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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation will receive Diamond Deluxe Treatment (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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Release Date: December 1, 2015

 

The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon.  If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 
 
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CraigF

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What does "Diamond Deluxe" mean? I'm not familiar with it. Does it mean "the existing BD and DVD with a code for an HD stream"?


[The existing BD is miles better than the DVD, IMO, contrary to some reviews. Not amazing, just way better. Unless the commonly available better version was only outside the U.S.]
 

TravisR

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In my experience, it's the existing disc and second disc with a new featurette or two (the diamond luxe versuion of Natural Born Killers did add the theatrical cut of the movie though). Looking at this one, I wouldn't be surprised if it's just the current Blu-ray & DVD and the digital code with nothing else.
 

davidmatychuk

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I watched the laserdisc of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" a couple of weeks ago, and what I really noticed was how much better its PCM 2.0 Surround was compared to the DVD or Blu-Ray with their Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround. When Chevy Chase was fiddling around with his aluminum ladder, it sounded like it was right in the room, and the music throughout sounded much fuller. If the new Blu-Ray has lossless audio, it would be a worthwhile upgrade for that alone. The DVD cover has a still from a deleted scene that's never been included in any release yet; that would be a nice addition as well. I hope Warner starts to make the Diamond Luxe series something more than just a nice package for the old disc and a second Blu-Ray with limited new special features.
 

Randy Korstick

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That was the one thing that took awhile to get used to when I first got DVD in 1997 coming from Laserdisc. While the picture quality is usually a big upgrade on DVD compared to Laserdisc the sound is always another matter. Laserdisc uncompressed sound is always much fuller and meatier than compressed DVD sound. Blu rays that offer lossless sound usually match the full, thick sound of Laserdisc. DVD is always thin sounding by comparison.

davidmatychuk said:
I watched the laserdisc of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" a couple of weeks ago, and what I really noticed was how much better its PCM 2.0 Surround was compared to the DVD or Blu-Ray with their Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround. When Chevy Chase was fiddling around with his aluminum ladder, it sounded like it was right in the room, and the music throughout sounded much fuller. If the new Blu-Ray has lossless audio, it would be a worthwhile upgrade for that alone. The DVD cover has a still from a deleted scene that's never been included in any release yet; that would be a nice addition as well. I hope Warner starts to make the Diamond Luxe series something more than just a nice package for the old disc and a second Blu-Ray with limited new special features.
 

CraigF

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Yeah, the audio on the current BD is the significant shortcoming.


I should say this is the only "Christmas" movie I watch every year, at least once. I still laugh just as much as the first time. I'm sorry.


[I swear I assume there'll be audio deficiency on every Warner BD. Why just scrunch the video when you can skrimp on the audio too?
 

Ronald Epstein

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Now Available for Preorder


The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.
 
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moviefanatic1979

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If Blu-ray.com is to rely on it will be a new MPEG-4 AVC transfer, the old one was in VC-1 (18.51 Mbps) (low bitrate, I'd say.)
 

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Hey guys,


This is out today (Sunday) at Best Buy in a SteelBook edition, which uses the Chevy Chase floating head artwork pictured above. There is a j-card on the back, which has a small green stripe up at the top, which proclaims that the disc is "NEWLY REMASTERED ON BLU-RAY". Why the remaster isn't advertised on the front cover is anyone's guess (the SteelBook packaging and included Digital Copy are), but the disc is indeed a new encode, and appears to be remastered from giving it a quick look.


I haven't seen the original BD, or had a chance to watch this one yet, but the video is now AVC, the audio is now DTS-HD MA 2.0 (also specified on the j-card) at 24-bit, and the disc art is a deep red color, instead of the standard WB black. Its also a BD-50, and in addition to the English and Spanish audio and subs, it adds Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitle support.


The price is $14.99, and they should be in most or all locations. My location had seven before I bought one.
 

Dr Griffin

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Best Buy exclusive until December 1st. I'll wait. The old BD will be added to the ever increasing set of coasters.
 

Kyrsten Brad

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Pre Ordered!
Glad I didn't get around to buying the previous BD release.


EDIT: This now joins my planned Christmas Blu purchases for the coming season. My list for 2015:


Holiday Inn (1942, and yes I like the colorized version as well as the BW original).

White Christmas (1954, so glad its in Technicolor)

A Christmas Carol (1984 George C. Scott version).


I might yet add A Christmas Carol (1951 Alastair Sim version) if I could find a Blu featuring both the B&W original and colorized version. That and if my Christmas budget can handle it (of which a big chunk goes to pay for my wife's Caribbean Cruise. Oh but I'm going too if you're wondering).




We heard you plan to offer up a new colorized version of the original Twilight Zone TV Series:

R5p9G94.gif
 

CraigF

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McCrutchy said:
I haven't seen the original BD, or had a chance to watch this one yet, but the video is now AVC, the audio is now DTS-HD MA 2.0 (also specified on the j-card) at 24-bit, and the disc art is a deep red color, instead of the standard WB black. Its also a BD-50, and in addition to the English and Spanish audio and subs, it adds Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitle support.

That is good to hear, I am kind of surprised too. But lacking French audio/subs, maybe we won't get that one (or at all??) in Canada, even at BB here, never mind before Christmas... Oh well, the DVD lasted years, the "old" BD will suffice for another year.
 
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Kyrsten Brad said:
Pre Ordered!
Glad I didn't get around to buying the previous BD release.


EDIT: This now joins my planned Christmas Blu purchases for the coming season. My list for 2015:


Holiday Inn (1942, and yes I like the colorized version as well as the BW original).

White Christmas (1954, so glad its in Technicolor)

A Christmas Carol (1984 George C. Scott version).


I might yet add A Christmas Carol (1951 Alastair Sim version) if I could find a Blu featuring both the B&W original and colorized version. That and if my Christmas budget can handle it (of which a big chunk goes to pay for my wife's Caribbean Cruise. Oh but I'm going too if you're wondering).




We heard you plan to offer up a new colorized version of the original Twilight Zone TV Series:

R5p9G94.gif

I see there have been two BluRay releases of the George C. Scott version of "A Christmas Carol." (Different cover art.) Anyone know whether the two versions are identical in terms of picture quality and sound?
 

Kyrsten Brad

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Clark V. Kauffman said:
I see there have been two BluRay releases of the George C. Scott version of "A Christmas Carol." (Different cover art.) Anyone know whether the two versions are identical in terms of picture quality and sound?
Good question. I just ordered the version in my Amazon cart as the price dropped from near $15 to $7.99 ( Grabbit rabbit time). Interesting.
 

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Can anyone confirm that the special features from the previous Blu-ray have been carried over?


I don't want to assume that, as the Criterion version of A Room With a View does *not* have the fantastic commentary track that BBC Blu-ray included. ..so now I either get to watch it with amazing picture quality (Criterion disc) or hear the great commentary track (BBC disc).


I know these are different companies, and WB is WB, but MGM did not port over the extras, including the commentary on The Thomas Crown Affair from the DVD to the Blu-ray iteration of that film, even when the release stayed entirely within the same studio.
 

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Mark Walker said:
Can anyone confirm that the special features from the previous Blu-ray have been carried over?

I don't want to assume that, as the Criterion version of A Room With a View does *not* have the fantastic commentary track that BBC Blu-ray included. ..so now I either get to watch it with amazing picture quality (Criterion disc) or hear the great commentary track (BBC disc).

I know these are different companies, and WB is WB, but MGM did not port over the extras, including the commentary on The Thomas Crown Affair from the DVD to the Blu-ray iteration of that film, even when the release stayed entirely within the same studio.
On Amazon you can see the back cover of the new Blu-Ray, which lists the commentary and trailer as extras. The audio is DTS-HD 2.0, and everything else looks the same.
 

davidmatychuk

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It's an improvement visually (it isn't a dark and rich looking movie, but it'll never look darker and richer than it does here), and the lossless audio finally sounds great. The DVD is included, with its two still-frames of credits, and the Blu-Ray has the commentary and the trailer. It's the best version of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" available.
 

CraigF

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^ Yeah, they actually released it in Canada "early". I see my local BB has stock, and I saw it at WM too the other day. And there I thought we might not get it at all here this year... Have to admit, not sure I want to pay a "steelbook price" when I've already bought the BD and the DVD before that, and I've barely had time to get used to the (now old) BD, the DVD's still my memory standard.
 

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