What's your worst A-List Movie Anamorphic transfer? (1 Viewer)

[Frank@N]

Since I watch movies on a 27" WEGA, it isn't often that I can 'see' a really bad transfer.

Even old transfers from 1997-98 can be flattered by a smaller display.

My vote goes to.....'Rob Roy'.

Even on my small display, the level of video noise in this transfer is excessive.

Frank

 

[Josh Lowe]

Definitely Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Blazing Saddles.

It's not bad, but it really is pixelated. I don't get why Episode 1 looks so bad to a lot of people...it looks great despite a few scenes with some ringing. The color and definition is beautiful...very film-like as well.

 

[Carlo_M]

Rob Roy is definitely bad, but for me (IMO) not an A-list title (which I take to mean a stellar movie). That award for me would go to Unforgiven.
Thankfully to be rectified in about...1.5 weeks!

 

[DeepakJR]

The only wrong thing i find with TPM trasnfer that prohibits it from being "film-like" in the EE. If they were to reduce it, i know for sure it would look stellar. Im hoping its true that AOTC wont have the EE.

l8rz,
Deepak Jr.

 

[Declan]

it's surprising actually. But PM Meanace looks worse (IMHO) on R2 Pal DVD than the R1. I've found alot in the last few years that PAL is just tooooooo sharp with some titles. PM being the worst in this regard. Due to the already excessive EE (Lcasfilm/THX what were you on when you approved it)..the sharpness of the Pal picture only enhances it even more and has alot more shimmering and stairstepping than the r1. It is'nt a bad transfer. Yes alot of scenes look filmic. But for a high (very high) profile release like this one. THX and Lucas should have transfered it without enhancement at all. If people want EE then just use the sharpness level on their TV or DVD player.
I hope that AOTC has eradicated these problems and Lucas and the team at THX looked at the reviews of the picture quality when it was released and did something about it. It looks impressive on a big screen.

Another few that were bad anamorphic that I thought were:

Die Hard with a vengence SpEd,
Army Of Darkness Dir Cut (so bad this one, top of the list I think).

One non-anamorphic title that should be redone has to be Born n the Fourth of July. At the start I did'nt think this could get worse looking until it went to the veitnam sequence. The soilders looked like angels walking bercause of the halo around them.

thats really all I can think of at the minute. And thats a good thing as it shows that (personally) there is'nt that many as the companies are putting out top notch transfers and listening to what consumers want. But please (Lucas especially) no EE, period.

 

[Brian W.]

Without a doubt, "The Sound of Music." Grainy, horrific, edge-enhanced garbage.

 

[Scott_MacD]

Declan:
I'm surprised at your findings.. An excellent analysis of TPM's EE (including R1 and R2 findings) is to be found here. http://home.t-online.de/home/bjoern....TPM/TPM_01.htm - from one of the members of this forum, kudos and credit due.
I personally sold my copy of the R1 Disc One and R2 Disc Two, since I didn't want a cut version of the documentary, and I wanted to reduce those nasty halos.
And to add to this discussion :
Die Hard with a Vengeance R1 SE - now *that's* some scary EE..

 

[Dave H]

Phantom Menace - the worst anamorphic transfer? Come on! I can't believe how critical people are of this DVD just because it's not 100% perfect. It still looks good - and there are FAR many more worse anamorphic transfers out there. Trust me.

 

[Josh Lowe]

It's the worst anamorphic transfer of an "A-List" budget movie that I've seen. That's what the question was.

 

[Adam_WM]

Harry Potter is pretty garbage.

 

[Sean Patrick]

I've gotta agree about people being too hard on TPM - trust me, i was one of the ones harping on the sometimes excessive EE on this dvd (and it DOES seem to vary from scene to scene), but it's not the worst EE ever put on a dvd and the DVD still looks pretty darn good and filmlike in 90% of the dvd.

i think the worst A-list 16:9 title is : Reservoir Dogs.

 

[Terrell]

It still looks good - and there are FAR many more worse anamorphic transfers out there.

I agree. In fact, there are many A-list titles out there that have transfers far, far worse than TPM. Aside from the EE and a bit of grain in the Tatooine scenes, I think it looks pretty good. Certainly not reference, but not nearly as terrible as many think it is.

Well, you can buy it again in the box set, and see how it turns out then.

Probably worse than TPM is Tombstone. Not a terrible transfer, but not nearly as good as I'd hoped. This transfer has even worse EE than TPM, and severe grain in many scenes.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

I don't know if it's considered A-List but one of the worst is, Heathers because I fails to look as good as the older non-anamorphic transfer. It's been DVNR'd to death and robbed of much visual detail
I agree on Rob Roy, which like many older MGM dvds looks like they just took an old LD transfer and somehow stretched the image for a pseudo anamorphic transfer. Plus it's a 140 minute film all cramped onto one layer.

 

[Sean Patrick]

i take back my nomination for Reservoir Dogs and replace it with HEAT. Looks like garbage most of the time on my 38" set - very noisy. One thing Reservoir Dogs isn't is unnecessarily NOISY.

 

[nousername]

Well, The Phantom Menace is certainly the worst A-list anamorphic transfer in my collection...

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

What are the transfers like on Dog Day Afternoon and Bonnie & Clyde?
Gordy

 

[Mitch Stevens]

I have to agree with the person who mentioned Heathers! It truely looks awful in Anamorphic! (I can't believe I just said that). Everything lacks visual detail. The picture is way too soft, and out of focus. If there was ever a title that needs to be re-done, it's this one.

 

[Josh Lowe]

Heathers is not an A-List movie. It was not a major Hollywood release.

Neither was Resevoir Dogs. It now receives "A-List" treatment but its original release was far from major. It was an indy production and release.

Was Tombstone a big release? I had never even heard of it until I saw it on VHS, but maybe I just overlooked it.

 

[Ryan Spaight]

Was Tombstone a big release?

It wanted to be.

Ryan