John Carpenter's, The Fog out Oct. 4th. (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

I saw the disc (in a store) over the weekend and the back cover says it's 'Mastered In High Definition'. To me that indicates a new transfer but I don't think it actually has one.

 

[Kevin M]

MGM wouldn't do something devious like that! How DAAAARE You Sir!!

 

[JoshB]

Isn't it Sony now though? Who would have control over the new master (if they did one) for this current release, MGM or Sony? It probably makes no difference, but I as wondering what people think.

 

[Kevin M]

I was under the impression that MGM was still operating under it's own control while being owned by Sony.
I don't know that for a fact but that was the impression I got from some of the press releases.

 

[Dave Mack]

Since the original dvd was also downconverted from an HD master, "mastered in Hi-Def" doesn't mean it's a new transfer. If it said "all new digital remaster from HD, yada, yada...."

I don't think it's that high profile a title. One HD master of it should do it. Now, if it has been compressed, encoded better than the last disc even with the same transfer it might look a bit better, yes?

d

 

[Chris Tedesco]

I still would love comparison screen shots....just in case!

 

[Doug Schiller]

I went to Sam's (picked up Warriors) and Circuit City (picked up Cinderella) and no site of the new Fog. CC had plenty of the old version though.

 

[Dave Mack]

I saw a few copies here in Berkeley today. Held it in my hand, but I will wait to see if there's any improvement.

d

 

[JoshB]

I picked it up today at Sam Goody (Wal Mart had the spot on the shelf put were pretty behind in getting new releases on the shelves today and I didnt want to wait until alter today to go back and find it.)

I hate to pay for the same property twice, put insce my last copy had the problem that some had of freezong up, and since I have no value of the full frame version, $10 isnt so bad.

It does come wit the trailer for the new film though. Thats important to some people, isnt it??

I will post screen caps later to compare the two releases. I use WinDVD, so hopefully that will show the quality pretty well. If anyone has requests for certain scenes, let me know.

 

[Dave Mack]

Very cool! Thanks, JoshB!

The outdoor scene where jaimie lee and tommy walk to the end of the dock had a little bit of noticeable ee or ringing IIRC. Maybe this and whatever you think would show if there are any differences would be great!

Thanx!

dMack

 

[JoshB]

Well here are my first thoughts on it...

The new release does NOT contain an inset, which is expected. At least the last one had a nice insert with some photos, chapter list, and production notes. Shame

As for bit rate(if some were wondering):

Old: 6.41 mb/sec
New: 6.41 mb/sec

The graph looked exactly the same with peaks and drops. And I did compare the widescreen side of the old one.

Here is a link to the pics:

http://photobucket.com/albums/a113/roadwarrior980/

I have caps of the new and old release. Only a few scenes so far and only in the beginning, but I will try and add more later tonight. Let me know what eveyone thinks.

 

[Kevin M]

A trouble shot with fog might help, I can't remember exactly where but the old disc has a few scenes where the Mpeg doesn't handle the fog very well, as it apt to do with fog, perhaps that would be a good place to show if this one has better encoding.

 

[JoshB]

Updated link with new pics...

I don't know about you, but to my eyes it looks to be the exact same transfer, with no difference so far in color or detail. I have only compared a handful of scenes, but they look the same in each one.

The menus I included are from the new release, which are the same as the previous one.

 

[Kevin M]

It's exactly the same IMO, not that that's a bad thing as that transfer was pretty good to begin with, although I have to say that as I watch it I don't see the EE as bad as it is in the screencaps. My TV is 42' so it isn't so small that the EE would be obscured.

Oh well, if you don't have it already, get it.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Thanks for the shots. I'm now completely convinced to hold on to my current disc. The ticket to the new version might have put me over with a new transfer, but a ticket would ultimately be cheaper.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

And OF COURSE I found old and new FOGs mixed together at BB today, while nary a copy of the "original" WARRIORS to be found anywhere (I too am one of the unlucky who decided to sell my old DVD a couple of months ago in anticipation).

 

[Doug Schiller]

Circuit City has plenty of copies of the old Warriors DVD. I would say it would be easy to find. Wal Mart always over stocks on Paramount inventory.

 

[Alex cosmo]

It seems like some copies have a movie ticket for the remake, others don't. Or am I wrong, and some just don't have the sticker? On a side note, is there any chance of a better disc of Dark Star or Escape from LA?

 

[Chris Tedesco]

He he, went into Best Buy and there was an advertisement for The Fog and it stated :Newly Remastered DVD. Man, that drives me crazy!

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

I watched the roundtable discussion with John Carpenter (along with David Cronenberg and John Landis) on the Videodrome Criterion disc a few nights ago, and Carpenter bemoaned the fact that The Fog was slapped with an R, since he shot it hoping for a PG and insisted the film was "for kids". He went on to hope that sometime in the future a category would be added between PG and R, which would have accomodated The Fog's level of intensity.