Hero (Jet Li) - DVD on 11/30/04 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Mirza]

Miramax Home Entertainment is on the fast track to getting Hero onto DVD.

The breathtaking martial arts film, starring Jet Li, is scheduled to arrive onto digital disc on November 30th. Miramax, which waited two years to release the film domestically, is now rushing the surprise box office hit in order to thwart import DVD sales of the film.

Look for the U.S. disc to feature an anamorphic widescreen transfer, Chinese and English-dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, a making-of featurette, an interview with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and trailers. Retail should be $29.99.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Wonder if it will have the extended 108-minute cut that's been released in China. If not, it may not "thwart DVD import sales" as much as they would hope.

Still, it's great that this is coming so soon. Thanks for the info, Patrick.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

double post; sorry

 

[Rich Malloy]

Even if they gave me a damn good reason to buy this DVD - like the extended cut - I'll refuse. I'm thrilled with my R3 with the full-rate DTS track. And the R0/NTSC GDFACE disc I used to have (before going region-free) is also very, very good. This latter copy is easily available, and I even found it on the shelves of my local Newbury Comics.

I simply don't want to "reward" Miramax for anything when it comes to this film. It was the Weinsteins who had it cut from its original length to begin with, and it was the Weinsteins who sat on the North American distribution for years. Generally speaking, the Weinsteins have not been kind to the Asian films they buy up. I say fuck 'em.

 

[James N]

The cut will be the theatrical cut, most likely. I've seen the director's cut, and the changes are barely noticeable, running at 7 or so minutes.

Anyway:

Something has changed in regard to importing HERO. A few weeks ago, Miramax had barred all foreign retail sites from selling it, because it could be imported into countries where they controlled the video rights, thus, costing them money...or something. Well, apparently, the bar was been lifted, because CD-WOW and others are selling the R3 again. My advice: Buy that.

- Full bit-rate DTS (the best I've heard)
- Good picture (albeit, not perfect)
- Crappy extras (a few interviews, some subtitled, some not)
- 20 dollars (@ CD-WOW)

vs.

- Regular DD
- Probable shitty picture with a heap of filtering
- Crappy extras
- 30 dollars

Good sirs, YOU do the math!

 

[TonyTone]

If that's the case...well they are a bit too late for that, as legit (as in, not camcorder versions) import DVD copies have/had been available for some time. Matter of fact, I bought the R3 version just last week--and as Rich and James have suggested, that is the version to get IMHO...assuming of course you have a DVD player that is R3-capable.

And yeah, I too was pleasantly surprised at the fact that the DTS on the R3 version not only is DTS-ES (although I believe it is matrix instead of discrete), but is full bitrate as well--at least that is what my receiver is reporting.

I thought about getting the GDFACE extended version DVD but read that it (apparently all the various extended version DVDs are distributed by GDFACE) had an annoying GDFACE watermark that would appear somewhat intermittantly throughout the movie--sorry, but that makes it a no-sale for me.

 

[Rich Malloy]

I don't recommend the GDFACE extended version that just came out, but I do recommend the original cut DVD from GDFACE which is all-region and NTSC and does not have the watermark and is of very notably better picture quality! It's not quite as good as the R3 version, but nonetheless has excellent picture and DTS sound plus extras (unsubbed). This is the version that I've found on the shelves at my local Newbury Comics (they sell alot of Asian pop culture stuff).

And, as James points out, there's a good chance it'll be better than the Miramaxe DVD! But if you're all-region capable (and there's no reason you shouldn't be at this point!), then definitely get the R3 version.

 

[Phil Carter]

I'd love to pick up the R3 disc, but my player isn't multi-region, so I'm out of luck on that. No matter how much I love the film (and I do, don't get me wrong) I'm not picking up a new player for it.

cheers,
Phil

 

[Rich Malloy]

Phil, that's why we recommended the original GDFACE R0/NTSC version of "Hero". It's the original cut in a very good transfer (very possibly better than Miramax will muster) and with a DTS option and special features (unsubbed). You don't need a new player to play this one.

That said, I'd recommend that anyone who loves movies invests in a region-free, PAL->NTSC converting player. Did you know that you have a choice of a variety of excellent models in the $50-100 range? That's less than some folks spend on discs in a week around here!

I recommend the Toshiba SD-4900, which also plays DVD-A, but there are other highly regarded models in this price range.

 

[Phil Carter]

Rich, that's what I get for skimming posts and looking for the text "R" followed by a number. I missed it in your first post because I just saw GDFACE and skipped over that.

How does one tell which GDFACE version the disc is? From your posts (read more carefully this time) it seems there's a good original version and a watermarked rerelease.

Also, I'm a bit confused. You remarked:


Does that mean the special features ONLY are unsubbed, or that the entire disc is? Sentence structure confused me a bit.

Anyway, if I were to go hunting for the original GDFACE version, how would I tell it from other versions (the rereleased GDFACE version and the R3 version), and where could I locate it?

Not wanting you to do all the work for me, but I know ZILCH about import DVDs.

cheers,
Phil

 

[Ken Chui]

Phil:

DVDBeaver has an excellent side-by-side comparison of the various Region 0/2/3 releases currently available (follow this link).

If you're looking for a Region 0 release, the version you want is the 96-minute release from Guang Dong Face; the extended release (runtime: 107 minutes), also from Guang Dong Face, is the version you want to avoid (i.e. the one with the watermark).

 

[Phil Carter]

Ken, I thank you as well for the speedy and helpful response. Appreciate it!

cheers,
Phil

 

[Rich Malloy]

That's it! There is, however, one issue with this disc: the opening/closing text isn't subbed. The Beaver links to a translation of these (I printed it out and popped it in the DVD case). A small amount of text, but it's important.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I have the Guang Dong Face 96-minute DTS release.

It looks and sounds sensational.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ah yes, Harvey Scissorhands at work again...

Will have to be happy with our non-R1 DVD (don't know which one we have, it's at home so I can't look at it right now)

 

[Tim Glover]

"I have the Guang Dong Face 96-minute DTS release"

Ron or others:
Where I can I find this online???

Thanks!

 

[Allan^L]

Just a note that the Miramax release will also have a DTS track and the featurettes will be in English, or at least subtitled.

 

[Cassy_w]

Wow. The Japanese screen shots are clearly superior in detail to the others. I'm buying it!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Rather than sidetrack this thread (dealing with the US release of Hero on DVD), please check out the following Hero-related threads in the Regional DVD Area for details on other non-region 1 offerings for Hero:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=204941

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=194513

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=162018

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=114169

 

[Tim Glover]

Thanks for those links Patrick. Very helpful! Back to the US dvd topic.