Hunt For Red October (1 Viewer)

[Michael Reuben]

Did you own the DD 5.1 remasters of the HFRO and PGames?

I'm curious to do some sound comparisons as soon as I get the discs in my hands.

Well, for one thing the DVD has the rear left channel for the last 30 minutes of Hunt. It was missing on the DD 5.1 LD.


OK, that's only partly true. Paramount did issue a corrected copy. But I remember being one of the first to spot the problem, and it's an incident I always think of whenever people get misty-eyed about the good ol' days of LD when everything was prepared with devotion, love and care. (Not!)

M.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I always think of whenever people get misty-eyed about the good
ol' days of LD when everything was prepared with devotion, love and
care. (Not!)

Like the L/R channels being reversed on the first Little Mermaid laserdisc!

-dave

 

[Shane Martin]

Paramount did issue a corrected copy.

I knew about this and its the one I own currently.

 

[Paul Case]

I watched this disc last night and was very impressed with the transfer and soundtrack. I would definitely recommend it to anybody who is a fan of this classic sub flick.

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

I saw this film several times in 1990, owned the 1990 laser, the 1997 laser, the 1998 dvd, and I caught a screening of a 70mm print back in 1999. Now that I've seen the new dvd, I'm shocked at the bad reviews, this is the best the film has ever looked. Anyone slamming the new dvd has no idea what this film is supposed to look like. Great job Paramount!

I whole-heartedly agree. I just got my discs this morning just like I said I would above, and I popped in Hunt before I had to go off to work, and I watched about 30 minutes or so of the film. I am thoroughly impressed with the picture quality. But of course, the last time I watched this film was on Widescreen VHS, so this is a whole new experience for me. And not only that, I'm hearing sounds that I didn't even know were there previously. Such as the humming thumping sound of the October's catepiller drive.

Again, I have no prior experience with the previous LDs and DVD version so I can't do a fair comparison, but it is far and away better than any VHS version I ever had.

But for those who are comparing it to the previous DVD, I must say that that DVD must have been truely aweful, because this new SE is as good as I've seen this film look (and sound with even just DD).

The film is dark, and some graininess may appear due to the rainy scenes, but that was for the most part intential, no?

But overall, I'm impressed.

 

[EricW]

i liked the transfer on HUNT; it may be a bit soft but for a movie that old, i'm not complaining. and the price was excellent. a few points:

-is Paramount the only company left that has an unskippable disclaimer (at least on my pioneer 333) right when you pop in the disc? quit annoying.

-the shot of Alec Baldwin just before he briefs the chiefs of staff and defense secretary, 35 min into the film, is extended by going forward, backward, and forward again, like they occasionally do to make dogs 'dance'

-has there been any other movie that has started off with the characters speaking a foreign language and then just "switching" to english? if so, what camera device did they use to acknowledge it? HFRO just zoomed into the mouth.

 

[Mark Barnhill]

Yea, I hate those too! They are the only ones that I'm aware of to do this.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

While were on the subject of imperfections on LD's, does anyone remember the phased inversion audio problem on the first pressing of Stargate?

I never owned the disc, but I heard that the entire soundtrack was backwards!

 

[Michael Reuben]

but I heard that the entire soundtrack was backwards

Just side 1 (of 3). The problem was limited to the PCM track; the DD was fine, but since hardly anyone had DD hardware at the time, it was pretty serious.

The sound wasn't "backwards", but voices got routed to the rear.

M.

 

[Ed Faver]

Lewis-

I am in agreement on the picture for THFRO. I have a Hitachi 42" RP HD-ready set and I saw some speckles and dirt that I didn't expect to see. However, I was in a forgiving mood as the film is finally available in anamorphic WS. Also, the DTS track sounded good, handling the low end booms quite well and providing crisp, clear separation in the rear channels.

Now, my monitor is one month away from getting its annual calibration, so maybe someone with a mmore 'in-tune' set would have a different opinion of the video...

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

A little OT, but what's all this I hear about have to having HDTVs callibrated? Callibrated to what and how?

Thanks...

 

[Dan Rudolph]

has there been any other movie that has started off with the characters speaking a foreign language and then just "switching" to english? if so, what camera device did they use to acknowledge it? HFRO just zoomed into the mouth.

The two Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies did the same.

 

[Carlo_M]

Dave, head over to the hardware side (HDTV) and do a search for ISF calibration, that should yield some results.

www.keohi.com/keohihdtv has some really good calibrators who participate/run the site. Check it out!

 

[Joel Fontenot]

The two Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies did the same.

Okay, I remember the scene in Clear and Present Danger with the Cartel guys speaking spanish. After the one guy tells the other (who is practicing swinging a bat at a baseball throwing machine) that the previously shown victims were friends of the President of the United States, the next ball tossed goes in slow-motion past the other guy who's just standing there in a brief pause as he takes in what he heard. Then they start speaking in english.

What was the similar scene in Patriot Games? The "bad guys" were rogue IRA people and already spoke english.

Joel

 

[ShaunG]

EricW
"-has there been any other movie that has started off with the characters speaking a foreign language and then just "switching" to english? if so, what camera device did they use to acknowledge it? HFRO just zoomed into the mouth."

Mark Barnhill
"Yea, I hate those too! They are the only ones that I'm aware of to do this."

Personally I think this transition is one of the most impressive I've ever seen. It makes me feel like someone turned on the "universal translator" and it just brings you deeper into the film. I thoroughly enjoy this very creative method for shifting from subtitles to english. Somebody was really thinking out of the box on this one.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Joel, you're right.

And I rather liked the treatment of language switching. Although I had a hard time pretending Sean Connery has a Lithuanian accent.

 

[David Coleman]

Just got done watching this new disc. Wow...what an improvement over the old one!! I got rid of the original because the amount of grain made watching it unbearable! Now I can't say if there's less colors or sharpness, but I can say that this is a much more pleasing presentation than the first disc!

I loved the DTS on this disc! Made the soundtrack come alive and yes I even noticed some split surround events! Congrats to Paramount for an excellent first foray into DTS!

I even liked the doc even though it was your "typical dry" Paramount presentation ( I think the best Paramount doc was on TO CATCH A THIEF and that's because the disc had a producer)! I dunno why but was surprised that Alec Baldwin participated in the doc! I somehow thought he was on the outs with the producers???

 

[Grant B]

Just caught in on HBO (maybe showtime) in High Defintion..
Yee Ha! It dont look cloudy at all! They broadcast the DPL soundtrack for some reason (I had to bitch about something)

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I thoroughly enjoy this very creative method for shifting from subtitles to english.

Haven't watched mine yet. Are the subtitles within the frame of the picture, (like at the movies), or outside of it, in the black bars. I prefer the former.

 

[EricMa]

Judgment At Nuremberg also has an abrubt change of language. It works OK, but they keep changing conventions for the Headsets and interpreters. It can be distracting. In all I think it captures the idea of a trial in different languages pretty well.

Oh, I think Mark Barnhill's comment about "hating these too" refers to the unskippable disclaimers, not the language change.