I'm starting this thread since it could be good if all the info is gathered in one place.

I will list here as I come across them all french localised titles masters I find. This will grow as it goes. Feel free to contribute. Also feel free to start threads for italian, german etc. copies if you live there and have HDTV access.

The idea is, since the advent of DVD, all localised versions are disappearing from the surface of the earth, but some survive on HDTV or licensed DVDs/BDs. Some of them also included french inserts like Dirty Harry, which has the insert of the newspaper Scorpio reads on the roof shot in several languages with different versions, each in it's own language, of the newspaper mock-up. This revisionism must stop and history must be preserved so please indicate here any localised version you know about and I'll add them to the master list.

HDTV real original versions:

- Die Hard 2 (1990) French HDTV airings saved by fellow forumer here.
- Mission Impossible (1996) French HDTV airings. Original titles, not redux. Looks like the color timing is the original with tons of blue. Worth saving?

HDTV doctored versions / recreations to avoid
- Terminator 1984 French HDTV airings. Title card is remade in horrible arial like font, from the old DVD Pal master which had the text free insert. Useless.
- Back to the Future
- Spider-Man 2

In this thread, we'll discuss the various home media editions of the Walt Disney Black Diamond Classics across home media, from 1984 to 1994, and beyond. The objective, naturally, is to figure out what the best version of each would be for my Walt Disney Classics documentary project, so as to ensure the preservation community doesn't get its wand in a knot, as the wizarding world likes to say. ;D

The films this thread will look at are:

1. Robin Hood
   
2. Pinocchio
   
3. Dumbo
   
4. The Sword in the Stone
   
5. Alice in Wonderland
   
6. Sleeping Beauty
   
7. Lady and the Tramp
   
8. Cinderella
   
9. Bambi
   
10. The Little Mermaid
    
11. Peter Pan
    
12. The Jungle Book
    
13. The Rescuers Down Under
    
14. Fantasia
    
15. 101 Dalmatians
    
16. The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective
    
17. The Rescuers
    
18. Beauty and the Beast
    
19. Aladdin
    
20. The Fox and the Hound
    

This will be similar to OT.com's thread on the matter, but different in its focus in that the above 20 films will be the subject of this thread.

When encoding interlaced video files, I personally swear by FFMPEG. For over two months, I've been using Hauppauge's WinTV-HVR 9550 TV tuner to capture quality true HD footage from my PBS station–and when I was on vacation in Birmingham over the Easter weekend, I captured the same from my sister's PBS station–and then encoding the results via FFMPEG using the Yadif filter. Below is the formula I've been using for each encode, entered into Command Prompt:

ffmpeg -i in.ts -vf yadif=1 -acodec copy -vcodec libx264 -preset superfast -x264-params cabac=0 out.mp4

Tips on encoding interlaced non-broadcast video via FFMPEG will come later.

Hello everybody. I'm vbangle. I'm married and a father of 2. Pleased to be here.

I've been searching high and low for the full IMAX framing of Skyfall... Realistically, that may never see the light of day again, but some HDTV airings have proven to be open matte 16:9. It's not the full framing, but still more than what's on the blu.

Locally there is a channel (ION-HD) airing it Sunday evening, June 25 (6:30PM Pacific Time)... Not sure if this network is widely available to others here... or if it open matte... or if it will be cropped from the BD's framing... or if some of the content will be edited for cable television.

But... On the off chance that this is open matte, is anyone out there capable of (or even interested in) capturing this? (Ordinarily I would not ask, but I do not have the technological capabilities to do so myself.)


Also... It appears the network will be airing other Bond movies before and after Skyfall... Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day, and Casino Royale. Is it possible these films might be aired in 16:9 open matte?

I always asked myself, why there are so many Russian translations for each single film, and why they should include any possible version?

I mean, two or three at most could be understandable - French may have two, Paris and Canadian one, like Spanish, Castilian and Latino ones - but there are usually five or more... tell me, why one would add 14 (FOURTEEN) Russian audio tracks to a film - plus an Ukrainan one, just to have a different option, but to be fair, English was included, too... - is beyond my comprehension.

Written without polemic, just curious to know the reasons behind this; hope our Russian friend could answer this - or someone who knows it as well.

It all started with the Soft+Open Matte™ hack (https://forum.fanres.com/thread-300.html)...

During the various tests, I thought about different way to use this hack...

I needed to choose a given language to identify the hacked subtitle; for the moment, I'd go with YAO - Yet Another Overlay - but I'm open to use another acronym, that should be created using the following:

ewe
fon
ido
ijo
lao
tiv
twi
vai
yao (alternative acronym)

why there? Because they are the only ones which appear the same in all players, as these are the only three-lettered languages with the same three letters abbreviations; I thought also, for example, to use "bar" - that is awesome for added black bars - but in some players it would show as "Austro-Bavarian" - not that great...

OK, I bet you still have no idea of what I'm talking about, but your eyes have surely spotted the following images, so with much further ado, this is a subtitle hack to overlay images to video, with several purposes... first let's see some examples:

Why limit us with those boring black bars? Let's have them in color!





Or you can have them on the sides, to spice up a bit those old 1.33:1 material...



So, what's about a logo over those bars?



I prefer fancy curtains...



In few words, this is a "poor man" Bonus view, it works with m2ts, ts, mkv files (mp4 should work as well), on free software players (with some limitations for some of them), *should* work on BD players (even old ones without Java - testers are neede!)

Some ideas for practical applications:

• black bars for open matte with 1.85:1 OAR - this is the main use; think that 99% of them, opened to 1.78:1, can benefit of this; just slap two 20px high bars on top and bottom, and presto! You have the OAR version!
  
• black bars for open matte with higher OAR - this is a less common, as often the image has a different framing, but it happens sometime; I can think of Timeline, for example: apart three (yes, THREE!) shots that are cropped at the sides, ALL the movie is full open matte; add the black bars for all but those three shots, and you have the OAR version (yep, sorta of, it would still miss three shots for a total of maybe ten seconds...)
  
• variable aspect ratio -> OAR - there are some movies which have some (or many) shots full open matte, while the main framing is OAR; it's possible to add black bars only to these shots, so to have a real OAR version. Note: this is valid both for letterbox and for pillarbox.
  
• frame transition - it's possible to add a transition from OAR to open matte and vice versa, instead of abrupt change; this could be a nice touch to your projects
  
• colored bars - to identify certain parts of a movie (for example, added scenes), it's possible to overlay colored bars onto the existing black ones
  
• side curtains - like Disney View, you can add nice graphics on the sides of 1.33:1 and higher aspect ratios up to 1.78:1; obviously, not limited to curtains... metal, paper, wood, bamboo, columns...
  
• top/bottom curtains - same as the previous, but on top and bottom
  
• custom logo - there could be some use of it; it could be fixed, appears only sometimes, be in the same corner or change position
  
• info nugget - like VH1, you can add interesting info here and there
  
• pop-ups - still no idea why one would use them, but it's possible...
  

that's enough for the moment... if there will be some interest, I would post more technical details and specification, and eventually a guide to create one of this hacked subs - it's not that hard!

Waiting for your comments!

Just watched a few Blade Runner 2049 "sneak peek" videos. I wonder how it would look without the crayons?

From OT (http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Koyaani...872/page/1):

Quote:There are two versions available on DVD, the MGM version which is widely commercially available, and the IRE version, whose transfer was commissioned by Godfrey Reggio for its pressing to DVD, several years before the MGM version was announced. The differences between the two versions are that the MGM DVD is in anamorphic widescreen, but bizarrely the IRE version, which is in fullscreen (4:3) resolution, gives a much greater view of the images. There is much debate as to which version was seen as the intended release, but regardless, this IRE DVD is an amazing version to watch if you are a fan of the film.

Check a comparison here (and also here) As you can see, unlike the majority of 4:3 versions of films, the IRE version wasn't cropped to get it to fullscreen, but in fact was done the opposite way where the MGM version was cropped to get it down to its widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. The IRE version is also sharper and better quality (with a higher bitrate) than the MGM release.

The IRE version was released as a very limited release directly from Godfrey Reggio a few years before the MGM version finally came out on DVD, at a time when it wasn't sure if a studio was ever going to release it on DVD. This release via Godfrey Reggio's website was very very limited though and is loooooong since unavailable (except via eBay for over $150 per copy). Consider this a preservation commissioned by Reggio when it didn't look like any other DVD release of the film was due to happen. Now that MGM have released their version, the IRE version has been relegated to the same world as pre-commercial DVD bootlegs, it just so happens that the IRE version is better than the proper commercial release!

There is for sure an IRE NTSC DVD; it seems there is also an IRE PAL DVD around - if found, it could be interesting to try a PaNup version; there was also an HDTV recording, don't know if open matte or not, though.

Audio wise, the DVD has AC-3 5.1, while UK BD has a Music (?) DTS-HD MA 5.1 and PCM 2.0 tracks - don't know if the latter is the same as the laserdisc - http://www.lddb.com/search.php?search=ko...&format=ld

Abstract: The proposal is to make a custom 2.1 mix for the theatrical cut of Alien, using the 2.0 LD PCM of the Sensurround mix as a base.

Initially, I had intended to propose a fully discrete mix based on the Sensurround AC-3 5.1 from the LD, but the recent discovery that everything above 18 Hz is cut off in the 5.1 (probably a consequence of the encoding) makes it seem as if the 2.0 PCM is the better source.

Here is a spectogram of the 5.1.

And here's one of the 2.0.


As the Sensurround mix is something of a rough draft, the basic idea is to splice in sections in which the finished mix is superior from a 2.0 PCM source.

At present, I'm not sure of two things:

1. if there is any interest;
   
2. if I'm the best person to take it on.
   

The latter will depend on the extent of the musical differences and what people want to see from a custom mix.

Ideas

• retain alternate Goldsmith score at start
  
• put back missing dialog
  
• replace sections in which the Sensurround's sound editing is rough
  
• retain alternate take of "Good morning, Mother."  I don't know about you, but I prefer it.
  
• take the LFE straight from the LD AC-3 5.1 (deep bass throughout)
  
• encode as DTS-HD MA 2.1, allowing the receiver to handle the upmix
  

Useful Information

Disclord's discussion of the Sensurround mix

Here are msycamore's notes about how the Sensurround mix differs.

original post

msycamore Wrote:

• Jerry Goldsmith's score on the title sequence and opening is a little bit different, pay attention when we first enter the corridors of the ship, the 35mm is scored right away.
  
• What appears to be a distant horn emanating from Nostromo when we first see the ship is absent.
  
• Dallas line "Good morning, Mother." is an alternate take.
  
• Kane's line "Roll 92 degrees port yaw." is absent.
  
• Lambert has an additional line of dialogue heard when they prepare to land on the planet, "900 meters and dropping." (subtitled on the 20th
  
• anniversary DVD)
  
• From the moment when Nostromo is approaching the planet until they enter the atmosphere, the sound editing is very rough with a few alternate cues heard. (Deep bass from the engines)
  
• Right before the Space Jockey scene, Kane's lines "Come on down here. Something different down here..." are absent.
  
• When the crew discusses Brett's death, Ash's response "Kane's son." is absent.