The Pianist...Canadian vs American releases (1 Viewer)

I hear the US version will carry a dts es track...but the Canadian version only has dts 5.1...

Can anyone shed any more light on this?

Well I figure one extra disc of features, and a third with the films soundtrack make up the lack of DTS for me. Also the cover for the Canadian version is 1000x better then the US cover, so I'm sold on the Can version.

Not to get off topic, but the AA version of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner is by far the superior version on the market.

cheers!

Josh

As long as the Can. version has dts, I can generate the back channel almost as well...is it supposed to be ES discrete, BTW? Not like there's much there in most ES movies. Hope the video's the same...

Speaking of misinformation are we sure Alliance is involved in the Canadian DVD release of this film? From everything I have read, it looks like Lions Gate and TVA International are involved in this dvd release. So my question is Alliance affliated with those companies? If not then we can get back to the original subject matter.

I had the 3-disc set on preorder for quite some time, so I'm looking forward to it.




Crawdaddy

Yep, TVA is the distributor up here for The Pianist and is doing the 3 disc DVD release up here. They are not affiliated with Alliance Atlantis, thank god.

Jason

Ouch Gary, looks like I hit a nerve there. How dare you write such an imflamatory set of postings, presuming (wrongly) I have not seen both of the two versions. Your webpage also does not seem to support your case, you are relying soley on screen shots. Case in point, the bit rate is higher on the AA version, and since there are no scenes of high moving action, I see no reason to vary the bitrate to improve picture quality, as is the case in the columbia release. I'll admit that the screen show that the columbia version has a better transfer, but realistically, both have a decent image, and it comes down the the columbia release have the better, yet still mediocre transfer.

You yourself say that the AA release is better on 3 out of the 4 categories on your site, and I would agree. The extras are better, the menus are way better, and the sound is better AND subbed in both the official Canadian laguages.

When the director, Zacharias Kunuk was at the University of Calgary for the free showing of the movie, the AA version was the version he was selling and signing. I never thought to ask him what version he preferred, but if you really want, I'll email one of the profs at the U of C, and maybe get and answer.

It seems to me, that your own site shows the AA version as the superiour RELEASE, and I feel that your personal hatred for AA releases, coupled with your pretentious, yet baffling postings serve only to "warn" people about that which you don't approve of.

I would take the DVD with the extra 6 minutes, better sound, and better menus, over the release with a slightly, yet still poor transfer, any day. And I'm sure most would.

cheers!

Josh

Josh... Alliance really does have a poor track record. If it's an Alliance release I alway look for reviews before purchasing.

Miles

Does anyone know what will be on the second disc of the Canadian release? I just purchased the U.S. rlease when I saw it on sale this evening at a local store. How much will the two and three disc sets be in U.S. dollars (don't know how to convert the currency). I absolutely loved this movie, and I would love to own the best version of it on DVD. Thanks for any info!

Rob

Just to go off topic...
Does anyone kow if it'll have an es track?

The U.S. version I have does not list ES. It says it has DTS 5.1 surround. Perhaps it's just mislabeled, if you've all heard something different...? I dunno.

Rob

Bruce,

How is the transfer? The audio? The extras? Is the Canadian set worth importing? Thanks!

Rob