Life of Brian...comparison between Criterion and Anchor Bay releases (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Swearingen]

I have a friend at work who wants to get Life of Brian. I've got the Anchor Bay version (it was the only one I could find when I got it). Can anyone point me to a comparison of the Criterion and Anchor Bay discs so I can tell her which to get? (I might also upgrade if it looks justified)

 

[Zachary Cohen]

http://www.bytesandbobs.com/dvdcompa...son.asp?T=1125

Anchor Bay has theatrical trailer and some text extras while the Criterion Collection version has two commentaries, deleted scenes, a documentary, radio ads and the theatrical trailer.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Criterion has better extras. The transfers are identical.

Jeff

 

[AndrewR]

Isn't Anchor Bay releasing their own special edition later in the year? After the theatrical re-release?



Andrew

 

[Andrew Bunk]

The CC disc is anamorphic, the AB disc is not. Did you mean that the source is identical?

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Then I stand corrected. I thought all the Anchor Bay/Criterion releases were identical transfers up until the new Time Bandits came out.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

I myself upgraded solely for the 16:9 transfer. I think it's worth it if you have a 16:9 set, but obviously there's a big price difference.

 

[Matt Stieg]

I've got 'em both; the Criterion for the extras and the Anchor Bay for the correct aspect ration (1.85:1, the Criterion disc is in 1.78:1 but is also anamorphic).

 

[Rob Lutter]

You honestly keep an extra copy for that little 1.77:1->1.85:1 difference? It's not really that big of a deal when you work overscan into it.

 

[Jon Robertson]

I suspect it also just means there's a little less matting involved. The Criterion high-def transfer was completely supervised and approved by the director Terry Jones.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Same transfer also doesn't always mean same DVD master...sometimes the Crit has a higher bitrate.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I bought the Criterion before the AB release came out. However, given the choice now I would still go with the Criterion release due to the amount of extras on the disc.