Talk:SitaSites

There is a small problem with the torrents on archive.org, namely that those include only the video. To get your message heard, and to spread the awareness about your ways of handling the distribution the torrents should also include at least the link to www.sitasingstheblues.com, and probably also your licencing information as a text file. This is what most of the pirates are doing with their releases.
 * Drakar's reply: The torrent files themselves have a link back to the "sita" website, as do the torrent pages on the various torrent sites where I've posted them.  The problem is, in a single-file torrent, it is possible to add the archive.org copy of the file as an extra "seed", so that the torrent may never drop down to zero seeds; however, if other files are included in the torrent, it is no longer possible to do this without further complications that I don't even understand.  For the moment I feel it's necessary to live with it like it is - especially since all the torrents are very healthily seeded by now. Drakar


 * Drakar: I have just downloaded and burned your UNofficial DVD and it looks great. If you allow me a couple of suggestions, I guess that subtitles in yellow are much more legible than the actual ones in white. Adding the director commentary as a second soundtrack would be interesting, otherwise restarting the movie is mandatory to listen to the other soundtrack. And as far as my subtitles go (which I have just updated), I think that preserving text formating (bold and italics) is a good idea, since they mark titles and song lyrics. Ousia 16:23, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the feedback! Regarding the subtitles, the authoring program I used only allowed me to pick from 3 colors.  I'll double-check but I thought the primary one was yellow.  Or are you complimenting me on this?  I hope you watched a section featuring the shadow puppets with subtitles on...?  Anyway, the commentary is a second audio track, it should be switchable during the movie just fine, and of course it's also selectable via the menu.  About the other languages, it was really hard trying to preserve any formatting, because the program used to convert the subtitles from .srt into a format readable by the DVD authoring system I used ... barely worked at all -- it was lucky I even got them to sync up right -- but it didn't really preserve formatting, and I wasn't sure where things had been formatted by you guys previously.  The best I could do was verify the timing was about right, and to move the text out of the way of the english text during the "Rama's Great" song. Drakar2007

MegaUpload addition: Just an FYI that I was the one who added this. Members of MU will get fast downloads at up to whatever their incoming bandwidth speed is and non-members will get 200Kbs after a 1 min wait. I can also upload the 1080p file but I will need to break it into 3 parts otherwise only Premium users will be able to download it. Gregdemetrick

Ogg Theora filename
I uploaded Ogg Theora+Vorbis to archive.org, but the name got a .part suffix thanks to dolphin (my file manager/ftp client). I have requested them to change it. I have also transcoded a Dirac+Vorbis version, which I will upload soon.
 * You can log back into the FTP and do a manual rename. All you have to do is click the "edit item" link on the archive.org page (while logged in of course) and click "checkout item" - it will then give you FTP access to get in and change / rename files. Drakar2007

Ogg Theora encoded files should have the file extension of *.ogv, according to the v1.0 ISO specification. *.ogg still works for backward compatibility, in most multimedia players, of course.

AVCHD image
I've added a burnable AVCHD image. I tried to concisely describe what the hell this thing even is, but it's probably still confusing for some people (judging by how long it took me to figure it out myself). Basically it's the original 720p mp4 file as posted several weeks ago on archive.org, but repackaged into a faux-BluRay filesystem along with a WAV soundtrack (based on Ian's uncompressed FLAC version). On players that can support it, it essentially looks as good as a blu-ray, albeit with no menus and only minimal seeking capability.

The image file should be burnable via any reasonably current program capable of burning an image straight to disk (I most strongly recommend the free program ImgBurn, but I actually tried using an older version of Nero and that worked too). I used the same chapter stops I used to divide up the video for its posting on YouTube (since I already had the chapter times saved as a text file). If anyone feels like asking for the link to direct-download it from my archive.org page I can provide it (though you could find it yourself pretty easily), but for the best download speeds I think the torrent would be optimal (plus, seeders = good!). -Drakar2007 2009-03-22 01:44EDT
 * Pretty much all of the torrents here are "burnable", so I'm not sure what that means exactly. All you need to do is burn it onto a DVD; most DVD players support AVI and all sorts of stuff... you just have to check your specific player. Also, for burning CDs or DVDs I heavily recommend the program "CDBurnerXP Pro 3" (despite the name, it doesn't work only with XP. There are later versions, but "3" seems to be the best). For authoring DVDs (with menus and chapters and everything), I recommend "DVD Flick". Esn 08:54, 22 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure what you're talking about - basically none of the downloadable versions so far are burnable as-is (for direct playback on a DVD player, etc) without specialized equipment or rigorous conversion. What .avi (divx/xvid?) versions are posted that I've not yet seen?  I don't know of any players that natively support .mp4, though I could be wrong on that one.  The AVCHD image I have uploaded is made *specifically* for burning, on the other hand - in fact i'm not sure it will do anything at all if it's not burned to a blank DVD first (I certainly can't get it to).  The "burnable" section is where I imagine the DVD image(s) could be posted when it is (/ they are) available, for example.  I figured I should separate the AVCHD image out into another section just so people wouldn't download it and then get confused why they can't play it locally on their PCs... --Drakar2007 2009-03-22 05:04EDT
 * I just posted a 640x360 XviD version that fits on a CD-R/RW (see the "Burnable Versions:" section). I've tested it in my DVD player and it seems to work fine.  Hopefully this will be helpful to some people.  Ossguy 23:19, 2 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't suppose anyone would be kind enough to upload a 1080p AVCHD image would they?
 * I was thinking about it, but the problem ends up being that the 1080p video ends up almost too big to fit on a single-layer DVD with a reasonable audio file. I've made one that works, but the audio file I had to use with it ended up having audible (and loud) blips during the scene changes.  Plus it would be really hard to get seeded when only a few people out there can even take advantage of it.  If I do end up doing one I'll post it here first, of course. --Drakar2007 01:08, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm fine with a double layer DVD. I bought a Blu-Ray player for a reason.  It would be awesome if you could upload a 1080p version, or if you could explain how to make one.
 * If you're good with this kind of thing, the method is actually fairly easy. The program you need is TSMuxeR, and you also need a .mkv containing the video you want (which I have a torrent for listed on the download page), plus an audio source - such as the FLAC audio file converted to WAV.  TSMuxeR will let you repackage the video and audio source as blu-ray filesystem files, which you can then burn or create an image of using ImgBurn.  A good guide for doing this is here.  If you're burning to a double-layer DVD then you can just use WAV audio, as you'll have more than enough space to accomodate the extra info.  Or if you can get your hands on a good AC3 encoding of the soundtrack (such as from the "movie-only" ISO file available at the main archive.org page) you can use that instead - if the audio is under 130 Megs, it'll fit on a single-layer DVD too.  If you need any additional help with this just let me know. --Drakar2007
 * [Separate user here: If I want to go the AC3 route, how do I extract the AC3 audio from the ISO file you've linked? Thanks.]
 * I think your best bet may lie in a program called DVD Decrypter -- the kicker is you will probably have to burn the .iso to disk (or mount it virtually with alcohol 120% or something similar) in order to rip it. --Drakar2007
 * Thanks. I found a way to convert FLAC to AC3.  But the FLAC file shows up as stereo -- does that mean the soundtrack is not 5.1?
 * Correct. The "perfect" version of the soundtrack is what you find in the FLAC file -- that is to say, stereo.  BTW if you want to ask me any questions directly please feel free to do so, drakar2007[at]gmail(dot)com  --Drakar2007
 * I've converted the FLAC file into WAV and tsmuxer won't do anything with it. It sees the video stream from the MKV file fine but it won't let me add any audio.
 * Have you tried having tsmuxer add the WAV itself as another source? I've been able to do so with no problems... or does it not allow you to do this?  You have to do it manually, just like when you added the mkv file as a source, but after that it should go okay.  If this doesn't work, let me know more detail and I'll see if I can help. --Drakar2007
 * I open it up, click add, and navigate to the MKV, then it pops up telling me that it can't recognise something but it shows the video, and not the audio, listed under the Tracks section. Then I click add again and search for the WAV file and it recognises it as a file it can open but when I try to do so it does nothing.
 * Ok, well the part about it not recognizing something at first, just means it's rejecting the built-in FLAC soundtrack contained in the mkv file, so no big deal. But when you add the WAV itself (i'm doing it now myself to make sure I get the details right), the WAV should appear on the "input files" list box at top, and the audio track should now also appear in the "tracks" box (and the "codec" column will say LPCM).  If this isn't working, I'd check your WAV file... what program did you use to decompress the FLAC?  --Drakar2007
 * It doesn't let me add the WAV at all. I used Toast 10 to convert the FLAC file to WAV.  44KHz, 16 bit, uncompressed linear PCM.
 * This may be your problem unless you mis-typed: the FLAC (and the audio supported by AVCHD) is 48khz (dvd standard), not 44 khz (CD standard). Try reconverting the FLAC to wav, leaving the output as 48khz... see if it makes any difference?  (i'm not completely sure but it seems like a good guess).  Actually I just tried it - tsmuxer won't import 44.1 khz sound at all.  --Drakar2007
 * Changing it to 48 worked. I'm burning it right now but I probably won't be able to test it before I go to work.  I'll let you know how it went.
 * My Blu-Ray player rejected it. :-(
 * What type of player is it? Only certain ones accept AVCHD disks.  Also, did you make sure to burn it with UDF 2.50 filesystem, per the guide?  Some of the seemingly smaller details it mentions are apparently pretty important.  If you want a test for reference, download the image I posted and burn it - if your player won't play it, the problem is probably your player.  --Drakar2007
 * It's a Samsung BD-P1500. It's supposed to be able to play AVCHD disks.  Toast has an option to burn a disk using an existing BDMV folder so I used that.  I assumed Toast would take care of everything such as the filesystem and whatnot.  I'll download your image and see what happens.
 * I just tried your disk and it doesn't work either. I went and checked and the manual for my player says it supports AVCHD :-(  Maybe someone will use that nice 200 gig file to make some blu-ray disks.
 * Honestly, the 4.7 gig 1080p version is nearly perfect; all someone would need to do is master it to a true blu-ray filesystem (i'm not completely sure how yet), and it would probably be perfectly usable on a burnable blu-ray. --Drakar2007
 * Drakar, if you ever do figure out how, I'm sure many of us would love to know. Thanks!  -AC

iPod version?
I've downloaded all the HD versions, but when I try to sync them to my iPod Touch it tells me they can't be played on it.

When I try to re-encode it with Handbrake, Handbrake crashes out when the encoding starts.

Could someone create a version that would be playable on an iPod Touch? I'd also like such a version with English subtitles included directly into the movie, so I could hook my iPod Touch up to a TV and show it to someone who is a bit hard of hearing and who might have trouble understanding the shadow puppets' accents. (As far as I can tell, Handbrake doesn't even have an option to incorporate a separate subtitle file, so even if it did work I wouldn't know how to make it do that.)

Thanks. —Robotech master 13:43, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Have you tried the 480p SD version? I thought ipods played .mp4 files, though of course I have no idea what video codecs they support.  Also, the only way I think you'll get it to play with subtitles (i'm not sure the ipod can play soft sub aka .srt files) is to re-encode the video with hard-coded subs.  Or wait for the DVD. --Drakar2007 23:56, 30 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I tried the 480P version. iTunes told me this file could not be copied to my iPod because my iPod couldn't play it.


 * Yes, I would appreciate it if someone could re-encode the video with hard-coded subs for me. I would like to do that myself, but—as I said above—I don't even know if Handbrake can do it, even if Handbrake didn't choke and segfault when it tried to start chewing on the plain vanilla re-encoding. —Robotech master 03:14, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Dirac Vorbis
Hi,

I downloaded the whole 4GB Dirac Vorbis file and tried to play it in VLC. The audio works well, but not the video. It only shows one image and does not advance. If i go to the middle of the movie, it shows an image from the middle and plays the audio, but does not advance the video.

A test Dirac Ogg video file from http://diracvideo.org/download/test-streams/ogg/ worked well.

Any ideas?

Maybe the file is broken? Maybe VLC cannot handle files that big?

(This is VLC 0.9.9 on Windows XP.)

Thanks in advance. --Amir E. Aharoni 13:01, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

DVD direct download damaged?
Hi, I just downloaded the 'official' DVD from the direct link. I got a .img file which opened up to a VIDEO_TS folder among other things. However when I tried to burn the VIDEO_TS folder with Toast, it said that the folder's content was damaged. Anyone know what the problem is? I will try the unofficial one I guess. Thanks -Bob
 * Bob, I would think you should try burning the .img directly; perhaps try a different burning application. there are also ways i've found of converting the .img to a .iso, which might improve your compatibility.  As far as I know it's undamaged, and if you download it via torrent you can be guaranteed that it's NOT damaged.  Then again, I'm all in favor of you trying the unofficial version, too :)  --Drakar2007 21:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)