The current issue of PSW magazine features the original DVD version of Dragon's Lair as a covermount.

I haven't tested it yet, but it appears to be a straight copy of the Digital Leisure first release.

It is the exact same layout, it should work well with DVD2DAPH.

And at £3.99, it's a good bargain.

Upon testing, it appears that there are some structural changes to this version, so this will need further work.

Do not buy the magazine on my recommendation, just do so if you feel that you will be able to use it on a DVD Player, or if you feel you may be able to sort out DVD2Daph.

EDIT: There are some structural changes to the end of the disc, but I think my main problem may be with Windows XP's support for batch files.

If someone can get me a copy of this disc, I'm sure I can add it to dvd2daph

I'm pretty sure this disc will get passed around the various PSW mags in various countries, but it's UK only at present, and I can't post such objects from here.

So if anyone can help, £3.99 is all it takes (ex p&p), I just wish I could help.

Question, just to make sure it is a different disc, does the normal DL play the drawbridge scene in 'play' mode from chapter 11 - as this one does.

Right, I've just checked, and it's the PAL disc, so it's entirely different.

Can you send me some details as to how to get a copy to you, and then I'll do so.

OR, can you tell me which tools you used to work the disc out, as this is the first in a series of D. Leisure discs (preferred response).

Are there other PAL dvds that are incompatible with dvd2daph?

All the tools I used are the same tools that dvd2daph uses. So, just analyze the bat files and you can see exactly what I did. But, you will need an original laserdisc and a player that has a frame number display in order to properly align the footage.

Feel free to add to dvd2daph yourself (I always incorporate fully tested submissions) or if anyone wants to send me these discs, I'll see what I can do to add them myself. Email me for more info.

Apparently a series of these discs is due over the coming months.

Anyway, I've started work on a new batchfile - things actually look fairly straightforward, although the VOBs are split more along the lines of the 20th anniversary discs, but with different chapter headings.

In other words, it should now be possible to add this disc to DVD2Daph in the coming weeks.

This is actually quite a nasty one to automate, as there a few frame overruns in the scenes which need cutting out.

But it will be finished, I assure you.

PS, is anyone actually in possession of this disc other than me?

(Coming soon, allegedly, DL2 and Space Ace covermounted the same way).

I sent an email off to Digital Leisure about this, and received a reply. They said that they basically re-created the original (non-20th) DL and SA DVD-Videos from the 20th Anniversary versions. So, the file structures are similar to the 20th editions, but with none of the extras or proto footage. Plus, the footage was converted to 25fps to be compliant with the PAL standard.

Apparently these PAL versions are also available for sale at some retailers in the UK. They only mentioned DL and SA though. I got no official word on whether DL2 would be in the covermount or in retail.

If you are still undaunted by all the changes, it appears the easiest way to do a conversion would be to write a new framefile for the converted PAL dvd files that aligns them to the PAL laserdiscs.

I'm going to try that, although the main difference is a straight offset.

RE: the actual disc itself, I may end up posting a copy to Vera.

I'm curious about how the conversion to PAL was done...

There are basically two ways to do it:

- speed the original 24fps source up by 4% to 25fps. This has the advantage of keeping progressive frames, though the speedup is somewhat noticeable, mostly by the pitch of the soundtrack.

- use an NTSC/PAL converter. These use some combination of frame skipping, blending, interpolation, etc. Naturally, this introduces various unwanted artifacts into the image. On the plus side, the conversion is easy to do, and the speed remains correct.


For Daphne purposes, the first method is going to be the preferred one. It will leave the original frames intact, which is crucial for proper frame indexing and access.

It also allows the choice of using the Daphne PAL timing hack (which speeds up the game timing to match the 25fps video), or dropping the frame rate back to 24 (and resampling the audio to match.)


If anyone figures this out, please post about it!

-Warren.

No question, it was the latter, the pitch is equal to normal and the main conversion problem is the frame blending which has destroyed the logical VOB structure.

quoting David Foster:
------------------------
The DL is based on the DL20th video but converted to PAL so
the frame size is stretched and then PAL converted through a tool. The
SA PAL conversion actually plays 24 of the 25 frames per second and then
doubles up one, and then I think maybe every minute or so excludes one
(to make the 29.97 match to the 25 fps)
------------------------

so it looks like each disc used a different method?

Well, DL was done first, and they may have decided that the second was better, as SA contains more prolonged scenes where frame numbers are more important, whereas DL is a series of shorter scenes linked together by seeks (in DVD Video speak, that is).

Anyway, SA is probably next month's, unless they decide to trick me and go for an ALG title.

Well I know when I'm defeated.

Vera, it's coming your way.

The problem is the one that DVD2DAPH 3.0 initially experienced with DL20th - the scenes on the disc are merged in a weird way that doesn't work too well with the conversion.

The other discs promised earlier in this thread will not be released through the magazines.

However, they will be released through Digital Leisure European partners.

Check http://www.digitalleisure.com for stockists.

If I stumble upon one of these discs in the future, I'll add it, but I'm not planning to buy one.

Right, I finished a preliminary conversion batchfile which appears to work well, once again, as with DL20th a reencode is required, but that's covered too.

I won't prejudge the results of the test, but it won't be much longer.

Progress has been halted by a video speed problem.

The PAL DVD of Dragon's Lair has been converted to 25fps by adding extra frames, whereas it appears the original laser disc was just sped up.

Seeing as no-ones really sure as to whether the disc does behave like that, everything has stopped at present.

Anyone with information, post here.

Vera, if you read this, contact me - I think I may have an idea of how to fix the encode.

OK, Vera got in touch, depending on how one test goes, this disc may be abandoned.