Updated Gaim Wanted List UPDATED 1/17/2014

Now that we know the details of everything that's coming out, here is the final list of Gaim stuff:


Needed:
Gaim Gaiden Zangetsu and Baron Live Show DVD
Gaim Gaiden 2: Electric Fruitaloo BD (not out yet)

Fruit Salad (Volume 1)

Yep. Kamen Rider Gaim from Bluray.

Unlike Shinkenger, Kamen Rider W and Gokaiger, this is being done in 1080p.Those series were effectively 720p quality, so there was no reason to do those in 1080p. Gaim, however, is worth doing in 1080p. (Rider started using new cameras for Wizard, which would also be worth doing in 1080p if it weren't Wizard. Dohohohoho!)

I'll be doing these as the isos become available, so expect a month or so between releases. (And before anyone asks, I have no idea if Aesir has any plans for the Blurays)

MEGA folder (The torrent probably won't happen until the summer movie director's cut is released and encoded)
Video: 1080p 10-bot x264, crf23
Audio: AAC 50%

And Now A Message About The Power Rangers

As you may be aware if you pay attention to my ramblings on Twitter or on Super Hero Time, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was shot (mostly) on film and edited on tape, with the final masters on analog tape. (They may have switched to digital SD mastering at some point, but I'm not sure) All Japanese footage (including Zyu1.5, Zyu2, Metalder, Spielban, and Black RX) came from film prints sent from Toei until Gaoranger, which was the first digitally-edited Sentai. Starting with Power Rangers Samurai, the series switched to HD, with Saban using the same camera model that Toei started using with Shinkenger.

Since film for NTSC television is shot at ~24 frames per second (actually 24000/1001 fps), while NTSC itself is ~ 30 interlaced frames per second (30000/1001 fps), you have to get five extra frames for each second to keep the footage at the same speed. This is achieved by using a 2:3 pulldown, which is best explained by Wikipedia. Done properly, this telecine can be undone, giving you the full frames at the original 24fps frametate. This only applies to the raw telecine, and may not be possible when editing includes 30fps effects, bits where the footage is sped up or slowed down, or composite shots where one part of the frame is at a different point in the pattern than the other.

A close look at the Shout Factory DVDs for Power Rangers Zeo through Time Force (I haven't looked at Wild Force or any of the Disney seasons yet) show that the people editing the show did great on a technical level. The telecining itself is perfect (unlike Toei's telecines from the same time, which are a blended mess. For more detail, see AzraelNewtype's Adventures in Encoding post on the Over-Time blog).


Now, Shout's MMPR DVDs are different. Most of the episodes don't have clean telecining, as they are taken from the Saban International masters, and as auch are most likely NTSC>PAL>NTSC conversions. The few episodes that Shout had Saban Entertainment masters, like A Friend In Need Part 1, look as good as Zeo does. However, the Saban Entertainment masters for MMPR have the closed caption bubble and the TV Parental Guideline rating at the start of the opening, which may be why the Saban International masters were used for most episodes. Personally, I feel the better video quality of the Saban Entertainemnt masters more than offsets any annoyance caused by the bubble and ratings box. Unfortunately, Saban didn't think so, or feel it was worth the effort to make a new set of masters that only used the Saban International video for those few seconds of the opening.

Now... Count up your sins! Kamen Rider W BD/DVD raw batch

Now that the cod-E DVD has been tracked down, it's time for a batch torrent.

http://www.nyaa.se/?page=view&tid=519524

Contents:

Bluray:
Kamen Rider W BD Box Sets
Kamen Rider W Returns: Kamen Rider Accel (AKA Police Brutality: Ryu Terui Punches Everything Forever The Movie)
Kamen Rider W Returns: Kamen Rider Eternal
Music Videos from the Video Rider BD sets: WBX ~W-Boiled Extreme~, Nobody's Perfect, W, Love Wars

DVD:
Movie War 2010 Director's Cut
W Forever Director's Cut
W Forever Net Movies
Movie War 2010 Bonus Disc
W Forever Bonus Discs
Special Event
Final Stage and Cast Talk Show
cod-E

All content from the discs is included. HD material is 720p, since 1080p isn't really worth it. The video extras from the DVD volumes were upscaled for the BDs, so I've encoded them in SD. The Hyper Battle Video and Gaia Memory Encyclopedia, surprisingly, are the same quality as the episodes.

Video: 10-bit x264, crf20 for BD, crf19 for DVD
Audio: AAC 50%

Anyone have the cod-E DVD?

The music video DVD for "cod-E ～Eの暗号～" is the one thing from Kamen Rider W left to encode, but I have been unable to find an iso or anyone who has it. Unfortunately, neither of the videos on it were included in the Video Rider sets, so the only option is the out-of-print limited CD/DVD release of the single.

If you have the DVD or an iso of it and wouldn't mind sharing, please let me know 

Got it! Thanks to SirStack for hunting this down.

Shooting and Editing of early Heisei Masked Rider (Or: why Kuuga's DVDs suck)

 So, you may have noticed a vast difference in video quality between Masked Rider Kuuga and the series that came after it. After stumbling across some articles on Toei's website completely by accident, I figured I'd go over the differences in how the series were shot and edited.

Kuuga Method

 Much like Babylon 5, Masked Rider Kuuga was shot in HD, but because of technology and budget constraints, was edited in SD. And like Bablyon 5, they shot in HD so that, at some point in the future when editing in HD was less expensive, they could go back to the HD footage and make new HD masters. And again, much like Babylon 5, this has not yet been done.

Shooting	→	Editing	→	Broadcast/DVDs
1080i		480i		480i

Kuuga's video quality also suffers because the DVDs use analog NTSC-format masters that have horrible dot-crawl and rainbowing. Only the Special Edition DVD has footage sourced from the original digital masters, and it looks MUCH better.

Agito-Blade Method

Chances are, someone at Toei figured it'd be better to just shoot in SD if they were going to edit in SD, and not letterbox anythung until you were making the broadcast masters. Plus, this let them use the wide-screen mode in the DVD release. While this means these shows could never exist in true HD, it let them have better masters at the time than they could using the Kuuga method. Toei finally went back to HD with Hibiki, which was shot, edited, and broadcast in 1080.

Shooting	→	Editing/DVDs	→	Broadcasting
480i		480i		480i

Sources:
http://tvarc.toei.co.jp/tv/agito/making/03-system/index.stm
http://www.toei.co.jp/meister/vol4/detail/05.html

A (Incomplete) Biography of a Clear Plastic Ball with Neon Lights

Name: That One Ball
Natural Habitat: Main room of villain lairs, mecha cockpits, occasionally villain laboratories.
Energy Source: power outlet, ~110V

That One Ball has a long history working with Toei. His first known role was in 1991's Jetman, as a prominent  piece of the Vyram's base, mounted under their funky table.

His role as part of an antagonist's main set continued with 1992's Zyuranger, where he landed a part as a decoration of Bandora's telescope.

To avoid being typecast, his next role was as part of a heroic set: the main mecha cockpit in 1993's Dairanger.

The next year, he had a smaller role in a rarely used lab set in 1994's Kakuranger.

In 1995, he saw more work as part of King Pyramider's cockpit.

After another lean year, he landed a role in 1997's Megaranger, once again part of the villain's main base.

The next year, he had a guest appearance in episode 17 of Gingaman in 1998.

He then returned to his roots, once again having a regular job as part of the Demon's base in 1999's GoGoV.

In an episode of 2002's Hurricanger he was in a closet full of junk int the villain's base.

In 2015, after an absence of 13 years, he made a return in the Nininger/Drive special. Though not turned on and the upper middle tube having fallen over, it was unmistakably him

And the ball seems to be making a comeback, with an appearance in Kamen Rider Ghost's second episode. However, it remains unlit and that tube is still out of place.