dvdmike

Give me a few days 

Space Kaijuu said:

What Aluminum Falcon said.  I just ordered the German ultimate edition but it hasn't arrived yet.  Supposedly, it uses the same transfer for the US version as the HD-DVD release, which didn't suffer from the DNR and EE.  I'm curious to see if the US TV cut has burned-in subtitles or soft subtitles.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=7377061&postcount=232

German and French are identical 

Depends on the cut, unrated vs R rated 

captainsolo said:

I always heard the missing lint shot was just an error. I'll have to check mine out.

These are all LD masters, same print defects, same slightly tweaked video levels for older CRTs; the DVDs just give you a better quality video presentation.

The first film needs a capture badly as none of the remixes touch it. In fact, it would be possible to make a 5.1 recreated 70mm mix because I'm pretty sure the audio was the same. (4 channel with baby booms)

Returns is the same mix in 5.1 and DS. However the emphasis and soundstaging is very different. The 5.1 utilizes the discrete channels to good effect, but the DS is much more centralized and gives a better sense of low end, as is the case with Batman Forever's 5.1 vs. DS. Additionally 99.9% of people heard Dolby Stereo theatrically as only 11 theaters were equipped to show Dolby SR-D 5.1 at the time. Judging sonically, they really mixed for Dolby Stereo before getting the go-ahead for a 5.1 mix.

As I thought, glad I was not going nuts 

borisanddoris said:

Never saw it theatrically, and I have no film print for reference.  It's anyone's guess how accurate it is.  It has the feel of a mid 80s action/sci-fi film though.  It feels period accurate.  The MPEG2 version that is...

 

Exactly I have seen it at many shows and it always looked like the MPEGII release, if it was on a BD50 no one would care.

MPEGII gets an unfair bad rap 

PDB said:

Even though returns was the first offical dolby digital soundtrack I think the dolby stereo surround is still worth saving/preserving as that would of been the way most people would of heard it in the theater at the time. Dolby digital was new and hadn't reached market penetration yet (although it quickly did). At the end of the day it is probably closer to the original theatrical mix then anything else (although that's a guess).

As I understand it the DS mix from Returns was a fold down from the original 5.1

TServo2049 said:

I am absolutely sure, this was documented in he late 90s/early 2000s. For example, the IMDB trivia (which has been there for years):

The Region-1 DVD actually contains two different versions of the film. The fullscreen version is the theatrical version, the widescreen version has one brief shot replaced. It is a small scene near the end at 1:14:06 just before Batman fights the Joker in the Clocktower. In the fullscreen version Vicki Vale gets a disgusted look when she kisses the Jokers jacket and pulls a lint out of her mouth, however in the widescreen version she really seems to like it.

In 2001, someone else on another forum said this:

on the DVD version, this shot is replaced with her still kissing the jacket, but she no longer looks disgusted, nor does she pull out the lint. In fact, she kinda looks "into it," for lack of a better word.

From Home Theater Forum in 2004:

on the widescreen side of the Batman DVD, the scene at the end where Vicki Vale is kissing the Joker's jacket and pulls lint off of her tongue, is changed slightly. I think it shows more kissing and she doesn't pause to remove the lint. The correct theatrical footage is on the pan 'n scan side.

And the widescreen version on the 1997 DVD was anamorphic, so unless it was an upscale, it wouldn't have been the LD master.

And from where comes this presupposition that all WB launch titles were from LD masters? I'd buy the fullscreen sides being dumped from LD, or maybe those notorious full-frame-only releases like Caddyshack, Vacation, Fierce Creatures, et. al., but I thought the anamorphic releases were supposed to be demo discs for the format, wouldn't they have thus been new masters made specifically for anamorphic?

I also can't find any mention of the "no lint" version showing up on any widescreen LD. But it most definitely was on the original widescreen DVD.

You know you can make any non anamorphic master anamorphic and vice versa, and this version does not exist that I know of on any format.

I have that disc somewhere and know the film by heart and I have never spotted that. That would be the worlds oddest change ever 

Their early discs anamorphic or not were of appalling quality it was not until the matrix in 99 they stepped it up.

It is well known they used the LD masters for the first discs 

TServo2049 said:

The original widescreen DVD transfer of Batman is also interesting because for some unknown reason, it has an alternate take of the scene where Vicki is kissing the Joker's jacket. She doesn't pull a piece of lint out of her mouth (still wondering if that was improvised by Basinger).

Are you sure about that? it was the same master as the LD like all WB DVD launch titles 

Yes please that is the version I had 

I have the UK disc you have no option with the logos 

It always drifts for me :(

I am aiming for the HDTV now, but not "colour like" spot on as I don't remember it as looking exactly like that, more of that as a start

Got another one for the "I have no willpower when it comes to Evil Dead" set 

I NEED that extended EDII disc tho 

Never, ever, ever read YT comments 

Does the 2002 start with the new revolving Universal logo?

OmegaMattman said:

dvdmike said:

Why would Universal licence them just to be shown up?

They already have been shown-up...and seem to be just fine with it.  Look at Shout's "Halloween II" versus the original Universal Blu-ray.  It might come from the same initial master, but Shout's is a cleaner presentation.  Plus, Uni allowed Shout to include the TV Cut, which they themselves had no intention of releasing.

Shout's upcoming "Darkman" will doubtless exceed Uni's existing BD as well.  And, I'd say Universal would not be licensing to Criterion if they did not expect their own editions (like that of "Brazil") to be totally surpassed.

If Universal was concerned with being "shown-up", they'd limit Shout to movie-only releases, such as Disney pulled with Anchor Bay.  Remember that "Watcher in the Woods" debacle (which was spawned by "The Happiest Millionaire" DVD)?  Or, they'd keep everything in-house.

I meant with PQ not extras, Halloween is debateable and only a few have new masters (The Game etc) as for Darkman, the BD already beat the HD-DVD (rare) but the most we can hope for is the HDTV version that resolves grain better.

I would love to be wrong but I doubt it

OmegaMattman said:

dvdmike said:

Shout use the masters universal give them same with criterion (mostly)

So did Anchor Bay when they had it, save for Campbell's video copy.  But, I know a guy who knows a guy (yeah, one of those) who used to work at AB during that period.  He claims that, back when they were producing their Limited Edition, AB contacted DeLaurentiis studios about additional footage and the Director's Cut and were told no material was available.  And, that they were shocked (and a bit angry) when it popped-up for MGM's release.

I can't see a company like Shout just sticking to Universal sources if they know others are available which they may be able to garner...assuming the price is right.

Shout do, it is in the contract with Universal that is why they have the same masters same with Criterion.

Why would Universal licence them just to be shown up?

I can get them but as above all my discs are boxed up and not at my house right now :(

I am a huge Crowe fan and I have never heard of this! 

Just got the 4:3 TV rip cannot find anything else tho :( first time my googlefu has failed me 

Bit late I know, but bargain 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bugsy-MUSE-Hi-Vision-Laser-Disc-LD-A-Barry-Levinson-Film-/251310402063?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3a83446a0f

It is in the TV cut, that is all I have on my PC atm.

My discs are packed up right now so cant check for a while 

HDTV/BD

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/34024

zeropc said:

dvdmike said:

zeropc said:

and then sony crop the shit out of it :P

Only in the UK the us version also transferred by Sony is Oar.

And their crop is miles better than the tilted stretched crap we had for years

the u.s. blu-ray is from anchor bay.

Released by, Sony did the master they are identical 

So we have it? Or do I keep looking and downloading