First of all i thank the_E_y_Es for his help. He spotted and marked lot of spots for me, which i could fix in return.
This is a re-encode of my original release, since the source/MPEG2 stream is not available anymore. This is a huge improvement over the original video and as before a lot better than the BD source.
This encode is not completely issue free and perfect. not all of the MPEG2/WMV artifacts could be fixed completely without damaging other areas of the video. The video is still quite dirty in places and not all spots have been fixed. Tbh one could probably sit on this for an eternity and won’t be able to fix them all.
Video:
– Several 1000 frames (severely damaged by MPEG2/WMV artifacts) were restored (per frame)
– Several 100.000 spots on several 10.000 of frames were removed and fixed (per frame)
– Frames edges were fixed (per scene)
– Remnants of the Logo have been removed
– Colour and range correction have been made (red/yellow tints etc.) (per scene)
– Some combing remnants were fixed
– Heavy sharpening artifacts were removed as good as possible (ringing/haloing)
– Chroma bleeding has been fixed
– Everything was cleaned up to remove encoding artifacts
– Everything was stabilised
– Banding was removed (per scene)
– Frames were matched to the BD source (audio matches properly now)
Audio:
– Japanese audio: Sourced from a DTS-HD MA track
– Japanese audio: Cut to make it properly sync with the video (bad mastering, BD audio wasn’t in sync on the BD)
– Japanese audio: A missing dialogue line was added
– Japanese audio: The original Japanese ending theme was re-inserted (U2’s “One Minute Warning” replaced with “Reincarnation”)
– English audio: Sourced from the 6.1 DTS-ES track instead of the UK BD’s DTS-HD MA track because of severe mastering problems, same problems on the US DTS stream
– English audio: Problems were missing sound effects and bad mixing (more infos here and here)
Subtitle:
– The opening Sign was redone
– Song lyrics were added
– Dialogue styling was adjusted
– Some lines were fixed
For some history, of the several stages of my filtering, you can look at these three comparisons.
Specs of this release are:
Video: 1920×1040 (1.85:1) h264 10 bit
Audio: Japanese 5.1 FLAC, English 6.1 DTS-ES
Subtitle: English ASS Subs (Dialogue, Signs/Songs)
Download:
Ghost in the Shell (1995) on BakaBT
Ghost in the Shell (1995) on nyaa
Great work on your project! They should hire YOU to put out their next release … the RIGHT way! 😉
[Speaking thereof, the FanRes forum has a discussion covering the various releases of GITS and your project came up. That thread (https://forum.fanres.com/thread-1223.html) had all kinds of ideas, some of which you may find interesting. I wonder if you might sign-up and post there (or in a new thread) about the making of your project, what you did, and how you did it? I’m sure all would be thrilled by it.]
at 10:57 pm
tbh i would be delighted if anyone would hire me for restoring (old) anime. anyway i posted on that thread.
at 7:39 pm
I think this subtitle track should be better, since it accurately translates a quote from the Bible (when Batou and Motoko are on the boat; the quote is from Corithians), among other things.
Subs
Anyway, I’m looking forward to v3 if you still have plans for it!
at 3:32 pm
Do you have any plans to do a release of The Animatrix?
at 4:01 am
no.
at 11:54 pm
Just wanted to let you know this is a huge waste of time because it looks horrible. You’ve made the artifacts look even worse and the banding removal turned gradients into weird random geometric shapes. Mind-boggling how anyone would think what you’ve done to the images would be considered “better” (maybe you have a really shitty monitor?).
at 8:06 am
I have no idea what artifacts you are talking about, everything looks beautiful on my end. I think you’re the one with a shitty monitor. This is the best example of restoration I have ever seen.
at 4:10 am
i am not sure what you mean. though if you can provide some examples we might find the source of the problem. i can also assure you that my setup is perfectly fine and this was not graded and proof watched on a shitty monitor. feel free to poke me on irc or wherever.
at 12:01 am
I agree, I know a lot of effort went into this and I hate to be negative. In my eyes this mainly comes down to people just really hating film grain.
at 9:25 pm
though this release nearly completely lacks any kind of grain since it was removed. my upcoming v3 will have grain though.
at 2:01 pm
Im really looking forward to V3. I’m not quite sure what version I have right now, think its probably 1, and I have had a hard time finding 2 so I will just wait for 3. Is there some sort of email notification I can setup so I know when you release it? Thanks!
at 10:44 pm
no mail notifications. your best bet is either frequenting my blog or bakabt, i guess. recently i fixed the last few filtering deficiencies i wanted to fix and i can probably soon start with my lossless encode.
at 9:57 pm
I can’t believe an HDTVrip has more PQ than a retail BD, lazy producers!
Thanks for your amazing job!
PS: for V3, can you try x265 encoding?
at 7:36 am
Hi. Has v3 been completed yet? Just wondering if anyone can share it via a MEGA link, if possible. Massive GITS fan and just stumbled upon this project. It looks incredible and would really appreciate a reply. Thanks in advance guys
at 10:02 am
v3 is not yet done. i am in the process of finishing the filtering now. see my discord channel for more infos. no, x265 is still a shit show. nearly to benefits and a lot more processing power is needed for encoding and decoding. maybe AV1 or h266 one day.
at 4:15 pm
I registered at your new work-forum @ discord.com and somehow managed to get by Google’s CAPTCHA (I was shocked) to look around and leave a message. Since then, Google CAPTCHA (being the piece of garbage programming it is) refuses to let me pass (and I draw the line at 10 minutes of playing their games). PLEASE, DISABLE CAPTCHA! (Do you really need “protection” that keeps out members?) *roll-eyes*
at 4:11 am
Been checking email but no reply as yet (could be this service auto-clears after a few days? I try daily unless too busy). Anyway, your discord.com’s “Google captcha” is still up and and it mostly errors-out just trying to load (been trying all kinds of temp settings but nothing pleases it — stupid AI). Any help here?
at 12:22 am
i am not responsible for any captchas.
at 12:24 am
Oh. I thought you could change your settings or have the website operator clear the gateway to your section.
Just a note: I had problems with eBay when they switched from their non-obtrusive “captcha” to Google’s. I loudly and strongly complained, they thanked me for my feedback, and promptly switched back to the previous one, which works fast & fine all the time. Maybe you could request that alternative to the website administrator if he really thinks he needs it (frankly, I don’t think he does).
Google and other big tech (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) dream of ruling the internet … and they’re implementing it right now. We especially should beware the lessons … of “Ghost In The Shell”. 😉
at 4:36 am
Can you add some tutorial on how to encode with the same method of yours.
Some time to time I’m editing videos just for fun, and by knowing your method of mixing BD with DVD could give me some nice imagination.
at 11:46 pm
I want to try to mix Nisekoi TV with BD, since the TV version is more uncensored than the BD one.
at 11:50 pm
REPORT CARD GITS 3.x
Yeah I know there is no webpage “3.x” here. It’s at some lunatic site called “Discord”:
Definition of “discord” — lack of agreement or harmony (as between persons, things, or ideas)
Example — “Must we fall into the jabber and babel of discord while victory is still unattained?” – Winston Churchill
The problem is … discord. Trying to log in is a pain (see comments above — thanks, Google). Once you’re in with the special “join” code in your initial link (hey where’d it go? it was right here! hmmm … read on) in DerRichter’s special little corner of Discord, one would think of having moved into a com-chi apartment instead of a free-working forum. You could spend an hour going through all the settings, which are constantly putting things in-your-face, to turn them off. Well named … Discord.
In Richter’s section, there is a very long list of posts, starting with the most recent. There I saw someone ask a short question about the GITS project. Apparently he though better of it and posted a short clarification of it. After a couple of quick replies by others, Richter jumped in with a full paragraph, berating the question-asker — stop it / it’s been answered before / constantly asking questions / wasting our time for answers — and such blah-blah. It stunned me. So I decided to look back into the list of posts to see what could’ve prompted that outburst.
So I scrolled. And scrolled. And scrolled even more. After a while, I began to notice most of the posts where about other films and other projects. Not only that, but replies (and none too short) from the “principles” of this project. And not so much a peep against any of it by DerRichter.
I thought to ask DerRichter a question about this website, here, if he was going to continue using it. I was hoping “yes” for judging.it. Then I left. When I logged in again later in the day, I couldn’t find Richter’s little corner of Discord. It was supposed to open right up on sign-in. Strange. As a test, I thought to re-join using the link with the entry-code. More strangeness. The code was suddenly “expired”. What an amazing coincidence! I was “banned” and the code was removed to prevent new joins, on that very same day, in fact, within hours. That was very sick. :/
Richter, you let it overwhelm you. You must RUN from that which has driven you mad in Discord. Hope to see you soon, back here, among humanity and civility.
at 6:42 pm
I owe you some part of an apology for a conclusion in my immediate-previous post (please delete at your leisure).
I was in Discord the other day and read your post berating a poster. It really bothered me. Rather, I inquired of you about something different and signed out. Later, signing back in, I found I couldn’t get back to your forum-area — it was “gone”. Thinking “wacky Discord”, I then tried to reapply the invite code. I received this message about “invite invalid”:
https://i.postimg.cc/qvS95x87/Discord-Invite-V4h-Urj-E-Invalid-20210711.png
Those 2 Discord actions led me to a wrong conclusion of being banned by your “retaliation”. My only resource was back here. So I complained, here, about the berating of that Discord poster.
After that, I was still bothered by the whole exchange and tried Discord again. Needless to say, more wacky Discord activity (no your-site, and no-valid-invite-code). I tried various approaches until, in the multiple windows, one got through and brought up your area! Therein you had answered my question plainly and civilly. I think my face must’ve turn red in front of my monitor.
So it was proved there was no retaliation in my asking you a question that had probably been asked before ad infinitum. Rather it was Discord wackiness (a good reason not to use it).
If I can get back to Discord again, I’ll point you back here. Please feel free to delete these 2 posts. Please keep my apology over concluding “retaliation”, of which I am glad there was none. (Still bothered about that berating though.)
at 9:44 pm
@der_richter many, many thanks for your tireless work, and constant dedication at achieving the perfect release of this fine title! Massive respect also for the fact you’ve been doing it alone, it’s impressive! I hope you don’t mind me asking, what do you think, what’s your favourite between v1 and v2? And what’s the state of v3? Are you satisfied enough with the progress? Thanks again, for everything you do!
at 11:06 pm