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Anne of Green Gables: 30th Anniversary Blu-ray coming to the US in September (1 Viewer)

Rodney

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Bob_S. said:
I'll wait for reviews. If the picture quality gets a thumbs up, I'll definitely be getting this. I've wanted this on Blu for a loooong time.

Put me down as another one waiting for reviews on this. If the quality is good and it is OAR, I'm buying.
 

t2smith

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I'm taking a risk by pre-ordering now, but hopefully some early reviews come out so I have time to cancel if they are really bad.


Someone from Sullivan Entertainment created an account on another site and said the Blu-ray is exclusively sold from the shop at the Sullivan site. I wonder if that's the reason the Amazon release was delayed six weeks, so it could be sold exclusively on Sullivan's site during that time period.
 

t2smith

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t2smith said:
I went ahead and put my pre-order in. Amazon has it for $34.99 and that's about the highest I want to pay for this, especially with no details on the specs available. The regular price of $64.98 has me nervous that the price might not stay that low. Sullivan's site has it listed for $29.99, but the shipping to my location pushes it to over $45.

I guess I was right to feel nervous since the Amazon price is now $64.98. I had a feeling this might happen since Sullivan typically doesn't price any new release cheaply.
 

t2smith

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I thought I would be getting the Anne Blu-ray today, but I got an email from Amazon saying that my order has been delayed until December 18. I then read somewhere that Sullivan decided no other retailer is getting it until after the release date. I guess he is trying to force people to pay his $17 shipping charge.


I'm getting sick of this. First the Little House season 7 fiasco with Lionsgate and now this. Does Amazon ever find out before the release date that something won't be available on the release date?
 

Mike Frezon

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So I have kept this title in my cart...waiting for a price drop.

It has finally happened. It is now $35.22 @ Amazon.

But no one has posted a review here? How does this look? It is definitely 16:9, right? Does it work? It's GOT to be a better image (outside of the composition maybe) than the old DVD?!?

Anything?
 

GlennF

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Well, I haven't seen the blu, but the local PBS station broadcast the new HD master. It was okay. Close-ups were fine, but a lot of other shots had a lot of grain and were kind of fuzzy - that's what comes from taking 16 mm and stretching it and cutting off the top and bottom. The cropping didn't bother me as much as the picture quality. Maybe I was hoping for too much.
 

t2smith

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So I have kept this title in my cart...waiting for a price drop.

It has finally happened. It is now $35.22 @ Amazon.

But no one has posted a review here? How does this look? It is definitely 16:9, right? Does it work? It's GOT to be a better image (outside of the composition maybe) than the old DVD?!?

Anything?

It is good, but not Little House quality. I took some screenshots from the Blu-ray and hope to take some from comparison shots from the DVD at some point. Here are the screenshots I took so far.



2_5048.png


2016-02-02 (2).png


2016-02-02.png


10215.png


11730.png


2016-02-02 (1).png


2_4531.png


2_2548.png
 

Mike Frezon

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Some of those look pretty darn good, Toby. Much better than what I remember from the DVD.

Trigger pulled at that price.

It's been up in the $45-$55 range for months now.
 

GlennF

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Some of those look pretty darn good, Toby. Much better than what I remember from the DVD.

Trigger pulled at that price.

It's been up in the $45-$55 range for months now.

Let us know what it looks like, Mike, since, as you mentioned, reviews have been pretty hard to find.
 

Tony Bensley

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This Trailer that details the restoration of all four Kevin Sullivan "Anne" productions, clearly demonstrates the 16x9 Aspect Ratio is NOT cropped, at least not based on the originally released 1 inch Tape transfers! I highly recommend viewing the entire 6 minutes, as some of the restorations did present some interesting challenges, though these appear to be of overall tremendous improvement!


Now if only Amazon Canada didn't severely overprice the Kevin Sullivan titles! In my opinion, $72 is just way too much, no matter how good the restoration! I was only able to get the original DVD sets of the first three "Annes" in the states about 10 years ago, as our stores consistently charged the same amount for just one of the three titles, that I finally paid for all three at a U.S. based Brick & Mortar (Walmart, I believe!) outlet!

Besides, I know damn well my wife's gonna say, "The DVD's are good enough!" :P

CHEERS! :)
 

GlennF

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Sorry, absolutely cropped. I was in the film industry back then and the editors we used, Mairin Wilkinson and James Lahti edited the series. It was shot on 16mm. I watched them edit it in their basement and would look at it as it progressed. No one, of course, knew what a colossal hit it would be. TV's were a whole other shape back then.
 

Tony Bensley

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Sorry, absolutely cropped. I was in the film industry back then and the editors we used, Mairin Wilkinson and James Lahti edited the series. It was shot on 16mm. I watched them edit it in their basement and would look at it as it progressed. No one, of course, knew what a colossal hit it would be. TV's were a whole other shape back then.
Hi Glenn!

I'm not debunking your above comment, but how do you explain the obviously expanded side information (Without any apparent loss of top and bottom imaging!) that's amply demonstrated in the Trailer? That's clearly NOT mere overscanning!

If anything, I'd say it was the 1 inch Tape transfers prepared for original broadcast that were severely side cropped, albeit out of perceived necessity for presentation on the CRT Televisions of the day!

I've been on both sides of the argument regarding the "Anne" series, and for my revised opinion, I'm strictly going by what I viewed on the 6 minute Trailer! If that was somehow falsely manipulated to promote the 16x9 restorations, please enlighten me!

CHEERS! :)

Tony
 
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t2smith

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Here are the comparison shots.

2002 DVD

D2_5048.png


Blu-ray

2_5048-png.29187


DVD

D1_5817.png


Blu-ray

2016-02-02-2-png.29188


DVD

D1_2122.png


Blu-ray

2016-02-02-png.29192


DVD

D1_10213.png


Blu-ray

10215-png.29193


DVD

D1_11730.png


Blu-ray

11730-png.29194


DVD

D1_3741.png



Blu-ray

2016-02-02-1-png.29191


DVD

D2_4531.png


Blu-ray

2_4531-png.29190


DVD

D2_2548.png


Blu-ray

2_2548-png.29189
 
Last edited:

Tony Bensley

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^
The above DVD/Blu-ray comparison screenshots do indeed, paint a rather different picture, than what is demonstrated in the Trailer! Perhaps the latter did involve some manipulation, then?

Considering the Blu-ray images do look noticeably sharper, it is in my opinion, a rather frustrating scenario! :P

CHEERS! :)
 

t2smith

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^
The above DVD/Blu-ray comparison screenshots do indeed, paint a rather different picture, than what is demonstrated in the Trailer! Perhaps the latter did involve some manipulation, then?

Considering the Blu-ray images do look noticeably sharper, it is in my opinion, a rather frustrating scenario! :P

CHEERS! :)

They probably trimmed the top and bottom off the DVD video so it would be lined up with the 16x9 video when doing the comparisons. I wish they had done like Little House and gave us slightly more on the sides with a 1.36:1 aspect ratio without cropping the top and bottom. The Anne Blu-ray still looks good enough for me not to regret buying it.

I uploaded them to screenshot comparison so everybody could get a better look at the differences in full size.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/160911

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/160910
 

Tony Bensley

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They probably trimmed the top and bottom off the DVD video so it would be lined up with the 16x9 video when doing the comparisons. I wish they had done like Little House and gave us slightly more on the sides with a 1.36:1 aspect ratio without cropping the top and bottom. The Anne Blu-ray still looks good enough for me not to regret buying it.

I uploaded them to screenshot comparison so everybody could get a better look at the differences in full size.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/160911

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/160910
Hi Toby!

Your explanation does make sense. I consider that to be a deliberate deception, but that's my opinion!

By the way, how are you managing to upload your screenshots? I ask this because when I tried to do this earlier today, all I got was the URL Upload option when clicking on the Image icon, with no ability to upload from my PC! While I posted my query in the proper "Migration Related Feedback And Questions" Topic almost 12 hours ago, I've as yet received no reply! I also had this issue a few weeks back, but it was fixed fairly quickly that time.

CHEERS! :)

Tony
 

Mike Frezon

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Great work, Toby! Excellent job!

That is a radical difference, indeed, in resolution sharpness. In some shots, the re-compositions don't look bad at all, in others, it looks like a good bit of the top of the frame has been whacked. I'm sure it's simply a matter of being more noticeable on those shots which are framed rather tightly (like the top of Farnsworth's head/hat)!

Many of your particular examples seem to happily leave a lot of headroom which allows the re-composition not to cause too negative an impact.

The quality of the DVD is so bad that I think I will be pleased with this HD version. And I think the $35 price point makes it a good value.
 

t2smith

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Great work, Toby! Excellent job!

That is a radical difference, indeed, in resolution sharpness. In some shots, the re-compositions don't look bad at all, in others, it looks like a good bit of the top of the frame has been whacked. I'm sure it's simply a matter of being more noticeable on those shots which are framed rather tightly (like the top of Farnsworth's head/hat)!

Many of your particular examples seem to happily leave a lot of headroom which allows the re-composition not to cause too negative an impact.

The quality of the DVD is so bad that I think I will be pleased with this HD version. And I think the $35 price point makes it a good value.

I recently built a new computer and put a Blu-ray drive in it, so it will be much easier for me to do screenshot comparisons between Blu-ray and DVDs now.

I would prefer the original aspect ratio, but I've already watched it all the way through and didn't find the re-composition distracting at all, and I didn't watch scenes and think they were obviously missing something. With all the headroom left in the original framing of the shots that weren't closeups, it's possible that Sullivan shot this with the possibility of theatrical overseas screenings in mind.
 

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