Aussie Roswellian Embassy #12

[Katherine]

Old Thread (http://www.fanbolt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24565)

We've needed a new thread for a long time. Teeheehee...

[lily86]

yay =]

I've started watching s3 again half way through it =] but I should start at s1 I know but oh well.. Maria and Michael love *sighs* I miss those days! I love how much Michael loves Maria lol... I think I will watch s1 again hahaha

[sethsangel123]

new thread!! awesome!!

i miss roswell!

man i need s3 on dvd!!!!!

[lily86]

I think big w have it for 32$ get someone to get it for you for xmas or layby it.

[Katherine]

Just Season 3? None of this 3 seasons in one box set crap? Like in JBHIFI?

[sethsangel123]

s3 for 30 bucks!!!! i dont think i saw it at big w!!!!!! i want s3 badly!! it the only one i dont have!

[lily86]

Just s3, in one case though I cant find a s3 like s1&2 stupid crap dont match!! I know at JB you can still get just s3 maybe they were sold out but also check out Target and Kmart!

[Katherine]

Gah! I absolutely have NO money to spend. My brother and I just bought the complete series of Will & Grace and that's $150 out of my pocket...

[lily86]

aw will & grace i miss that show!

[sethsangel123]

i bought s3 the other day, put me 75 bucks outa pocket!!!!! gah1

and i bet ya in a few weeks it will be half pprice
thats the way my luck is!

i am upto the ep where liz goes to boarding skool! thats what im watchign atm!

[Katherine]

I'm going to save up for Christmas sales...

But my brother said that he's giving me the Will & Grace dvds for my birthday...

BUT I still need to buy my QAF dvds first...

Anyways...I did something cool today...I watched Heat Wave. No surprise but it's been a while since I've done something Roswell related so this is big for me...and of course I watched the HOTTEST episode...well after you know...Sexual Healing...

[Faith]

Where have all the Roswelly good threads gone?

[destiny2002]

They have been forgotten I think. When the show was on the threads where hot but now you can barely find anything Roswell on a board. But I still look lol. old habits diehard.

[Katherine]

I'm still around ...if that's any consolation...probably not.

[Lily]

me too! i'm here! i've been rewatching old eps (although i guess saying old is redundant since the only eps are old now) and loving it all over again!
tee hee, just watched meet the dupes last night, i love lonnie and rath, they crack me up with the tackiness and katie heigl's new york accent is just too funny

[Shiri's beau]

It has been a while since I was last here...I wonder if any of you people were here when I was last here? Some people just changed their names or re-registered and changed names.

I have been recording my old ch9 Roswell tapes onto DVD with remastered video footage and original music tracks in all episodes unlike the lame DVDs. :D

[Lily]

i was here! most roswelly fans are gone now :(

that is serious dedication, converting vhs to dvd, i did it with a bunch of old shows that i loved (like 'the mommies') cause i figured they'd never get to dvd

but to have roswell with the original sound and music would be so good, dvd's they released are just a little weird - the music never seems quite as right as the originals

[destiny2002]

I have the originals also on VHS & was thinking of putting them on DVD. But I have to wait to get a DVD burner. I am suppose to get a new laptop this fall & going to make sure it has a burner on it lol. but I also have the DVD's & yeah i miss the original music too. i watch it but it just isnt the same. Sherri's beau, just how are you doing the actually transformation?
Destiny :D

[Shiri's beau]

I play the tapes on my stereo SVHS VCR through a video capture card (mine is a USB 2.0 portable one) and I am using VirtualDub which is a video capturing/editing programme where you can enhance the video and audio of a grainy VHS tape to make into high quality AVI files and put onto DVD. If you only play the tape on a basic VCR and record it with your generic DVD recorder you now use instead of a VCR for tv recording, then your new DVD will have the same grainy quality that your current VHS tapes have. If you use this programme and its various filters, you can get rid of all of the graininess and bring life into the DVD copy which can be as much as 5x better picture quality than the original tape. It has many filters to achieve this. They are not simply 'blurring' as you are probably thinking. :P Much more complex and technical than simply blurring, I do not blur mine, I de-interlace, add black hue and add a few more filters and the picture quality looks almost as good as a real DVD. Bonus thing is this, my originals I recorded on a Stereo VCR, so the audio will be Dolby 2.0 which is what basic DVD audio is. :D You need a HUGE HDD to do this, each episode takes up between 11gb and 50gb when encoded...

[destiny2002]

Thanks for the info. when I get ready I may need your help lol is thats ok? I am sort of brain dead to stuff like that lol.
Destiny :D

[Katherine]

I haven't been around in ages...

Gah!

I'll be around more often :D

[destiny2002]

Cool maybe we can get this thread smoking lol.

[Katherine]

Hope so...Barb right?

[Lily]

katherine you're back, my goodness there's actually a few of us again

[sethsangel123]

ppl again!!!!! yay!!!!! :P

its funny how these threads tend o go in cycles, they have a period of hyper actinity but then they can go for like months w/o any postings!!!!

[Lily]

which hopefully won't happen agian in here for awhile!
heeheee i just figured out how to fit in a visit to Roswell in my US trip
i'm such a loser, but old obsessions die hard

[Katherine]

Omigosh do it.
Make sure you visit the rock that they filmed in...in California...
I practically cried when I was there...

[sethsangel123]

tonnes of tv shows have used that rock everywhere! i love that rock formation! if i ever travel to cali i would soo visit that rock!!!!!!

[Lily]

the rock is on the list too - that's part of the two weeks in cally
seeing stuff like buffy's house etc :lol:

[sethsangel123]

i wanna see buffys house!!!! i love buffys house!!!!! god there is soo much i wanna see and do if i ever get to go travel to cali!!!!!!

[Lily]

shez you crack me up with your excitement! start saving and come!
i can't wait, i'm gonna go see the high school - that's partly for the beverly hills fan part of me too and um drive across the golden gate bridge singing the full house theme song :blush:

[sethsangel123]

i tend to over exaggerate with the exclamation marks! but thats just me!

i really wanna travel! so should i gontinue saving and save up to go on a trip overseas or should i go buy a car, which is what ive been saving up for! :P

i dunno what to do with the money i am saving!

[Lily]

i say travel
i got stuck here paying off a car loan for 3 years when i should have just saved up for a year and gone travelling
but maybe, like me, you REALLY want a car
but i say travel, then you can leave soon and i'll see you at the granolith :lol:

[sethsangel123]

:P i think i should just save up more and more and more! but its just a real inconveinince catching frigging public transport:P wait untill uni is on hols b4 i get a car just sooooooooooo much to do!

[Shiri's beau]

Good to see this place active again. I was afraid when I posted that i'd have to wait for months for a reply! that has happened before in the past on forums which had all but died...(EZ's 'The Bronze' for one.)

[Lily]

nope, no waiting!

shez i thought the Melb public transport was pretty good? it always seemed better than perth's "nothing owned by the government moves after 11 pm" style :lol:

[Shiri's beau]

nope, no waiting!

shez i thought the Melb public transport was pretty good? it always seemed better than perth's "nothing owned by the government moves after 11 pm" style :lol:

:lol: That is true! Perth is so bloody boring that most poeple still grumble about having an hours more sunlight in summer to have fun in... Long live the DST. :D

[sethsangel123]

melbournes public transport is alright trains run until 1 am in teh mornings so its not all too bad! but i just hate catching it when i can drive! i just need a car to do soooooo! :P i just want a car is all!

[Katherine]

Melbourne transport...I swear I mean it was useful and all and dead efficient...but how lazy can people get? It takes like 10-15 minutes to walk from Flinders Street station to the top of Swanston Street and my Melbourne friends complained because they wanted to take the tram.

Spend a day in Sydney and you'll know how tired one can get when they walk around the city all day...

[sethsangel123]

i know! it doesnt take long to walk up and down swanston street. i catch the tram down swanston street from lonsdale st down to my uni campus on bourke street (which is one stop) bc i cbf walking!!!!!! i dunno why i do it but i just do! i am s*** lazy that way! most people do it!

[Katherine]

Hahahaha...it was cool though. Hey maybe we passed each other...my hotel was on the top of Swanston Street...

It's cool to see this thread active again though.

The Roswell spirit is still alive I see...

[destiny2002]

Katherine yes its Barb. I would love to go see where they filmed the show. I hope to someday. I would prob. cry too. dont feel loney...
Barb :D

[Katherine]

I don't. Hahaha true Roswell fans like you will absolutely freak!

[Lily]

i think when you love a show like roswell, the spirit doesn't really die, it's like being a trekky - only we aren't a blatantly mocked cause very few people watched our show :(

[destiny2002]

LOL. very true, very true. Its sad that people didnt get into the show because it had alot of meaning, besides of all the adventures & drama, there was alot of love between the charters, I think so dont you guys?
Barb

[Katherine]

The relationships were well defined and real. Raw even.

It's a universal issue...loving someone you can't have because of differences...

[Shiri's beau]

I agree wholeheartedly. I am still waiting to have enough money saved to buy that huge HDD so that I can start remastering my Original Version Roswell episodes to DVD.

[Katherine]

HDD? What is that? If you don't mind me asking a dumb question.

[destiny2002]

Katherine I m glad you asked that question because i didnt know what it was either. but now i no i am not the only one who doesnt no what it is. thanks
Destiny :D

[Lily]

i assume hard disk drive? maybe :shrugs:
heehee i'm moving house at the moment and i just (last night) stumbled across a couple of old roswell tapes, i know what i'll be doing this sunday :lol:

[destiny2002]

Enjoy lol I have mine boxed up but I just might have to pull them out soon to watch the originals. :D

[Shiri's beau]

Yeah HDD = Hard Disc Drive. :P

You should dust off the old Roswell tapes! Watch the show as it should have been for DVD... I still have not gone past the first few episodes of season 1 for re-mastering, not enough Hard Disc Drive :P space.

[Shiri's beau]

I just figured out another more easy way to re-master and enhance the VHS tapes, you simply plug the VCR into one of the last two devices in this link -->http://www.threedoubleyou.com/videocopier.htm (and use the video filters it has for enhancing the picture quality) then plug that device into your stand-alone DVD recorder, press record on the DVD recorder and press play on the VCR - done. :)

[destiny2002]

thanks for the infor on that Shiri's beau. I looked at it some but havent really read the whole thing have you got your's coppied? if so let me no. thanks again.

[Shiri's beau]

I am still stuck due to lack of money to buy either a new HDD or the DVD recorder and enhancer - I need to get a new job first, one that pays the amount I am worth, unlike my current job where I am below minimum wage and everything else is getting much much more expensive - wage is not going up though, everywhere else yes, but at my work it is like the 1980s. :P I am looking for new work where I would earn at least an extra $7 per hour maybe more, then I can go head on with the VHS re-mastering. :D I mean, soon these Roswell tapes will be almost a decade old. But worse still, my old VHS home movies are 20+ years old! they need to be done first...and soon.

[Katherine]

I've been pretty good lately...I spent a whole night (3 hours or so) watching vids and clips of Roswell on youtube.

[destiny2002]

I watched some music video too. they are so great, I am thinking of making one too. :D

[Shiri's beau]

I have finally bought that big HDD and have been playing around trying to work out the editing again when I finally figured it all out! It is like when you have a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle and you have all the edges put together and most of the guts of it and up until then you had no clue what goes where except for random odd pieces. Then you suddenly see where all the remaining pieces slot into place, that is what has happened with me here. Now I can really start it. :)

[destiny2002]

so cool what kind did you get? I was thinking about getting one for christmas, and i wanted to know the best kind to get, plus one that isnt so hard to figure out lol. hope everything gose well. cant wait tio get mine done too lol. let me know how long it took to get it all done. :D

[Shiri's beau]

The HDD was relatively easy to prepare, it did it all by itself! It was a Western Digital 320gb one with its own small cooling fan inside it. You just plug it in and it installs the programmes that prepare it ready for use. :lol: Other than right clicking on it afterwards and changing its format from FAT32 format to NTFS format. Which you will need to do for copying your old VHS tapes. Because FAT32 HDDs can only store files up-to 4gb...which is way too small for capturing your old VHS tapes, only NTFS format HDDs can have files bigger than 4gb. You will also need a capture card on your computer, either as a card or as an external USB-2.0 one as I have. You will also need VirtualDub freeware (above version 1.4) downloaded.

Use the capture programme that came with your capture card (or use the one built into VirtualDub) or even use WinAvi to capture your VHS to your HDD. Capture it without using any filters, just copy it as an exact copy of your VHS with no enhancement done to it using the filters. One hours VHS footage will take up somewhere between 10gb and 40gb depending on which capturing programme you are using and what your settings are. You must use the video resolution that the VHS is, if you are PAL use PAL-VHS resolution, or if you are NTSC-VHS, use its resolution. Go to the VirtualDub web site (http://www.virtualdub.org/virtualdub_faq) for detailed explainations, the VirtualDub programme itself lacks detailed explanations to my standards imo. After it is on your HDD, then you will need to open up your VirtualDub software and click the open up a file option, click on your captured tape you just did, you will see two black squares on your monitor, the one on the left is the original untouched, grainy VHS original you just captured. The one on the right is what it will look like after you add various filters to it for re-mastering. I have found that using Temporal, Deinterlace, Smoother, Brightness/Contrast Adjustment & Levels re-adjustment (this filter fixes your video if it is too-bright or too-dark, you do it manually with preview-you use your left/right arrow keys to move back/forward frame by frame) These work the best imo. With smoother you can view preview to see how it will look depending how much you add smoothing to the video. Don't smooth it too-much or it will look blurry as hell! Do just enough to get rid of some graininess, not all graininess, other filters will fix most of the remaining graininess. Then you start the encoding of the re-mastered VHS captured copy you made. Once done, you will see how much better it looks compared to your original tape. :)

I am also doing this for my old 20+ year old VHS home movies, they need more work done than the above though because they are older and more degraded, not as bad as some people's home movies but still, age has not been kind to them. :)

[Shiri's beau]

I am getting very-good at this now! I have done several episodes of Roswell now, which I also uploaded onto the interweb, so look around if you are interested in acquiring them. ;) They are only 350MB each episode too, to keep the quality relatively good and so that the file size is not too-big. It is the usual size for AVI episodes that are 40-45 minutes long. :)

[destiny2002]

thanks for the infor Shiri, will check it out. interweb is that like utube? just checking not sure about it. thanks again. :D

[Shiri's beau]

It is something that you are using right now, the Internet/Web. I mixed the two words as Dave Letterman/George Dubbya Boosh say it: Interweb. :P ie: The episodes are on torrent sites in the net. (Type in 'Roswell Original Version' or something on the main torrent sites, eventually you will find them...) :)

I did mention that the main reason why I have been trying to do these old VHS tapes for ages is because I long for the old Roswell...I have the old Roswell on VHS tapes that I recorded from TV and I own the DVDs that were released (can not watch past episode 3 of season 1....it is too-badly edited/ruined!!!) I have wanted to covert these onto DVD for years for myself. Then I figured that other fans out there in the world would also appreciate being able to see these episodes too. It is history that is being erased technically, when you think about it! Loads of people who bought the Roswell DVDs did not watch the original Roswell when it first aired on tv...so they mostly do not know what they are missing (good for them, in a way, but bad for them for WE know what they are missing out on!) Although, some of these new fans who have only seen the DVD version of the episodes have heard rumours of the original episodes being different - now is their chance to see what the fuss was all about. hehe :D There are a LOT of DVDs out now of tv shows that are from the 80s and 90s that they have also changed the music from, such as: Miami Vice, Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson's Creek, Married...With Children, Quantum Leap...etc There are sites on the net what have lists of affected shows...sadly, Roswell was not the first, nor will it be the last to suffer from this insanity! :(

[destiny2002]

We thank you for all your time because unless you get to see the original Roswell, then like you say you dont know what your missing but I seen it when it aired and that is what I miss most all. I too have them on VHS and want to put them on DVD, just a matter of money right now but thanks to you i can search for it on torrent. :D

[Shiri's beau]

Don't rely on my copies, do try to convert yours as well. :) (So long as your VHS copies have Dolby Stereo Audio, that is. If yours are Mono then that'd be baaaad...:()It is so cool seeing how much better it is afterwards, very-rewarding to see its non-grainy video quality. :)

[Katherine]

Oh how I long for the original Roswell episodes that I do have on VHS. I'm peeved because I no longer have a VHS player. I might purchase one. They're dead cheap anyway...

[Shiri's beau]

You could just download the original ones I have started to put on the internet. (I really am mainly doing these for myself, as you'd see by looking at my posts going back a few months on this thread), but there must be other kindred Roswell fans who would appreciate the original Roswell episodes too, so here they are.

Was it you that I saw drop by the Aussie Community thread at FF?

[Katherine]

Possible. I used to post at FF all the time. It was my first forum...

My friend has the episodes on dvd...I really should do something about it and burn it off her...

[Shiri's beau]

You had any luck finding the episodes? I am over half-way through making the season one episodes now...

[destiny2002]

Hi Shiri's beau, my hubby bought me a dvd copier so i can now copy my original on dvd. I have a lot of reading to do lol looks very hard but i think i cant get it copied, may make a few bad ones but thats half the fun. will let you know when i get it started. :D

[Katherine]

I stole my friends Season 1 dvds...which are the original...

I also don't have a home computer...just my laptop so d/ling anything is out of the question atm...

[sethsangel123]

the other day i decided to pull out my roswell dvd's and watch a few episodes, season 2 it was! i forgot how much i missed it! i love them! it was nice to pull them out and kick back and watch them!

[Katherine]

I need to reminisce as well...

[Katherine]

I know I'm double posting BUT 6 degrees just aired and shiri appleby is on

[destiny2002]

oh i have never watched the show but wish i could have seen it when she was on it:(

[Katherine]

I don't know when she's on but it just started in Oz

[Shiri's beau]

What is 6 Degrees? What channel here in Oz?

I am about to start capturing the rest of season 1 ready to remaster them. :D Episode 12 was the last episode I did and that was 2 months ago! I used up all of my HDD space - 320GB ffs!! I am now deleting the original copies that have been remastered (they are over 15GB each episode, that is why it has taken up so much space...)

[destiny2002]

that is cool Shiri , my hubby went out & bought a dvd copier from the VHS so i am hoping i am not going to have to much trouble with it. ;)

[Shiri's beau]

Just remember, your VHS copies will not be as good as they can be if you simply use a DVD recorder that has a built-in VHS VCR or something similar. You need to use a PC with the right programmes and take your time with them to get the full effect. :) Mine look so good now compared to the original tapes! I also have edited the audio on the latest episode I made (episode 13) the last 2 minutes I missed recording when it aired the one and only time here, so I got a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a bad MONO VHS tape to copy onto one of my VHS tapes...... just the last 2 minutes of the episode though! The video quality it very bad but I fixed it the best I could, I also fixed the mono-ness of the audio of those 2 minutes. I added some bass, used a graphic equaliser to bring out the letter 'S' when people are speaking I removed audio noise (hissing that is on all MONO tapes) and turned its volume up - then added it to the end of the episode and enhanced the entire video of the now complete episode. :D You can not do that with a VHS - DVD recorder that you plug into your tv. :P

As you can see, I have got this down to a fine art now. :D

[destiny2002]

LOL yess I see that but I just didnt know what else was out there to use, I thought I was buying what I needed to restore my tapes :( Iwill have to try again. I have 3 computers, I wonder if I can just upload them to my computer and then burn it from there? I have a DVD burner software in my new computer. I havent looked at it yet but it should have some stuff to restore I would think anyways. BUMMER oh well i just spent 150.00 on something I will not use then. but there are some stuff of my hubbys I can put on DVD, just not Roswell ;)

[Shiri's beau]

VirtualDub is the capturing and video enhancing programme (it is freeware) :)

Audacity is the audio enhancing freeware programme, you can do literally ANYthing with that programme too! Backmask songs, alter tempo, alter pitch, filter tracks to make a metal track sound like pop or electronica, remove audio noise (hissing) from Mono VHS tapes or old audio tapes, edit bits out of tracks and rejoin the left over seamlessly, remove vocals from any MP3 you have, remove screaming audience from live tracks...et cetrera. Not too complicated to use either, just import an MP3 from your PC into Audacity and play with the filters to see what they do, then read guides online about what you can actually do and how to do it, the things it (and VirtualDub) can do is limitless. :D

Other than those two programmes you will need other basic computer stuff such as at-least 1GB of RAM, a minimum of at-least 200GB of spare Hard Drive space (for saving the temp .avi files while you are restoring the tapes), a VCR and you will need a good capture card. I am still using that same old USB2.0 capture card. :lol:

Do you want to make your tapes the best that they can be as I do? The end result is so definitely worth the time and effort, believe you me!! I have been doing my 20+ year old home VHS movies too, I mean family videos are important hey, best to restore them to the best they can be rather than simply copying them to a DVD on a DVD recorder and having the video/audio on that DVD looking and sounding exactly like a Mono VHS tape. ;)

For an easy way to do this and MUCH more, watch this guys (http://youtube.com/profile?user=JimmyRcom2) YouTube videos. Unfortunately, I only first saw his videos after I taught myself how to use VirtualDub and Audacity. :lol: You know first hand how long that has taken me on my own to figure it out. Don't do the same mistake, ask for help, search around. Google and YouTube are your friends (as am I.) :D

[destiny2002]

Thanks Shiri's beau for all the info. i will start looking at utube & searching google if i get stuck can i pm you? ;) thanks again

[Shiri's beau]

I have almost finished all of season 1 of Roswell now! :D I can't wait to get into season 2! I have not watched it since it first aired here in 2001... :)

[Lily]

woah that's a long time in between, it'll almost be like watching it for the first time (but not
)
and you can hate on courtney all over again!

[Shiri's beau]

I completely forgot all about her!! :lol:

[Lily]

:lol: i never forget, no one messes with michael and maria or i get cranky!

[Shiri's beau]

I remembered after the first episode that I saw her in again that I was meant to hate on her for 3/4 of the time then like her at the last 1/4. Now I am up to making episode 3 of season 3. :) Not long to go now until I reach the end of the old music versions of the Roswell episodes. :P

[destiny2002]

I havent started as of yet, sent you a PM to ask questions. :D
as for Courtney yeah I really didnt like her at all but did feel sorry for her at the end. she did kill herself to save Michael's secret. :D

[Shiri's beau]

I am again having computer issues with only 2 episodes left of Roswell season 3 to do!!! :(

[destiny2002]

I hope you can get it fixed ,you have been working on them for a long time now..

[Lily]

that's sad! I hate when computer's die :( hope it gets fixed for you soon cause it's crappy timing to be so close!

[Shiri's beau]

It is still alive but alas I can not capture the final 2 episodes on this PC, the video card is stuffed for capturing videos now... I can only complete the episodes when I make my new Uber PC.