House Of Flying Daggers OFFICIAL R3 DVD Release Oct 18th! (1 Viewer)

[Ushabye]

With the complete and utter poliferation of pirate copies of this movie on eBay it's a relief to see the official R3 release coming out so soon. I saw pirate copies of this being bid up to $60 on a daily bases! Well, we have the last laugh as the R3 release retails at HK$78, which is roughly US$12. Wont hit cinemas in Ireland for many months yet, but picking up a copy anyway and see if I can wait. Though if I waited for HERO on the big screen I'd still be waiting as its almost 2 years since I watched it on R3!

 

[mathieu_l]

Yeah! Good news! I didn't think we'd see this one as soon as this. It's made by Edko so we can expect OK to Good quality. (I have the Edko release of Hero and it's pretty good). If another version comes out and is better, I'll buy it without a problem since this first one is so cheap. Let's se what the Koreans will make with this one...

 

[Tim Fleming]

My Edko version arrived today (from Layoyo.com) - it has both DD5.1 and DTS audio and is anamorphic. No chance to watch it yet, so I cannot report on image quality.

 

[ThomasC]

The video transfer is not very good. The image is too bright and soft, the contrast is bad, and it can get blurry sometimes when things move. The source is most obviously analog. Sony, with their average track record in R1, is incapable of doing a transfer this bad considering its potential, and will probably do a much better job I'm viewing this on a 17-inch FD Trinitron monitor. The audio is fine, but I can't be a great judge of it since I only have a 2.1 Altec Lansing computer speaker setup.

Video - :star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:

It's definitely watchable, but the quality could be so much better.

EDIT: I had previously said it was horrible, but I guess I've just been spoiled with all the perfect transfers from R1 companies.

 

[Kris Deering]

Well I just popped my copy in to see if it indeed looks horrible. It doesn't. It doesn't look great, but it is far from unwatchable. I am using a 42" plasma fed by a Denon 5900 and DVDO Iscan HD. The first few minutes are in poor condition print wise. After that it gets better though. The colors are a bit awash and the image lacks the crisp look of a great DVD, but I have seen far worse. For $10, it is very acceptable, at least until the Columbia release comes out!

 

[Chris_Marin]

Bodhi Sarkar has presented us with a full review of this brand new region 3 release of House Of Flying Daggers here.

 

[Kris Deering]

The reason this disc may not look very good on most DVD players is its flagging. It is horrible. This will cause most DVD players to drop into a video mode and crush resolution. If your DVD player has a de-interlacing mode that handles 2-2 well, then use it. A film bias mode will work very well too. The whites are greatly exaggerated at times and the image does have a hard digital look at certain times, but overall this is a pretty decent looking DVD given the price. It can be improved upon but with the right video processing, this was a treat to watch.

The audio presentation is fantastic. Very dynamic and superb use of the entire surround stage. The echo game sequence is demo material in my opinion.

For the price this is going for, it's a no brainer in my opinion. Great film, Superb audio, Decent transfer.

 

[jason:g]

Don't have that. And it's meant to be 3:2 pulldown for NTSC?

 

[Sten F]

Naturally, the audio has to be awsome as it´s full-bitrate dts 1536kbps.

 

[jason:g]

Hmm, I think maybe I should have to buy the Japanese version!

 

[Kris Deering]

It should be since this is film based, but the authoring isn't very good. It happens. Look at R2 PAL discs. Almost every one of them that we have dumped to looked at the flags has come back as encoded as video. Sad really. This is one of the reasons I stay away from R2 PAL releases.

Again for $10, this is a great DVD. If you are REALLY concerned about the pic quality (it will look the worse on HTPCs since they are mainly flagged based) then I would probably look for the R1 or R2 Japan release.

 

[ThomasC]

If I read it correctly, Amazon Japan says that it will be released there on December 3rd, the same date of the U.S. theatrical release.

 

[jason:g]

Amazon Japan doesn't have a release date yet for the title.
Anyway I have submitted my email to keep me informed when it's up for preorder. At the moment the title is just "LOVERS".
ASIN： B0001A7CZA
I'll probably buy it when it comes out (if it has English subs)


Amazon.co.jp also has other "Lovers" DVDs, but they are actually erotica/adult DVDs.

 

[ThomasC]

If you search for "Lovers" at Amazon Japan, it comes up as #17 on the list. It may not be it, but I don't see why it wouldn't be.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/...117449-2167514

 

[jason:g]

Yes, I've seen that page too
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/...253727-7713167
It is not the correct link, as it's some erotic/adult DVD. Also called SWEET SEX & LOVE. Description: It stars a Korean sex actress and features a RADICAL SEX scene. Synopsis: two people meet and cannot stop having sex.

That is the issue with naming a movie with a title that might be used in a porn film.

The correct link to the Zhang Yimou movie is http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/...253727-7713167
And the ASIN code for the DVD is B0001A7CZA

 

[Donnie Eldridge]

I noticed this right away.

 

[Max Knight]

I ran this through my iScan Ultra, and while the video was not amazing, it was very watchable. All in all a good film, though I enjoyed Hero more. The sound is superb, and the "echo game" scenes really showcase your system.

 

[Donnie Eldridge]

I had high expectations picture-wise based upon Edko's release of Hero. It was really a let down that it didn't at least meet them, though I will definitely pickup a better version of the movie when it's available.



I'm sure this one will go the route of Hero and have several releases. If you really must see the movie pick the Edko version up, otherwise your better off waiting.

 

[Kris Deering]

I figure I'll hold out with this disc until the eventual Columbia release here in Region 1. Hopefully they will give it a Superbit release like they did Crouching Tiger.

 

[RichP]

Great Movie!! Horrible DVD!!! Geeze, how do you screw a transfer up that much!?