Fox and the Hound... quick comment... (1 Viewer)

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey all,

Not an official HTF review, but wanted to give everyone a quick head's up as to how HORRIBLE this DVD transfer is.

Probably the worst image of any Disney DVD (animated) I've seen.

The 1.33:1 issue is actually the least offensive thing about the picture. The worst part is that it appears the Disney wizards used a 15 year old video master and then processed the hell out of it with DNR... so bad that the backgrounds just crawl and ripple like water every time the scenery moves across the screen. And the hard-edged outlines of the hand-drawn characters get muddled in the DNR process and fade in/out and flicker whenever the characters move.

Something must be going on at the mouse... something bad. Remember that last treasures sets... how they just recycled lots of legacy masters with no new film-to-digital transfers? Then Mermaid... then this. I hope this is just a temporary low-point for their home-video department. Now that they're getting into HD media, it's not the time for them to drop the ball of proper image presentation!

 

[MatthewA]

The first video of Fox and the Hound was in 1994. This is probably the same transfer.

Something is going on at the mouse (If I had to guess their motivation):

A) They're trying to promote The Fox and the Hound 2.

B) They're deliberately releasing this so close to Little Mermaid so no one will notice the lack of effort (I don't expect miracles on the upcoming Robin Hood re-issue either)

C) They're dumbing down the DVDs to make the inevitable Blu-Rays look better.

D) They're getting the Eisner-era cost-cutting measures out of their system.

There was an anthology series episode tying into this film and the book "Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life" which aired on NBC in April of 1981. It should have been included. The best they can do is port the lame extras from the old DVD, and include a 6-minute featurette which, according to Ultimate Disney, is fluff, and was made for the original UK DVD release.

Thanks, DaViD, for saving me about 20 bucks.

 

[Jason_V]

Ugh. I bit on TLM, but I won't bite on this one or Robin Hood. Yes, I am a completist, but GOD this blows. Do it right or don't do it at all.

 

[ZackR]

David (or anyone else that has seen the disc):

Is the quality worse than the previou Gold Collection disc? I already have that one, and if this worse, then I will definitely NOT be purchasing.

Hey Disney, what is going on???

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I haven't seen the original DVD to compare. Sorry I can't be of more help with that comparison!

However, even without seeing it I can't imagine replacing that disc with this one if you already own the gold. This disc is so horribly bad that even if it *was* better than the gold edition... it's not like it fixes anything given how bad it looks on its own.

 

[ZackR]

Thanks, David. I **might** give it a rental to compare to be sure, but I don't remember the original having the DVNR issues you are talking about. Then again, my 2 year old is the one that really watches this one a lot anyway, so I am sure the Gold Collection disc is fine.

I hate that Disney seems to really be dropping the ball lately. I sure hope that the upcoming Treasures fare better!

 

[James D S]

This is what I get for buying a disc on spec. After the Little Mermaid, I should have been more cautious. Well, the disc is still sealed and will be going back to the store after work. Thanks guys.

 

[Stephanie B]

does anyone have pictures of the new version so we can compare them to the last release

 

[Ethan Riley]

I have the original dvd; I don't have any problem with it, except that it's an early dvd release and kinda lame, technology-wise. But then, the movie is lame too, so I never gave it much thought.

 

[GlennH]

Hey DaViD, I saw your review of this DVD at DVDFile.com today, and that you are now on their review staff. Congrats on that.

But does it mean you won't be doing reviews for HTF anymore? Pardon if this has been addressed elsewhere.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey Glenn,

Yes, I'll be reviewing at dvdfile. Sadly, this means I won't be able to post official HTF reviews any more, which is a sad thing for me and I wish I could review for both sites.

But I'll still be here contributing to discussion as usual so you'll still be stuck hearing my opinion in the review threads...

The topic of my review-change got mentioned in the Little Mermaid review. I didn't want to bring it up myself in a thread as it seemed a little self-agrandizing, but since you asked I'm happy to clarify.

-dave

 

[GlennH]

Thanks. I stopped reading the Little Mermaid thread a few days back and hadn't seen that. Well, I look forward to you professional reviews over there and your comments over here.

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

The special features are rather lame too. The "new" on the documentary refers to that it's new to the DVD. It's really from the 80s and is about 6 minutes long. You can definately tell since the fellows are so young (as compared to them on the Little Mermaid stuff). I would've liked to hear what they had to say about the film now (via a new doc or commentary). It;s pretty pathetic for a "25th Anniversary" edition IMHO.

That and the fact that it proably uses the old master.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Of course, the *main problem* with this disc (IMHO) is the provided 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There is *no way* that that could be the theatrical aspect ratio since the movie was released in 1981.

This release retires the trophy for "Worse treatment ever for a Disney Classic Anniversary Release on DVD"!

(Hmmm ... You don't suppose there will be a 1.78:1 Blu-ray release around the corner ...)