Star Wars Backup...your results?

[ffynnon]

Like a great many here, I've embarked on a mission to back up Star Wars (Empire actually) from LD to DVD.

I initially used the Definitive Collection, but found the most recent release to have less noise.

I'm curious what scripts others have used to accomplish this task. I'm quite happy with where I've gotten it (overcoming a number of problems while I waited my 5 days to post!), but just can't reliably IVTC it. There were threads about this, but the settings suggested worked for certain areas and not for others. Did anyone find a catch all?

Here's my script as it stands:

LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\Multimedia\AVIsynth\Filters 2.5\MSharpen.dll")
LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\Multimedia\AVIsynth\LoadPluginEx.dll")
LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\Multimedia\AVIsynth\Filters 2\DustV5.dll")
LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\Multimedia\AVIsynth\Filters 2\Blockbuster.dll")
SegmentedAviSource("G:\Empire Full\Empire Full.avi")
ConvertToYUY2()
PixieDust(limit=5,output="YUY2")
MSharpen(10,40,true,false,false)
Blockbuster(method="noise",detail_min=1, detail_max=8)
ApplyRange(350,179908,"Letterbox",109,103,10,10,$101010)
crop(0,6,720,480)

That yeilded a pretty nice picture. The transfer has some crazy frames (garbage) on the last field (lower in my case) of just about every cut. I'm assuming it's on the laserdisk? My LX-101 can't freeze CLV disks to check...I captured it on an Avid (not DV) so I hope I can rule that out.

In any case I would love to recover the progressive frames. Telecide and Decimate get it really close, but the pattern is off, and my messing with scripts hasn't got it perfect yet. A little help? Anyone successfully IVTC this baby? All the way through? I don't want to sound lazy, but I also don't want to have to write an override script for every shot change! If someone has found the magic combination--please share it! This was as close as I got (pattern guidance seemed to work best):

LoadPlugin("E:\Program Files\Multimedia\AVIsynth\Filters 2.5\Decomb500b15.dll")
ConvertToYUY2(interlaced=true)
AssumeBFF()
Telecide(order=0,guide=1,post=0)
Decimate(quality=3)

Impressions? Similar experiences? Suggestions? Can anyone dig out an old script that worked for them? I'll be playing it back on an interlaced television for now, but seeing as Lucas claims he'll never release these versions on DVD (just the CGI "enhanced" ones) I want to future-proof these for my kids (and me really). I don't know how much life my LD player has left in her...

Thanks all--sorry for being such a long post!

[Richard Berg]

A friend of mine did it using extensive Decomb override files. If you're trying to do it programmatically, you'll probably need to experiment with the 'nt' parameter.

[FredThompson]

@ffynnon,

PM me sometime next week. I've been helping debug some stuff with LD capture. Also, check out Donald Graft's current decomb beta. There's a lot going on there.

[ffynnon]

thanks for the replies so far!

I've tried the nt variable with little success. Seemed to make things worse regardless of setting...

FredThompson: I've sent you a PM.

Doing a search for "laserdisc" has netted me more hits than my original "star wars" search. I'm currently making my way through those threads--sorry if I missed something too obvious!

In the meantime, does anyone have a script that worked for them? (I realize it may require further tweaking depending on the differences in source or type of capture).

Could I post a few stills of my capture to see how it rates? I don't really have a frame of reference as to what is possible and what is not...am I hoping for the moon?

[FredThompson]

Go to my discussion site and get the samples there. Email me your samples.

http://www.geocities.com/fredthompson6

I will be home late Thursday night. Don't expect any kind of reply until after the weekend. I've been away a week.

[wotef]

this script was a from a long time ago, using avisynth 2.0x; so some things have changed (e.g. telecide now requires field order, there's better ways to tweak colour balance in avisynth 2.5 - see the doom9 capture guide, you could try dust instead of c3d....)

avisource("e:\foo.avi")
telecide(guide=1,chroma=true,blend=false,threshold=57,dthreshold=10)
decimate(cycle=5,quality=3)
crop(8,100,-0,-104)
tweak(bright=-1,cont=1.075,sat=0.99)
converttorgb()
rgbadjust(0.99,0.97,1.03,1)
convertbacktoyuy2()
unfilter(10,-1)
Convolution3d(0,4,4,2,2,100,0)
lanczosresize(640,272)

[ffynnon]

Wotef: great--I'll use your threshold parameters as a starting point this weekend--thanks!

FredThompson: You'll have something in your inbox by the weekend. Just checked your site--you are very dedicated to quality!

[FredThompson]

yeah, well, I have this opinion that it's better to spend the time up front to get the best process rather than screw around re-doing something later. Wasn't born with that viewpoint, learned the hard way ;)