Major Update on the "Beauty And The Beach" DVD-R situation

[dark_myuutwo]

I meant to post this yesterday, so forgive me for being late with this! Gomen nasai!

Anyways, the big news now is that my computer is now officially up and running again, meaning that it's fixed! (Thanks to the person who went lengths to find me the power supply box I needed, and for free too!!)

The "Beauty And The Beach" episode is almost nearly ready to be mastered onto DVD-R, along with Pikachu's Winter Vacation (which I've decided to include as a bonus on the disc). I have yet to make the actual final files for encoding and for DVD (e.g., mixing the audio tracks and encoding them as Dolby Digital 2.0 for the DVD audio track, along with a standard PCM audio track, etc.)
And I have also yet to figure out the costs for shipping out the DVD worldwide (it's different for from shipping within Canada, to USA, to other International countries). That should be taken care of on Friday, because I will have loads of time then to go out and do the figures. I estimate it will be between $5-$9 US in total, also taking into account that I will need to charge for CD-R/DVD-R standard bubble-wrap envelope

I should let you guys in on a few things regarding the DVD, so as to avoid possible disappointments with the actual product:

First: The bad news

1) The sound, most importantly, was never recorded in stereo, due to the machine used at the time (which is now dead and long gone), so it WILL be in mono, and I can't do anything about that. So don't expect anything special if you are going to play this on a 5.1 surround sound system, because the sound will most likely only come out from the front as a result.

2) The tape is missing most of the opening theme song ("Pokemon Theme"), and is missing the Pikachu's Jukebox song and ending theme for the episode. Seeing as I don't own any actual Pokemon episode DVD's with the original opening theme song, I am tacking on the Pokemon World theme song (seeing as it WAS broadcasted at the same time when the other OL eps were showing, and it even had a Pokemon World eye-catch before and after the commercials, which itself doesn't feature on the DVD) for both the opening and ending theme songs, in their own respective version, since I'm lucky enough to own only one DVD from the Orange League series itself.
One thing about the taped broadcast that I could not edit out was the part right at the end of the episode where it says "Don't go away. Pikachu's Jukebox is next", due to the fact that it was practically segued with the To Be Continued... shot, and I could not edit it without problems, especially on the sound track. SO please don't be disappointed by the lack of any actual Pikachu's Jukebox songs! If I had any, I would tack it on, but alas I don't

3) Even though this most likely will not disappoint anyone (I hope), I have edited out the commercials from the original broadcast. I have left in a couple of snippets from the parts before and after the commercials in the middle of the episode, where they say "Don't go away, or you might miss the lost episode of Pokemon" and "Oh look, here's the lost Pokemon episode", as a nice bonus.


Now, the good news:

4) The video is partially remastered, thanks to the de-interlacing filter I used with the program that re-encoded the episode video to make it progressive. So this should be compatible with both Interlaced and Progressive Scan television sets either way, whether standard or widescreen.

5) There are both NTSC and PAL versions of the episode pretty ready to be mastered onto the DVD. So I can make either versions for people around the world. The actual video encoding for both versions are already complete (except for the PAL version of Pikachu's Winter Vacation, which will be done tonight). All that needs to be done is to finish the audio tracks, and everything is good to go!


So, once the DVD-R's are actually ready to go, I will let you guys know! (It should hopefully be as early as Monday next week!)

Again, though, out of respect for the Admins, I would like to ask those interested in copies of the DVD to e-mail me or PM me if you want to buy copies. My e-mail address is inuyasha@queenzone.com , and this is my preferred method of communication. Questions can be also submitted this way too. Thank you in advance.

[dark_myuutwo]

PS. If anyone was interested in what the specs are going to be for the DVD, here they are:

Video:

"Beauty And The Beach"
NTSC (720x480) / PAL (720x576) - Non-interlaced Progressive format
7Mbps

(BELOW UPDATED)
"Pikachu's Winter Vacation"
NTSC (720x480) - Interlaced format - 6Mbps
PAL (720x576) - Non-interlaced Progressive format - 7Mbps

Audio:

Track 1 - PCM 2.0
Track 2 - Dolby Digital 2.0

EDIT: I MIGHT throw in something for a bonus feature.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I will try and get some screen caps up too, if I can!

[dark_myuutwo]

Update: The NTSC DVD's are ready to go! The master files have been completed last night for that version.
I still have to work out the costs yet, but that'll be ready sometime next week (still need to make a trip to the postal office for rates).

As for the special features, I decided to throw in the original Pokemon Edit version of the "Make A Wish" music video (which really is actually called "The Small Thing").
The difference between that and the version on the Jirachi Wish Maker DVD is the audio track itself - this one uses the album version, while the Jirachi version used the single mix version. This is the video that is the last thing needing to be encoded for the PAL version before I can make the PAL master discs.

Just thought I'd let you guys know!

[dark_myuutwo]

Update Sep. 29, 2004:

There was a mastering error on the NTSC DVD, so it has to be re-done. The problem is, the program I used to make the DVD's expired (that program being DVD-lab PRO Beta 6). Does anyone know where I can get a username and password (registration) for it, or have one for it?

Otherwise, it will be a few weeks before I can make a new version.

Otherwise, I've finally got the costs all figured out (*in Canadian dollars):

The DVD-R discs are going to be $2 each.

The bubblewrap mailer envelope will be $1.40.

Shipping alone will be, for each of these countries:

Canada - $1.05
U.S.A. - $1.75
International - $3.45


When I have the new discs ready, I will let you guys know. It will be another while until I can get DVD-lab PRO running again. Thanks for your patience!