The first "Austin Powers Collection" review is in! (1 Viewer)

It's from IGN which is probably not the best source for Blu-ray reviews, but it's promising nonetheless:

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Wow, what's taking so long with getting this boxed set reviewed by a reputable site? I'm not basing this on this site's lack of a review cuz they review a ton of stuff here, but I thought at least one reputable site would have reviewed it by now, especially since it's already been released. I'm actually a tad nervous and therefore will not open it until I see something positive. DVD Beaver gave a pretty unfavorable review of "The Mask" which is also New Line. They cited a pretty heavy dose of DNR which just plain sucks. Well, sure enough Austin Powers is also New Line as is another favorite, Dumb & Dumber which is due out next week, so I'm really not holding out much hope for these titles. I even went as far as to cancel my order for The Mask. I know this is the AP review thread, but I just don't understand how the studios STILL don't get it that we want the films in the best possible version minus EE & DNR. JEEZ!!! OK, end of rant!

EDIT: Not sure how reputable this site is, but I just found this:

http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=8492

Well, I cracked open the boxed set last night cuz I finally got tired of waiting on a review. I only took a look at Goldmember as I figured it would look the best out of the 3 films. While it does offer an upgrade, it wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be. In fact, I want to go back tonight and try the SDVD on my PS3 and see how it compares to the BR when upconverted. I also noticed what appeared to be some grain in the picture, perhaps it could even be noise, but I have a hard time discerning between the 2 sometimes. The audio on the other hand was rather nice, especially in the opening scene but this has always sounded good even on the SDVD in DTS-ES Discrete.

From what I have read of those who have seen the set and the screencaps I have seen, the first two look pretty good and were not DNR'ed while Goldmember seems to have been DNRed...makes no sense to me to do that to the newest and what should probably be the best looking of the 3.

I plan to pick this set up down the line but Goldmember being tinkered with bugs me. At least the first two seem to be fine.

Wow, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. I agree, Goldmember should look the best and as it will be the film I watch the most out of the 3, this kinda sucks.

Well, I just checked out Goldmember and it looks OK to me. There may or may not be some DNR applied (I can't be 100% sure), as there appears to be a lack of very fine detail. That being said, I've seen a ton worse and in general, I'm fine with how it looks. I probably set my expectations unrealistically high for this title cuz I like it so much, but this seems to be a solid effort from New Line.

PS - I watched it on a 47" Westinghouse LCD using a PS3.

High Def Digest has weighed in on this collection and gave it some decent scores. It does appear as though the 3rd film "Goldmember" was treated less than the first 2 films and suffers from some DNR:

Blu-ray Review: Austin Powers Collection | High-Def Digest

DVD Basen is our friend. It shows three different reviews. Hasn't been updated for High Def Digest, though.

I just finished watching all three Austin Powers films, and the PQ for the first two were excellent. Goldmember was passable.

Oddly enough, I made it a point to watch all the deleted scenes for each film, extras are something I rarely have time to dip into. Goldmember by far has the most supplements. So I wonder if more DNR was applied to it in order to get all the supplements to fit on a BD-50? Maybe Goldmember was already mostly done by New Line for a standalone release that was originally slated for an earlier release?

I agree.

That's a good point about Goldmember being completed for a standalone but you know that once it came out, everyone would be complaining about the first 2 films; I know I would have! I dunno, all of those supplements were on the SDVD version and IMO, while the Blu-ray looks decent, the SDVD looked pretty good in it's own right. The Blu-ray version doesn't trounce it as much as I would have thought it would.