Dragon's Lair/Space Ace Blu-Ray?

[jaekrieldgx]

(I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed/answered)

So I want to start experimenting with making my own arcade cabs using LaunchBox 

The first one I'd like to build for myself is Dragon's Lair (with possibly DL2 and Space Ace added)

I watched the Unbroken Software vid on YouTube upped by ETA Prime discussing Daphne 

 

In that video he said I need to have the DL/DL2/SA DVDs because I need the m2v files from those DVDs to run the games - which are the "video" files for each of the games respectively 

 

I have the DVDs - however, I noticed on eBay that there are BluRays of DL, DL2, and SA - and I was thinking that they would possibly have higher resolution video files of those games (?) 

If I buy the BluRays - are there the same or similar files on those discs that can be used with LaunchBox via Daphne ?

 

 

Or...is there any other way to use the BluRays or files from the BluRay Discs to run with LaucnhBox - in hopes of getting the highest resolution video in those games?

(I don't even know if these can be played by themselves on PCs, since they advertise as being able to be operated with a home/console bluray player using the bluray remote control - none of the sellers could answer that for me) 

 

Or...am I wasting my time - meaning the BluRays actually do NOT containing a higher res of the video files for those games....

Has anyone done a side by side comparison of the DVDs and the BluRays of any of the Don Bluth Laserdisc Games? 

 

If anyone knows and/or has an answer to any of this - please let me know

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jaek 

 

 

 

[sundogak]

Those use BD-J (Java) to play the game. A PC emulator like Daphne or Hypseus Singe use a combination of video and audio laser disc rips and arcade ROM.  You won't be able to use the Blu-ray discs you have in Daphne or Hypseus without ripping/conversion/making framefiles. I suppose you could use some sort of PC Java emulator but have no experience on that.  Also Daphne is limited to 2GB video files and 1080 whereas Hypseus does not have that limitation and supports up to 4K M2V video files. Hypseus also has some other improvements vs Daphne as well as some setup threads on LB for that emulator.  

There is noticeable quality difference from the original arcade SD rips to the DVDs issued by Digital Leisure since they were remastered from the film in ~720x480 and touched-up. The Digital Leisure Blu-Ray's are higher resolution (but still at 4x3 to avoid cropping) and that helps when putting up on larger screens. The colors also seem a bit more accurate and less washed out.  I have also seen some 4K "Ai-upscaled" versions which are pretty impressive although they can almost look "too smooth". You also get into cropping issues since they use 16x9 aspect ratio.  For people who didn't play the originals, that may not matter much though.  If you Google 4K upscale project Dragon's Lair you will see some YouTube comparisons. 

Ultimately, the quality is better for the Blu-Rays you mention above but the trick is getting them ripped and into a format to play on a PC emulator along with working frame file.

[jaekrieldgx]

Wow.

 

Ok. Thanks for that info. I have not heard of Hypseus Singe, but I will look into the possibility of using it, if I can get some info on that emulator as well as learn how to rip the BluRays and convert the video files into M2V files...I know how to Rip Blue Ray movies for making "backups" - its quite easy with software - but converting the files to M2V files is as of yet out of my experience as well  - especially if its in fact -   quite a task to get done. 

 

However, if what you say is true about the "upscaling" of the original video files into 720 (is that 720p?) by Digital Leisure - that may be good enough in the interim, or possibly even the final result  - at least I know the original video/film quality has been improved; that's good to know. 

 

I was just hoping to get the best possible video quality - and figured that the BluRay might actually be something close to 1080p - even though I know the originals would not be close to that unless they actually remastered the negative and/or digitized the original film...but again - if nothing else, I'm encouraged by what you say about the Digital Leisure improvements. 

 

But as I am a stickler for getting the best possible resolution results, I'll dig into it and see what I can figure out.

 

Thanks so much for all the info. It was very helpful. 

~ Jaek

 

 

[Drybonz]

You will not only want to check out Hypseus, but also Google for HD rips of DL/DL2/SA, and you will find what you want.   

(I see Sundogak already mentioned this)

Edited February 28, 2023 by Drybonz

[sundogak]

Quote

I know how to Rip Blue Ray movies for making "backups" - its quite easy with software - but converting the files to M2V files is as of yet out of my experience as well  - especially if its in fact -   quite a task to get done. 

Ripping the the Blu-ray files into M2V is the easy part. The issue is that PC emulators need the framefile which tells the emulator which M2V file to use for the specific action being triggered on the screen.  Simplistically, the LD games were just videos and triggers with the controller.  If you do "action A" it runs video 1 and if do "action B' runs video 4.  If the framefile isn't correct then you will get into issue where your action triggers the wrong (or not at all) video.  Framefiles are not interchangeable amongst versions.  Example framefile:

151	dl-slates.m2v
323	dls00.vob.m2v
1366	dls01.vob.m2v
2044	dls01d1.vob.m2v
2085	dls01d2.vob.m2v
2133	dls01d3.vob.m2v
2213	dls01b.vob.m2v

As Drybonz noted, folks have already gone down the path you are doing and done the leg work of ripping and framefile creation for the various versions out there.  

 

 

[Dilated18]

Link removed..... 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Retro808
Links removed. Do not post links to sites that contain roms/roms support files.