Original War of the Worlds DVD - How is video quality?
I was wondering how the transfer is on the original War of the Worlds DVD. One of the reviews at Amazon said it was terrible, and made a pretty good case that it was not well done. Other reviews there said the transfer was good. Those of you who have seen this, could you please let me know your impressions of the transfer?
I found a copy for 9.99, and didn't know if I should wait to see what the Collector's Edition that is coming out later this year would be like. Any suggestions?
I held off buying bcs it didnt' have the stereo audio of the laserdisc...but I saw my dad's copy on a Sharp 9000 projector and it looked pretty good considering...shows the natural age of the film (film artifacts) but a nice transfer. Some scenes were very crisp/clear and 3-dimensional...but there were some registration problems like the early Singing in the Rain disc from what I remember...I'm assuming that WOTW is a technicolor 3-strip film?
It was a while ago but I remember that it was more than watchable (film-like) on the Sharp 9000 on a 96" (16x9) screen. For $10 that's not a bad deal. I've been tempted to pick it up myself!
i have no complaints.
thought it was very decent- colors very vibrant.
you can easily see the strings on the ships.
dunno if thats a good thing or not .
i'm watching on a fp too.
no desire for me to upgrade to any eventual SE
I thought it was terrific, one of the best "old school" sci-fi DVDs I've ever seen. In fact, it was TOO good -- the wires holding up the spaceships are so obvious that it's embarrassing. I'm told that will be fixed for the SE.
even though i generally consider myself a purist, i really don't think the wires were intended to be seen and i found them very distracting.
that was my biggest problem with the film.
it really took me out of the story time and again.
if they 'wiped' those out for the SE, i would definitely consider upgrading
A tough call...but I cast my vote for keeping the strings in, as I would have cast my vote for keeping in the reflection of the cobra in the protective glass in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (there was a rumor they were going to fix that...don't know if they did or not).
The wires would probably be invisible in a 1953 dye-transfer print.
When Lowry Digital Images digitally refurbished North by Northwest, they had to digitally erase wires on an airplane because the sharpness of the new version made them too obvious.
I've seen an original 1953 dye-transfer print of the trailer, and you can not see the wires. The problem with all the new elements (and prints) is the timing is too light on those shots. I believe they began timing those scenes too light since the early seventies re-issue.
The scenes with the war machines were meant to be much darker as shown in the trailer.
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