New 2-Disc Region 1 NTSC DVD of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) in the works! (1 Viewer)

[ScottR]

http://www.fridaythe13thforum.com/sh...=37232&page=11


They have comparisons.

 

[Vincent_P]

Just looked at them, and I'm at a loss as to where you see "more picture information" on the old transfer vs. the new one. The major difference I see is that the new transfer looks about a thousand times better, but the framing is very close between the two.

So what exactly are you talking about?

Vincent

 

[BrettGallman]

Oh man, I can't wait to see this. It's kind of strange seeing TCM all cleaned up and colorful though.

 

[Adam Scott]

Yes, Brett, ABSOLUTELY agreed that it is kind of strange seeing TCM cleaned up this good....its almost a film you HAVE GOT to watch riddled with dirt and grain and everything else Hooper threw at this thing on his budget....I own the Pioneer release (with the chopped meat and the cool chainsaw plastic envelope thingy) and according to those screenshots, this new one should look 100 times better; but is that REALLY better for a film like this? I dont know....I think enthusiasts would argue that the color treatment changes something about the Chainsaw experience.

One thing I HATED about the Pioneer release was the horriffic audio transfer on it....the choice of picking the "newly-remixed" two channel stereo track yielded absolutely nothing beneficial; the mastering level was horrendously low and needed almost ALL my receiver's amplification to get to satisfactory levels in order to understand any of the bizarre, garbled dialogue....I hope this is cleared up in future releases. I know that its garbage in, garbage out, and that were talking about an old piece of film thats been washed, retaped for rerelease on the DVD format and that Hooper was working with a $3 budget (I know, thats not accurate, but you know what I mean), but the audio is downright shitty on this past special edition release and its one of the reasons I dont reach for the disc anymore on my shelf.

 

[Don May Jr]

Time for me to chime in here.

The new version of TCM is, really, a revelation... and I supervised the transfers of both of them. In the opening shot of the armadillo on the road, in the new transfer, as the van goes by, you actually see the red tail light from the van at the top... the old transfer crops this completely. In this shot, you see more info not only on the top, but on the left and bottom of the frame as well. On the old transfer, the right side of the DVD release (and, probably, the LD too, I imagine) has an annoying vertical black line that goes through the right side the frame throughout the film... I never noticed this before until now. The new transfer doesn't have this at all.

Doing a random check between the two versions, I noticed that on the new HD transfer, in the scene in the van with the hitchhiker, you also see more info on the left, right and bottom of the frame.

The framing was constantly checked throughout the transfer (I was ordered to create this master in exactly 1.78:1 by Dark Sky and had to be conscious of that throughout the transfer process) and, I'm sure, there may be some shots where the framing isn't EXACTLY like the old one (has there EVER been a new film transfer released on home video where the framing is exactly the same as a previous release?... it's just the the nature of the transfer computers / equipment / lenses / etc.) but, in just about every scene, there is more picture information on the new HD transfer on more than one side of the image.

Also, the new version retains the original grain structure of the original 16mm ECO stock. The older version was so noise-reduced (with DVNR) that most of the grain was removed and smoothed out. And, most of the detail and sharpness was removed, too! The new HD transfer is much "truer" to the original elements and has a much sharper, more detailed and more colorful image.

The old transfer, in my opinion, now looks like garbage compared to the new one. Funny how that works, isn't it? At the time of the original version's release, we all thought TCM looked better than ever. Funny what 10 years of technology can do, huh?

 

[Don May Jr]

Well, not for nothing, but I doubt seriously that Tobe consciously threw the dirt at this "thing".

And the grain was there because of the film stock used. Tobe himself told me that there was no conscious decision to make the film look "documentary-style", with the graininess, etc. He was trying to film the best movie he could. The heavy grain structure you've seen on prints, etc. were caused by a combination of the film stock used and the cheap 35mm blow-ups done by the distributor at the time.

Tobe Hooper and Danny Pearl never consciously filmed TCM as a grainy, gritty "documentary-like" motion picture. It just came out that way... because of the low-budget nature of the filming/distribution. It's really a "myth" that has carried on through the years and it's just sorta "stuck".

The new HD transfer was not created from 35mm materials. It was created from the original 16mm vault materials and, as such, does not have large/high amounts of (what I like to call) "swimming grain". Sure, it is grainier than the original transfer and, as such, I guess, remains truer to how people remember the film from 30+ years ago, but the grain isn't nearly as heavy as one of the 35mm blowup prints made and distributed theatrically in 1974.

 

[ScottR]

Thanks for responding, Don. Makes me feel a lot better about the new transfer.

 

[TravisR]

Everything I've seen so far makes me think that this disc is going to be one of my favorites of the year.

I can't wait to grab this one!

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Don, have you done any other transfers for dark sky dvd ?

 

[Don May Jr]

No I haven't, but I would love to work with them again. They're great folks!

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Thanks for replying, was asking because they have a great slate of horror dvds coming !

 

[Dave Mack]

sounds awesome!

 

[Nick Zbu]

I'm soooo all over this. And I love that cover with Leatherface. Awesome!

 

[Ruz-El]

this looks great!! great job Don on this!! this went from anticipated to can't wait to get me hands on it status!

 

[Scott Temple]

Go here for some great screengrab comparisons

I wholeheartedly agree with what others have said. Don, you did an outstanding job on this new transfer. It looks so good it's almost unbelievable and I don't think I've been this excited about a horror DVD release since Anchor Bay rereleased Halloween in 1999. The wait until September 26th is driving me nuts. I want to watch it right now. It's a shame that most DVD consumers never got a chance to see your work on the previous Chainsaw transfer from 1995-1996. I never had the pleasure of owning a LaserDisc player, but I've seen stills from Elite's LD transfer and it blows Pioneer's DVD transfer away.

 

[TravisR]

Wow! I didn't think TCM could ever look that good. I haven't seen a title look that much better (compared to prior releases) since Elite's Night Of The Living Dead LD.

It sounds like I'm kissing ass but I don't care.

 

[Matt Stone]

Now, I'm really getting excited. My review copy should arrive shortly.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Are you also expecting a review copy shortly of the 2 disc special edition nightmare on elm street , because im looking forward to that 1 even more than chainsaw !

 

[Radioman970]

I don't mind double-dipping on this one at all. I'll keep the other one I have for that nifty "edge of the chainsaw" cover and if I don't like the "cleaned up" look I can go back to it. Hopefully the darker chase scene isn't lightened up. Remember, they ruined Halloween with that overly cleaned up transfer.

 

[Vincent_P]

HALLOWEEN wasn't ruined by being "overly cleaned up"- the issue was the color timing, which is vastly different between the Dean Cundy-supervised 1999 THX release, and the 25th Anniversary DiviMax release from 2003. But in terms of detail and overall image quality, the DiviMax version (with incorrect colors) is clearly quite a bit better. I still hold out hope that Anchor Bay will take the HD "DiviMiax" transfer and do an HD tape-to-tape color correction (akin to what Robert Harris was allowed to do with the LAWRENCE OF ARABIA HD transfer for the SuperBit release) and give us the best of both worlds with an eventual HALLOWEEN HD-DVD release- the superior transfer quality of the 2003 DiviMax version, but with the correct, Dean Cundy-approved color scheme from the earlier 1999 transfer.

Vincent