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Welcome to the info page. If you have any questions about this website, feel free to send me
email. For starters, the "Undiscovered Mirror Site" comprises 4 mirror sites located at:
http://phase2trek.org http://phase2trek.us http://phase2trek.com The first 3 mirror sites host full-sized files in various formats. The 4th mirror site hosts the same files in "parts." More on "parts" files later. If you've never been to this site before but recognize some of the people in photos on this page, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Star Trek Phase II (formerly known as Star Trek New Voyages) has been blessed by the willingness of former actors from the Star Trek world to star in its fan films. And, the project has been doubly blessed because all of these actors volunteered their efforts without any compensation. In short, to them, it was a labor of love. In fact, Star Trek Phase II is a labor of love for everyone involved in the project. But make no mistake. This is not a "hobby" project for amateurs. Some of the people who act in episodes and/or work behind the scenes are entertainment industry professionals. And, they put these episodes together not just because they are fans of the "original series" ... but because they recognize the professionalism in those they work with, all determined to produce a quality product. This recognition goes further. In 2008, Star Trek Phase II won the TV Guide Online Video Award in the "Best Science Fiction Webisodes" category for works released in 2007. The same year, the Phase II episode, "World Enough and Time" made the final ballot for the Hugo Award. In addition, the script for that episode made the final ballot for the Nebula Award. Star Trek Phase II was also under consideration for a Peabody Award. And though we didn't win the Hugo, Nebula, nor Peabody awards, there's always next year (grin). In any case, these are recognition feathers in our cap that cannot be ignored. Perhaps the best way to get up to speed on the origins of Star Trek Phase II is to watch the following 4 videos. Right-click your mouse pointer on the link and choose either "Save File" or "Save Target" from the dropdown menu that appears - a DivX G4 TV interview with James Cawley (Kirk) and Jeff Quinn (the first P2 Spock) - a DivX story of Paramount's abandoned "Phase II" project - a DivX video from early 2011 by "The Daily" - and a DivX late 2011 special aired on WUTR-TV in Utica, NY. Another way to get up to speed is by reading the eMagazines (there are currently 9 issues). If you'd rather skip the videos and just want a short explanation of origins, here it is. James Cawley and a group of other original series enthusiasts had always dismayed NBC's decision to cancel the series after three seasons ... especially since Kirk's voice at the beginning of every episode said it was meant to be a "five-year mission." So, they spent a considerable amount of their own money and a considerable amount of time to recreate the sets, props, and costumes of the original series. And when they were ready, they filmed their pilot episode, "Come What May." Their goal? To finish the five-year mission. OK ... let's get down to the nitty-gritty ... the files available on this site. From the beginning through the episode, "World Enough and Time," mirror sites were allowed to offer media files in all resolutions including DVD ISO files. Format preferences were left up to the individual mirror sites. However, when Star Trek New Voyages transitioned to Star Trek Phase II with "Blood and Fire - Part 1," the project decided to put a medium-resolution limitation (640 pixel width max) on mirror site files in any format. In short, no more DVD ISO files (unless a "specific" exception is made by the project). This was to prevent access to easily pirated high-res files. You'd think pirating would be silly since we give our files away for free. But, you'd be wrong. DVDs have been sold (for money) at various conventions. And any "hint" of profit from these episodes might convince Paramount Studios to end "good graces" for this project and "kill" it. If you see an asterisk (*) after the filename, it means the DVD release was either "official" or "sanctioned" by the project. An official release DVD (always in NTSC format) comes directly from the post-production crew of the project. A sanctioned release comes from another source, recognized as competent by the post-production team. And so far, there has not been a sanctioned release. Other DVD ISO releases, the ones without the asterisk, are to be considered "unofficial" (but tolerated) versions. On this mirror, for better or worse, those ISO files originate with me - using, primarily, Canopus ProCoder software to transcode NTSC into PAL. These unofficial DVD ISO files are "episode-only" files without menus, extras, or any special features - and can be either NTSC or PAL. However, if an official or sanctioned version of the same episode file is released, it will replace my version at the earliest possible moment. Transcodes from "origin" files (often in High Definition) will also be made available in these formats - AVI (DivX), MP4 (Quicktime compatible H.264/AAC), WMV (Windows Media), VCD (video CD in NTSC/PAL), and RM (RealVideo). Note that all MP4 files starting with "Blood and Fire - Part 1" will be compatible with iPod/iPad devices. All downloadable transcodes (and official/sanctioned DVD ISO files) are only available on this site in their uncompressed "root" formats - either in full-size or in parts. Parts files were created for those with slower broadband (or modem) connections who might not want to (or are unable to) download the full-sized files in one online session. Any downloadable transcoded file (or official/sanctioned DVD ISO file) over 208 megs in size has been split into 100 meg parts. To split the original files into parts, I used a freeware utility called HJsplit. The same utility is needed to recombine the parts. Right-click here to download it (137k only) to your desktop. This is a standalone Java-based GUI utility that doesn't have to be installed. Because virtually ALL environments (Windows, MacOS, Unix, Linux, Solaris, etc., etc.) have free Java installed or available, HJSPLIT will work in virtually ALL environments. One note on downloading files - and this applies to everyone, regardless of whether you have the fastest broadband connection or the slowest dialup connection. I urge you to consider using a download accelerator utility ... one that allows you to resume an interrupted download instead of having to start over again from scratch. My personal favorite utility (for Windows) is NetTransport. Right-click on its link to download version 1.87, the last shareware version before they added "nag" screens. OK ... ready to get started? Click here to go back to the home page and enjoy what Star Trek Phase II has to offer. I'm sure you'll agree with me that these episodes are a great adjunct to the original series. P.S. - Just a teensy few words of criticism. I take absolutely NO responsibility for the "quality" of official or sanctioned DVD ISOs made available on my mirror. They are provided on an "as-is" basis. In some of the earlier episodes, I noticed a "mixing" of audio formats - some parts in AC3 format, some parts in MP2 format. The problem? ALL players recognize the AC3 format - but some players DON'T recognize the MP2 format. So, if you find an episode or episode part where you can't hear the sound, that's the reason. Also, episode 1, "In Harm's Way," had one internal VOB file configured at "quarter-D1" - 352x480 pixels. The rest were full-D1 - 720x480 pixels. Size-wise, you won't notice any difference on your TV screen. This is because your DVD player will automatically compensate for the 352x480 display by "stretching" it to fill your screen. But, in "stretching" the display, there is a loss in video quality. I personally thought that was a really cheesy thing to do. Those who understand the internal structure of "professional" DVDs know there's an "AUDIO_TS" directory present. This is a totally useless directory that became part of the "DVD standard" back in the old days when industry people considered (but abandoned) the idea of possibly marketing "audio DVDs." Unfortunately, some very picky DVD players will not recognize a DVD as valid unless it can locate this totally useless directory. And some earlier official releases may not have this directory in place. If they don't, and if you have one of those picky players, you'll just get a "no disc" message when you try to play it. Just so you know. All of my unofficial DVD ISO transcodes will use 224k AC3 stereo audio (sorry, no 6-channel AC3 surround-sound). And all unofficial transcodes will be formatted at either 4:3 (if the episode is fullscreen) or 16:9 (if widescreen). And they'll all have that totally useless AUDIO_TS directory in place - just in case.
Sincerely,  STAR TREK and all related marks, logos and characters are owned by CBS Studios Inc. This website, the promotion thereof and/or any exhibition of material created by the operators of this website are not endorsed or sponsored by or affiliated with CBS/Paramount Pictures or the STAR TREK franchise. |
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