideosource accepted the source.

Hope this could help someone who has the same problem.

I have not posted anything in a very long time and I just wanted everyone to know that I am still here, I am uber-busy with a sh*t TON of projects, and I will be beginning the releases of multiple projects some time towards the end of the month and will follow with new releases every few weeks for the rest of the year.

I have decided to name my collection of releases "Itzalive Shadoe Masters™" with the name inspired by the work that I am doing on the audio for Frankenstein, combined with my name and "masters" as a way to distinguish my efforts. (there will be a image for the logo too, but it's still WIP)

A few years ago, I was consumed with the world of video and audio restoration, as it's the only way to be able to see some of my favorite shows/films "come back to life." However, when my journey started, I was "winging it" with a lot of things and although my results were decent, they are very sub-par compared to what I can do today. Subsequently, some projects I started back then, I've had to go back to and start over from scratch. Some might ask, "But why would you waste all of that work?!" and to them, I say that it was NOT a waste. The results were subpar and can be much better now, and I LEARNED a TON while trying to achieve the results needed. Yes, some things took me two-three years to perfect, but I'm glad that I never finished some of those projects as I would not want to do them over if they were already "finished." Fortunately, none of them were, so I don't feel bad scrapping even half of the work in some cases. This only applies to the video, as I've mastered the art of audio editing a long time ago, so at least that I can leave "as-is" YAY!! LOL

A little while back, I made an announcement that I will not be on the forum that much, as it was taking up too much of my time and side-tracking me with potential new projects way too much and I wanted to focus my time and energy into applying everything I've learned into my current projects. Subsequently, I've moved everything massively forward. So much so, that I can now "officially" announce the projects that are in the queue and will be released under the "Itzalive Shadoe Masters™" brand:


(the order of the releases is still subject to change, as well as the barcode #s - TBA=to be announced)

IASM-0001 - Frankenstein Audio Reconstruction  (although this is the first number and will remain so, this will NOT be released until the FALL)
IASM-0002 - Maya The Bee Complete Series NTSC DVD set (INCLUDING the SABAN Nick Jr US dub, as well as the intro/outro from the Nick Jr US DUB)
IASM-0003 - Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates Complete Series NTSC DVD set
IASM-0004 - The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Complete Series NTSC DVD set
IASM-0005 - Desperate Measures REMASTERED 1998 feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0006 - Top Gun Open-Matte feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0007 - TBA 1080p BD-25
IASM-0008 - The Black Cauldron REMASTERED feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0009 - TBA 1080p BD-25
IASM-0010 - Cool Runnings REMASTERED feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0011 - TBA 1080p BD-25
IASM-0012 - TBA 1080p BD-25
IASM-0013 - Innocent Blood (uncut and uncensored German version) REMASTERED feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0014 - Pink Floyd - The Wall (7th Reel Edition) REMASTERED feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0015 - The Devil's Advocate Extended UNCUT and Uncensored Edition REMASTERED feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0016 - TBA 1080p BD-25
IASM-0017 - Johnny Mnemonic Japanese Edition REMASTERED feature film 1080p BD-25
IASM-0018 - TBA NSTC DVD set


I know, I only mention 12 of the 18 titles in this collection... I can't mention the other titles for now for one reason or another, so please don't ask They will be made available as release date nears.


The first release will be the Maya the Bee series, which is nearly complete now and can be expected towards the end of the month. I will create a dedicated thread for each release (with links here, once available) once the release is COMPLETE. I will NOT be posting any more "in progress" threads, BESIDES THIS ONE. ANY and ALL potential progress will be in this thread, EVEN the projects that already have dedicated threads. I do NOT have the time to read through that many threads right now, so I'm consolidating all of my project updates into this ONE thread for now. This will apply to ALL of my projects for the rest of the year.


Any comments are welcome here, although do NOT expect a speedy response. In SOME cases, it may take me up to a WEEK to respond, so please be patient

Project Info
Le Samourai (1967) is one of the most influential films of all time, being a favorite of both Walter Hill and Quentin Tarantino. Lacking a US BD release, the film is only available in two countries in HD- Japan and France, both without English subtitles.

The restored HD master is DNR'ed, without much trace of grain compared to other Melville films. The color timing is unnaturally cool compared to the DVD and other Melville films. That being said, the familiar Criterion DVD (and also the Rene Chateau DVD) seem too warm and may not be accurate color references.

This preservation adds a grain plate and also removes the blue tint. The overall color grading is primarily based on trailers of Le Samourai and other contemporary Melville films; it still has blue, but the whiteness of highlights is now respected. I included more screenshots than usual, so you get an idea of how this custom looks.

Video

• FR Remastered BD - regrained and color-corrected to remove teal tint
  

• French DTS-HD Master 2.0
  

• English
  

Project Info
Peeping Tom (1960) was a disappointing BD release with grain reduction, underexposure, and oversaturation. That being said, the UK HD master is still the best version available now and all relatively fixable. 

This preservation, relatively straight foward, just uses a 35mm grain plate and color-correction. The shadow details were relatively recoverable, and the saturation looks better taken down a notch.

Video

• UK BD - regrained with shadow details recovered and saturation brought down
  

• English 2.0 LPCM
  

Project Info
Zulu has had not one but two problematic Blu-Ray releases. Especially disheartening considering the beauty of the original cinematography, the movie never received the restoration it deserved.

The Paramount UK Blu-Ray was a newer scan but unfortunately grain-reduced, oversaturated, and contrast boosted. Furthermore, it only had lossy audio. Meanwhile, the TT US BD merely resorted to an older scan using higher generation 35mm elements, which had weak color and EE. It did have the film's stereo track in lossless, along with a brand new commentary.

This preservation tries to get the best of both world, merging various audio tracks (synced by Chewtobacca) with a corrected UK video. Luckily, the color was relatively easy to fix, and the highlights were able to be recovered to some extent. A grain plate helped mitigate the noise reduction, which still luckily left more detail than the US BD. 

The result is a video, which looks far more lively and saturated than the US BD but not phonily so. 

Video

• UK BD - regrained with custom 70mm plate, color-corrected, and highlights recovered
  

• 2.0 LPCM Stereo Mix (from TT US BD)
  
• 1.0 LPCM Mono Mix (from DVD)
  
• 2.0 LPCM Isolated Mix (from TT US BD)
  
• 2.0 DTS Commentary (from TT US BD)
  
• 2.0 AC3 Commentary (from Paramount UK BD)
  

Project Info

Since it was first released on home video, Reservoir Dogs (1992) has looked exceedingly bland. Most transfers look strangely cool and magenta with very flat contrast. While this has been the version to which most have been exposed, it wasn't necessarily representative of either the original theatrical release or Quentin Tarantino's directorial intentions.

Recently, for Reservoir Dogs's 25th Anniversary, the film was screened again at Tribeca with director Quentin Tarantino and the main cast present. Most importantly, the screening used Tarantino's personal 35mm print. As someone who was present at the screening, I was shocked by how intriguing the look of this version was- deep shadows created a neo-noir look. It created an entirely different experience, which not only benefitted the film specifically but also help it better fit visually with the rest of Tarantino's films. The shadows are so deep that eyes, in particular, are sometimes masked in black.

I realize that this looks completely unlike any previous version (except maybe the German VCL DVD), but I thought it would be a worthy thing to do regardless, especially with no new remaster on the horizon. The Japanese BD, the best representation of the current transfer, was the basis of this preservation.

Grading off of memory as well as reference photos/videos taken from that screening (which occurred very recently), I think I've managed to recreate the look of Tarantino's preferred version very well. I also added a bit of a grain plate to restore a more filmic look.

Video

• Japanese BD - extensively color-corrected
  

• English 2.0 PCM (original mix from US LD)
  
• English 5.1 Dolby True HD (from JP BD)
  

Granted I don't own the BD for this film but a few years ago I watched the digital version on iTunes and was just watching the movie on HBO GO today. After seeing the screengrabs on bluray.com the two examples I noted appear to match the BD print.

This film definitely could use some tweaking. The current print IMO is very dark and a lot of scenes have a bit of a yellowish tinge to it particularly the Ivory Tower scenes. Perhaps when I get a chance I'll share some grabs comparing the old DVD (which I have) to the BD. Anyways what do you guys think??

Hello!

So, about a year ago, I sought out help to restore the original Swedish narration to Disney's "Beauty And The Beast", to no avail. But recently, I decided to capture the Hi-Fi audio track from the official Swedish VHS release and now, I'm making my capture available to everybody. Behold! Here's the linage:
VHS->Scantic VC 300 Long Play 6 Head NICAM Hi-Fi VCR->TV->3,5 mm audio output->König USB 3D Sound Controller 5.1->Audacity recorded at 16 bit, 48 kHz.
Please be aware that NO noise reduction has made to the audio track, nor has it been speed up to NTSC speed. This is audio straight from the VHS. For what it's worth, enjoy!

Edit: in honor of this discussion reaching 300 views, I've decided to list the major changes between the VHS audio and DVD/Blu-ray audio.

Aside from the narration, there are actually two major differences I've managed to find. The first difference can be heard during the performance of the title track. On the VHS, Ms. Pots' voice echoes, but on the Blu-ray, the echo effect is gone. The second difference is found in the ending. The VHS has a completely different choir compared to the Blu-ray because they used the soundtrack version on the DVD/Blu-ray.

Edit 2: Better late than never, here's the true stereo capture.
Lineage: 2nd VHS tape->Scantic VC 300 Long Play 6 Head NICAM Hi-Fi VCR->Plexgear Moviesaver 600->Virtualdub->Audio declipped in Audacity.