Thought it might be useful to create a HD-DVD variation of the 'International Blu-ray Discs' thread...
So, just to get the thread started...
Terminator 2 (Extended Cut) - Released in France, England and soon Australia by Universal
Ran - Only available in France & Germany
Mulholland Drive - Only available in France, reportedly not much better than the SD.
Army of Shadows - Only available in France & Germany
Rambo 1, 2 & 3 - Released by Studio Canal in a few places (including Australia)
I doubt I'll be updating this first post with any regularity, so if you mention any other HDDVDs, be sure to put the actual title in bold for easy browsing.[/b]
International HD-DVDs
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Donald Brown
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denti alligator
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 1:36 am
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Darth Lavender
- Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 6:24 pm
Did some checking;
Army of Shadows has no English subs (has Norwegian, German and a few other European languages) and reportedly the transfer is very weak (not quite as bad as Ran, but close)
I almost bought this and a Ran a few days ago (Amazon.de reduced a whole lot of HDDVDs to 9.95 Euros (up to 11.95 now) but cancelled at the last minutes because of the bad reviews.
I did read that the European The Deer Hunter is reportedly superior to the American release, with a much bolder audio mix (a fully surround Lossless encoding, whereas the American release has a Dolby+ 5.1 that sounds like Mono) and 'superior' image. *However* I'm not sure which is actually closer the the director's intention.
After doing a bit of reading on the Studio-Canal releases, it seems they're a little like Criterion in that they spend a lot of time trying to make the image look 'better' (contrast boosting, edge-enhancement, seriously amped up colors on Ran, etc.) which, of course, then raises questions about how close these releases are to the way the film should look.
I applaud Studio-Canal for putting so much time and effort into these transfers, and releasing so many classics, but it seems their philosophy is "make it look stunning" instead of "make it as accurate as possible"
Also, La Haine is available in a few European countries *with* English subtitles. Ordered a copy from Germany, which should arrive in about a week. (Never seen the movie, and it's not actually the kind of thing I'm usually interested in, but for $16 Australian, and with no certainty of when/if it will ever be available again (after the demise of HDDVD,) it seemed worth the gamble.
A few others available in European countries & Australia...
Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition - Released by Kinowelt. Transfer is the same as the Studio-Canal, but the soundtrack is remixed as 7.1
This has both versions, English dialogue, etc. and the most extras I have ever seen on a HDDVD, Bluray or anything. Basically ports over all the supplements from the older DVD "Ultimate Edition," and a new commentary, picture in picture, Guns 'N Roses music video (from the Laserdisk) complete screenplay, etc. etc.
I wasn't actually that interested in it ($40, when I could get the bare-bones Australian with the same transfer for $9.95) just because I'm not that big a fan of T2 (and I already have the 2-disk DVD with a lot of extras I haven't watched) But, for those who are a fan, it looks like an excellent package.
Total Recall - Released by Studio-Canal just about everywhere (including Australia)
Rambo I, II and III - Released by Studio Canal. No extras; the First Blood transfer is reportedly much better than the American Bluray *but* it has the 24fps speedup that a lot of early Studio Canal releases had.
Leaving Las Vegas - Still haven't seen this film. It was shot on 16mm, so consequently the HDDVD is limited by that. Got a copy in the mail that cost me $4.95
Army of Shadows has no English subs (has Norwegian, German and a few other European languages) and reportedly the transfer is very weak (not quite as bad as Ran, but close)
I almost bought this and a Ran a few days ago (Amazon.de reduced a whole lot of HDDVDs to 9.95 Euros (up to 11.95 now) but cancelled at the last minutes because of the bad reviews.
I did read that the European The Deer Hunter is reportedly superior to the American release, with a much bolder audio mix (a fully surround Lossless encoding, whereas the American release has a Dolby+ 5.1 that sounds like Mono) and 'superior' image. *However* I'm not sure which is actually closer the the director's intention.
After doing a bit of reading on the Studio-Canal releases, it seems they're a little like Criterion in that they spend a lot of time trying to make the image look 'better' (contrast boosting, edge-enhancement, seriously amped up colors on Ran, etc.) which, of course, then raises questions about how close these releases are to the way the film should look.
I applaud Studio-Canal for putting so much time and effort into these transfers, and releasing so many classics, but it seems their philosophy is "make it look stunning" instead of "make it as accurate as possible"
Also, La Haine is available in a few European countries *with* English subtitles. Ordered a copy from Germany, which should arrive in about a week. (Never seen the movie, and it's not actually the kind of thing I'm usually interested in, but for $16 Australian, and with no certainty of when/if it will ever be available again (after the demise of HDDVD,) it seemed worth the gamble.
A few others available in European countries & Australia...
Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition - Released by Kinowelt. Transfer is the same as the Studio-Canal, but the soundtrack is remixed as 7.1
This has both versions, English dialogue, etc. and the most extras I have ever seen on a HDDVD, Bluray or anything. Basically ports over all the supplements from the older DVD "Ultimate Edition," and a new commentary, picture in picture, Guns 'N Roses music video (from the Laserdisk) complete screenplay, etc. etc.
I wasn't actually that interested in it ($40, when I could get the bare-bones Australian with the same transfer for $9.95) just because I'm not that big a fan of T2 (and I already have the 2-disk DVD with a lot of extras I haven't watched) But, for those who are a fan, it looks like an excellent package.
Total Recall - Released by Studio-Canal just about everywhere (including Australia)
Rambo I, II and III - Released by Studio Canal. No extras; the First Blood transfer is reportedly much better than the American Bluray *but* it has the 24fps speedup that a lot of early Studio Canal releases had.
Leaving Las Vegas - Still haven't seen this film. It was shot on 16mm, so consequently the HDDVD is limited by that. Got a copy in the mail that cost me $4.95
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MichaelB
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:20 pm
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- Contact:
Andrzej Wajda's Katyń came out on HD-DVD in Poland last week.
No idea about English subtitles or the aspect ratio (the SD-DVD is cropped from 2.35:1 to 16:9 - though this doesn't damage the film as much as one might think: see the comparative screencaps in my review)
No idea about English subtitles or the aspect ratio (the SD-DVD is cropped from 2.35:1 to 16:9 - though this doesn't damage the film as much as one might think: see the comparative screencaps in my review)