Advanced encoding notes for Doctor Who (2005)
These notes are primarily used for precision audio sync, XML shift-script recommendations for different sources of the film/series, and notes on any peculiarities with the source material. Please note that these are situational, for example the precision audio sync details are meant for advanced/perfectionist users and not required to encode a decent quality edit.
If you're encoding an edit for the first time it's best to just use the default mp4 export from your NLE program and not mess with trying to get absolutely perfect quality until you're comfortable with the basics of loading, calibrating, and exporting an edit video. However, some Advanced pages list "Shift script values" that may make life easier for beginners trying to calibrate their BluRays.
Please note, even though the edits for this series are simple, it's one of the harder ones to encode properly because the sources have various framerates - so purchase the correct versions for the best quality.
The Doctor Who BBC America versions are NTSC, which is 29.97fps, and in my opinion look lower quality when encoding than the original PAL 25fps. The two "specials" - Day/Time of the Doctor are 23.976fps to make things even more difficult. Several of these edits (EP1/7) use multiple episodes, so mixing the framerates can be complicated and require careful blending.
I would recommend encoding episode 1 as 25fps even though it uses one of the specials at the start, since the bulk of the episode is natively 25fps. And as long as you get all the UK TV seasons the rest of the mixed episodes should be fine. Obviously you want to encode Ep8/9 as 23.976 since that's their original framerate and they don't use any 25fps footage.
S5 UK: BluRay AC3 Audio (Stereo)
S5 US: BluRay DTS-HD Audio (5.1)
S7 US/UK: BluRay DTS-HD Audio (5.1)
DOTD/TOTD: BluRay DTS-HD Audio (5.1)
Shift script values for BluRay encoding:
-----
# dr who 25fps (UK) bluray
$fta_ht = @{
"111" = -1;
"112" = 0;
"113" = 0;
"114" = 0;
"115" = 0;
"116" = 0;
"117" = 0;
"118" = 0;
"119" = 0;
"120" = 0;
}
If you're encoding an edit for the first time it's best to just use the default mp4 export from your NLE program and not mess with trying to get absolutely perfect quality until you're comfortable with the basics of loading, calibrating, and exporting an edit video. However, some Advanced pages list "Shift script values" that may make life easier for beginners trying to calibrate their BluRays.
Please note, even though the edits for this series are simple, it's one of the harder ones to encode properly because the sources have various framerates - so purchase the correct versions for the best quality.
The Doctor Who BBC America versions are NTSC, which is 29.97fps, and in my opinion look lower quality when encoding than the original PAL 25fps. The two "specials" - Day/Time of the Doctor are 23.976fps to make things even more difficult. Several of these edits (EP1/7) use multiple episodes, so mixing the framerates can be complicated and require careful blending.
I would recommend encoding episode 1 as 25fps even though it uses one of the specials at the start, since the bulk of the episode is natively 25fps. And as long as you get all the UK TV seasons the rest of the mixed episodes should be fine. Obviously you want to encode Ep8/9 as 23.976 since that's their original framerate and they don't use any 25fps footage.
S5 UK: BluRay AC3 Audio (Stereo)
S5 US: BluRay DTS-HD Audio (5.1)
S7 US/UK: BluRay DTS-HD Audio (5.1)
DOTD/TOTD: BluRay DTS-HD Audio (5.1)
Shift script values for BluRay encoding:
-----
# dr who 25fps (UK) bluray
$fta_ht = @{
"111" = -1;
"112" = 0;
"113" = 0;
"114" = 0;
"115" = 0;
"116" = 0;
"117" = 0;
"118" = 0;
"119" = 0;
"120" = 0;
}