Anyone else from the UK noted that Stargate is a 1.85:1 version on Netflix?

Picture is decent and looks fairly good.

My PC sound card is (still) the original integrated one; it’s a SigmaTel with the CXD9872RD chipset – not too bad to be an integrated sound card; plus, it has the ability to capture bit-perfect audio via the digital input – and that’s a VERY GOOD feature, when you must capture laserdisc PCM/AC3/DTS soundtracks.

However, the analog input/output, even if good, is not comparable with the best sound card around. The solution is simple: to buy a better sound card! Even if the solution is simple, I can’t afford the brand new sound card I’m dreaming of now, so I thougth about an alternative solution. Which one?

It’s possible to use an external device as ADC (Analog Digital Converter); just use an analog stereo cable to plug the output of your laserdisc player (or VHS, or another analog source) to the device analog input; then, use a digital cable to connect the device output to your PC sound card input (I used the TosLink optical connection, but a coaxial digital cable will do the same work; it depends from the device digital output and your PC sound card digital input).

The device’s own ADC could be better than your PC sound card or not; how could you discover which one is better? Well, some time ago I wrote into my hi-end audio capture card post about this wonderful tool, the RightMark Audio Analyzer – now version 6.0.3 is available, but I stick with the old 5.5 version, as the new one continue to crash my PC…

This tool simply analyze the input/output quality of your sound card; I used it to test not only it, but also the various path between the PC sound card and the other devices; they are two DVD recorder, a Pioneer DVR-320S and the Yukai DVD-R100A, plus a MiniDisc recorder, the Sony MDS-520.

Here you are the results; sampling mode: 16-bit, 48 kHz (except for MiniDisc, that is 44.1 kHz):

Just some random thoughts to start the discussion:

• "normal" BD-R/RE are HTL ("High to low"), using inorganic material for the recording layer
  
• BD-R/RE LTH ("Low to high") use organic dye, like CD-R and DVD-R
  
• BD-R/RE HTL have a provisional life of several hundred years, when stored correctly
  
• M-DISC life may be just a little bit longer than non-M-DISC ones
  
• discs places in direct contact with plastic starts to lose data after few years
  
• the only "standard" disc read by any BD player is the BDAV one, without menus
  
• BDMV discs, with or without menus, could be not read by all BD players
  
• even top software can't improve compatibiliy of authored BDMV discs
  
• the only 100% compatible discs are the pressed ones!
  

OK, someone maybe (who? dunno... I think anyone here knows this) don't know I needed badly a brand new used computer (yes, it's a wanted oximoron, and no, it's not a bad word).

The one I was after is this:

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770 3.4Ghz (3.9Ghz Turbo)
Liquid Cooler: Enermax Liqmax II 240
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z87 Socket 1150
RAM: 16GB DDR3 G.Skill Ripjawsz 2133Mhz
Video card: EVGA GTX 760 ACX 2GB
Hard Disk: Western Digital Velociraptor 600GB 10.000rpm
Power Supply: Inter-Tech Combat 750W
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64bit

Price was initally set to 700€, drop to 550€, and today I'm proud to inform the forum that I grabbed it for "only" 520€...  it includes all the original boxes, cables, small hardware etc. - the guy was a good teenager who used it for gaming, no overclock (or course, it's not a K after all!), keep everything in order, it seems really brand new!!! Now I need a new HDD... so, if someone would like to donate some bucks...

For now, it will stay unused in a corner for few days, waiting for the right place and furniture to put it in use.  So, I used it just few minutes at its original home, to test if it works well (it does); when operative, I'll write something more about its behaviour, speed etc. - and I'll need some help for configuration, and migration over a new, unexplored (for me) operating system, Windows 10 Pro - hope it will work perfectly with Avisynth and Virtualdub!

For the moment, all I can write is about its physical aspect and technical features - I did some researches before taking the decision, of course...





First, please forgive me for my enthusiasm, but I'm feeling like a little kid in an huge candy shop, just to let you have an idea!

Case: well... first impression... it's HUGE, and I mean it... even to me, that think the HDL-X9 is a small laserdisc player... it's really big - that's why I need a proper place, I haven't take it in account. And it's very nice; not one of those strange, multicolor cases that you see around; it's all black, square, simple yet elegant. But when powered up, those red lights are really... well, nice? Yep, I love this big desktop computer! :hearts:

Plenty of space for additional hard disks - up to six! Big cooling fan - yep, BIG, I think more than 12cm/5in (EDIT: it is 20cm/8in!!!); if you'll leave your hand on the top for five minutes, you'll risk a frostbite, no kidding. Many slots for expansion cards; too. The only (small) missing thing is a PCI-X; so, I will be forced to use (one of my three) capture card with my actual PC - that will devoted maintly to capture purposes.

CPU: not the fastest in the world, but hey, it's the best I can afford, and it's not bad at all; at around 10000 passmark score, it's always about TEN times my actual desktop; and, even single thread score is almost FOUR times the actual one... all in all, I expect this i7 4770 (albeit not the K version) quad-core, 3.4GHz (3.9GHz turbo) to be at least four times faster than the PC I'm using right now... and, maybe, up to ten times in some occasion - like x264 encoding!

Motherboard: military grade components, high life caps, great air circulation; a top one!

Cooling system: can't say a "simple" CPU like this, with no overclock, should need it, but better have it than not - still, ready for an eventual upgrade to a 4790K overclocked to 5GHz!

Video card: more than what I need, perfect for any video task, ready for UHD - when/if I'll grab an UHD TV...

RAM: plenty of it, 16GB 2133MHz "should" be fast enough - in comparison to actual 533MHz...

Hard disk: an SSD is not, but at 10.000rpm is faster than any other usual magnetic disk, and should be more than adequate for any video encoding.

Operating system: Windows 10 Pro... don't know it, but at least I tried it few minutes, and seems more similar to my old Windows XP than previous Windows 8... we'll see!

That's all, for the moment...

Some time last year NetFlix UK started streaming John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China (1986). As with Die Hard, the HD master was different to previous releases. It looks to be a new scan (possibly 4K) with different colour timing and a much darker tone. It has since stopped streaming on NetFlix UK but thankfully I capped it. Here it is!

Format: MKV 1080p (18.3GB), Blu Ray Compliant
Video Source: High Quality Web Stream, with 35mm grain plate to improve film look and mitigate compression artifacts
Audio Tracks (Source: Arrow UK Blu Ray release):
1. 2.0 Dolby Surround 24bit,48kHz PCM (From the Theatrical Dolby Stereo)
2. 5.1 DTS HD-Master Audio (From the Dolby 70mm 6-Track, Mono Surround)
3. Audio Commentary Featuring Director John Carpenter and Actor Kurt Russell

Available via mega download. PM me for links

The Widescreen LaserDisc and the very first DVD for the movie contain the original theatrical cut. Since none of the Blu-rays contain this version, I was wondering if this version can be restored using the US Blu-ray and the French Blu-ray, with the audio from US WS LD?

Since I don't have the LD, nor the 1st DVD release, I can't check this myself. But maybe someone has either and can provide them.

Thanks in advance

I did some homeworks, and found the following info:

Hey all,

I have captured an early VHS copy of Saturn 3. I know there is a Bluray that was released (Shout Factory?) but I know we have folks that enjoy the nostalgia of analog. If there is enough interest I'll upload the ISO to my Google Drive so folks can snag it.

Please let me know in this thread.

Cheers!!!!

Let's talk about audio tracks found on common released media, so leave out AAC, MP3, FLAC and others; MPEG multichannel, even if it could be found on DVD, it is really uncommon (I think maybe I have one title with this codec).

So, given the fact the audio mix is the same, as the number of channels and bits used, I think this could be the chart of most common multichannel audio tracks, from best to worst quality:

1. PCM/DTS-HD MA/Dolby TrueHD (all lossless)
   
2. DTS 1509/1536kbps (full rate)
   
3. Dolby Digital 640kbps
   
4. Dolby Digital 448kbps
   
5. Dolby Digital 384kbps
   
6. DTS 755/768kbps (half rate)
   
7. Dolby Digital 320kbps
   

2 scripts here. 1 for 5 pass average. 1 for 3 pass average. I saw no need for two threads about this.

This should allow for averaging captures from the same source or even different sources that are similar in size and alignment. Mileage might vary . I personally use it for making 3 or 5 captures of a laserdisc and averaging it to remove as much noise as possible before moving on to IVTC and DNR. It's up to you to make sure the clips are aligned before feeding them into this function. So make sure to trim beforehand.

What you'll need:

avisynth 2.6
interleave (internal filter)
MVTOOLS2 (2.6.0.5 or similar)
temporalsoften (internal filter)