Well looks like I have to take back what I've said. According to Amazon the Universal Music DVD is finally coming out in R1 on October 11 and it's now up for pre-ordering.
(Sorry, I'm not yet allowed to post a link.)
The only catch is that it's not sure whether the $13.99 price is for (most-likely) the regular version or the (wishful thinking) the 2-disc LE. Guess we have to wait a little bit longer to find out.
Saw a few PAL copies (the DVDs are region 0) at my local HMV store yesterday (which is indeed to my astonishment since EzyDVD hasn't even listed this title). It is the 2-disc edition (1 DVD9 + 1 DVD5 according to the specs on the back). It has the same cover art as the Universal Music version announced on the ABBAsite.
Meanwhile the R1 release seems to be postponed once again. Amazon.com has changed release date to to be announced. My pre-order has been canceled.
Looks like I'll have to pick this up today at the store. And if I need a NTSC copy I'll have to order from Japan.
What the hell is the problem now? Once again, we get to within 2 weeks of release to learn we wont get it. If it has all the bells and whistles then OK...but really! Between Dune Extended cut, and ABBA: The Movie, maybe i would be better off not knowing 2 months in advance whats coming out.
Shame about the stupidly placed chapter stops that do not take you to the beginning of each song, but smack-dab in the middle of them. What the heck is that all about?
There´s not supposed to be any PAL-speedup issues with this title. I read this in a video industry magazine here in sweden (Video Monitor or the other one, "what´s it called" )
They understood that the speedup would ruin the experience (music-wise) so they created a frame of visual information to match the music and to eliminate the 4% problem.
I haven´t seen the result yet but i´m very anxious to do just that as i´m a militant opposer to PAL-speedup.
Please can you post your findings on the PAL speed up as soon as you can verify this. Presumably it should be easy - just compare any song with how it sounds on a CD.
I was holding out for the R1 version, if there was going to be any PAL speed up.
For those of you awaiting an NTSC region-1 release of ABBA-The Movie, Universal Canada released their edition on October 11th. It's the single-disc edition, with anamorphic 16:9, DTS, Dolby 2.0. Dolby 5.1 and little else. I don't know if Universal Canada have any plans to release the 2-disc edition.