Are there any decent tools out there for stripping the unneeded things from the MKVs after download? I don’t have a Blu-Ray player or burner, and would be happy to just end up with a svelte English language MK4 and none of the extra cruft I don’t need.
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MKVToolNix comes with a muxer GUI that lets you pick and choose what gets muxed into the final MKV, and also accepts MKV files as an input and displays all the stuff inside them.
It’s GUI is a bit technical but is simple enough for its purposes, and there’s usage tips and stuff on Doom9 and Doom10 fora. MKVToolNix is basically the industry standard for working with Matroska files. Also, it’s FOSS, and the site hosts binaries and packages for fracking every OS you care to ask about.
The whole thing with MKV is you just Put files in, and they all get muxed up regardless of type, it’s a very flexible container, and with a player like VLC, you basically can’t mux wrong.
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With any luck, Disney will make this all moot, getting Lucas away from Star Wars was the one reason I was happy to see the sale.
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I agree. Then again, as Obi-Wan said, I’m getting too old for this kind of thing. I’m reasonably happy with the official Disney digital download. For me, the gyrations needed to download and unpack this aren’t worth the marginal differences in picture. Artistic intent and all that yada yada.
I’ve been seething since the first re-release when they snuck the “Episode IV” into the crawl.
Bad news. Fox still holds distribution rights over the original Star Wars forever. They are unlikely to sell it to Disney or to change it.
Sorry to ruin that one reason for you.
MKVExtract is your friend.
Marginal differences in picture? I highly recommend you check out the difference if you think it is only marginal. Plus, the digital download is still the crappy special edition. This is pure PROPER Star Wars.
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Bbbbbut, how did this happen? George Lucas said it was impossibly expensive!
The special edition, that’s the one I wanted out there. The other movie,
it’s on VHS, if anybody wants it. … I’m not going to spend the—we’re
talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish
that, because to me, it doesn’t really exist anymore.
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There might be a chance of shared distribution (look at Sony working with Disney to get Spiderman into the MCU) but I am not holding my breath on that happening. Besides, the De-Specialized editions are better imo than any official release ever would be.
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Fox is well aware they have a goose that lays golden eggs. Sony is well aware they kept their goose that crapped all over the sheets far too long and is willing to farm it out to someone who has a proven capability to make more money than they can.
Absolutely concur that Hamy has done the world a great service.
Yeah yeah, I understand the rage, I really do … all I’m saying is that I can suspend disbelief for 5 minutes while the silly 1990s CGI plays in the Special Edition.
I could still see Fox doing a remastered de-specialized release if they see a big enough profit incentive, or doing a distribution partnership deal with Disney. They like making money too.
Maybe after Lucas is dead. Maybe. There’s still too much at stake for them if he ever puts out a new movie or acts as a producer to anyone.
After the poor box office performance of Red Tails the idea of alienating George Lucas probably isn’t a major concern for 20th Century Fox.
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I’d like to think so, but it’s still so much a old boys club.
For some of us, it’s not the "silly cgi’ that is the problem. It is the drastic changes made the the films that ruins what didn’t need touching. Clean up the shot with some fx? Not a problem. Make Greedo get off a shot? Not gonna happen. Replace Lapti Nek with Jedi Rocks? Make the Sarlacc Pit have a beak? Add ridiculous amounts of people celebrating at the end of Jedi? Put in Hayden over Sebastian’s ghost?
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Not checking Harmy by name in the title or pre-jump is just silly - the man’s work is wonderful.
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Are there compressed versions too? I’ll happily pull a gig or two for a movie, but this is a little large.
I don’t know. Probably, but I haven’t gone looking for one.
