JAMES BOND ULTIMATE COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Here's a link to a Bond site with a photo and links to other DVD related articles:
http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/dvd/index.php3

 

[rich_d]

There were some happy campers with their R2 metal case and more power to them.

However, put a DVD on its side and that the minimum depth of the interior of the case. Calling it an attache case, well that's sort of a joke ... a small suitcase is more accurate. The attache cases of the Bond films of Dr. No and FRWL were elegant and rather thin cases.

These aren't that.

 

[Jeff#]

It looks like the limited edition attache cases are no longer available anyway, and were replaced by a flat box of 20 of the Bond films. How well are they enclosed wihin that large cardboard shell?

The Ultimate edition boxes of different actors who played 007 (just Connery, Moore, and Bronson) weren't a bad idea either....but if the Connery edition is missing "Never Say Never Again", it's a waste.

 

[Ray_R]

But Never Say Never Again is an "unofficial" 007 film. Quite understandable due to this case though. They could bundle it with Casino Royale (1967).

 

[Jeff Willis]

John, that sums it up for me as well. I'm a frequent poster on the TV/DVD HTF forum so I rarely visit the film bd. But, this question about all of the different issues that are reported with different DVD players has always mystified me. I thought that all Std DVD Players are basically manufactured the same, but I guess not? Weird.

I recently received the entire UE collection (U.S./R1) as a gift so I haven't had time to view this set, but after reading some of this thread, I popped in "Goldfinger" to see if my player had a problem with that one. It started playing without a problem (no "no disc" error, etc). I have a Pioneer DV-578A code-free PAL/NTSC player. I've noticed some layer-freezeup's in some of my movies but I haven't made notes of which movies and how frequent this takes place. As John said, it suprises me that, after all this time, we'd see this issue as consumers with standard DVD's. Since I view mostly TV/DVD's in my player, I need to do some random testing from my movie collection to check this out, and for certain, my JB UE sets. I have to admit that I'm surprised at reading about the # of issues reported with the UE set. I don't understand how this # of issues could get mfg'd and marketed but then again, I've had to return a few TV/DVD sets for exchange as well for the usual "pixtel/freeze" issues.

As for the cropping issue in "Goldeneye", I have a couple of questions (bearing in mind that I'm mainly a TV/DVD viewer, thanks to all of the film "aces" on this Bd for your patience Seriously, you guys here know your subject!)

1) I'm a little confused with the cropping issue. Aren't all of the UE movies in Widescreen format (vs Pan/Scan)? Is the cropping just a small percentage of picture trimming and is it only in the opening credit part of the film or is it cropped throughout the entire DVD?

2) Is the cropping issue present only in Goldeneye in the UE sets?

 

[captainjoe]

1) The cropping is present throughout the entire movie but it the worse during the beginning.

For some comparisons go here:
http://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/foru...pic.php?t=3053

2) A View to a Kill is the only other that features bad cropping and again most of this is towards the beginning.

Other films feature minimal cropping but none to worry too much about.

 

[MielR]

So, there are only 4 Bond UEs with playback problems so far? I guess that's good news (sort of).

After the problems with Moonraker I was expecting a lot more.

EDIT: This post was moved (not by me) from the UE DEFECT LIST thread.........? FYI.

 

[Nelson Au]

I was curious about an issue I thought I read about with Thunderball on this thread. I went back to page 6 and I didn't see it, but there was comments that the titles for Thunderball are pictureboxed. I just re-viewed the titles and yes, when they start, the DVD zooms back to reveal a tad more picture left and right until the side edges pull inward enough to become a picturebox.

I think it occurrs for The World is Not Enough too.

For all the new and old people chiming on this thread, did anyone learn the reason for this? It seems it's an alteration of the framing, at least for the titles.

captainjoe's link has great screencap comparisons of this too.

 

[Ray H]

The titles for some of the films have been squeezed in order to compensate for overscan. I guess the DVD guys didn't want credits to be cut off on the sides of people's TV screens.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Ray, that makes sense.

I wanted to compare the SE to the UE titles for Thunderball. It seemed odd that the image looked stretched a tad left to right on the UE. Upon viewing the SE, I could clearly see the gunbarrel in the opening was round on the SE, but elliptical ( wider horizontally) on the UE. So perhaps the titles are not squeezed per se, but compressed vertically from stretching. I'll have to do some screencaps to test my theory.

I also compared the SE and UE titles on my HT and there is one credit grouping that starts with the John Stears Special Effects credit that's really close to the right edge on the SE, but still within frame. Didn't seem necessary to squeeze the titles after viewing the UE.

 

[John H Ross]

"Only" 4? Out of 20?

4 is an absolutely disgrace!

 

[MielR]

I agree, but there is some debate about whether or not the glitches mentioned are actually 'defects'. IE- the layer-change stutters (which vary from player to player) and even some of the other freeze-up problems which aren't occuring on all players....

In any case, it's not looking like the issues are going to be addressed by MGM, so the singles will probably be exactly the same as the discs from the sets. :frowning:

 

[Jeff Willis]

"Captain" "Aye Aye" Thanks for the link to your comparison post at that site. What a job with the screen caps and summaries of UE vs SE! This answered a lot of questions about the UE sets that I had about them. I am surprised at the Goldeneye cropping. Hard to understand if MGM made the oversight or mistake with the UE sets.

I'm curious about the recent UE set price discounts at the online stores. Do you all think it's due to the (probable) upcoming HD/BLU-RAY releases of same or that the Std UE sets weren't selling well initially? If not, that would surprise me since the Bond films have a huge fan base.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Compare the title sequence of Goldeneye between the SE and UE editions. The UE print given to Lowry is a print that was prepared for television at the time the film was made. The Titles on the UE edition are pushed toward the center of the frame making it easier to pan and scan. The image has also been zoomed in on to allow for more visible detail when being shown on broadcast TV.

Why this print was given to Lawry I don't know.

Also did anyone notice that the SE print of Die Another Day is the American release version, and the UE is the British release version. If you watch the scene where bond is shaving in his hotel room toward the start of the movie, in the SE version the razer package is a Norelco, in the UE version it's a Phillips. Both brands are made by the same company, but Noreclo is marketed in the U.S. while Phillips is marketed in the U.K.

Doug

 

[Jeff Willis]

Doug, thanks for the info and your

power of observation about the US/UK versions

I used to own a Norelco

Since I received all of the UE sets from "Santa", I'll certainly keep and watch them all but I have been very surprised when reading this thread about the various mistakes/incorrect prints given to Lowry, etc when it comes to a Bond set like this. I admit I've been "out of pocket" regarding the film forum and movies in general, being a TV/DVD collector primarily, but it's unexpected to discover the info posted here about the UE's. At the same time, Thanks to you HTF'ers on the film forum (as well as my fellow TV/DVD posters). It's a top-notch forum to read and receive invaluable information about DVD's, not to mention the other forums here. Since I have almost all of the movies on DVD that I'm interested in collecting, I'm not waiting for too many more releases. TV/DVD...that's another matter

 

[Todd B]

Doug, do you know this for a fact. I know that there was some conjecture on this earlier in the thread but I thought it was just that, conjecture. If it is true, someone has some explaining to do.

Todd

 

[Douglas Monce]

Well I haven't heard anyone from MGM or Eon say it, but there is really no other reason to prepare a print that way. The titles are all moved into what is known as the "TV Safe Area". Also it's very common for a print that is intended to be pan and scanned to be zoomed in on so that the detail will hold up better on a 19 inch TV.

It's possible that Martin Campbell thought that the TV print looked better on a small screen and asked that it be used. Of course that’s just speculation also; however it’s my understanding that he approved the transfer.

Also you have to understand that in this day and age there is no such thing as a definitive version of a movie. A film like Goldeneye probably has somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 50 different versions out there.

Some changes are for obvious reasons. A Foreign Language version. Sometimes a character's name is changed because it’s the same as a well known person in that country. Sometimes a gesture is removed because it’s offensive to a particular culture. Any film going to the Middle East will have any "thumbs up" gesture removed because in that culture it’s like flipping someone off.

A version that is prepared for airlines will generally avoid showing airplane crashes or problems. I'm assuming that Die Another Day didn't show on airlines.

So it’s not as easy as one might think to "just transfer the original movie".

Doug

 

[Todd B]

Doug,

Thanks for the feedback. With respect to choosing which print to use for a DVD release, is there any sort of convention which is typically followed?

Todd

 

[Douglas Monce]

No not really. More often than not I think its which ever version the vault supervisor grabs. Of course just because he grabs the one labeled U.S. theatrical doesn't mean thats what is actually in the can. And different distributors in different countries might have that country's version to put on DVD.

When someone like Robert Harris is doing a restoration, they will often look at the camera reports from the production to make sure what they are looking at is the right footage.

In the case of the Bond films, they are only transferring one version of the movie for the whole world.

(although some changes were made from the R2 versions to the R1. They seem to have been to correct some mistakes).

For Die Another Day it's the UK release version. Again we would have to talk to someone at Eon to know why they did what they did, and so far they aren't talking.

Doug

 

[TheBat]

I have played diamonds are forever, license to kill, living daylight, live and let die, man with the golden gun, the spy who loved me, for your eyes only, octopussy, tomorrow never dies, and casino royale without any problems using the HD add on for the 360.

Jacob