Batch 1: Episodes 1-10

It’s baaaaack! Finally, almost 2 years since we released Episode 8, we’re back with more Gundam SEED! The biggest reason for the delay had to do with my unhappiness with the upscaling I was having to do from the DVDs to fix some of the scenes I couldn’t edit mouthflaps for or those that had their runtimes changed. However, a few months ago, I stumbled upon a new upscaler called Waifu2x and the AVISynth port for it. While it is slow as hell, even on my brand new i7 6700K, the results it provides are superior to my previous efforts, to the point that I was happy with how the upscales were turning out. In turn, I returned to work on new episodes.

 

So, what has changed? Quite a few things actually, which is why this is a batch that includes the first 10 episodes. The changes are:

• All-new encodes using superior filtering based on the G-Reco encodes compared to the old releases that preserves more detail and keeps the colors correct (turns out one of the old filters was altering the color profile quite a bit without my realizing). As before, these are 720p only because I was unhappy with the final results of the upscaled sequences at 1080p.
• All encodes are proper VFR encodes. The HD remaster was converted to 24p, but the old DVDs were 30i. The previous encodes had the upscaled areas forced to 24p and they stuttered during playback because of this. Any upscaled sequences now display at 30p, keeping playback looking smooth.
• All upscaled sequences have be re-upscaled using Waifu2x.
• The OP/ED lyrics have been updated. The fonts remain the same, but no longer use the plain green/blue colors we used to use. They now use white fonts with a glowing outline, similar to how the lyrics for G-Reco and GBF were presented. The insert song lyrics on the full subs track in Episodes 7-9 remain the same because I like how it looked.
• The audio has been re-ripped and retimed. This is mostly because, in order to keep everything as closely matching the DVDs for purposes of syncing, the episodes start off with ~1 second of black.
• Some scenes in earlier episodes have had the mouthflaps adjusted further or scenes that I was unhappy with the edits I made replaced with upscaled sequences. Several other sequences were replaced due to the timing being off on the new encodes.

So, that’s about it for the revisions since the last releases. For those of you new to these releases, these are re-edits of the HD Remaster that restore shots that were shortened or removed in favor of footage usually taken from the Special Edition movies. This resulted in the dub no longer syncing up. In some places where it still would sync, the mouthflaps were altered and so characters would talk while their mouths were closed, or be silent while their mouths were in motion. While I can’t promise that every sequence is 100% perfect with the mouthflaps, I’ve made my best attempt to match things as close as I can to the original DVD version to allow the dub to sync.

 

You might be asking yourself “Why is this necessary? I’ve seen encodes of the BDs that include the dub!” and you would be correct. However, if one listens closely to those versions, the music and effects tend to have jumpcuts where things were edited to sync the dub. My method avoids that. While it very likely means I will have to alter or excise new sequences like the Perfect Strike battle later in the series, due to heavy adjustments to the sound effects timing, I’m fine with this. Those of you who aren’t, that’s what those other encodes are for.

 

Releases for these will come out as they are done. That’s all I will commit to right now. We are coming up on one of the spots where the HD Remaster cut an entire episode (Episode 14), so I have to figure out how much was altered in Episode 15, billed as Episode 15+ on the BD menu, as a result. Thanks to the new methods I’m using for these edits though, the work is quite a bit easier to approach, so I hope to be able to keep these going fairly regularly.

 

So, with that, to keep things going as they were before, here are the episode synopsis blurbs for Episodes 9 and 10, followed by the batch links. You can also click HERE for an archived copy of the posts (plus revised data grids) for Episodes 1-8. Enjoy!

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Episode 9: The Fading Light

The Archangel ’​s escort to meet with the 8th fleet is attacked by the Le Creuset Team. Flay witnesses the death of her father when Kira fails to protect the escort ships. In desperation, the Archangel reveals Lacus is on board the ship, causing the attackers to withdraw. 

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Episode 10: Separate Ways

With everything that has happened, Kira becomes depressed. He is comforted by Lacus, who is strolling around the ship without permission. Kira returns Lacus to Athrun against orders, but refuses Athrun’s invitation to change sides.

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Downloads

720p Batch – Torrent (Nyaa)   Magnet