DVD Review HTF DVD REVIEW: "Alien: Quadrilogy" w/ ton's of screenshots! Highly Recommended! (1 Viewer)

[Scott*E]

I watched the theatrical release of Alien tonight and had one drop out on the DD track. I kind of skimmed through the DTS tracks earlier today and had a few drop outs in different places but they weren't consistent. I backed them up and they played okay the second time. The drop out on the DD track tonight though kind of took me by suprise. I've never experienced any audio problems before now. My DVD player is a Sony DVP-NS300 and my receiver is a Sony STR-DE875. I hope Fox will do an exchange. *crosses fingers*

 

[Lewis Besze]

I had 3 drop out on the Alien DC DTS so far I got tired of so I switched to DD.I'm at the scene where the acid blood from the face hugger drops through some decks.
IMO this is a software problem not hardware.Equipment is Denon 2900 and Outlaw 950 pre/pro.
Be back later.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Ok just finished Alien,the rest of the DC was fine with DD,I also re watched some of the "froze up" section with DD and it was no problem as well.I also noticed that the DD track was more balanced and the dialog remaained in the center,with DTS it was wondering around in the front 3 channels,and it was less inteligable, probably because of that.Check out chapter 5 when Parker and Brett walks the corridor on lower decks,half the stuff they said was hard to hear,because of the dialed up ambience and the affore mentioned dialog "wondering".This contradicts Adam's review here.I have no doubt that these where sourced from two different mixes.So to me the faulty DTS track is no big loss.I still have to watch Resurection and see if that will be the case as well.

 

[HankM]

I noticed the same problem in the scene were Parker and Brett walk the corridor on lower decks. I have to play back some scenes in Dolby Digital and listen to the difference.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Two comparison shots I made:

----------------------------------
Alien Legacy set:
http://perso.club-internet.fr/willow/temp_alien_01.jpg

Alien Quadrilogy set:
http://perso.club-internet.fr/willow/temp_alien_02.jpg

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Alien Legacy set:
http://perso.club-internet.fr/willow/temp_alien_03.jpg

Alien Quadrilogy set:
http://perso.club-internet.fr/willow/temp_alien_04.jpg

 

[RickardL]

Holle,

I posted the stuff about the Yamaha RX-V1400 and DTS problems
for Alien. Alien Resurrection works fine with DTS though...
I have a Canadian R1 combined with a European RX-V1400
and that seems to cause this problem.
The DVD player seems to have no problem with it since
my Sony receiver handles it properly.
The Yamaha flickers back and forth.
Initially, I think it displays "dialnorm -27db".

Hmm, I saw that you had a Pioneer player also which
could make a contribution to the problem, sigh...
I have a Pioneer DV-F727.

 

[Prentice Cotham]

I was tempted to get this one (esp at $58) but the 5 1/2 foot foldout digipak and now the DTS dropouts are disheartening. I have a Denon receiver and Panny RP82 so it seems like I would be lineing up myself for a problems.

 

[Thomas H G]

Steven FC

I think I'll wait until January and get the first three and call it good. I can live without the extra bonus disc. If it was cheaper I might consider buying the set. I realize that seventy-five bucks is a good price, but it's not a good price when you're trying to find the money to buy Christmas presents for other people.

Don't know if you saw this, but head to the Coupons & Bargains forum. Deepdiscountdvd has it for 58 with a coupon.

 

[Holle]

I posted the stuff about the Yamaha RX-V1400 and DTS problems...

I also have the canadian Alien Quad. I´m german so i also have the european Yamaha. No answer from Yamaha yet, but i think that will take some time. Someone i know gets in contact with one of the product managers of Yamaha Germany and i´m curious what he has to say. Still a shame for such a high quality product.

 

[Grant H]

DDD price makes it so tempting, but do I really want to get it when I already have the original Alien and Aliens DVD's, and HD-DVD is not really so far away.

Hmm...I've resisted T3 Extreme. Can resist this too...must try!!

 

[Paul_Scott]

Grant,
the new transfer on Alien is so refined...its discs like this that make me not care one bit if i never see HD dvd.

seriously-its probably the finest remastering/restoring of a catalog title i've ever seen- and the $58, for what you get here, is peanuts.

i just feel bad, 'cause i doubt DDD is going to be around a yr from now with promotion like this.
the shipping costs on quad sets alone (and their returns and re-shipping 'cause DDD has been horrible in the past with box sets and packing) is going to eat a good chunk of their meager profit here.

 

[ThomasWallin]

Had no DTS audio-dropouts on the first Alien. Haven't checked Resurrection yet. Although I had one freeze in the first alien. Had to press fast forward to get by it. It's right at the end of the scene with the spacejockey. Camera zooms back and right when it cut's to John Hurts face it freezes. Strange indeed. Using a European Denon 2900 and a Pioneer 2011 amp. with the reg 1 set. Was afraid about the audio because there seems to be a couple of guys with the same player here who are having problems. Not sure if the player is the problem yet though. And as if it has not been said enough.... what an awesome, extraordinary set this is. Thank's to all people involved.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Lewis, just did a chapter 5 check with both Dolby and DTS and couldn't detect any significant difference in the audio. Dialogue stayed central.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Hey Folks -

For those that are upset about the "quality" of the Aliens transfer, here are some comparison screen caps to show what a new encoding and higher bit rate can do to the 1999 high definition transfer recycled for the Quadrilogy:

1999 Aliens DVD


2003 Quadrilogy Aliens DVD


Note the higher level of detail in the starfield in the 2003 pressing (make sure "compressed images" is turned off in your browsers).

Cheers,

 

[Dave H]

Very interesting --- so, this 2003 transfer is the same as the 1999? Amazing what can be done with better encoding.

 

[Charlie B. Ch.]

Just finished watching both I and II. No DTS audio drop with my Bravo D1 & Pioneer 811 setup. Alien's transfer is absoultely fabulous while Aliens' transfer is a shame. How could Cameron who (I think) authorized the hi-def transfer of T2 Extreme be content with the original transfer? I have a 50" screen and I am not happy at all.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Lewis, just did a chapter 5 check with both Dolby and DTS and couldn't detect any significant difference in the audio. Dialogue stayed central.

Ok let me clarify it,it didn't completely moved but it "leaked" to the L R channels,and sorta "fluctated" in amplitude, and it did so more evidently on the DTS IMO.

 

[RickardL]

Felix,

thanks for posting the caps!!
Have you checked the bitrate of the 1999 vs 2003 version? I am not sure it has that much higher bitrate.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

I have to say after watching aliens last night, the transfer is a minor letdown after seeing how good the transfer was on alien.

 

[Kevin_H]

Those screencaps of Aliens do show an inprovement. I would be interested in seeing the difference for the scenes in the APV and when it goes completely to red lighting later in the film. Those scenes were the worse offenders for graininess and dirt spots.