War of the Worlds SCE (George Pal) (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

Yeah, this one looks like the edition to get -- the inclusion of the Orson Welles radio show really tops it off! I prefer the 50s movie to the current one, although the current one was pretty good. Still, I think I will limit my purchase to this edition.

 

[Daniel Bakken]

Wow, thanks for the news. I'm all over this now!!!

 

[Mark Oates]

There will be an R2 release of the Collector's Edition on November 14, complete with this dead cool artwork

 

[andron_n]

Cool!

 

[Steve Christou]

Yep much better cover. If it has all the same extras as the R1 I'll pick this up instead.

 

[PeterTHX]

Um. I don't buy a version of a film based on COVER ART.

Unless you actually live in R2 why pay more for PAL speedup, etc?

 

[Steve Christou]

Why not? I've done that many times, most recently with the superior R2 artwork to The Warriors. People buy cars based on good looks, why not dvds? Oh did I mention, barely perceptible PAL speedup doesn't bother me in the slightest. Note to regional dvd companies: get the best looking cover art for your dvds and I'm half way there.

 

[Jake Yenor]

"People buy cars based on good looks, why not dvds?"
Because you and others are always seeing what the car looks like constantly. Once a DVD goes on your shelf you never see the box art, just the spine other than a few seconds when taking out a disk.

 

[Steve Christou]

Yeah but those few seconds...
I always have about a dozen or so dvds fully on display on my shelves, either because they're new or they have great cover art like the 2-disc Lord of the Rings editions (yes I have the 4-disc sets too).

But if the R2 War of the Worlds is missing some important extras, like a commentary for instance, than I would definitely go for the R1, duff cover and all and than try and find a hi-res scan of the R2 cover somewhere on the net.

 

[RobertR]

Glad to hear your priorities are straight. It's first and foremost about the movie.

 

[Steve Christou]

Oh I love commentaries, probably my favorite dvd extras.


True, but if we never gave a shit about the cover art than whats it all about guv? Isn't that part of movie collecting too, isn't there an attraction there? Or are we all just gleefully waiting for the time when our entire movie collections are just a series of numbers and letters on a massive hard drive?

 

[RobertR]

The series of number and letters on the hard drive can include nice cover art.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

dvdreview has a review up and confirms the stereo audio in addition to the orignal monural:

http://www.dvdreview.com/reviews/pages/2085.shtml

Hopefully we'll see an HTF review soon? When is the street date again???

 

[Joe Fisher]

November 1, 2005. Same as Star Wars Episode III.

 

[Scott Kimball]

I watched it last night. Haven't had a chance to look at extras, yet - and I'm working a 14 hour day today. Hope to get back to this and post tomorrow night or Thursday. Having a serious Nor-easter today (50 - 60mph+ wind, absorbed from Wilma). If I have power when I get home tonight, I may get some time to check out other extras, then.

Liked what I saw and heard. I listened to most of the Mercury Theater radio program on my commute to work this morning.

I don't own the previous release, so I can't do a side-by-side... but from my recollections, the new release is worth the upgrade.

-Scott

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey...I know what it's like to have a full plate when these screeners come in the mail...you've got mercy from this corner...



Looking foward to the poset when you do get it reviewed...and when I get a chance I'll A/B the old/new DVD and post the results in your review thread.

cheers!

dave

 

[Scott Kimball]

David,
You've got mail.

-Scott

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, Steve IS in PAL land so if he's not bothered by PAL speedup he is still getting a noticeably superior picture, 576 vs. 480 lines and no 3/2 pulldown issue. So if it is all about the movies, he's getting approximately a 20% better looking visual representation of the film. Matters to some. I have both LOTR EE sets and the difference in PQ between R1 and R2 is incredible, with less filtering as well. And since the LOTR sets were pitch corrected for them it was a no-brainer. Speedup is very noticeable on some titles, (Scream sounded... odd) but on others, not noticeable. The R2 of "Gangs of New York" is SO much better looking than the atrocious R1 release and it seems to have been pitch corrected too. All depends on the film...

Having the Orson radio Broadcast on this is a GREAT extra. Halloween nite, light some candles and crank that sucker. Incredible...


d

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I'd love to have a thread that details which R2 titles have better DVD quality than the cooresponding R1 (like LOTR and gangs of NY examples). Is there such a thread already started somewhere?

 

[Dave Mack]

Hiya Dave!

I have seen a few but they unfortunately almost always devolve into a PAL speedup vs. more res. no 3/2 pulldown brawl. If you try to objectively evaluate a PAL transfer someone will ALWAYS jump in and say, "I can't stand PAL speedup! The actors sound like chipmunks etc..." :frowning:
With my new Oppo. outputting native PAL progressively, (BTW, Oppo has new firmware on their site today tweaking the PQ, ESPECIALLY for PAL) and comparing directly , 576 50 hz. vs 480, (and even upscaled...) 60 hz. for a good PAL transfer the PQ is incredible. I have directly compared SW ep. 1, Gangs and the LOTR sets and the PAL versions are night and day better. That also could be because the R1's weren't nearly as good as they should have been.

There are a few sites that do R1 vs. R2 comps. What's also amazing is that often the asian NTSC versions, like the ALIEN set and Underworld, Sleepy Hollow, will have better picture and audio too often with full bit-rate DTS tracks. The japanese Underworld extended edition with Full BR DTS is suppossed to be the best DTS track ever.