Akira Kurosawa's RAN - Masterworks Edition (street date: September 9th, 2002) (1 Viewer)

[Rich Malloy]

Rob, I'm certain that it's better than the previous version (how could it not be?). My beef is the premium pricetag for a subpar, if not quite disastrous disc. Not even Criterion charges these prices (their three-disc sets are available for $50-60)... and at least with them, it's worth every penny.

And I've seen the "Madadayo" and "Kurosawa" DVDs in this set already (available at Netflix, and the latter at my local blockbuster... it was even on IFC last night), and while both films are recommended, neither DVD is.

But I'm glad to hear the original track is included. Wellspring's previous 5.1 remixes ("Fox and His Friends" and "The Merchant of Four Seasons") are among the very worst I've ever heard.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I already had the 'Kurosawa' disc. Isn't this one the same, I assumed it was but haven't looked yet. I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. It is a documentary after all.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Point well taken Rich. I definitely agree with you regarding the marketing ploy used here. Just give us the opportunity to purchase this disc by itself, at a reasonable price!

 

[Rich Malloy]

And I certainly agree with you - unless it's a total disaster, I'll pay $15-20 for it!
Mark, the major problem with the "Kurosawa" documentary disc (in addition to the shimmering, compression artifacts, etc.) is that it was shot in hi-definition 16x9 format - that is, very high quality - and yet wasn't anamorphically-enhanced for DVD. It's just damn peculiar that they'd have a gorgeous, state-of-the-art master, and then give it a cut-rate transfer. And this is long after Fox Lorber (ahem... Wellspring) claimed a full commitment to anamorphic DVDs that began with the terribly transferred... and yet anamorphic ..."Yi Yi" disc. (BTW, buy the R0/NTSC Starmax version of "Yi Yi".)

 

[Ted Todorov]

It's just damn peculiar that they'd have a gorgeous, state-of-the-art master, and then give it a cut-rate transfer. And this is long after Fox Lorber (ahem... Wellspring) claimed a full commitment to anamorphic DVDs that began with the terribly transferred... and yet anamorphic ..."Yi Yi" disc

And of course the Kurusawa disks are hardly the only violation of that policy: of the two Wellspring DVDs I bought since, one, the wonderful New Waterford Girl has a bad non-anamorphic transfer. At least it wasn't expensive. The only visible improvement at Fox-Lorber...pardon me, Wellspring is that they do occasionally put out a good anamorphic transfer, but they have shown no consistent commitment to anything resembling quality.
Ted

 

[Kevin M]

if we keep rewarding shoddy work with our $$ we will keep getting shoddy work. This is so elementary -- once DVD companies discover that they lose money from inferior transfers, they will suddenly start caring for quality. Until we do start voting with our money though, they will screw us again and again and again. The choice is ours.

True, but I suggest a letter writing campaign in addition to any economic boycott so FL/Wellspring will understand that this is why the DVD is underselling.
Assuming this transfer is all that bad, I have read seething comments about "crappy" transfers on the boards before that I personally didn't have a problem with.
Who are you talking to David? Not me I assume.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I think his point was that is something is SHOT in 16x9 HD, that the studio would literally have to TRY to convert it to a crappy aliasing-filled/artifact-ridden 4x3 lbxed transfer. Sadly, they were up to the task!!

 

[Tom Oh]

I wish I can cancel my order but it has shipped already. Limited edition and numbered box set? Pleeease! I really feel bad about convincing a colleague at work to order this.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

A follow up to my first post. I watched about 3/4 of the movie straight through. With refard to the problems I posted above, this disc is still very watchable. Colors are nice and fairly saturated. Most of the image is very clean, but because of DVNR. The picture is soft, though, and lacking in detail. I don't think we'll have a better version for quite a while. Its easy for me to ignore the EE and shimmering, etc., while watching this excellent film.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The picture is soft, though, and lacking in detail. I don't think we'll have a better version for quite a while. Its easy for me to ignore the EE and shimmering, etc., while watching this excellent film.

Do you have a 100" screen? I'm bummed thinking of how this will look on the projector...
:frowning:

 

[Carl C]

:frowning: Damn. I just got my package from Amazon and was about to open it with excitement.
Thankfully, I decided to come on here first to check and see what others were saying about the new RAN disc.
I have the previous (i.e. terrible) Fox Lorder disc, but now I'm truly afraid to even open up this set to do a direct comparison. If it's half as lackluster as it sounds, I don't have a problem sending the thing back for a full refund as it is still unopened.
$90 is $90. I'll just use that money to pick up the BAND OF BROTHERS set, which I know will deliver the goods.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Do you have a 100" screen? I'm bummed thinking of how this will look on the projector...

I wish, just a lowly Mits 65" RPTV, ISF'd. Feeding it from an RP91.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Better than me...when I talk all "big" about the projector I'm really talking about my *friend's* projector :frowning:
I've got a 16x9 direct-view 34" at home. So you have me beat!
But the trend lately is that I'm going over and watching at least one movie at week at my buddy's house...and since I'm also saving for my own projector...I do care how these transfers look on the big screen (though yours is not exactly small in comparison!!)
dave

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I'm sure you'll notice the shimmering, its really the worsed part of the transfer. Second being the DVNR artifacts in some scenes. The shimmering is really bad in the beginning. Look at the stars on the yellow tent banners. They pulsate!

 

[Douglas Bailey]

Can anyone who's bought the new Ran DVD post links to a couple of screen-grabs from it?
I know still images won't convey the shimmering/pulsating problems with the transfer, but at least they'll give prospective buyers -- like me! -- some idea of what the new disc looks like in terms of resolution, contrast and colour fidelity.
doug

 

[Maryann W]

[rant]Some info directly from Wellspring[/rant]

Hello all,

As usual everyone at Wellspring is thrilled to see that the interest in Ran continues among DVD aficionados and we thank you. A few hard facts to dispel the myths out there:

The new Ran DVD was created from a restored 35mm film print. We made an HD transfer of it, took it into digital surgery to do a little cleaning (removing the biggest offenders) and then downconverted to NTSC. This information is available both on the restoration demo on the DVD itself and on Amazon.com the exclusive seller of this version at this time. I caution everyone to be suspicious of postings that contradict information provided by more official sources. No PAL master was used. Nothing went through DVNR. In addition, nothing was done to make the "before" footage in the restoration demo look worse.

Lastly, as a bit of anecdotal information, the man who was the colorist for the new transfer of Ran also does quite a bit of work for Criterion. He's a great colorist no matter who he is working for and I assure you, the quality of his work for us on Ran is as good as it is for any Criterion title he has worked on.

Thank you again for your continued passion about DVD.

 

[Graeme Clark]

And how are the subtitles? Can I assume that it's the same translation, but player generated this time?

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Here's a link to an outside review of Ran by Glenn Erickson:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s610ran.html
Relevant clip:

Fox Lorber's earlier DVD was an ugly mess - Savant ordered it for the use of a language school, only to be turned off by its ugly colors and lack of 16:9 formatting. The main appeal of this new release, which will probably spur a lot of grudging purchases of the expensive full Collection, is the improvement in Ran. A lengthy restoration demonstration proves mostly that the original transfer was a sloppy job done from mediocre elements. The fuzzy, bleary color has congealed into a sharp image - sometimes with a totally new color scheme - that's far more satisfying. The 1:85 anamorphic transfer gives the brightly colored costumes real snap, and makes the smoke and fire of the battles look great, even on a large widescreen monitor. For audio tracks, there's a thoughtful choice of DD 5.1 and a 2.0 mono original. The lengthy movie is also given a liberal 40 chapter stops - averaging one every four minutes.

Sounds like it's a good one - I'll wait for the separate release, though.

 

[Tim Fleming]

I notice that in his review, Glenn also gave it a rating of Excellent for Movie, Picture, and Sound.

regards, Tim...

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Thanks for the link to that review Peter!

Looks like there is hope after all! Thank God!

I, too, will wait for the separate release though.