Gamera from advfilms.com=16x9=NOT ANAMORPHIC! (1 Viewer)

[John Sparks]

Bought "Gamera-Guardian of the Universe" on the spur of the moment because the box said it was 16x9. Got it home, "NOT ANAMORPHIC!!!" Went to DVDForum to see if there was review and sure enough there was. DVDSavant said it wasn't 16x9, so beware...but too late for me!

Emailed 7 times to advfilms.com and all they said was that they released it as 16x9 letterbox "NON-ANAMORPHIC!" They didn't care what the industry says 16x9 means, theirs mean "NON-ANAMORPHIC."

Even telephonically talked to them and got the same response. No matter how I tried to tell them they were wrong, they refused to budge.

Not one time did they offer to refund my money, give me credit, ask me to return it for something else...I guess their policy is to not have repeat business.

So, I want all to know that this company, when they put something on their DVD's, it could mean whatever "THEY" want it to mean, not what is correct!

Buyer beware!!!
_______________

 

[Aaron Silverman]

"Letterbox" usually means non-anamorphic, but I agree that they shouldn't put "16x9" if it isn't anamorphic.

Frankly, they shouldn't even be RELEASING a widescreen disc that isn't anamorphic! This is 2006, for cryin' out loud!

(I assume this is an older release.)

I was checking out a disc the other day of a Chinese film called Springtime In A Small Town. Doesn't say whether it's anamorphic, or even whether it's widescreen. For that matter, it doesn't say whether it's in Chinese or dubbed, what subtitles (if any) are included, or even the running time! I went to Amazon to see if any of that information was listed, but it wasn't.

 

[walter o]

Probably because there are many new labs who does DVD work with technicians who thinks 16x9 is "letterboxed". I hear not only does this happen here, but labs abroad as well, perhaps they used a lab in Japan whs was clueless to what 16x9 was?:frowning:

 

[ChristopherDAC]

That's AD Vision for you. They're renowned for screwing things up. They had all their LaserDiscs pressed by Sony DADC USA, "The Home of Laser Rot", and I could mention all kinds of other stupidity.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Why they didn't just port over the transfer from the R2 DVD I'll never know...they ported over the extras, but they used their old VHS master for the film. What morons. At least the two sequels are remastered...but my fave is the first, dammit!

 

[TheLongshot]

It could be that that was all they could get.

In the past, it has been notorious that US distributers couldn't get the best materials they could get for a film, partially because Japanese studios wanted to hang on to their monopoly and not have cheaper R1 DVDs flood the market.

Course, nowadays, this is becoming less and less true. I don't know what the story is for Gamera.

Jason

 

[MattHR]

I'd try returning it to the store. If you explain the situation to the store, they may be sympathetic and allow you to return it (and I'd politely ask for store credit, rather than a refund.) The package misrepresents the product within, so you should be able to return it. ADV will ultimately get the product returned to them, so maybe you'll have "the last laugh."

 

[Joseph Goodman]

The other two use the the R2 masters... but from composite(!) dubs of the R2 masters, so the picture is filled with moire and dot crawl (especially on any on screen text), and is way softer than the R2 DVD's.

 

[Philip Klein]

yeah, but this was released in 2003