Question about Valley Girl Disc? (1 Viewer)

[Brett C]

I saw a quick picture artifact at 8:32 ch5, it looks like quick warpage of the frame or actual frames are missing from the picture, I noticed it in another section as well but can't remember where it was. Anyone else notice this? Just curious.

 

[David Lambert]

Mine does that, too. When Julie and her friend are talking to Julie's mom & dad about going out to the party, and Julie's in mid-lunge to kiss her dad on the cheek, right?

I think that's just a warp, and not a cut. It's all so fast that I don't think anything's missing. If so, it's just one or two frames, and nothing more than that. But I'm more sure it's a warp.

On a side note, I wish they would have indicated that the trailers advertised on the box were on the P&S side only. I went nuts looking for them, before locating them on the "wrong" side of the disc!

 

[Juan M. Rico]

On a side note, I wish they would have indicated that the trailers advertised on the box were on the P&S side only. I went nuts looking for them, before locating them on the "wrong" side of the disc!

Same goes for Agent Cody Banks. In this DVD (another MGM), ALL the special features (except for the commentary which is in both sides) are on the P&S side of the DVD, but nowhere this is mentioned: not the cover, not on the special features menu, where they could at least tell you to flip the DVD. I alwasy try to avoid the P&S side like the plage, and don't go there unless I really have to.

J

 

[JeffMc]

I read somewhere that they changed some of the music for the DVD. Is this true? I think it mentioned that MEN AT WORK and some other songs were replaced due to rights issues. It's not a film I was going to pick up personally, but I hate to hear about any title getting modified this way.

 

[Jodee]

I totally noticed that Men at Work "Who Can it Be Now?" was missing (during the scene where Randy is hanging out in the shower stall during the party.) I really missed that music in the scene and it really bummed me out that the movie was not intact.

I know this film really well and that was the only music that I noticed that was changed.

 

[Dick]

Was there a disclaimer indicating the film had been modified for content?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Uh, no, there wasn't, but I remember that song being in the movie now- so goes another DVD I wish I hadn't bought on street date.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Just saw the Valley Girl DVD last night.

*sigh*

Appears that most of the extras are on the widescreen side of the disc, and the video quality suffers as a result. I have not seen so many compression artifacts on a major DVD release in quite some time. Mind you this is when viewed on a larger screen (92 inches), but on smaller screens it actually looks ok - you don't see the fine details anyway, which is where the problems are.

As examples, check out the early beach scene where Loryn (Elizabeth Daily) comes back to the group with food. Look at the breakup in the fine details around the tray she's holding. And just a shot or two later, when Nic Cage's friend approaches him with info on the party, look at the noise around their arms - unbelievable and unacceptable IMHO.

Another terrible looking scene - during the bike ride scene ("Mother or Daughter" chapter), look at the noise in the trees and the fine details. Heartbreaking.

But really, the whole film is distracting on larger screens. Not just isolated incidents. Saw this with friends who are *not* videophiles, and one friend actually remarked about this noise, not knowing what it was, but clearly distracted by it.

Otherwise Fred Elmes' photography (excellent DP who shot a number of films for David Lynch, including Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart) really holds up - bright and colorful and really captures the 80s.

To add insult to injury, the flipside of the disc, which is full frame, looks better! While not perfect, and still boasting quite a few compression artifacts, it is *noticeably* improved with a more stable image and less noise. I would say about a 20% improvement. Going back to the widescreen side to confirm made me want to "gag myself with a spoon."

On the plus side, the extras are nice, and it's a great film, but if you're planning to see this one on a larger screen, beware!

My $.02,

 

[Craig Robertson]

...it's a great film, but if you're planning to see this one on a larger screen, beware!

that's a bummer. i've been on the fence about purchasing VG and now it's just a rental, at best. i've no desire to watch a crappy image on a 100" screen.

 

[Kevin Farley]

Is there any possibility of getting replacements/ Having them issue a fix? This is unacceptable. We just got ours in and haven't watched it yet. ARRRGGHH! What the hell is the matter with these people? Don't they actually watch the screen when they're working on it?

 

[David Lambert]

Felix, I just went back a re-viewed the scenes you mention, and a few others besides. I don't see what you are describing. I do see some film grain in scenes that always exhibited it (notably the night scene where Randy gets Fred to stop the car so he can go back to the party and look for Julie). But I think that this is the best I've ever seen this film on home video, period. No complaints here.

Granted, my screen is not 100" (think about half that size), so perhaps you are talking about problems that can only be seen on the highest-end sets. Sorry about that.

Signed, a GIANT fan of this film who is also a VERY picky customer.

 

[SebastianL]

I never saw Valley Girl before I bought the DVD and I scratched my head quite a bit when the radio announcer said something like "....and this was the latest hit from Men at Work". Now I know why and I never would have touched this Disc if I knew.

Combined with the picture qualitiy and that I didn´t like the movie at all, this is a big disappointment.

And btw. I wonder why the DVDFile review doesn´t mention the missing song even if the reviewer seems to be a big fan of Valley Girl....

SL

 

[Felix Martinez]

Felix, I just went back a re-viewed the scenes you mention, and a few others besides. I don't see what you are describing. I do see some film grain in scenes that always exhibited it (notably the night scene where Randy gets Fred to stop the car so he can go back to the party and look for Julie). But I think that this is the best I've ever seen this film on home video, period. No complaints here.

Granted, my screen is not 100" (think about half that size), so perhaps you are talking about problems that can only be seen on the highest-end sets. Sorry about that.

Signed, a GIANT fan of this film who is also a VERY picky customer.

I watched the offending scenes from the WS side on my 27 inch TV and I cannot see the artifacts, which may explain why it slipped thru QC and why some folks won't notice them.

I can tell you, on my 92 inch screen, some sequences are borderline unwatchable for me - and I'm willing to let quality slide a bit as I love the film so much. In any case, I prefer the open matte full screen version on the flipside, which reveals a noticeable improvement in MPEG2 compression. Again, this should have been the other way around - those with 16:9 sets are usually the larger screens (the FS side should have had the compromised video).

I have no complaints about grain, etc. - what I'm seeing is substantial MPEG2 compression noise.

I will see if I can get some screen shots comparing the FS and WS versions.

Anyone else have a larger screen and can confirm?

UPDATE:
In grabbing the screenshots, which I'll post ASAP (artifacts are confirmed on the WS side), I discovered another issue - both sides are flagged improperly. This may cause additional problems with some progressive scan players. Poor authoring!!

The '80s Trivia Track is in fact on both sides, and I'm now wondering if this is the culprit - at least for the poor flagging issue.

Cheers,

 

[Felix Martinez]

Hi Folks -

Here are the screen caps.

I have not modified them in any way, just cropped and placed them side by side. The WS version is on the left, FS on the right. You can see that the WS transfer is slightly zoomed in (I didn't do that). The mosquito artifacts are pretty clear on the WS images. Now, blow that up to a large screen and put the images in motion and you've got some funky noise!

This, compounded with the improper flagging on both sides of the disc, makes it a problematic picture for those with larger screens and progressive scan players.

The FS transfer, on the other hand, is smoother and the details aren't distorted with noise.

Note: make sure your web browsers have the "compressed images" preference turned off, or the pics won't look right.


Yes, I know where you're looking. Unfortunately, the mosquito noise gets in the way of the attractive Elizabeth Daily...not to mention her friend, Heidi Holicker...also, check out the tray...


Poor Deborah Foreman looks like she needs acne cream. Also, note the noise around her hand...


Cameron Dye has some serious noise under his chin, and note the distortions around the cup he's holding. Nic's mouth is also odd-looking thanks to the mosquito noise...


The fine details in the face are distorted, and noise can also be seen crawling down his tunic...

Cheers,

 

[Craig Robertson]

well, even though i said i wasn't gonna buy it, i picked up Valley Girl at BB today when i went in for Vacation. i really like the movie and my wife asked how come we hadn't bought it yet, so i picked it up.
i've got symphony tickets for tonight, then have to go to work afterwards, so i can't watch it until tomorrow at the earliest. i'll post my thoughts after viewing.

 

[Craig Robertson]

watched VG last night on a 87"x49" screen (100" diag 16:9) projected by an Electrohome 8500 projector (8" crt).
i'll have to agree with Felix that the PQ leaves something to be desired. the amazing thing, as he pointed out, is that it is better on the FF side, opposite of what should be with a properly authored anamorphic image.
while i'm happy to have the title finally released on dvd, it is sad to see how bad it looks.:frowning:

 

[Felix Martinez]

I noticed that in addition to the extras that were put on the WS side, there is a "Video Commentary," which I think is an alternate angle (haven't double-checked this). I think that's what's really knocking the video quality back. This feature is not present on the FS side.

Reminds me of Beauty and the Beast. Alternate video angles should be avoided in the main program. It really screws up the bitrate headroom IMHO and ruins the image.

Cheers,

 

[David Lambert]

there is a "Video Commentary," which I think is an alternate angle (haven't double-checked this).

When this is turned on, then every once in a while a pop-up window appears in the picture, framed with some border relevant to the topic or scene (talking about music, the frame looks like an LP; talking about a scene in a diner, the border looks restaraunt-ish) with a video inside the border of one of the stars commenting about that part of the film. The commentary in these look like interview responses, showing only the answer and not the question.

Not the best version I've ever seen of this, but still worth a view for fans.


And I'm sorry, but I still don't see anything to complain about PQ-wise. Not a demo transfer by any means, but still very nice looking to me! The screencaps didn't help me figure out the complaint, either.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Remember to turn off compressed images in your web browser, or else each side-by-side comparison will be distorted. You may have to clear your cache if the images have already loaded in compressed form.

I've added additional comments to the screen caps.

My goodness, if the artifacts and difference in quality between WS and FS are still not visible with these caps, then I'm not sure what else I can do.

Cheers,

 

[David Lambert]

Felix, I'll try working with the browser later on and seeing how it's marked. Right now I'm in the middle of something else, and just chatting while I wait for a process to run.