JAMES BOND ULTIMATE COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[John H Ross]

Octopussy seems to be okay!

So "just" Moonraker botched up then... :-(

 

[MielR]

Thanks, John!

I wonder if they will bother fixing Moonraker before they release the single-disc version?

Has anyone reported the flaw to MGM yet?

 

[David Dias]

It wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that's what really happened. Lowry is ultimately "cleaning" these films, they're not re-framing them. It's a damn shame because Goldeneye is one of my favorite Bond films.

 

[rich_d]

Right, but weren't we told they were going back to the original negative and doing a 4K scan on every frame?

Perhaps what this really means is that some Ultimate Editions are more ultimate than others.

 

[Frank@N]

I currently own all the SEs and now all the UEs. I was wondering which SEs I can safely give away.

I'll be keeping my Goldeneye SE (of course) and my DAD disc 2, but what else?

Seems like several of the Moore titles got the Lowry shaft...Live and Let Die (whites blown out, detail lost), Spy (EE), and AVTAK (left cropped).

 

[cafink]

From the screenshot comparisons I've seen, A View to a Kill appears cropped only during the opening sequence of the film. The rest of the film is framed the same on the Ultimate Edition as on the Special Edition.

I wonder if a TV version was used for the opening sequence as appears to be the case with Goldeneye. Anyone care to get captures from the credits of both versions? (I'd like to do it myself but I ordered the DVDs during Amazon's $125 sale and am still waiting for them to arrive.) If it is indeed the case, I wonder why only AVTAK's opening sequence appears affected, while Goldeneye is cropped throughout the entire film.

 

[John H Ross]

I seriously doubt that they care.

 

[MielR]

I'm going to do like some other members here are doing- I'm going to make my own collection of Bond DVDs from the SEs and UEs, weighing the pros and cons of each title.

If the Moonraker DVD is defective and they're not going to fix it, I'll just stick with the SE.

If the UE of Live and Let Die lacks as much detail as reported, then I'll stick with the SE of that as well.

A View to A Kill is one of my favorites (mainly because of Chris Walken) so if the UE isn't too badly cropped, then I'll go ahead and get that one.

It's too bad (and strange) that these UEs aren't more consistent in their quality.

 

[Frank@N]

Well, as of last night I'm up to 'Live and Let Die'.

Despite some concerns after looking at screenshots, the UE is still way better.

The UE whites are blown out a bit and it does feel a bit zoomed compared to the SE, but the UE is so amazingly clean that I doubt anyone could go back to the SE.

I put on the SE for comparsion and it only took about 5 minutes before I had to turn it off.

 

[Demis G]

So many pages..
Please dont kick me if I ask this:

So far it is known that ONLY "Moonraker" Ultimate Edition DVD has a problem? (what exactly is that problem?)

What other Bond Ultimate Edition movies have a problem ?

 

[John H Ross]

Well, the UE of Moonraker does have FAR superior picture and sound quality to the SE version. I always found the sound on the SE to be utter rubbish. The new mix is far more robust.

I will keep both but will be more likely to watch the UE, despite the glitch.

But I'm not happy the glitch is there.

 

[MielR]

Some people's players are freezing up for a few seconds at one point in the DVD (and it's NOT at the layer change). I believe it's the R1 that's affected, I don't know about other regions.

I've only seen a few of the UEs so far, but based on what I've read here, none of the other DVDs have any problems of freezing up. Some have issues with questionable cropping and color balance choices, but so far only Moonraker has been reported by the members here as "defective".

 

[Terry Hickey]

Besides having "Moonraker" freeze up in 2 different places (one could have been a layer change), I had the same thing happen on "You Only Live Twice".
It hung up or froze for a few seconds in 2 different spots, also. The rest of the ultimate editions played fine (I bought all four box sets).

 

[MielR]

So, should we add YOLT to the defective list? What part(s) of the movie did this occur?

Has anyone else had this problem with YOLT?

There was a review on Amazon that said Octopussy froze up too (at C19 1:12:49), but that may have been a layer change (John Ross said it was OK).

 

[Ric Easton]

Good God, man! I'm thinking I shouldn't have jumped at that Amazon sale. I've still only seen the first two movies, so I have yet to get to the problem discs.

 

[MielR]

I'm thinking that maybe not many people have sat down and watched these movies all the way through. That could be why these reports of defects are popping up now.

 

[Ray H]

To me at least, the Moonraker thing isn't a big deal. Hell, I didn't even notice it when I first watched the movie. When I saw someone post something about a pause, I went back, checked, and it was there. And it lasted for a brief moment. But my reaction was more along the lines of "Hmmmm...." than annoyance.

 

[John H Ross]

Bad news I'm afraid. I just went back and looked at that scene. On my Denon 2900 Octopussy does indeed glitch but, unlike Moonraker which jams to a halt, this one kind of splutters a few times. The sound doesn't appear to go off, but the picture jerks at least 3 or 4 times. I mustn't have had my eyes on the screen when I watched it the other night.

I'm sorry but this is ******* ridiculous! Artistic problems with Goldeneye, A View To A Kill, etc. And now technical problems with Moonraker and Octopussy.

I need to go back and look at YOLT now. Where are THOSE faults supposed to be?

I really am starting to resent spending my hard-earned money on the second rate rubbish that these stuidios think they can put out! And then they have the audacity to expect us to buy stuff again in HD. Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

[John H Ross]

Reply removed by poster to avoid potential controversy.

 

[Cory Bevilacqua]

I ordered all 4 sets from Amazon when they had that $125 deal, and I'm liking them so far. The Goldeneye cropping is disappointing (Goldeneye is my favorite Bond film and I've seen it dozens and dozens of time, so I actually do notice that something looks off), but other than that I'm happy.

My first copy of From Russia With Love didn't play consistently in my XBox 360, however. Sometimes it would start, and sometimes the 360 wouldn't even recognize that there was a disc. I had Amazon ship me a replacement (for all 4 sets haha, they couldn't just send me a new Volume 3), and the 2nd copy of From Russia With Love has started properly every single time I've put it in the 360. Both discs work in my PC's DVD-ROM drive. I'm not sure exactly what the deal is or how I could ever come to a real conclusion on whether the discs are defective or not, but I'm obviously going to keep the 2nd copy.