Warb, I meant a video release designed for videophiles like an audiophile SACD or vinyl reissue from a master tape as done by those companies I mentioned. I've just wanted to see modern technology applied to the films' original states instead of the single image harvest only done on 10 of the films which completely disregarded color timing, grain structure and their original presentation. This is what frustrates me to no end with the UE discs and the Blus derived from the same transfers. I can be more satisfied with a 420i image sourced from a worn print transferred in the the late 1980's, pressed on laser then I am on these new editions. Yes the detail is increased and everything has been corrected, but to me it seems overdone and I want to cry when I see things like how badly You Only Live Twice is desaturated or that awful artificial blue tint on the opening of OHMSS.
As far as audio goes, I do get better sound on LD. LD has the original mixes in PCM whereas on the Blus they are lossy Dolby Digital ac3 tracks that are almost always noise reduced and compressed. The lossless files on the new editions are 5.1 remixes done at various locations which add unnecessary and new effects to the soundfield to artificially create a surround image which is not present in the original audio. To add to this they typically used the remastered music cues from the soundtrack CD masters and actually replaced the original score recordings. So these have been taken apart multiple ways and stuck back together to resemble the original, which they are not.
And on the 90's era films they lost a lot of punch. Goldeneye on LD has some of the punchiest bass and LFE I've ever heard on any home audio track.
These will be great releases for 99.99% of people and the box makes great economic sense. But I'm still not quite sold and this is coming from someone who still has 30+ Bond VHS tapes. You have to understand that this is my filmic obsession and I jump out of my chair at even the slightest infraction on any of the films. (I really do.)
Sky, the cropping on GE is indeed pretty extensive, but I'm not sure if this has ever been addressed. It's not quite in a different ratio but it is cropped on all four sides as if boxed in. The title sequence has different fonts and placements which has led some to believe that a Pan n' scan prepped print was mistakenly used. The DVD wasn't bad and in some instances I liked the tighter framing for more impact. however, we'd really know if the director or cinematographer commented on what they shot. If it is like the previous transfers then they kept the framing a bit loose, or the original LD/DVDs were framed too openly. However the HDTV versions floating around are exactly the same as the UE transfer.
Thunderball still has color issues on the current Blu-ray.
This brings me to my other point. Only 10 of the films (Doctor No-Golden Gun, Moonraker) were scanned from the o-neg at 4K as shown in the big promos. The rest came straight from video masters and are not what they could be. Why only do 10?