Merged Stargate Ulimate edition DVD thread (1 Viewer)

[Bruce_S]

I got mine from CC for $12.99 on sale. I believe the regular price is at $14.99. However, I just got back from costco and they have it for $12.99 everyday!

 

[Michael Reuben]

It appears that we'll have to cut up the back cover of the keepcase to get the $5 rebate. Unfortunate. (The rebate certificate makes it sound like there's another proof-or-purchase tab somewhere, but I'm damned if I can find it.)

The film finally looks like what I saw in the theater. It only took two (2) LD releases and three (3) DVD releases.

M.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I don't know what you guys were watching, but this transfer was still not all that spectacular. Far less edge enhancement than before, but the film still looks beat up in some places with scratches, dust, bad splices, washed out colors and flesh tones fluctuating from sickly pale to redish/pinkish sunburnt and back (and this is even on the theatrical sections)!

Yup, I did catch the typo in the subtitles. Kind of a dumb slip up, just like the mis-translations in Amelie that anyone with half a brain could have spotted.

The one stand out was the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 remix. With the elements that they had to work with, Mi Casa did a good job with repositioning the surround effects to take advantage of the discrete back channel. Pretty aggressive mix for a 6.1 remaster from 5.1. Better than the DD EX 5.1 track, IMHO.

Dan

 

[Mark_TS]

...I was under the impression that the tab/box to the left ON the mail-in certificate was supposed to function as UE proof of purchase. You might try to put your SE cover-sheet on a copier to avoid cutting it up for the UPC-if good quality, and covered with tape, they may not notice, or care...
---
The transfer does look a lot better, but now other flaws are more apparent-the use of smoke and bright light (?)makes for an unstable, "noisy" picture-or maybe they transfered it too bright-the last edition was darker, and the noise was not as apparant. The opening credit sequence however, is incredible...
a mixed blessing....

 

[Michael Reuben]

maybe they transfered it too bright

They did. Emmerich prefers a much darker look for the film, which is what he stipulated for the director's cut LD. But as you say, there are trade-offs. On balance, I was pleased.

M.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Subtitles? I never even thought about that! Well, points for you.

No, I was referring to the physical disks! Both read 119 minutes long, when we all know that the director's cut is a few minutes longer.

 

[LeeL]

Western Canadians: 18.79 @ A&B Sound (if you live East of Winnipeg, you're SOL).

 

[Gary_Sc]

I have to agree with Dan and others who are questioning the quality of the transfer. I am using a pretty high end setup (NEC XG CRT projector and a tweaked HTPC) and the transfer was definately not reference quality. There was a lot of video noise. Perhaps the fact that I was projecting on a 8' wide screen made the issues worse. While it was better than the previous Special Edition version it was definately not on the same level as the other "reference discs".

 

[WilliamG]

Gary_Sc and Dan-

I'm in full agreement(see my post #17). Gary, I'm watching on my Toshiba 50H81 (50" Widescreen) and I could see the 'noise' clearly - and I wasn't even LOOKING for it!:frowning:
I truly don't know what all the excitement is about ..:frowning:

 

[Lyle_JP]

Has anyone else noticed that the theatrical cut looks significantly better than the extended edition in a number of places?

The best example is the title card for "Giza 1938". In the extended cut, there are noticeable halos around the lettering, which is a compression artifact. On the theatrical cut, the lettering is razor sharp with no halos. The title sequence on both discs also shows this to a lesser extent.

Another scene is all the fall leaves when the two officers arrive at Russel's house to inform him he's been reactivated. On the extended cut disc, the foliage is soft, muddy, and all blends together. On the theatrical cut it looks sharper and more film-like.

Mind you, these aren't huge differences like the differences between the old discs and the new ones. This is much more like the subtle differences between Superbit and regular titles in the Columbia line. They both look great, but the Theatrical Cut looks, well, more great.

I'm not sure how the addition of a commentary track and nine minutes of additional footage would make that much of a difference in disc space overhead; perhaps they were made from two different source materials (I know, that's highly unlikely).

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Luis Esp]

Though I'm happy with new mixes on the dvd, I am still somewhat disappointed with the image quality of the film.

Why spend all that time and money putting together a new dvd version without correcting all the noise and cleaning up the extended version?

My question is, if there should be a sequel in the works, and preferably with the original cast, not the series cast, will we receive a new version on dvd...The Extreme Edition?

I'm surprised the directors did not go back and enhance the film digitally the way Lucas did with the Star Wars series.

 

[TonyD]

i have a question about this rebate thing.

the rebate form says the receipt should be dated between feb 18th and june 2003.
but me receipt from deepdiscountdvd.com is dated feb 10th. the shipping day.

so has anyone thought of what to do in this situation/

 

[Armand G]

I noticed the same Lyle. I read somewhere that the scenes that are extra in the director's cut were not "cleaned" up. I really can't say how it compares to the previous versions on dvd, since I only have the DTS laserdisc.

I Think it is far from reference quality. While the overall color balancing seemed ok, there were a lot of scratches, specles and other dirt visible. You don't hear me complain on the picture since it is way better than the Laserdisc I own.

 

[Luis M]

I haven't heard anybody complain about the movie being to green at times and the color looking almost artificial sometimes ir is it just me? this doesn't happen with the rest of the movies I have. The movie looks the best is ever look before on any format but is far from reference quality.

 

[JeremyFr]

All I have to say is WOW! I haven't even watched the whole thing yet but what a great job on restoring the print and redoing the sound in 6.1, the surrounds are much more enveloping on this release and the transfer is fantastic. I know that there was a review written on this DVD and he was right on the mark it is definately becoming my new demo disc (bye bye Episode 2!). Also I was amazed I found it at $12.99 at Costco a local bulk wherehouse type store here in Washington it was an awesome deal, has both the directors cut and original theatrical version both redone in DTS-ES and DD EX. I cant wait to watch the whole thing.

 

[Luis A]

Hopefully someone can answer this question for me. How can this disc support a DTS-ES Discrete track when the disc(s) only have a 5ch DTS mix on them? The DD track is right on saying 5.1 on the DVD display, but the DTS thing has me confused. I hope this makes sense.

 

[JeremyFr]

Hopefully someone can answer this question for me. How can this disc support a DTS-ES Discrete track when the disc(s) only have a 5ch DTS mix on them? The DD track is right on saying 5.1 on the DVD display, but the DTS thing has me confused. I hope this makes sense.

Ok you got me confused, but um yeah DTS-ES is a Discrete 6.1 where DD EX is a matrix 6.1 so in actuality its a 5.1 format and the decoder pulls the rear center channel from the sum of the left and right rear channels. DTS-ES has a seperately encoded Rear Center channel so its a true 6.1 format. The disc both have a full ES mix and then a DD EX mix on them. ES is fully backwards compatibale with a standard DTS decoder the Rear Center is just added into the Left and Right rear channels.

 

[Luis A]

Thanks for the reply Jeremy. However this doesn't answer my question. I'm well aware on how DD/DTS 5.1/6.1 work. My fault, I guess I should have made the question more clear. My question is if this disc truly has a DTS discrete track on it, then when I pull up the Navi on my Toshiba SD-9200 why does it say 5ch instead of 6ch like on all other DTS-ES Discrete tracks? Does this mean that Stargate isn' in DTS-ES? When I pull up the Navi for DD it says what it's supposed to say 5.1ch. Anyone else with a Toshiba DVD player notice this? Doesn't Ron have a Tosh player?

 

[Lyle_JP]

Luis,

The track could just be "labeled" wrong in the DVD's internal table of contents. I've seen DD 5.1 tracks show up as Dolby Digital 2.0 when hitting the display key on my DVD player, although the receiver clearly indicates a 5.1 track.

ES is fully backwards compatibale with a standard DTS decoder the Rear Center is just added into the Left and Right rear channels.

Actually, the center rear channel is already present in the left and right rear channels for backwards compatibility. The discrete full range center channel is used by the matrixing logic when being subtracted from the real left and right.

That's why DTS-ES Discrete isn't quite as discrete as it appears to be. True, there are 6.1 discrete channels, but matrixing must still be done to the rears due to the backwards compatible nature of the DTS-ES format.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Luis A]

Cool, thanks Lyle. I guess that could be it. The only reason I had bothered checking in the first place to see if all 6 channels were there is b/c for the first time in my theater I prefered the DD track over DTS. It was DD .LFE that seemed so much stronger and struck with more impact, and a hell of alot deeper than DTS does. Like I said this is the first time I have ever preferred DD over DTS in my theater. I even went so far as to check my connections on my monoblocks to my ML's, and my DVD player to my pre/pro. I will say that DTS sounds more spacious, but DD's .LFE has more OOMPH!

Hopefully someone with the technical means can investigate to see if the DTS-ES track on this DVD is correct.