Here in the states Haneke's films are released by different DVD labels. This new set is all by Kino, and there are some new titles we haven't seen stateside before. Slim cases or not, Kino generally does an excellent job and I would be surprised if they didn't do justice to Haneke.
According to this post by a Haneke fan in the Movies forum, the R1 version of Code Unknown (which would be Kino's) is both non-anamorphic and poor quality. It might be wise to wait for a review of the set.
But Kino has done a typically worse job than its R2 counterparts on all the other Haneke titles they've previously released. As per usual from them, each are non pre-converted PAL>NTSC transfers with the usual ghosting issues. The prior transfers for "Code Unknown" and "The Piano Teacher" are non-anamorphic, to boot, but I believe these were handled by a different label than Kino. I suspect Kino will do their usual improper PAL>NTSC conversions from the existing R2 transfers. So, if it's just a repackaging of existing Kino discs (plus "The Castle"), and then non-preconverted PAL>NTSC transfers of "Code" and "Piano", then this will most definitely be a second (or third) rate release compared to other regions. And likely every bit as expensive or more.
And given that "The Castle" is to my knowledge unavailable in an English-friendly DVD release, I'm hoping that Kino will at least sell that one separately, though I suppose I could always Netflix it and wait for the inevitable UK release (which will likely be of better quality).
I can't say for sure who handled the transfers, but I believe all of the previously released discs in the R1 box were released by Kino, with the exception of Funny Games, which was a Wellspring disc (and I haven't seen it):
Caché was released by Sony and looks quite good (at least to my eye), while Palm Pictures released Time of the Wolf, which also looks decent. I've been holding out hope that decent R1 versions of other films would be forthcoming, but I'm starting to wonder.
I think it's all but certain that any "remastering" Kino does will be limited to improperly converted PAL>NTSC transfers of those films it's not yet released... and the same transfer for the others. Why would I say this? Because of every other Kino disc I've ever owned or seen.
Some good news: "The Castle" will be available separately (but presently at a very premium price-point, even for Kino): http://www.amazon.com/Castle/dp/B000SIWHAU Will this be an unpreconverted PAL-port of the French or German DVDs, but with English subs?
Also, as much as I love xploited - I purchase many discs from those folks (and their shipping is lightning fast, to boot - at least the Haneke (Glaciation) Trilogy box can currently be purchased for less at amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
The Haneke Collection is presently a bit cheaper at xploited.
Kino's new collection of Michael Haneke's films has been out for a couple of weeks, but it isn't getting much attention. Has anyone bought this box-set, and can you comment on the transfers?