Casino: 10th Anniversary Edition 14th june (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Skeen]

Because they make me think "Why couldn't they have just used both sides?" DVD is a 2-sided medium, so it's silly to have 2 1-sided discs instead!
Most 2-disc cases are awkward as well- the absolute WORST packaging I've ever seen is on the 2-disc AC/DC and INXS video collections- they're set up so disc 2 sticks out from behind disc 1, so you have to remove disc 1 just to get to disc 2, and in the meantime you have noplace to keep disc 1 while the other disc is playing. There's no way anyone could prefer THAT to one 2-sided disc!

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Sorry, Jesse, but I can't understand your post. Your citing of the AC/DC and INXS DVD sets is indeed unfortunate, but that says more about inadequate packaging than 2-disc vs. 1-double-sided DVD.

If all the 2-disc Criterions were DVD-14 or DVD-18 (which are notorious for pressing faults and DVD-rot) I imagine that there would have been an epic falling out. And look how badly some people treat rented DVDs out there; if both sides were encoded with info, it would mean twice the scratches.

To me, it is just another cheapo act of customer apathy from Universal. Some of the decisions they make just boggle the mind.

 

[Chris Cheese]

I don't necessarily hate double-sided discs all that much, but when they come from Universal I am much more upset about it. I had problems with two separate copies of "Ray" skipping and both were double-sided, and I've read countless horror stories about the Abbott & Costello and Universal Monsters sets having the same problem.

 

[Carlo S]

Just wanting to know does anyone know how exactly this will be like? Is is really worht the while if you already have the older release? (unless the picture quality is better??)

 

[Vincent_P]

Simon:

The optical process doesn't happen in the Negative to Inter-Positive stage, it happens from the IP to IN stage. The IPs of Super-35 films are in fact contact printed, not optically printed. The optical printing/conversion of format is always saved for the IP to IN stage, so the IPs used for the film-to-tape transfers should be pristine (save any opticals that are cut into the Negative itself, which can be quite dirty sometimes).

You're absolutely right in your comments about HD vs. film, though. 35mm film has far greater available than even the best HD at the moment.

Vincent

 

[Todd B]

Any reviews out yet?

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

DVD Beaver comparison: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare10/casino.htm

It seems like a very good improvement.

 

[Mike Graham]

Can't wait for Tuesday!

 

[Frank@N]

Here's another review:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=16286

 

[Patrick McCart]

I don't see what the big deal is now that we have double-amaray cases. Double-sided discs aren't awful, but having single-sided discs is classier. I mean, do you complain that the White Album takes up two CD's? What about many CD-ROM's that take up two discs? I don't think anyone complains about multi-discs for other media, so why DVD?

And those double-level cases are complete junk. The packaging for the Pink Panther 6-disc set is horrible... especially since the exact same amount of space could have been taken up by a cardboard box with six slim cases.

 

[Doug Schiller]

No, but I would complain loudly if they could have easily fit it on one disc but didn't.

To me, less is better. If I was king, you would never see a 2 disc set, unless they used all sides up.

 

[Frank@N]

I prefer two disc sets (as opposed to DVD-18s):

1) you get disc art 2) you never have to squint at tiny text or turn on a light to see which side is which 3) multi-disc players are becoming more common but they won't side-change like the old LD players.

DVD-18s are basically a cost control technique that studios don't like to talk about.

I recently bought a TV boxset which showed five discs (with disc art) on the packaging, but inside they actually used DVD-18s to keep the disc count down.

I don't think I've ever been happy to see DVD-18s.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Sorry to beat this topic to death, but I've just gotta say that I remember when the format was new, DVD-18 was looked upon as one of the holy grails of technology, since they had said it was possible but had never actually been done yet. Being a media geek I bought the "Aquaria" disc just because it was the first DVD-18 I could get my hands on and wanted to see what they actually looked like. Now we've got people saying DVD-18 is "cheapo" and the source of all things evil???
I do agree that they should use a better labeling system for discs though- the Dualdiscs (CD/DVD) use printing on the ENTIRE center of the disc so they're easier to read; I don't know why they don't do this with all DVDs. And as glad as I am that Universal is putting out a lot of 2-sided discs, I have to wonder what they're thinking by putting NO PRINTING AT ALL on the second side! That just does not look good.
There were a few changers that would flip discs automatically but I don't think any current ones do. I would not buy a changer that didn't though.
There are a large number of releases that obviously use multiple discs but not nearly having the maximum storage capacity on each one, just to make it look like "more", and I find that annoying. A few audio CDs have done this as well- speaking of The Beatles, the "Red" 1962-1966 album is on 2 discs but each one runs about 33 minutes! It's priced at a premium too.
If I pick up a box saying "Super-Duper 9-disc Collector's Set!" or whatever, I want to actually get that many discs' worth of material on it.

 

[Paul.S]

Thx for the link to that DVDTalk review, Frank. -p

 

[David Dias]

DVDTalk's review confirms there's no theatrical trailer, which is a real bummer to me, as I thought the Rolling Stones music and the images from the trailer went together perfectly. I would always watch it right before watching the film. I'm still buying this new edition, but I'm really disappointed it doesn't have the trailer. This might sound silly but I'm glad I kept the original release if only to watch the trailer.

 

[JonZ]

The dvdbeaver link shows a nice improvement in pic quality.

I may have to pic this up after all.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Agreed completely! I'm not sure that I've encountered one yet, that wasn't a problem, and on top of that you have the issues that you already outlined. There must be some people who have incredible luck. Personally, I avoid purchasing any titles that come out in this format (I save them for rentals). That way when they skip, I'm not out anything.

Thanks Universal for saving me more money. I wasn't sure which titles to skip this week, and you've made the decision a no-brainer.

 

[Doug Schiller]

Terminator 2
The Stand
Schindler's List
Casino
Superman The Movie

All DVD18s that I own, not a single problem.

I can even read the text on the ring!

Keep up the good work Universal!

 

[Eric Peterson]

What good work? Universal is way at the bottom of my favorite studio list. I might have purchased 1-2 of their titles in the last year, and that's not from a lack of trying on my part, because I purchased between 200-300 titles last year.

 

[Doug Schiller]

Well,
I remember the early days of DVD, there was one big release week that included Apollo 13 and Casino (there were about 4 others that were huge news at the time).

I bought them back then, and I repurchased the new SEs now (including the new Jaws).

Universal has succeeded in making the new extras worth the double dip. With the exception of Jaws, the new versions have new transfers. All of them have great new extras and better sound options.

So, I have been pretty happy with Universal as of late.

I even heard they are going to be releasing a 16x9 Deer Hunter soon.