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Direct Graphic DVD Comparisons now Online!

post #1 of 2333
8/1/02 at 5:53am
Thread Starter 
At DVDBeaver.com we have compiled some directed visual graphic comparisons of DVDs. The first now accessible by the public are listed below:
Criterion Collection Region 1 "In the Mood For Love" vs. TF1 French Video Region 2

Columbia Tri-Star "Vertical Ray of the Sun" Region 1 vs. Studio Canal/Universal Pictures Region 2

Criterion "Andrei Rublev" Region 1 vs. Ruscico/Artificial Eye Region 2

Image Entertainment "Nosferatu" R1 (not encoded) vs. BFI version R2 (UK)

Touchstone Home Video "Dead Poets Society" Region 1 vs. Touchstone Home Video Region 2 (UK)

Criterion Collection "Juliet of the Spirits" Region 1 vs. Image Entertainment Region 1

Criterion "Rebecca" Region 1 vs. Anchor Bay "Rebecca" Region 1

Criterion "Notorious" Region 1 vs. Anchor Bay "Notorious" Region 1
You may access links to them all from HERE

Regards,
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post #2 of 2333
8/1/02 at 9:54am
Thanks a lot! Those are very interesting... especially Andrei Rublev.
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post #3 of 2333
8/2/02 at 5:36am
Wow! MEET JOHN DOE looks so much better on the British disc! I may have to pick that one up, considering it's NTSC.
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post #4 of 2333
8/3/02 at 5:22am
Thread Starter 
Added at www.compare.dvdbeaver.com :

Paramount Region1 "The Truman Show" vs. Paramount Region 2

Image Region 0 "Meet John Doe" vs. Sanctuary Region 0

Warner Region 1 "North by Northwest" vs. Warner Region 2 Courtesy of CineDVD.net (French text)

Universal Region1 "Vertigo" vs. Universal/GCTHV "Vertigo" Region 2 ...

Cheers,
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post #5 of 2333
8/5/02 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Two interesting updates... both leaning the way of Fox over Criterion...
www.compare.dvdbeaver.com

Criterion Region 1 encoded "Hard Boiled" vs. Region 1 encoded Fox/Lorber - Winstar

Criterion Region 0 "The 400 Blows" vs. Region 0 Fox/Lorber - Winstar

Cheers,
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post #6 of 2333
8/5/02 at 4:16pm
Gary - out of curiosity, what program are you using to generate the bitrate graph?

-greg
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post #7 of 2333
8/5/02 at 4:38pm
Thread Starter 
DVD Bit rate Viewer version 1.4
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post #8 of 2333
8/5/02 at 5:27pm
I honestly can't see any difference between the two North By Northwest samples. The Image Nosferatu is a LOT better than the BFI one. David Shepard really pulled out the stops for the SE transfer. I don't see much difference in the Notorious samples, but I trust the restoration. The AB disc was just a print (with a few frame jumps), while the Criterion disc is a bona-fide restored version. The camera negative sections are breathtaking.

Vertigo looks much better in the R1 samples...despite 16x9 enhancement. The color is a lot more accurate, as well.
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post #9 of 2333
8/6/02 at 6:40am
Thread Starter 
Another two added:

Image Region 1 "Ossessione" vs. Films sans Frontières Region 2

Universal Home Video Region 1 "Topaz" vs. Universal Home Video Region 2

Good news for all who own R2 versions of Universal Hitchcock films like Topaz: After comparison of the screenshots R1 vs. R2 it is beyond any doubt that the films were not panned-and scanned by Universal, but rather that they are presented in open matte (like the Kubrick collection), adding picture information on top and bottom of the frame. Zooming on a 16x9 screen would give the same framing as on the R1, with the exeption that it is not anamorphic. Results of the comparison can be seen with the "Topaz" comparison at www.compare.dvdbeaver.com .

You can all see the rarther large difference in the Ossessione region transfer with R2 blowing away R1...

Maybe we should all get a region free machine
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post #10 of 2333
8/8/02 at 5:05am
Thread Starter 
Two more posted at www.compare.dvdbeaver.com :

A link to the:
Kino Region 1 Tarkovsky's "Mirror" vs. RusCiCo Artificial Eye Region 2
- Posted by Jan Bielawski and Trond Trondsen of www.Nostalghia.com

Fox/Lorber Region 1 "Two English Girls" vs. Region 2 Mk2

I have been sent some screeners to do more:
Region 1 Beijing Bicycle comparison from Seville Pictures and Columbia Tr-Star
and the Region 1 Under the Sand from Seville Pictures and Fox/Lorber
I will post these by the weekend.

Regards,
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post #11 of 2333
8/12/02 at 4:13am
Thread Starter 
Is anyone reading these updates?

6 More updates at www.compare.dvdbeaver.com :

Universal Studios Region 1 "Spartacus" vs. Criterion Region 1
Universal Studios Region 1 "Do the Right Thing" vs. Criterion Region 1
Universal Region 1 "Rear Window" vs. Universal Region 2
Image Region 0 "Rocco and His Brothers"vs. French/UK Region 2
Fox/Lorber Region 1 Under the Sand" vs. Seville Pictures Region 1
Sony Pictures Region 1 "Beijing Bicycle" vs. Seville Pictures Region 1

Regards,
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post #12 of 2333
8/12/02 at 4:32am
Question regarding "Beijing Bicycle".

Is the Seville version cut since the running is different from the Sony release?

Columbia - 1:53:24 min
Seville - 1:48:24 min

Difference, 5 mins... is this a typo?
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post #13 of 2333
8/12/02 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 
It is not a typo. Often because of the intro (if it is included) this will affect the overall length of time. Ex. the Criterion opening is included in the overall length of time of Spartacus making it six seconds longer than the Universal. However, 5 minutes does seem strange. I will look at both discs again and see if I can easily tell if segements are missing...

Cheers,
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post #14 of 2333
8/16/02 at 6:39am
Thread Starter 
Two more:

Criterion Region 1 "The Lady Vanishes" vs. Platinum Disc Corp. Region 0
Criterion Region 1 "The 39 Steps" vs. LaserLight Region 0
http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/
In the Region 1 vs. Region 1 ( or Region 0 ) section at the bottom...

Regards,
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post #15 of 2333
8/16/02 at 7:33am
Thanks for the work...

In both Spartacus and Do the Right Thing, the Universal versions look vertically squished. Is this how they really are? This makes Universal look a bit incompetent.

Seeing the Spartacus comparison really makes me want to replace my Universal one now.
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post #16 of 2333
8/16/02 at 7:38am
Please add a comment that the "Andrei Rublev" run
time differences are due to them being very different cuts.
Whole scenes are cut out of the Ruscico version
that are in the Criterion version.
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post #17 of 2333
8/16/02 at 7:45am
Waiting for info about the running time difference of "Beijing Bicycle"...
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post #18 of 2333
8/16/02 at 8:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Waiting for info about the running time difference of "Beijing Bicycle"...

Still researching it Mikko. I would prefer not to watch both DVDs side by side, but that may be the only way I can determine what scenes are shortened... Could it be the PAL speedup ? (4%) One company corrected it and the other did not ?

hmm.. I'll look at that too...

Cheers,
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post #19 of 2333
8/16/02 at 8:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
In both Spartacus and Do the Right Thing, the Universal versions look vertically squished. Is this how they really are? This makes Universal look a bit incompetent.

I have been told that it may be my old Power DVD software ( causing the squeeze )... which I have recently upgraded. I will redue those captures in the near future... regardless the picture quality speaks for itself...

Regards,
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post #20 of 2333
8/16/02 at 1:56pm
Thread Starter 
One More important one posted:

Kino Region 0 NTSC "Mirror" vs. PAL Artificial Eye / RusCiCo PAL Region 0

http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/
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post #21 of 2333
8/16/02 at 11:46pm
PowerDVD tends to export the screen captures in rectangular pixels. Some programs can accomidate this (Photoshop, for example) Others can't, like Microsoft Paint, giving you the 720x480 source image, which features a ratio of 1.50:1. When doing capping for my own reviews with PowerDVD (see sig for recent examples), I always resize the caps to 720x405 on anamorphic titles to regain the 16x9 proper shape, then crop away overscan bars from that. Hope that's informative as to the possible squeeze problem.

P.S. A great site, very informative service. I will be sure to consult it on titles where there is more than one version. I noticed the Region 1 releases tend to have better color fidelity over their comparative releases. Truman Show is a clear example of a better looking transfer, despite the fact the Region 1 is non-anamorphic and the other release is anamorphic.

As for Criterion releases vs. other releases, they seem to be of a lower bitrate, but have better color fidelity and respect composition more. Sparticus is a clear example of this (Perhaps because of RAH's involvement in their release?) However I tend to favor the competition for black and white releases, were the bitrate has a much more noticable effect.
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post #22 of 2333
8/17/02 at 6:12am
Thread Starter 
New One:

Fox Lorber NTSC Region 0 "Yi Yi" vs. ICA Projects PAL Region 2

http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/
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post #23 of 2333
8/17/02 at 7:32am
Good stuff. The Truman Show comparisons were not as obvious as I would have thought (following the "PAL = better" principal so many follow). There looks to be slightly finer detail in skin tones on the R1 in those face shots.

The town shot is harder to judge given the different framing, the anamrophic R2 has the SLIGHT edge there in the minute detail on the houses and in colour.


Quote:
I honestly can't see any difference between the two North By Northwest samples.

It's slight. Overall contrast, though most notably in skin tone, is higher on the R1. Compare Grant's face and hands and you should note the small differences there. R2s paler look suits the skin tones more, but I like the R1s depth for other colour (observe his hair and suit and the menu in hand).

What the deal is with the colour on the R2 Vertigo I have no idea. I have seen these shots before... Topaz too, the colour depth seems a lot better on the R1.


Dead Poets Society R2 looks a lot nicer in colour more than it does noticable detail, but good in both it must be said. Disney need a kick to put those extras on an anamorphic R1 re-issue.

I can't seem to access the Spartacus and Do the Right Thing comparisons. Dead links on both.


Dan
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post #24 of 2333
8/17/02 at 10:24am
Quote:
The Image Nosferatu is a LOT better than the BFI one. David Shepard really pulled out the stops for the SE transfer
I thought the tinting on the BFI version is supposed to be superior to the Image release.

The French version has German intertitles however. Does anybody know if these intertitles faithfully replicate the original intertitles? And does the French release also have the wonderful James Bernard score?


When I bought Dead Poets Society (R2) last month, I was really surprised by the inclusion of an audio commentary featuring Peter Weir. I thought that he wasn't really supporting special features.......
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post #25 of 2333
8/17/02 at 2:31pm
Well, one thing to keep in mind on bitrates, white (lighter) takes more bits than black (dark) generally speaking in MPG/JPG compression. That is, by making the overall picture darker you can often reduce the file size of a JPG, for example

Hard-Boiled is a good example of this in application. Criterion appears to have the black level done properly, while Winstar definately has the picture washed out. So while their bitrate is higher it would seem to have more to do with the encoding of the lighter gray blacks versus the more accurate and darker Criterion image.

edit - notice also the HUGE increase on the DtRT bitrate...well increasing colors and adding lines of video for the anamorphic version have a lot to do with that (though the overall detail also looks better).


Gary, this is an excellent feature. I just stumbled onto it. I sure hope you can keep it up.
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post #26 of 2333
8/25/02 at 7:12am
Thread Starter 
Another in the Region 1 vs. Region 1 Section

Ocean Shores Region 0 "Chungking Express" vs. Rolling Thunder Pictures Region 1

http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/
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post #27 of 2333
8/25/02 at 11:52am
Thread Starter 
Added:
Alliance Atlantis Region1 "The Red Violin" vs. Universal Region 1

I believe I got the exact frame for 5 of the 6 images...

http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/
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post #28 of 2333
8/25/02 at 1:56pm
Quote:
Ocean Shores Region 0 "Chungking Express" vs. Rolling Thunder Pictures Region 1

Thanks, Gary!

Those Chungking Express screengrabs are a great reminder as to why I haven't purchased any HK Region 0 discs!
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post #29 of 2333
8/25/02 at 3:38pm
This is a very interesting feature and makes me want to buy a region-free player all the more...
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post #30 of 2333
8/25/02 at 3:49pm
What program do you use to view the bitrate graphs?
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