captainsolo

I don’t think the criticism went far enough. Instead of the lack of “sex” it should be that there was no heart in the proceedings.

But worst of all is the complete lack of backstory combined with the fact that TFA really has no driving motivation for any character other than plot advancement. It becomes so darn hard to care. Even the worst of EU materials generally had this. Even the prequels did in spurts.

Watching this just made all the negatives come floating back in my brain.

Simply put, I’m looking for a decent VCR just to have around in case I ever need it-but one that is actually not a pile of junk and can playback hifi stereo.

That figures. It does seem to make some improvements in HD compared to SD but I’m hoping the import has the same audio as the laserdisc.

Long have I researched this film, and long has it been stuck with poor outdated transfers. After seeing a print last night here are my notes:

The print had a soft focus but otherwise superior to video. The only difference in picture I noticed is that in the opening setup, Ethan’s revival of Claire is bathed in the same pink lighting as the fake hotel room set.
The audio was the optical 2.0 matrix and has the low end of the Laserdisc audio tracks.
The film as photographed is full of texture and depth. Gorgeous in many places, and it should look amazing on BD. But Paramount does not care.

The Laserdisc has low end not on any DVD and remains the best audio release. I’m positive it is the theatrical audio track untouched. The 5.1 is better than the 2.0.

The Blu-ray is a massaged port of the HDDVD with lossy audio. I hope to import the AVC encoded Scandinavian BD with lossless audio to compare.
Does anyone have the HDDVD or has anyone compared DVD to HDDVD or BD?

LD quality 5/5
The letterbox DVD is okay but the audio is compromised. The DVD reissue is anamorphic but the same.

Sudden Impact is also stereoized mono. I had no idea, but I guess they stuck with mono for the production.

Mission:Impossible

I LOVE this movie. Still. To. This. Day.

My local arthouse got a print for a DePalma series, and to finally see this on the big screen without video constraints or poor masters…Wow!
They unfortunately had to run the matrixed Dolby backup as the ac3 was shot, but it DOES have the heavy low end proving the Laserdisc is indeed the theatrical audio and every subsequent release has been remixed to tame the sound.
The 5.1 is better than the 2.0, and the 2.0 PCM is without the print deficiencies i.e. boominess, loss of detail, some shrillness from the analog optical.

The LD is quite close, in fact darn near perfect for NTSC video. I only noticed one shot with different color to the home video releases, but they can never touch the proper levels of an actual release print.

I’ll start a thread in preservations.

One of those films I will always stick up for.
My favorite Cruise film and IMO his best performance.
My favorite DePalma film.
One of the best films of the 90’s.
The only truly good film in the series.

Side note: The audio went out at the head of Reel 2 before it had to be restarted, leaving the elevator shaft scene to play in silence. “Hasta lasagna don’t get any on ya.” 😉

Magnum Force-Surprisingly effective if not a film with deep meaning like the original. 3/4.
The Enforcer-A mess of ideas that ultimately has very little meat on the bones. Great ending but very little to really go on. 2.5/4.
Sudden Impact-Feels like part of a movie and rather uninspired in places. I enjoyed it but it was never that memorable. 2/4.

These keep decreasing in quality, and I know many hate The Dead Pool so I have one more to look forward to.😉

Dirty Harry

A great picture designed around ideas and contradictions that is not simply a vigilante, might makes right or fascist story as has been claimed for decades. In fact there are many parallels between cop and killer let alone Harry being a loner like the Western gunslinger but estranged in the modern world.
Even the ending is left open but thematically fitting.
I dislike the fake stereo mix though.
I can’t believe it took me so long to watch the whole thing, but the moral here is don’t believe everything you read. Sadly the sequels aren’t on the same level in a way like comparing First Blood to its sequels.

Seven Days in May

Saw this at a revival screening. This one needs BD badly.

One of the great thrillers and totally dominated by Lancaster. However I’ve never felt it was as effective as it should be for some reason I can’t put my finger on. It may be just because it is sandwiched between Manchurian Candidate and Seconds.
But it is a great classic that has been largely forgotten. They do not make them like this anymore at all. Some scenes make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up from the dialogue alone…and then there’s that B&W photography…oh my god…with the trademark deep focus… Frankenheimer was a complete genius in every sense. To me he is probably the most underrated American director of them all.

I got the collection box. The first film is stereoized but this practically makes it expanded mono with the stereo score in full stereo inserted. Impressive dynamics but very distracting, and there is also some tape damage.

According to the labels 2 and 3 also got the same treatment.
This was the widescreen debut of the sequels…and they felt it a good idea to remix the mono in he big collectors box…go figure…

Finally, finally, finally found NSNA on Blu-ray. I hope to go through it soon, but ironically watched the LD last night.

The DVDs seem to share the same source as the WS LD except for the Orion logo replacing the WB one. The 5.1 mix has phasing errors and seems to move the whole soundstage to the front while having all the deficiencies of the Dolby Stereo. I don’t know if it was sourced from 70mm elements but it was done for the DVD reissue and Blu-ray in 2009.
Godawful mix, best in Dolby Stereo. Mushy, indistinct, seemingly rushed and practically glorified mono. The entire film is mono except for extraneous sounds like the missiles and when the score kicks up. In fact when the score goes off its in bursts and sounds like proper Dolby Stereo.

This one will be the easiest to fix: Simply add the LD PCM to the BD.

I also found out there are apparently numerous cuts and the producer planned a deluxe LD reissue that went nowhere.
I hate, hate hate hate this picture when I think about it. I swear I will never watch it again, but I do each year. You can see they had the ability to make a great picture but squandered it. I think if it weren’t for Connery and Kersh it would have never have been finished. This is truly the uneducated and studio idea of what a Bond film is. I will never nitpick the later Moore entries for anything ever again, as they always could have been on NSNA’s level.

How many episodes are without original mono?

From my general research IIRC there are TOS Japanese LD releases in boxset form that have digital audio but are hugely rare and very expensive.

Analog mono on LD is surpringly good but still technically below what you could get via VHS hifi or Beta.

My thought would be to use DVD mono if possible as it would be easy to find and likely is the source of the other BD mono tracks anyway.
Edit: I didn’t realize the DVDs are all 5.1.

Oh maaaaaan. Come on…for once I thought “oh hey, no work needed here”.
Can we just rename this section: Board of official research to see just how lazy or mucked up studios can get.

I just started watching TOS on the BDs, so far the mono is all original and certainly not the remastered 7.1 track folded down. Sure the effects shots are dirty and not perfect but the episodes look stunning on my xbr960.

So since the HD caps are all flawed in some way, I guess it would be worthwhile to pick up the old SE DVDs and/or LDs for an alternative to the BDs? I can get the old DVDs for pretty cheap.

It’s certainly full of activity, but after doing these I can’t say that either it or TWINE are as well mixed as GE and TND.
The SE of DAD was one of my earliest DVD purchases, and I had to save up my pocket money to do so. I saw it twice theatrically and still remember the opening weekend show in the big flagship Carmike theater with having the manager running in during the title sequence because he thought the expensive amps and speakers had just blown up, only to realize it was the title song, leaving, and then being brought back by dozens who thought the movie was messed up.

I ran DAD decoded tonight. I think I may be the only person who has wondered about these weird early 6.1 systems as much and their applications today in HTs and Blu-ray.

I also may be a bit nuts.

The SE is flagged for both EX and ES. No other copy is.
The SE has some very very slight color differences, but I chalk it up to an older more inferior transfer. Otherwise they’re identical, but the SE is riddled with edge enhancement and is noisy. This why the UE/BD appears softer but are more correct despite Lowry probably degraining too much of the master.

Audiowise, the extra rears are primarily throwing around some score and extra effects. The Dolby EX track is noticeably better than the DTS ES, with better highs, bass and details. The DTS is a muffled in comparison. The UE seems to have the exact same audio tracks, as the Dolby is better and at the same old lower bitrate (384 kbp/s) with the DTS seeming slightly muffled. As always the UE’s levels may have been tweaked slightly but I cannot tell for sure. I think for DAD they merely used the previous DVD’s audio.
The BD DTSHDMA is likely the best audio as it doesn’t have the muffled problem and is the most detailed courtesy of the lossless encoding.
However, it is not encoded for ES and I had to force PLIIx to engage the surround back channels. IIx is a better decoder for all of these formats and is unlimited but I’m beginning to wonder if the original decoded rear channel can be brought back on newer releases that aren’t designated EX or ES compatible. Technically once something is encoded it should remain there but I can see a clueless person years down the road pull the source 5.1 audio or merely force 5.1 in the authoring stage and thus mess with or negate the intended rear center. Many people leave PLIIx on for all 5.1 tracks as it “envelops” the listener more, but I think this isn’t a good practice. I have had a hard time trying to figure out if TWINE and DAD are actually coming across as intended with a matrixed center rear or if they are merely being played back in the technically correct but still faux 7.1 of today’s home theaters.
Note: I did run every track in standard direct 5.1, Dolby EX, DTS ES matrix and PLIIx.
And as I use an action sequence and the title song to examine the soundmixes, I hope my neighbors like the hovercraft chase and Madonna.

Long story short, BD for video despite the film needing a new scan. BD for audio, but I give the purist nod to the SE DVD Dolby EX decoded into either EX or PLIIx.

sorry double post.

SW
ESB
ROTJ
NPR Radio Drama-cheating yes, but whenever one can make an excuse to revisit this, it should be made.

Occasionally the theatrical TPM
Very rarely if ever AOTC and ROTS.

How in the world did I miss this? I’d love to have the DC box since I started collecting LD sets, but haven’t been able to justify the insane prices they go for since its been surplanted by the GOUT and most copies are rotted.
Still my SE box needs its brother on the shelf…

I tried TWINE for EX.

Let’s just say I quickly realized that the sound design simply is not as good or involving as GE or TND.

The audio does indeed come out the rear but in fits and spurts. I tried both EX and PLIIx which the latter is technically superior. No copy is flagged for EX, and the track seemed the same on SE, UE and BD. Finally I watched the whole BD and toggled between straight 5.1, EX and PLIIx.

What I found is that the decoded track seemed to pull too much into the rears and not be very detailed. The weird thing was the best sound came from straight 5.1 and then there were (few) distinct rear center effects! These came out of nowhere, and were perfectly centered in the rear despite not having any rear decoding on!

So what I gather is, judging from the interview with the mixer who gushed about EX saying: "I just left it on while working, it’s great."
They simply put some noises in the rear by mixing them between the two rear surrounds.
Admittedly I’m not too experienced with this in my setup yet, but I did run tests with AOTC in EX-finding that it does help effects, pans and whatever was already there-also that PLIIx is better than EX and works with anything.

Unless that rare Japanese LD really does have an aggressive EX track, then this is as good as it gets.

I found the DTS Goldeneye.
…
It’s now my choice for best overall.
It may not be as detailed as later transfers, but it does do the best job at color balance and brightness like its ac3 counterpart. The SE is too brightened, the BD is better but not perfect, the UE/HDTV is too dark and shifted in color. The LD really is a nice balance between the filmic look and mastering from IP for home video.
Additionally I think the DTS track is better than the “hot” LFE Dolby I’m so used to. The LFE is far more controlled and more effective despite not pounding you over the head like the other one.
The mix sounds like what you hear on the lossless BD HDMA…but direct comparison shows they may have futzed with it just a tiny bit. The LD track just seems better…and this is while utilizing my new tower speakers and modern HDMI receiver. It may be another case of untouched audio wins the day vs. higher bitrate but slightly tampered.

And…all the bonus material is in DTS…including the TEASER!!!
…
I may have played it five times in a row…or more…my neighbors must hate me…

If you have a player, the Goldeneye LD is a must. On a good calibrated CRT, you will be shocked. It’s really one of the top 5 discs out there probably and the DTS version nails the sound.
Now to find TND.

Knightmessenger said:

what/when was the technidisc release?

When fox did the quiet reissue of the SWE disc for Star Wars just before the definitive collection came out, they had the different producers repress a corrected version of the shifting aspect ratio transfer. These copies can be designated by having the later Fox logo on the small box on the front center lower edge of the front cover instead of the older copies with cbs/fox. Now, if you can find the copy pressed at Technidisc (only identified by disc inner ring codes) you see that they somehow did their own transfer from a different source. There is no information on this other than it was first seen here and later transferred by some. Easily the best transfer of them all, but only for the first film.

The JSC and Technidisc LDs are still the best official release of the OT.
LD can be beautiful, but you have to keep in mind its technological limitations. Of course I got sucked in and now have three players and nearly 300 discs. It’s an addiction.

The 04 and 11 are the worst transfer ever done IMHO and the “creative decisions” they made are truly stupid. The additional CG tweaks to the BDs are incredibly out of place, worst of all is that horrendous noise they put in for Ben’s krayt dragon call.

The 97 has great picture, color and most especially sound. The sound mix respects the original and works in alternate things from the mono mixes all while keeping dynamic range.

Only downsides of the 97 to me are the Alert my star destroyer and accompanying shot of Vader walking to his shuttle, and of course Jedi Rocks.