Guess what I found??

[dark_myuutwo]

Well! This past weekend, me and my sisters were going through some of our VHS tapes with shows recorded from TV (Satellite? I can't remember).

On one of those tapes, which otherwise was full of a few hours worth of Spice Girls (from the one time they came to Toronto, Canada to perform at the Much Music headquarters on Queens St., as a foursome), what should be recorded but the "lost Pokemon episode" Kids WB only aired ever once: "Beauty And The Beach"!! (The episode that was originally banned for James' use of a female bodysuit - which ended up butchered heavily)

I was very happy. I had completely forgotten that I recorded the episode when it DID broadcast here in Canada (and in the USA as well). Actually, come to think of it, I can't even really remember taping it at all so much!

Anyways, I've got a friend of mine who's going to transfer it to DVD along with the OVA "Pikachu's Christmas Vacation".

I'm not sure if I would be able to share it with some of yas, mainly 'cos my PC's power supply had been fried for nearly two weeks now (although I'm going to have a teacher at my school, who's supposed to be really good with computers, try and fix it tomorrow) and that means my PC's dead for now, which also means obviously I can't use my DVD burner until PC's fixed otherwise, which again could happen tomorrow.

What surprises me is how good quality the video content is in on the tape. Seeing as the tape hasn't been played for nearly 4 years now (the original one-time broadcast was in 2000, if I am not mistaken), the video quality hasn't been affected because it hasn't been played for so long (and whoever packed away the tapes since did a good job of making sure it didn't get damaged!). The only thing bad is that there are some odd lines that show up at times (whether that's a result of something VHS-related or not, seeing as it was recorded on a standard VHS player/recorder, I'm not sure), although it's hardly retracting at all!


My question for you guys now is: How many of yas have seen the episode when it WAS broadcasted that one time, and would like to see it again?

[mr_pikachu]

I admit that I would be interested in seeing the episode, since I never witnessed its original airing. However, I'm curious as to the legality of posting that episode on the internet in such a manner.

[Animelee]

As long as you keep sharing information in PMs, then go nuts. :)

[dark_myuutwo]

Sorry, I should have clarified the method I meant of 'sharing': I meant by giving out (or selling very very cheaply, literally 'at cost' only -eg. media and postage, packaging etc.- so that I'm not making a profit for myself) DVD-R's of the episode.
If you guys out there want a copy, once my PC's fixed, PM me or e-mail me at inuyasha@queenzone.com (I prefer e-mail btw.)

I have no means of sharing it on the Internet otherwise (even though I have loads of variable DivX/VidX/etc. codecs I could otherwise use to encode the episode onto a data CD-R/DVD-R, depending...)
As well, I should be getting the DVD back sometime this week along with the tape (which will likely be erased, since it's not really my tape, so I only have this one opportunity to get it put onto DVD. Oh, if only I had a Blu Ray disc recorder...)

But for now, for an update on the situation with my PC....well, the power supply is officially useless. The 'transformer' is fried (which is a big part of getting the power outputted to the drives and motherboard otherwise - there IS power going in, which was good, but that won't do anything now). However, the teacher/computer technician I had look at my power supply said he'll try to find me a new power supply box for my PC (which has an ATX case), hopefully by tomorrow morning. And the best part is that it'll be done for free, since he says he has loads of computer parts both at our school and at his home. So I will let you guys know when (or, but hopefully not, if) my PC is fixed and ready to burn DVD's.

Again, if you're interested in a copy, please PM or, as I said earlier is my preferred method of communication, e-mail me. I understand that MOD's will not tolerate public talks, and I don't want to risk having this topic closed in case other people have general questions about the tape/DVD itself.

[Animelee]

Actually, I know you're trying to help out, but you're not allowed to advertise in your post -- you can do it in your sig, though.

I'm not too sure on the rules, so I'll wait and see what Zak decides to do. I don't want to close the topic since you aren't advertising for selfish reasons, and I'm not sure if your post warrants a lock. :sweat2:

[Water Pokemon Master]

They only showed the episode once? I didn't know that...

Yes, I did see it the time they apparently showed it once. I didn't record it, and I haven't seen it in a while, so I may ask you later to be put on your list because then I can watch it on the go with my laptop. :)

[Crystal Mew]

I watched that episode when it aired, and I even recorded it :eek: I have no idea where that tape is, but I guess its cool that I saw it =)

thank god they took out James booby-shot x_x

[dark_myuutwo]

Well, as long as I'm not making a profit for myself, despite having to work out shipping costs (packaging and stamps), media costs for a blank DVD-R, etc., I think Zak should be OK, as well as being OK as long as people are PMing or E-Mailing me privately.

And I got the DVD back from my friend yesterday. While he wasn't able to record to the computer any higher than 6MB's per second for the video portion (when I was hoping for the maximum of 9.8mbps) due to the limitations of his external USB capture card, the video is still very good, despite being slightly blurrier on the DVD than on the tape.

I decided to get a friend of mine to make a copy of the tape for my sister (the part with the Spice Girls), so that when I get a capture card or DVD/Blu Ray recorder myself in the future, I will be able to get it on DVD in even higher quality (I'm hoping to do it only one more time with Blu Ray, as I don't like playing tapes that much, but I'm not banking on being able to afford any Blu Ray recorders until mid-next year at the earliest, depending on *IF* I can get a job or not, which right now is proving to be difficult!). And so this way, as long as I store the tape properly and use the current DVD transfer master whenever I want to watch it, the tape should not degrade in quality as much as when I would play it, although VHS tapes ARE known to degrade over time, and last an average of 20 years...

On the other hand, I was amazed at the quality of the Pikachu's Christmas Vacation video (which by the way I've decided to include on copies of the Beauty at the Beach DVD, seeing as that vid's not available anymore either). It looked like it came from a digital master tape! However, the PCM soundtrack on this transfer sounds like it has dynamic range compression (I wonder if it's on the actual tape itself, or if it was from the VCR or devices my friend used). It's not too detracting, but it's noticable somewhat.

So overall, it's good for now. My only complaint is because of the 6MB per-second video quality, which is 3/4ths of the maximum video quality bitrate allowed on DVD's, there is some slight MPEG artifacting, especially on fast-moving scenes, although again it's not too detracting unless you're extremely picky about quality (which I would say to otherwise, "wait until I get the Blu Ray media format recorder!")


LOL, I think I've said enough! :)

Anyways, as well, I should let people here who live in Euro or Asian countries with the PAL TV system, that I WILL be able to make PAL versions of the DVD if needed....

But as well, as of this writing, my computer has STILL not been fixed yet! Although the good news is that the person helping me out DID call a friend of his yesterday, and his friend said he may have one of those power supply boxes that will work in my PC. I *should* be getting it this upcoming Monday! I will let you all know then what happens!

SO, all that aside, take care everyone and have a wonderful weekend! (especially the Admins! You guys take care too, especially!)

[dark_myuutwo]

Oh! As well, I could also make DivX CD-R's as well for those of us without DVD players or DVD ROMS, once my PC's fixed! Again, will let you know...