Thanks to Andrea for the invite - nice place you have here!

I think we'll all find plenty to talk about...

Gents (and ladies)... I am over at OT and CSchmidlapp gave me the heads up about this place. Some of you know me for my HONG KONG RESCUE work.

More to come... :cool:

As many of you know, I've researched these films for an eternity. I'm still in the process of obtaining the best information on the 20 original films in terms of both picture and sound, in order to finally have accuracy in video. Currently I think the best way to achieve this would be to:
1. Purist edition: Using primarily the SE DVDs combined with Laserdisc PCM original audio, and some LD for cropped transfers, missing frames etc. for a truer representation of how the films looked. Possibly upscaled to 720p akin to the new GOUT from Darkjedi/U2. Since the SE DVDs are essentially like the GOUT in terms of representation this seems pretty straightforward.
2. Eventually do a complete regrading of the BDs, once more print sources become available for comparison. Also, some BDs seem to not use the Lowry transfers so more research is needed.

Lastly, 4K DCPs are starting to make theatrical appearances and these may have been further tweaked.

Hi

Ive tried to post a download link on a thread http://fanres.com/showthread.php?tid=56&pid=337#pid337 and it's not working for me.
Ive tried in the original post, Quick Reply and New Reply options.
Amending original post looks good in the editor then is published with empty video links (I did have direct link videos from youtube published here and replaced the link with download links).
Quick Reply hangs with a spinning circle.
New Reply takes me back to the FanRes main page.

It might be because of the download destination (ADrive) or that it has .mp4 at the end?

Hi all, poking my over-researched nose in. The site looks wonderful, thanks for giving us yet another wonderful outlet for our collective work to restore a part of cinema's heritage.

With this brief post, I'd like to clarify some good behaviour to follow in this forum, and some bad ones to avoid, to let this place happy and constructive.

Be kind: we are all intellingent and mature people, and if there could be some little "fight" between us, try to turn our rage into kindness, to build something positive... me and one of my fellow members here are sometimes in opposite direction, but we like to "agree to disagree"! Opinions are welcome, as long as they are argumented and polite!

Be humble: no one here wants to claim to be the best in his field; we ALL make mistakes - me first! - but admit them, even if could be hard, reveals great humbleness... also, change your mind is not a sign of weakness!

Be patient: we all have a life out of here... family, work, pets, hobbies... everything takes time, so don't push too hard asking for the completion of a project - this of course should not prevent you to kindly ask when it will be ready, once in a while!

Be sympathetic: remember that there are many members (me included) that are not from a native English-speaking country, so sometimes if one member seems a bit rude, or acts, in your opinion, in a strange manner, please ask him explanations; probably it's only a misunderstanding, due to language barriers or "culture clash"!

Be thankful: if you think a post is good for the community, or helped you somehow, there is a little "Thanks" button at the end of the page; clicking it will make the poster happy! Then you could also rate the whole thread with stars, and it's a good thing to do if you like the whole thread.

Be responsive: project makers do their projects with lot of hard work, spending a lot of their free time, so giving back feedbacks, in particular when asked, should be almost mandatory if you would like to see improvements in that project; don't worry to write negative comments - if they are constructive and not offensive, could help as well as positive ones!

Be happy: the mission of the forum is to showcase our projects, share our knowledge, find out new ideas, have good time at the end, with people who loves the same things... so, let's have some fun together!

_,,,^..^,,,_ presents Escape from New York [spoRv] V1.1 - special preserved or Restored version

[Image: 3_D_COVER.jpg]

| Released projects | Projects in progress | Future projects | Mission & Setup |


Mission: to restore John Carpenter's Escape from New York  using a source better than BD, plus original soundtrack and commentary.

Video sources: HDTV broadcast.
Audio sources: uncompressed PCM original soundtrack, captured directly from Collector's Edition laserdisc, along with commentary; other soundtracks from BD and DVD.

Subtitles sources: to reflect soundtracks.


Project info:
Personally, "Escape from New York" is one of my favourite movies; after I discovered that the EU Blu-ray is really bad, and the US Blu-ray is very dark, I began to search a better alternative; I found that the HDTV version broadcasted by HDNet is maybe the best compromise. The HDTV will be used as video source.
Plus, the Collector's Edition laserdisc will be used to add the original soundtrack and the commentary.

Source Material

Video:

• Escape from New York - HDTV HDNet
  

• Escape from New York - Collector's edition Laserdisc - PCM Dolby Surround
  
• Escape from New York - Collector's edition Laserdisc - Commentary
  
• Escape from New York - PAL German laserdisc [dl link]
  
• Escape from New york - various BD and DVD.
  

• English, French, German, Italian, Spanish.
  

• x264 1920x1080, 23.976fps, 26mbps
  

• English DTS-HD MA 1509kbps 5.1 16bit 48kHz - from Blu-ray
  
• English AC3 384kbps 5.1 16bit 48kHz - from HDTV
  
• English PCM 1536kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz Dolby Surround - from PCM LD
  
• French AC3 192kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz Dolby Surround - from DVD
  
• German AC3 192kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz Dolby Surround - from PCM LD
  
• Italian AC3 192kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz Dolby Surround - from DVD
  
• Spanish AC3 192kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz Dolby Surround - from DVD
  
• English AC3 192kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz commentary - from DVD; originally from LD
  
• English AC3 192kbps 2.0 16bit 48kHz commentary - from DVD
  

• English
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Spanish
  

• Main animated menu, static soundtrack and subtitle settings menu, static chapters menu
  
• Blu-ray custom made outside and inside covers, plus disc label; 32 chapters; restored theatrical trailer
  
• Tested on Playstation 3 (two different models)
  

• TheAluminumFalcon to provide me .torrent link for a video source
  
• Stamper for the french soundtrack and the english, french and spanish subs
  
• anonymous for the english and german laserdisc soundtracks
  
• CatBus, for help about subtitles
  

• THE LAST JOHNY ON THE LEFT for the animated video used for BD menu
  

Hello everyone, I found this forum while browsing OT.com forums. I have downloaded projects from many of you, and really appreciate all the hard work you put into giving my favorite films new life.

I am only beginning to dabble in doing such things myself, but I know this site will be an invaluable resource for me.

Sometime, maybe, you will need to capture an analog source... maybe you need to know that not all analog tapes and/or discs are created equal, as well as players...

About software: I noted it once, when I was ordering my laserdisc collection; I stumbled upon three different copies of the same title, a PAL italian edition of a US movie; they seemed the same, same cover, same discs... I was curious, and I play them one after the other, on the same player, and guess what? The quality was different, and differences were quite noticeable: one was more saturated than the other two, and the other two, while with the same color grading, had different grain structure... I think it could be the same with VHS tapes...

About hardware: at the contrary of digital disc players, where a really cheap player plays a disc with a video and audio quality really close to a top player (don't tell it to hi-end aficionados! ), analog tape and disc player quality differs a lot from one to another... for example, the best laserdisc player could play a good disc with a quality near to a good non-anamorphic DVD disc, while a very cheap and slightly out-of-alignement player could reveal an image quality worst than a VHS...

Then, if you need to capture an analog source:

• try to get the best version available - and different copies of the same title if possible
  
• try to get the best player you can afford - and service it if needed
  
• try to get the best capture device - think a very good used one is really cheap nowadays!
  

Now you have found several sources to use for your project, but don't know which one could be the best to use... you must learn how to rate these; experience will help a lot, but if you have not much, here you could find some hints...

Audio/video sources

UHD-BD: the best source up to date: video resolution up to 3840x2160, bitrate up to 128mbps, 10bit color depth, HDR; audio tracks are usually lossless compressed, 7.1 channels - Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, plus all the others available on normal BDs.

BD: still one of the best source; video resolution is up to 1920x1080, bitrate up to 40Mbps; audio tracks could be uncompressed - PCM - or better compressed with a lossless codec to spare a lot of space without losing quality - Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD - or lossy encoded - Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital EX up to 640kbps, DTS, DTS-HR, DTS-96, DTS-ES up to 1536kbps - all of them up to 8 channels.

HD-DVD: even if today is a dead format, and almost all titles are available on BD, sometimes there are few titles better than their BD counterparts; video quality is very high, with bitrate up to 30Mbps; audio is similar to BD, with DTS-HD MA at a lower max bitrate, but Dolby Digital Plus at almost double in comparison to BD.

D-Theater: another dead format, this time on tape; few titles released, almost all (if not everyone) on BD, but sometimes there are some little jems to discover; good video quality, bitrate around 20/22Mbps but only MPEG2; audio could be AC-3 or DTS 1.5Mbps.

HDTV: a lot of titles still not present on BD or other HD discs, and many times if they are available, the TV version is different or has different grading or cropping; quality could be really high - ATSC is 1080i MPEG2 at 19.2Mbps, while audio has usually lower quality than other HD sources.

DVD: the most successful digital disc format, present everywhere; very often the same title has different features depending on editions and/or country; quality is good, but not HD; video could be up to 720x480 for NTSC and 720x576 for PAL, anamorphic or not; audio is almost everytime Dolby Digital, but sometimes DTS, usually at half rate, 768Kbps.

VCD: widespread in Asia but not so common in the western countries; some titles could still be available only on this format; video quality is low, MPEG1 352x240 for NTSC and 352x288 for PAL at 1.15mbps fixed bitrate; audio is MPEG stereo 224Kbps at 44.1KHz.

SVCD: rarer than VCD, its predecessor, but with higher quality: video is MPEG2 480x480 for NTSC, 480x576 for PAL, up to 2.6Mbps, audio is usually stereo, but could be up to 6 channels, MPEG up to 384Kbps

Digital streaming: quality varies, from bad SD to very good HD - that could be 720p or 1080p - to great UHD; video bitrates are quite low in comparison to BD and HDTV, but often high enough to obtain good quality; audio could be multichannel, but again usually not on par with BD.

LD: very important format in the past, and with so many titles is quite easy to find out some title never released on DVD or BD; when captured using good players and capture device, quality could be quite good; video resolution could be up to 564x480 for NTSC and 564x576 for PAL; audio could be stereo, analog or PCM 1.44Kbps, or multichannel AC-3 384Kbps or DTS 1.44Kbps.

VHS: once the king of home video, discontinued since few years; sometimes it could be the only way to obtain some particular title; video captured with good VHS, or better S-VHS player or recorder, could be up to 352x480 for NTSC and 352x576 for PAL; audio mono is the norm, but many movies has a stereo Hi-Fi audio track of good quality.

CED, VHD: super-niche formats, video quality is somehow better than VHS but worse than LD; audio could be comparable with VHS Hi-Fi stereo.

Of course, a SD source could be hardly better than an HD one, but how to choose between sources with similar quality? There are some things to take in account: eventual problems like noise reduction, edge enhancement, grain (or the loss of), color grading... if every aspect is similar between the two, bitrate could be a good quality indicator; at the end, you could always use the following formula to know if the bitrate of your source is good enough...

A good digital video should have a bitrate equal or better than

width x height x FPS x motion rank x constant = final bitrate in bps

where the constant should be equal or higher* than

• 0.045 for HEVC
  
• 0.070 for AVC
  
• 0.075 for VC-1
  
• 0.116 for MPEG-2 (hardware encoders)
  
• 0.136 for MPEG-2 (software encoders)
  

• 1 for low motion (e.g. news)
  
• 2 for medium motion (e.g. movie)
  
• 3 for quite high motion (e.g. action movie)
  
• 4 for high motion (e.g. sport)