Can anyone confirm that the German DVD of Flash Gordon is 16x9? (1 Viewer)

[Adam Buchsbaum]

Can anyone confirm that the German DVD of Flash Gordon (1980 movie with Max Van Sydow as Ming) is 16x9 enhanced?

If so, how is the 16x9 transfer? Thanks.

 

[Hendrik]

Caveat emptor
...apparently the transfer is anamorphic... and apparently it is a so-so transfer at best... and apparently the movie's end credits on this release have been chopped off... so, apparently, it is not worth the trouble and expense of ordering the disc all the way from Germany...
NOTE: just because a transfer is PAL["=potentially higher resolution than NTSC"] and just because a transfer is anamorphic["=potentially higher resolution than letterbox"] that doesn't necessarily mean the final result will be "better" if both are done in a slapdash way...
. . . . . .

 

[Adam Buchsbaum]

Thanks for the info.

Regarding your "NOTE," I recently purchased True Romance R2 PAL, which is anamorphic and Dolby Digital 5.1 and compared it with my R1 NTSC of True Romance (non-anamorphic and Dolby Surround). And the results were interesting.

For the R1 True Romance DVD,I was using the Panasonic RP91. For the R2 DVD, I was using the Malata N996. Both were hooked up to my Toshiba TW40x81 with component inputs.

Hands down, the R2 PAL looked so much better than the R1 NTSC. I guess a little more effort went into the R2 disc than the R1.

It was because of these results that I started looking for films that I already owned on DVD (and would like to upgrade) but were not anamorphic in R1.

 

[Roland Wandinger]

NOTE: just because a transfer is PAL["=potentially higher resolution than NTSC"] and just because a transfer is

anamorphic["=potentially higher resolution than letterbox"] that doesn't necessarily mean the final result will be

"better" if both are done in a slapdash way...

Flash Gordon is one of these PAL DVDs were you clearly can see the systems advantage over NTSC!

 

[Chris Dugger]

Where can one obtain this GERMAN disc of FLASH???

Dugger

 

[Roland Wandinger]

Where can one obtain this GERMAN disc of FLASH???

Here for instance:
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...904976-9332838
...or here (with screenshots):
http://dvd-station.de:80/product_body.asp?pf%5Fid=30551

 

[Hendrik]

"WHAT!!!!!!!! Were did you get this information??????"
...sorry, Herr Wandlinger! I got the information from the very DVD Station site you indicate, where, if you go down the line, you will read the following Bewertung by a user:
Bewertung: 57% - Von Frank Hammerschmidt
Frank Hammerschmidt sah den Film auf DVD
Gesamteindruck: 3 Bildqualität: 3 Tonqualität: 3 Bedienung und Extras: 2
Kultiger Sci Fi Trash Film mit der Musik von Queen. Der Film hat einen gewissen einfachen Charme. Eine Frechheit ist jedoch, das der Abspann einfach abgeschnitten wurde. Da fühlt man sich dann wie beim Privatfernsehen.
Now, 57% - to me - doesn't seem überragend gut... and nor does the cutting-off of the end credits, if true, strike me as worthy of a 'great' transfer... and Gesamteindruck 3 (out of 5) also doesn't look like it's much better than 'just ok'...
However... if you return to my original post, you will see that I was very careful to use the word 'apparently' several times - after all I was merely quoting someone else's description of the disc - not actually having seen it myself...
...as for my remarks concerning anamorphic PAL vs. anamorphic NTSC - these were (and should be taken as) general remarks, not necessarily specific to this one particular movie or disc...
(...thinks...) I'm walking on eggs here ... sigh...
. . . . . .

 

[Roland Wandinger]

Now, 57% - to me - doesn't seem überragend gut...
and Gesamteindruck 3 (out of 5) also doesn't look like it's much better than 'just ok'...

Believe me when I tell you that the transfer on this DVD is überagen gut especially for a 20 year old movie!!!
...I wouldn't give that much about someone's Gesamteindruck since it's highly subjective and a strange thing at that!
But if you ask for Gesamteindruck I give you some Gesamteidruck: 4 (out of 5) ...and that only because of the lack of any extras (Queen video) and the end credits which are supposed to be cut short.
...oder?

 

[Florian Finkenzeller]

I have the DVD here right in front of me and whoever claims, that the video is sub-par is way too critical. The picture ist surprisingly sharp for a movie from 1980, the colors are vivid and appropriately strong, there are almost no scratches or dust particles, there are no other analog problems I could detect.

The only deficiency I saw was a slight blurring of the picture on pans and the sound ist a bit too flat, otherwise an excellent presentation for a small movie this age.

As for the movie's end credits, they seem (at least to me) to be complete.

By the way, the German DVD should be identical to the British release I think. (This is a Studio Canal title, which is distributed by Kinowelt in Germany and subsequently by Momentum in the UK.)

Florian