Outlander (1 Viewer)

[Ron-P]

Received my copy today, sure enough 1:78.1. I'm returning it. Such a complete bummer!

 

[Paul Arnette]

I hear you. I got caught up in this too. First Seven, now Outlander. So, technically, this is a 'shame on me' for getting suckered in twice by Alliance. No longer though. I don't care if the original unaltered Star Wars trilogy comes out on Alliance BD, I'm not buying their discs again until I've read some reviews first.

 

[troy evans]

I remember with Se7en it was open matted and you saw more than you should height wise. With Outlander it's cropped and we get less picture. Either way, it's still incorrect OAR on both. Also, since you have to order from Canada it takes the price up considerably ( $8 standard, $9 priority, $15 express) because of shipping. I'm thinkin' a Blu release will drop sometime between Sept.-Dec. for the U.S. release. I got the sd dvd and it looks very good, so, I can wait till then to upgrade. I'm still pissed.

 

[Ron-P]

What would posses a studio to crop a film for Blu-ray? I don't understand the logic behind such a decision.

 

[troy evans]

It would seem like we're going from a "full screen" VHS/sd dvd on a 4x3 display mentality to a 1:78 (full sreen) Blu-ray/sd dvd on a 16:9 display mentality. That this happens with Blu-ray at all is completely unacceptable. I thought the format was meant to be for the audio and videophile among us. I'm starting to see a disturbing trend lately with some Blu-ray studios. The Dog Soldiers transfer to Blu was shitty. Companies like First Look and Echo Bridge seem to be porting standard def over onto Blu's and rendering the output to read 1080p and I know damn well the transfers are not HD quality, at least to my eyes. Some Blu's as we know are lacking in the hi-res audio department. I really hope that these are isolated incidents and not a fore shadowing of a new trend.

 

[George_W_K]

Does anyone know what aspect the downloaded version of this is on PSN?

 

[Paul Arnette]

Where are you ordering your Canadian BDs from? Amazon? If so, stop. Most of the time I can find discs cheaper through playusa.com. Ignore the Canadian and US prices listed on their site because when you go to checkout it charges in Pounds anyway. I was able to get Outlander from them for $22.86 plus whatever transaction fees my credit card charges me. I recall this being far cheaper than Amazon CA.

 

[Ron-P]

Well, curiosity got the best of me and I watched the film, what a kick-ass ride of a movie, I loved it. It's a keeper at this point, MAR'd version and all. Hopefully the US Blu release will get much better treatment.

While the DTS-HD MA track is one of the best I've heard to-date, the image quality is not quite as good. it's very inconsistent. Mostly noticeable are the night scenes, some are very dark with great detail while others are washed out and soft. The audio is an A+ but the picture, B-.

 

[troy evans]

After doing a little more research I've come to find that Outlander's correct OAR is 2:39:1. The English version is going to be 2:35 and so is the already released French version. So it looks like no one may be getting the correct aspect ratio for this damn movie anyway. But, 2:35 is a hell of alot closer than 1:78.

 

[troy evans]

Glad to hear the audio is top notch. Ron, when you get a chance could you give us your impressions of the deleted scenes. Specifically, compared to the feature itself. It's reported that the deleted scenes are in the correct OAR (ain't that a kick in the nuts?) on this Blu and I'm wondering if you feel you lose anything of significance between versions of scenes.

 

[troy evans]

Hey, thanks for the heads up. It cost me $40 from amazon.ca because I was impatient and wanted it ASAP. I'll definately check out playusa.com from now on.

 

[Ron-P]

Can do Troy. It'll take several days before I can go back and revisit it but I will check them out. Heck, I'm just looking forward to going back and watching it again.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Good to hear, Ron.

As for the PSN version, it is shown with black bars on my 16:9 HDTV, so I assumed it was shown with the proper ratio. And the film needed the real estate.

I'm looking forward to the US Blu as well. I'm sure it'll be fairly bare bones, but that is OK.

 

[Ron-P]

Sure enough, all the extras are (I'm guessing) the correct AR. But, it's no 2.35:1, the black bars are quite small, about half the size of what a normal 2.35:1 film would be on my screen.

Oh, and there are a ton of deleted scenes, some quite long. This film could have been quite a bit longer.

 

[Tino]

It's also available on the XBOX360 in HD.

 

[Dalton]

Really glad i peeked into this thread or i never would have seen this movie. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the US Blu Ray.

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

I decided to add this to the Netflix queue thinking I'll get it in a couple of days. Yeah, right, the thing has been on "long wait" forever.

 

[Ron-P]

Get used to that "long wait" if you're renting Blu-ray from Netfilx. I dropped them and went Blockbuster, never looked back. Good luck.

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

That's the thing. I thought I'd be "smart" and put it on Blu-ray because it's still a somewhat new format thereby guaranteeing me a quick mailing. Yeah, nope. Netflix doesn't have it on Blu-ray so I'm stuck with DVD. Oh well. I still have lots of good movies to watch while I wait.

 

[Rhett_Y]

After reading this thread and watching the trailer.. I am soo looking forward to this one.

Question: is the one that has the questionable format?
PlayUSA.com : Outlander on Region 1 DVD

If so, has there been an update on which version out there has the correct formatting?

Thanks