What surprised you as the worst quality DVD?

This can be an educational guide to learn what to avoid.

 

Guess they've all been just great

or... Bump.

 

It all seems to indicate that

 

Maybe the question should be rephrased: "What surprised you as the worst quality DVD?" Most DVDs get so much coverage in terms of reviews and viewer opinions that most people know what they're getting going in--at least the ones who care enough about picture quality to check before they buy. But, there are a lot of people who just buy DVDs because they're easier than VHS tapes, and they just don't care about quality.

For myself, the one that gets me thinking about quality is "The Quiet Man." They must think/know there's a good market out there for this movie since it's been released three times. But each time it's had a very substandard transfer--to the point of unwatchability in every case. I'd bet a pretty dollar that this has had a big impact on sales, but no one seems to care.

John K.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. The thread is now rephrased

 

The Godfather Collection that came out a couple of years ago. Crappy quality. Unbelievable treatment for two of the greatest movies ever.

 

When last I checked, there was not an acceptable version of "Star 80" on DVD. I literally threw away the pan and scan version that was available a few years ago...THE WORST sound and picture I'd seen. Desperately overlooked film needs an upgrade with bonus footage and Dorothy Stratton info...

 

These sorts of people are the Joe Sixpack's of the world browsing Wal-Mart and they believe the hype that they have the "best quality picture and sound" because of DVD being digital.

 

Well - I was none to thrilled with Magical Mystery Tour, but given the 16mm nature of the film - I guess it's "acceptable". I wonder what they can do with Let It Be, also shot on 16mm for television.....

 

Well, the footage they showed on Anthology (in true stereo) looked pretty darn good to me. I remember reading that they matted "Let It Be" for the cinema and then cropped the sides to make it 4:3 for the video/laser disc release.

 

Seeing as this is the Steve Hoffman Forum, maybe the title of this thread should be: "What Surprised you as the Worst Quality Beatles DVD?"

John K.

 

I know that Highlander on DVD even though it was marketed as a THX release was very substandard.

 

Talking major studio releases, the "original" Sony/Columbia DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was pretty awful

 

That was the first one to come to mind for me.

The last re-issued DVD is the same transfer as the original DVD. And it's the same as the 40th anniversary laserdisc boxed set which is the same as the old VHS.

Total crap given that the original Technicolor prints are still available and in pretty good shape if I remember correctly what film historian/restoration expert Robert Harris mentioned back when that last DVD came out.

But it gets worse - check out another Wayne/O'Hara classic, "McClintock" on GoodTimes DVD

Here's a Panavision scope movie that is badly, no, horribly panned-and-scanned (it jumps around arbitrarily and even occasionally zooms in totally off action or actor for no apparent reason), with compression and motion artifacts worse than you get with an AVI file.

The Wayne family supposedly is getting "McClintock" out done the right way, but I don't know what the status of that is. They need to push for a better "The Quiet Man" too.

 

The worst looking DVD I have is the French movie "Wild Reeds" -- it looks like a digitized copy of a videotape that has been converted from PAL format.

 

Simon and Garfunkel's The Concert In Central Park

Bad audio synch problems, puzzling indexing (why not just put an index point after every song?), just poorly done altogether.

Fortunately, the Old Friends-Live In Concert set is much better.

And who knows what happened to the MPI DVD of Magical Mystery Tour. The old MPI videotape was much better, nicer color, better print, much better sound. Somebody really boogered that one up good!

 

I haven't seen it - but I have heard that the version of Citizen Cane that came out a few years back was so heavy handed on the visual "noise reduction" that it removed rain from "rainy" sequences.

 

All versions of "Life With Father" suck, and it's one of my favorite films. I think it's in public domain, so no one with good elements wants to do it right and have anybody copy it and sell it...

 

I picked this DVD up at Best Buy today. I'll play it later and see how it looks.

 

There are a couple DVD sites I like to check that reviews the quality of the DVDs as well as talks about the film itself. Nothing worse that buying a new DVD and finding a garbage transfer.

 

McLintock! is coming out in October on Paramount with approval from the Wayne Family.

About PDD......

If a title is PDD, does that mean that any studio can copy a DVD file and sell it as their own? Maybe that's why major studios don't usually release PDD titles. Because another studio will just copy it and release it as their own.

 

And what sites would those be?

 

Sorry! They are: www.dvdbeaver.com, www.dvdtalk.com (with a link to DVD Savant), www.dvdverdict.com. www.thedigitalbits.com