Hello from (not so sunny) Devon! I'm a long time lurker who has been inspired by the amazing projects you guys are whipping up. Hopefully I can contribute something of my own in the not too distant future!

I'm working of the extended edition of Star Wars saga (http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wa...p/id/52131) and I thought to use also the DVD menus - which are really beautiful, and even a small snippet from a live action part of a videogame.

I know this was talked about over at OT but as far as I know it's not been done yet so here goes...


Having grown up watching the theatrical cut on British tv (complete with the hilarious replacement swear words) it's always been my preferred version. The extra violence in the directors cut seems OTT - some will say that's the point but to me it uneccessarily distracts from what's a very good sci-fi/action film.

I recently got a hold of the old 'unreleased' theatrical BD from the 'organ (thanks AntcuFaalb) and it actually looks pretty good but obviously not asd good as the 4k remaster directors cut.

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=541&...0&i=5&go=1


What I was thinking of doing is trying to match the colur of the theatrical to the directors cut and then using sections of it to recreate the theatrical cut:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=3609994


If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions let me know...

Does anybody have the Japanese Hard Target LD? (PILF-1913). I'd be interested in hearing the PCM soundtrack on that.
I think the Japanese disc has the "unrated" cut, same as what's on the Blu-ray release, so it would be preferable over the R-rated US LD.

I went to upload an image for the forum as I always do and I find this message

Quote:Due to a multitude of reasons, including financial, management, and abusive behavior, SomeImage will be closing. Please backup your files as soon as possible.

Abuse Contact: dmca@someimage.com

Do think you need the latest dual CPU octa-core ultra overclocked desktop computer, and really expensive software, do make your own restoration? Well, the fastest computer the better, of course - even if I'm still using my old Core 2 Duo E6300 1.83GHz to make my own projects... anyway, let's stay on topic... I was writing, a powerful computer will indeed encode your intermediate lossless and final lossy files, but it will be useless without proper software; I'm going to list free software to make your own projects - yes, no payware, trialware etc. - is it possible to do a complete project without spending a dime; with this, I don't want to say that you have not to spend some bucks to buy a good software, nor that free software could do everything a pay software do...

The following is the list of the software I currently use to do my own projects; I'm still using Windows XP, but many *should* work even with newer Microsoft operating systems; you could use some, or all, it depends on your need:


ANALOG AUDIO/VIDEO CAPTURE

VirtualDub
The best to capture video and audio; very stable, with a powerful enough PC (10+ years dual core will be enough) it will not lose any frame!

VIDEO EDITING

VirtualDub
It's not only a great capture software, but also a simple, yet powerful, video editor, with a lot of free plugins and filter that will do almost every effect you can think of.

AviSynth
Not properly a classic software, it is called a " frame server"; in few words, you write a script - similar to a computer program, and "feed" it to AviSynth through another software - I use VirtualDub, but there are many others!
To me, this is the most powerful video tool still today; it can do everything, there are literally thousands filters and script, and, if there is none which can fit your need, you can always take an existing one and modify it, or write a new script from scratch!

AviDemux
Frankly I don't use it usually, but it's still a good simple editor to try.

VIDEO ENCODING

x264
The best free AVC encoder, that's it. You can use it as command line, or use one of the many GUIs around; one of the simpler, yet powerful, is Simple x264 Launcher - you can set every parameter there, and now it can encode also in x265!

Lagarith
The best free lossless codec; fast, and compress more than many other codecs.

HuffYUV
One of the older lossless codec, doesn't work with YV12, but I still use it when I capture video, because it's fast and lightweight, and compress about 2.5x times in comparison to uncompressed video.

MagicYUV
Another alternative lossless codec

VIDEO INDEXER

DGIndex
I use it to index DVD VOB files; it works with MPEG-2 codec.

DGAVCIndex
As its name says, it index AVC files.

AUDIO EDITING

Audacity
A simple and powerful audio editing tool; perfect to cut, paste, and add effect to your audio tracks.

FooBar2000
I use it mainly as audio converter, when the audio track needs just that. A lot of plugins avaiable.

Aften GUI
Best AC3 free encoding; but Aften CLI could be used also with other softwares, like FooBar

MUX/DEMUX

tsMuxeR
One of the best muxer around, could mux, demux, remux .ts and .m2ts files, and even a complete BD structure; warning! It *may* produce not-compliant BD files, even if it's still not clear if it's true, and also *may* depends from the version number, or wrong settings used.

GDSMux
Used to mux in MKV.

MEDIA PLAYER

MPC-HC (Media Player Classic - Home Cinema)
One of the best free media player, can play anything, or, if not... you can always use

VLC (VideoLan)
The alternative; what it can't do, the other can, and viceversa.

BD AUTHORING

EasyBD Lite
This free software doesn't allow you to make menus, but it produces BD compliant disc structures

MultiAVCHD
Free BD authoring with menu maker; quite difficult to understand at the beginning, but simpler than many other payware; after all, it's the only free authoring software that could make BD menus, so...

SUBTITLE EDITING

Subtitle Edit
The most powerful freeware; must spend some time to learn how to use it, but it worth that time!

COVER/DISC DESIGN

MSPaint
Yes, surprised? What about levels?

Fotographix
A very simple piece of software; Photoshop ain't it, but it's easy, and works well - I use the old version, seems better than the old one!

OTHER USEFUL SOFTWARES

Mediainfo
Tells everything (more or less) about your audio and video files

eac3to
Great audio tool, difficult to use as CLI; but it has many GUIs, and many other softwares use it.

Bitrate Viewer
Calculate the average bitrate of your video files.

ImgBurn
A disc burner, free and reliable.


Remember to install FFDShow, Haali Media Splitter, LAV filters, audio/video codecs etc.

And don't ask me the download links; they are free, and easy to find everywhere on the net, so...

There are of course many other free softwares around, impossible to list them all; but, if someone don't know how to start, I think these should be present "as default" in any project maker computer; maybe you don't need them now, but probably you will need one, or more, in the future.

What kind of filter do you use to load compressed sources?

These are what I use:

Video

I removed the likes system since it stopped working anyway after one of the updates and disabled the MyBB reputation system along with it. I think it would be redundant having both "Rate" and "Thanks" buttons.

If I recall correctly, there was someone interested in a restoration of the open matte 1.78:1 of "Apollo 13"; found the 720p HDTV, it's not that bad at all, even if it could be maybe improved a bit - grain plate SHOULD be added!

Comparisons:

BD vs HD-DVD
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/191965
BD vs HDTV
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/191964
HD-DVD vs HDTV
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/191962

I took this image because it has those tiny figures on the wall, good for comparisons... as you can see, HD-DVD has a lot more image than BD; HDTV has almost all the sides of HD-DVD, plus of course a lot more on top and bottom; color wise, HDTV is similar to BD, but don't know which has the *right* color grading.

Now, I wonder if the Imax DVD 1.66:1 has more image on top and bottom of the 1.78:1 (probable) or it's just a cut or P&S version of the latter.

Audio: the laserdisc DTS has a different mix than HD-DVD and BD, it should be the same of DTS Cinema - that, by the way, is also available!