[Help] Halloween 4 LD Ultra Stereo Track

[Kcognetti503]

Hi everyone!

     I originally posted this in the wrong area of the forum so my apologies about that! Hopefully this is in the right place now. I am currently working on a resync of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and I could use some help. The current DVD and Blu-Ray releases of this film use a terrible 5.1 remix that sounds puny, goes in and out of sync throughout the film AND is missing sound effects in various portions as well. I think they were drinking when they did it   The worst part about this is there are no Blu-Rays that offer the original theatrical mix. They are all fold-downs of the same problematic remix. Since it seems there are no plans for a new remaster anytime soon, I would like to do one myself. So far I have collected the Austrian Blu-Ray as my video source as the transfer is less problematic than the current US releases, and I have the original non-anamorphic Anchor Bay DVD that came out around 1999 which I THINK includes the original mix as a Dolby Surround 2.0 ac3 track, but of course the audio is lossy and I cannot guarantee it isn't a remix of some sort, even if it is leaps and bounds better than the current mix. I also have the original VHS release I have been checking for reference, but it is an ex rental and not a very good source for my purposes.

     What I am wondering is does anyone here have the laserdisc that CBS/Fox put out back in the late 80s? From the research I have done I have concluded it is the only source of the original theatrical mix with uncompressed audio. Ideally, someone can do a bit perfect rip of this track and then it can be properly synced to the current master. I do not currently have the means of doing a bit perfect transfer as my laserdisc equipment only has analog RCA outputs, but I do have the means of syncing it up if someone is kind enough to provide it to me. This disc shows up from time to time on ebay, but it usually fetches a pretty penny which makes obtaining it cost prohibitive for me at the moment. Of course, the finished product would be shared with those who are interested.

Thank you!

[pipefan413]

Hi everyone!

This is unrelated to what you actually said, but to get it out of the way: you might want to avoid using grey text of that kinda shade because on the dark theme it's really difficult to read.

I'd be up for capturing this if I had it, but I sort of lost interest in the HALLOWEEN series after SEASON OF THE WITCH so I don't (yet) own this LD. I don't know if you're likely to find anybody else around here who does either, though I hope I'm wrong about that!

If it doesn't turn up and you really want it done, you are more than welcome to throw me the cash to purchase a copy (if there's one available, ideally within Europe to avoid extra cost of shipping/Customs) and capture it for you. If you did choose to go that route, you'd be welcome to the video as well, not just the PCM audio. But I expect it might be a pricy one.

[Kcognetti503]

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll look into that text color. I actually didn't realize it wasn't black. I just typed in the default color haha!

Anyway, I appreciate the offer to transfer if a copy becomes available. I'm hoping someone on here already owns a copy so it doesn't cost them an arm and a leg to copy the audio stream over to a digital file. Horror titles on laserdisc tend to be a little overpriced in my opinion. I only own the original Halloween on criterion laserdisc and I can't for the life of me remember how it got into my collection. I must have purchased a lot that came with it at some point 

[pipefan413]

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll look into that text color. I actually didn't realize it wasn't black. I just typed in the default color haha!

Anyway, I appreciate the offer to transfer if a copy becomes available. I'm hoping someone on here already owns a copy so it doesn't cost them an arm and a leg to copy the audio stream over to a digital file. Horror titles on laserdisc tend to be a little overpriced in my opinion. I only own the original Halloween on criterion laserdisc and I can't for the life of me remember how it got into my collection. I must have purchased a lot that came with it at some point 

You've got the following BBCode in your original text so it definitely isn't the default:

Code:

[color=#333333][size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]

This more recent post is instead #555555.

But aye. You're unfortunately right. Horror LDs cost a bloody fortune, which is why I have no money now. It would definitely be more cost effective for someone who already has it to get it captured, I just don't know if anyone will have it here who also has the ability to run bit perfect PCM captures (ideally with video as well).

I don't have that Criterion version of HALLOWEEN and I wish I did. I instead have a Japanese version, which I've yet to compare the PCM from. I've got quite a lot of other bloody expensive horror ones though, including every version of THE EXORCIST they ever released, NEAR DARK, both EVIL DEADs (Army of Darkness is basically a different thing, don't @ me) and BRAINDEAD, amongst many others.

I'd love to see a full raw capture of the Criterion HALLOWEEN with bit perfect audio so I could have a fiddle with it against the Japanese version.

[Kcognetti503]

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll look into that text color. I actually didn't realize it wasn't black. I just typed in the default color haha!

Anyway, I appreciate the offer to transfer if a copy becomes available. I'm hoping someone on here already owns a copy so it doesn't cost them an arm and a leg to copy the audio stream over to a digital file. Horror titles on laserdisc tend to be a little overpriced in my opinion. I only own the original Halloween on criterion laserdisc and I can't for the life of me remember how it got into my collection. I must have purchased a lot that came with it at some point 

You've got the following BBCode in your original text so it definitely isn't the default:

Code:

[color=#333333][size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]

This more recent post is instead #555555.

But aye. You're unfortunately right. Horror LDs cost a bloody fortune, which is why I have no money now. It would definitely be more cost effective for someone who already has it to get it captured, I just don't know if anyone will have it here who also has the ability to run bit perfect PCM captures (ideally with video as well).

I don't have that Criterion version of HALLOWEEN and I wish I did. I instead have a Japanese version, which I've yet to compare the PCM from. I've got quite a lot of other bloody expensive horror ones though, including every version of THE EXORCIST they ever released, NEAR DARK, both EVIL DEADs (Army of Darkness is basically a different thing, don't @ me) and BRAINDEAD, amongst many others.

I'd love to see a full raw capture of the Criterion HALLOWEEN with bit perfect audio so I could have a fiddle with it against the Japanese version.

Huh, maybe I accidently changed the color of my post by mistake. I am new to posting on this forum after all

Horror if def one of my favorite genres and I believe I have followed one of your threads about The Exorcist laserdiscs you have. Good stuff! I may be able to help you out with the Halloween laserdisc once I get my capture setup worked out. I've been trying to put together a good lossless capture setup but I am not quite there yet. My captures are still glitchy from a wonky capture driver. In the meantime I believe I have the original bit perfect audio from that criterion laserdisc that someone synced to the latest Blu-Ray. Fell free to PM me if interested.

[pipefan413]

Horror if def one of my favorite genres and I believe I have followed one of your threads about The Exorcist laserdiscs you have. Good stuff! I may be able to help you out with the Halloween laserdisc once I get my capture setup worked out. I've been trying to put together a good lossless capture setup but I am not quite there yet. My captures are still glitchy from a wonky capture driver. In the meantime I believe I have the original bit perfect audio from that criterion laserdisc that someone synced to the latest Blu-Ray. Fell free to PM me if interested.

There are some good threads about audio capture in particular that will help get you to "bit perfect" stage, with the right gear. I might be able to help with the video side to some extent. What's "wonky" with your current setup exactly?

That's kind of you, but I already have what you're referring to. See, generally speaking, it's only "bit perfect" before it's edited, and the resync is also done as 1ch rather than 2ch mono and from a preservation point of view I personally keep both channels. So I'm specifically saying I'd love to grab a capture straight off the LD as it comes, still bit perfect, and compare the PCM against my Japanese LD.

[Kcognetti503]

Horror if def one of my favorite genres and I believe I have followed one of your threads about The Exorcist laserdiscs you have. Good stuff! I may be able to help you out with the Halloween laserdisc once I get my capture setup worked out. I've been trying to put together a good lossless capture setup but I am not quite there yet. My captures are still glitchy from a wonky capture driver. In the meantime I believe I have the original bit perfect audio from that criterion laserdisc that someone synced to the latest Blu-Ray. Fell free to PM me if interested.

There are some good threads about audio capture in particular that will help get you to "bit perfect" stage, with the right gear. I might be able to help with the video side to some extent. What's "wonky" with your current setup exactly?

That's kind of you, but I already have what you're referring to. See, generally speaking, it's only "bit perfect" before it's edited, and the resync is also done as 1ch rather than 2ch mono and from a preservation point of view I personally keep both channels. So I'm specifically saying I'd love to grab a capture straight off the LD as it comes, still bit perfect, and compare the PCM against my Japanese LD.

Ah okay that makes sense. I've done some general reading up on it, but I didn't realize any bit of editing alters the "bits", although when I think about it that makes total sense.

As far as the wonkiness of my transfer setup I bought one of those AV to USB things that typically don't impress me, but this one actually has decent video quality (audio kinda sucks, but I can probably use by laptop's soundcard to remedy that) but every couple of minutes or so the thing glitches and I get a frame from a prior part of the video, maybe from two or three seconds before, and I have never seen or had that issue before. I've tried 3 or 4 different drivers and nothing seems to fix it. I've just come to the conclusion that Windows 10 is useless when it comes to capturing analog video because my computer's hardware is more than capable of handling a lossless capture of standard def video.

[pipefan413]

As far as the wonkiness of my transfer setup I bought one of those AV to USB things that typically don't impress me, but this one actually has decent video quality (audio kinda sucks, but I can probably use by laptop's soundcard to remedy that) but every couple of minutes or so the thing glitches and I get a frame from a prior part of the video, maybe from two or three seconds before, and I have never seen or had that issue before. I've tried 3 or 4 different drivers and nothing seems to fix it. I've just come to the conclusion that Windows 10 is useless when it comes to capturing analog video because my computer's hardware is more than capable of handling a lossless capture of standard def video.

Windows 10 isn't inherently the problem because I use Windows 10 with a broadcast-standard SD capture card (not USB) and it's perfectly fine. That's not to say that the drivers for your particular device aren't the problem. The only problem I've had with drivers for mine is that the newest version of the driver seems to be inept compared to an older one so I rolled back (but that was just an issue with audio being out of sync rather than glitchy frame capture). The audio quality doesn't matter because you wouldn't want to record LD PCM through analogue means anyway, you'd need to use SPDIF and a suitable capture device that can record it (which is going to mean specifically an audio device, not a video/audio capture card).

Incidentally, are you talking about it doing this with LD capture specifically, or VHS? Because it might be more to do with a VCR than the capture device, if it's VHS.

But we're getting off-topic, I guess...

[Kcognetti503]

Windows 10 isn't inherently the problem because I use Windows 10 with a broadcast-standard SD capture card (not USB) and it's perfectly fine. That's not to say that the drivers for your particular device aren't the problem. The only problem I've had with drivers for mine is that the newest version of the driver seems to be inept compared to an older one so I rolled back (but that was just an issue with audio being out of sync rather than glitchy frame capture). The audio quality doesn't matter because you wouldn't want to record LD PCM through analogue means anyway, you'd need to use SPDIF and a suitable capture device that can record it (which is going to mean specifically an audio device, not a video/audio capture card).

Incidentally, are you talking about it doing this with LD capture specifically, or VHS? Because it might be more to do with a VCR than the capture device, if it's VHS.

But we're getting off-topic, I guess...

I've tried both laserdisc and VHS sources and it seems to behave the same way. I've even run the VHS through a TBC and it still glitches out so the card or driver must be at fault. And yes this is definitively a topic for a whole new thread lol. But it's all very useful info I'll keep in mind