JAMES BOND ULTIMATE COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[Lyle_JP]

No one is being accused of idiocy here. Hyperbole? Yes. Insane anal-retentiveness that goes above and beyond practical reason? Possibly. Unyielding demands for perfection that no other DVD set could live up to? Definitely. Not being able to see the forest for the trees? Absolutely! But idiocy? No, that was not an accusation I've heard yet.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Allow me to step in here....

First of all, I agree with Mr. Ross' posting that this forum
is dedicated to enthusiasts who wish to see film presented
on DVD in a definitive form closest to what was seen when
released theatrically.

Home Theater Forum has always been a place where
enthusiasts can come and nitpick problems with current
DVD releases.

I don't see the practice of nitpicking these faults to be
anal. In my eyes, I see a lot of neglect from studios or
producers to get these films right.

One of the most remarkable services that Home Theater Forum
provides is feedback to the studios. I know for a fact that most
all the major studios have someone reading our forum all the
time. What better place than this forum would the studios be
able to turn to get feedback on their product? This past week
I received a call from one of the studios we don't normally hear
from over something that was posted on this forum.

That being said, you can see why it's extremely important for
us to continue to express our dismay over errors like these.

In regards to home video release, the James Bond films have
a huge history of problems. I think this forum and its members
have contributed to getting many of these problems (such as
burned in titles) fixed simply because...well...they complained.

I do think that while these films look and sound better than ever
before, there is no excuse (nor explanation) as to why there are
color and framing problems present here. I can't understand why
the entire color scheme of the opening credits on Live and Let
Die were so dramatically changed. It's almost like someone was
given free reign to make personal corrections to the film that were
not faithful to the original release.

As co-owner of this forum, I am more than pleased to have members
gripe about these issues all they want as long as they keep to a
single thread and respect the opinions of others without trading
insults. I am keeping close watch on this thread to make sure that
dialogue remains within those parameters.

I am going to write Mr. Lowry and alert him to this thread. My
concern is that by the time these films get released to high definition
that they receive the treatment they deserve. It doesn't look as
if it will take much to get these films perfect. If someone can go
back and work on the problem areas I think we can all be happy.

If you look at this simply as historical significance, you can understand
why we feel there is a need to have these transfers done correctly. What
is done now will forever be cemented for future unnamed formats. I
would hate to know that future generations of these releases will contain
the same abnormalities as we have today.

Yes, these films look and sound better than they ever have
before. Problem is, there are rather severe imperfections that
go above and beyond what could merely pass as "acceptable."

While the huge majority of consumers will never know that
these problems exist, it's rather sad to see that the people who
should have put the most care into getting these transfers
absolutely right.......did not.

 

[dailW]

i have 1 and 3 of the R1 sets. they are great.has anyone thought that maybe the last dvds went too wide and exposed too much on the sides.
the color is perfect on live and let die . i had the old dvd turned it in a couple of years ago hated the way it looked too washed out.i did a comparison of color with my vhs of living daylights which came from the same print as the first dvd. the new dvd is a billion times better. the water is blue not green.

 

[RickER]

Strange for once i have to agree with everyone...one both sides of the fence! I think these look great! But the framing is the one thing i cannot speak to. I do not know what is right or wrong. But if it is wrong it would be nice to know what happened. Like i had said earlier i do know of older films that zoom in on the picture to hide film defects. But i know thats not the case with a movie as new as 5 years, or one under 20 years for that matter!
I wish i knew what was right or wrong with the framing, but most of these movies i saw on TV in the 70s as a kid. We do know that Pan and Scan is always wrong on widescreen movies! Beyond that i cave to those who have more info on this.

 

[Jim-M]

Overall I'm very happy with the UEs, but one thing I find frustrating is the inability to contact the company that put these out to inquire about discs that won't play (e.g. FWRL for a few of us). On an MGM website with logos for JamesBond.com there is a form to submit problems, but the email it generates bounces back because of an invalid user address. I've tried a few other MGM addresses with no response. The James Bond site seems to be at foxhome.com but I couldn't find an email address or anything about the UE sets at foxhome.com. Anyone have any contact info that has worked to report a disc that won't play? In contrast, Disney was easy to contact about an issue with one of the True Life Adventures discs and very pleasant to deal with.

 

[Dave - A]

I tried to contact MGM regarding the problems a few of us have been having with Moonraker and YOLT -- the pausing / dropouts previously mentioned. I've had no luck either; just the same bounced back emails. Same deal with FOX as well. Pretty poor customer relations / service I'd say. We all would like discs that play properly. Is it too much to ask that somebody look at these issues???

 

[Douglas Monce]

This assumes that the original DVD release was correct and the UE release is wrong. I don't think anyone has anything to suggest that this is the case other than its different from the one you've been looking at for the better part of 10 years. It’s just possible that the title sequence for Live and Let Die was printed wrong on the SE dvds.

As for framing changes on the more recent films, many of them have been shot in Super 35. Changing the framing in post production is VERY common for this format. (Again refer to the special feature on the Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition DVD on how the framing is done in this format) Its possible that when the SE transfers where made they just used the common top line for the extraction of the 2.35:1 ratio, when that’s not what the filmmakers intended. It may very well be that the UE ARE correct in the framing.

Doug

 

[James Phillips]

Casino Royale was a Super 35 shoot, but the previous eleven films were shot with anamorphic lenses.

 

[captainjoe]

Goldeneye was shot anamorphic so it is not the same process as T2's Super 35. That feature you're talking about is cool though. It may be that it was done for a reason though.
Having done a lot of color-timing myself, sure not on real movies but photos and short films, I can usually tell what went wrong with a few things and I can tell you that the main titles were brightened way too much and the contrast was adjusted, most likely by a computer. I could be wrong but that's just what my belief is. Most of the time when we see colour errors it is probably because a computer incorrectly balanced it and no one checked which I don't get. How hard is it to compare color and framing to the original negative, even when you're getting paid, we aren't.
Despite these errors I am happy with these releases my only complaints are the main titles of LALD, cropping on AVTAK and GE

 

[Douglas Monce]

Die Another Day actually has a mix of anamorphic and super 35.
Casino Royale seems to have been a mix of super 35 and digital.
I believe that most of the aerial photography for the last 4 or 5 films has been shot in super 35.

Doug

 

[norrisMc]

Could somebody please list the so called "errors" and issues with these Ultimate Editions by region?

i.e. what are the issues with the Region 1 Ultimate Editions and then, what are the issues with the Region 2 Ultimate Editions.

That would be really helpful. Thanks !

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This post should help you somewhat. It may be relevant to all regions.

 

[Douglas R]

What is meant in that post by the comment "The Spy Who Loved Me is missing its original audio track, as before". This seems to relate to the fact that the original mono tracks are present on the titles Dr No up to to Man With the Golden Gun. However, The Spy Who Loved Me was shown theatrically in stereo - so what's the problem?

 

[Ray H]

Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loves Me, and For Your Eyes Only are all missing their original audio tracks, may it be mono or stereo and only include 5.1 mixes. I believe this is because all three of these titles include three audio commentaries instead of the one or two on the other films.

 

[CameronMcC]

I was getting the same problem with bounced back e-mail, when trying to explain my trouble using the From Russia With Love disc. i used the form on the website, and while I have not heard a reply, the message was not resended to me. i pulled all this info from dvd talk

http://www.mgm.com/dvd_faqs.do

Shirley Temple recall number (877) 541-2229
Fox Home: 1-888-223-2FOX
MGM: 1-877-MGM-4YOU
[email protected] or [email protected]

 

[Colin Jacobson]

That's not an excuse - they could put the original audio on along with the commentaries. And it's not accurate: Spy has only two commentaries...

 

[Dave - A]

Thanks for the info Cameron. I'm getting onto them now. I suggest anyone else having problems do the same and maybe they'll do something about these playback issues.

Dave

update: I tried the online form and got a delivery failure. Maybe the box was full; I'll try again later. The other two emails seem to be okay.

 

[Douglas R]

The point I was making above, was that Live and Let Die was originally a mono film and therefore the DVD for that film should legitimately include the mono track alongside the new mix However, The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only were not mono films. The present UE and previous SE DD 5.1 mixes for these films simply replicated the theatrical presentation surround soundtrack, so there is no alternative "original" soundtrack.

 

[Ray H]

Were The Spy Who Loved Me & For Your Eyes Only stereo films? Moonraker, Octopussy, and A View to a Kill all include stereo tracks with the specs indicating that they are the original audio soundtracks. This led me to believe The Spy Who Loved Me & For Your Eyes Only were originally in stereo.

 

[Carter of Mars]

Yes, they were stereo films. The point is, the 5.1 tracks on those films is derived from the original stereo. It's not as if they have new effects, the way TB and YOLT do for instance. What you are hearing on TSWLM and FYEO are the original stereo tracks upgraded to 5.1. Nothing is changed, and having the original on there isn't really an issue. Only LALD seems to be an issue. I haven't watched that disc yet, so I can't say if the new mix has new effects in it or not. I hope not.