DVD Talk review of 'Cracker: The Complete Collection'
03-08-09, 05:44 PM
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DVD Talk review of 'Cracker: The Complete Collection'
I read Stuart Galbraith IV's DVD review of Cracker: The Complete Collection at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=36525 and I must disagree that 4:3 is the correct ratio; the original A&E airing were letterboxed on all series. I still have the vhs tapes.
I really needed to know if these are new transfers or the miserable old transfers from the original release, easily some of the most poorly mastered discs ever released. Anyone know?
I really needed to know if these are new transfers or the miserable old transfers from the original release, easily some of the most poorly mastered discs ever released. Anyone know?
03-08-09, 07:55 PM
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Re: DVD Talk review of 'Cracker: The Complete Collection'
I don't have older transfers to compare them with, but....
As I stated in the review, the 2006 movie is 16:9 enhanced widescreen and looks great. Everything else is 4:3 full frame, including the 1996 show, "White Ghost." I went back and looked at a sampling of shows, including "White Ghost" and 4:3 looks correct to my eyes; cropped to 1.78:1 the framing seems awfully cramped, with actors' heads cut off at the eyebrows. I can't think of any series television in widescreen during 1993-96, though maybe A&E ran these in some kind of "faux letterboxed" because someone thought it looked good? I poked around Amazon UK and none of the entries I looked at mentioned letterboxing.
I'm not saying you're wrong, and if you've evidence supporting that these shows were meant to be widescreen I'd like to see it and would be willing to amend the review.
As for the transfers, the title elements appear very soft in the early shows, and no, they're not razor sharp, but look about par with other '90s British shows on DVD. If this was shot in Super 16, I can't imagine it looking a whole lot better. Again though, if you can provide me with info that far superior masters exist, or that the show was shot in standard 35mm, I'd gladly note your corrections in my review.
As I stated in the review, the 2006 movie is 16:9 enhanced widescreen and looks great. Everything else is 4:3 full frame, including the 1996 show, "White Ghost." I went back and looked at a sampling of shows, including "White Ghost" and 4:3 looks correct to my eyes; cropped to 1.78:1 the framing seems awfully cramped, with actors' heads cut off at the eyebrows. I can't think of any series television in widescreen during 1993-96, though maybe A&E ran these in some kind of "faux letterboxed" because someone thought it looked good? I poked around Amazon UK and none of the entries I looked at mentioned letterboxing.
I'm not saying you're wrong, and if you've evidence supporting that these shows were meant to be widescreen I'd like to see it and would be willing to amend the review.
As for the transfers, the title elements appear very soft in the early shows, and no, they're not razor sharp, but look about par with other '90s British shows on DVD. If this was shot in Super 16, I can't imagine it looking a whole lot better. Again though, if you can provide me with info that far superior masters exist, or that the show was shot in standard 35mm, I'd gladly note your corrections in my review.
03-13-09, 12:14 PM
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Re: DVD Talk review of 'Cracker: The Complete Collection'
Thanks, Stuart-
I guess I'll have to re-compare the first dvd set to my vhs tapes. I really felt like I was missing images at edges, but it is indeed possible A&E boxed it needlessly.
Re quality, i will also re-check, but at the time of the original, 3-box-set release, my vhs sp copies were clearly superior to the dvds!! Now I do, as a professional image retoucher, have an eye for compression artifacts and such, and all that artifact action in underlit scenes was maddening.
However, even if seen with on eye through cheesecloth, the first two seasons of Cracker remain one of the finest series ever to grace the small screen. THANKS for speading the word.
I guess I'll have to re-compare the first dvd set to my vhs tapes. I really felt like I was missing images at edges, but it is indeed possible A&E boxed it needlessly.
Re quality, i will also re-check, but at the time of the original, 3-box-set release, my vhs sp copies were clearly superior to the dvds!! Now I do, as a professional image retoucher, have an eye for compression artifacts and such, and all that artifact action in underlit scenes was maddening.
However, even if seen with on eye through cheesecloth, the first two seasons of Cracker remain one of the finest series ever to grace the small screen. THANKS for speading the word.
