Any News From Artisan on Reservoir Dogs SE Transfer? (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

I haven't seen anything posted here lately regarding the poor transfer on this disc, and my email to Artisan got nothing but boilerplate for a reply. Has anyone heard any news at all about the possibility of a recall on this title? I watched it for the first time last night and was astonished at how piss-poor the film looked.

 

[MichaelGH]

I don't think that artisan is going to recall this title. Certainly they've made no announcements indicating they will. Plus this transfer looks great to many many people, myself included. I have a 34" Toshiba widescreen tv and I'm very glad that I picked up this dvd myself. I probably wouldn't bother exchanging it if there were a recall.

Michael

 

[Mark_vdH]

I've no problems with the transfer....

The missing line of dialogue is little bit annoying, though....

 

[Andrew Bunk]

The missing line of dialogue is little bit annoying, though....

I missed this-what line of dialogue is missing?

 

[dpippel]

If you're happy with the transfer that's fine, but I find it to be pretty bad as do many others. Somewhere in the authoring process of this disc the black level gain control got cranked WAY up. On my Avia-calibrated 32" WEGA in 16x9 mode, there's hardly a decent black to be seen. In most scenes (but not all), everything that should be black is a washed-out shade of gray. This is very evident on the title cards introducing the recruitment of the various members of the gang (Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, etc.) but is pervasive throughout the entire film. I have over 300 discs in my collection and this is easily the worst looking of the bunch as far as black level goes. It's evident to me that a mistake was made in the authoring of this DVD. I just cannot believe that the source film elements looked like this.

However, all of this has been previously discussed in other threads here at HTF regarding the 10th Anniversary SE of Reservoir Dogs. My question remains - does ANYONE have any new information from Artisan or any other reliable source concerning the sub-par transfer on this release?

 

[GuruAskew]

When White is checking on the unconscious Orange as Pink hovers above, White's line, which is something like "I think he just passed out" is totally missing, and there's just a noticeable silence. His line is still represented in the closed-captioning, but is missing on both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0 track on both widescreen and fullscreen discs, and I assume it's missing on the DTS track as well. It's also intact in the previous DVD.

 

[BarryS]

Piss poor? Come on. If you want to see piss poor, put in the original 1997 Reservoir Dogs DVD. The new transfer is crystal clear in comparison. Not to mention the more accurate framing.

 

[Josh Lowe]

i don't think the framing of the new transfer is that accurate. the opening sequence of the group walking next to the wall has a gap showing daylight and some powerlines at the top. it looks very out of place and i don't remember that from the theater at all. i seriously doubt that's how the shot is supposed to appear.

 

[Randy A Salas]

i don't think the framing of the new transfer is that accurate. the opening sequence of the group walking next to the wall has a gap showing daylight and some powerlines at the top. it looks very out of place and i don't remember that from the theater at all. i seriously doubt that's how the shot is supposed to appear.

You're entitled to your opinion, of course. But Pflug also pointed out that the previous DVD's framing was cropped on all sides and that the new disc restores the film to its original, proper framing.

 

[dpippel]

Apples and oranges. Can you really look at the new transfer on a properly calibrated display and NOT notice the extremely high black level? Any improvements over the original, non-anamorphic release are completely overshadowed by this glaring problem, for me.

 

[Jeff Adams]

Now I am curious. I will have to go home and look for that.

 

[dpippel]

Thanks for the information Randy. I was unaware of your article or Mr. Pflug's comments regarding Artisan's stance on the transfer. Now that I *am* aware, what a shame. If Artisan is officially stating that they believe there's nothing wrong with this disc then I guess we're stuck with it. With so many different people involved in the production and marketing of a DVD release, I'm just astounded that this got out the door at all.

 

[John CW]

The UK Region 2 version has an SUPERB picture but only DD2.0 sound. So if you want something to reference what it SHOULD look like, I'd suggest that.

~ John

 

[Mark_vdH]

The UK Region 2 version has an SUPERB picture but only DD2.0 sound.

I have both versions (R2/UK and R1: SE), and first of all, the framing on both versions is (approximately) the same. The R2 version also shows the daylight above the wall in the opening sequence.

I can't really decide on the color saturation......I guess it should be somewhere in between the two versions, but then again, I never saw the movie in the theater....

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Piss poor? Come on. If you want to see piss poor, put in the original 1997 Reservoir Dogs DVD. The new transfer is crystal clear in comparison. Not to mention the more accurate framing.

No offense, but you are dead wrong on the framing. I've seen this film theatrically at least 4 times and you could never see the daylight above the well. Never.
Missing dialogue + improper framing + poor color saturation= Gee, what a great disc!
Not to mention the horrible way the supplemental section on Tarantino is presented.
Jeff

 

[HankM]

The UK Region 2 version has an SUPERB picture but only DD2.0 sound. So if you want something to reference what it SHOULD look like, I'd suggest that.

I turned away from the Artisan SE after reading the official review/discussion thread about how horrible the transfer was. I than went to Amazon UK and ordered the R2 release. It is great, even though the sound is 2.0 it still sounds good and remember that this was released in theaters with Dolby Stereo not Dolby Digital or DTS. I wish Artisan could take a viewing of the R2 DVD.

 

[Sean Patrick]

man, i just saw the Artisan disc for the first time last night (found a Mr. Brown copy after looking for weeks).

What a bad transfer! i was hoping it was all overhyped but there is NO BLACK LEVEL on this dvd!! All the blacks are grey. I could count the shots that looked properly transfered on one hand.

really disappointed.

Look at the way the black background looks on the title screens - the blacks look brown!

 

[Kyle McKnight]

I could count the shots that looked properly transfered on one hand.

I feel for you, having to go through that horrific incident where you're hands were chopped off.

 

[Herb Kane]

:rolleyes