E Unit

For me, seeing Herzog's hallucinatory images on the big screen would be plenty incentive to see it on the big screen.

Why So Blu?

Yeah, you're right.

Tickets have been acquired!

hanshotfirst1138

Lucky bastard .

Paul_SD

Received the Aguirre and Nosferatu yesterday. Once again, an Amazon UK ordered got here remarkably quick- seven days or less. That's better time than DD can make now that they are being shipped coast to coast and not from the Midwest.
The steelbook for Nosferatu is gorgeous, as expected. For Aguirre I wish they had simply used the full color key art rather than a graphic one color high contrast version of it.
Spun a little of Nosferatu and compared the two versions on Bd with the very first non-anamorphic AB release. I was a little surprised how well the AB held up. The very first shot on the Bd doesn't immediately impress, but on the cut to the next shot (of the second mummy) it does. BAM! All of a sudden there is a tremendous pop to the picture and this whole sequence almost looks 3D.
There is a ton of grain when the film proper starts, but now I have to wonder if it is actually organic or if BFI, using the same master that Shout and the German release did, simply didn't tweak it to look more organic by adding some digital noise? I had to turn down my darbee because it was making the grain look very harsh & electronic. Dialing it back helped, but it still left me wondering how many of us would be fooled into thinking something was better than something else if the difference were actually additive (fake noise laid in on top of an already degrained master).

In any case, it's wonderful to have this in such a prime edition.

Josh Z

Does the first shot have any titles over it? It may be an optical dupe. It's common for the footage under the credits in older movies to look really crummy.

Why So Blu?

I've seen the mummies from that movie in person before. They're in Guanajuato, Mexico.

As you were.

Paul_SD

I can't remember. It's extremely brief, just a couple seconds. I was just anticipating an immediate punch in the face going from 4:3 SD letterbox to HD and it was just delayed a few seconds.

It also struck me in the little I saw (first 7 minutes or so) that the English version looked slightly better (I had the darbee set at 40% initially and then dialed it back to 25% and looked at each scene again). But this could also be chalked up to simple human differences between the focus pulling in each version for those scenes.

I don't think I've ever watched the English version of this before so I think that's the one I'll be spinning soon. The performances and inflections didn't look like they suffered any for the non native language difference.

At the price it is now, it works out to about $20 shipped. That's a killer deal to me for the package and very close to what the retail is going to be on the inferior Shout release.

Why So Blu?

Yeah, my UK Nosferatu came in this morning. It only took 6 days, which is impressive.

Ringmaster

Has anyone actually seen the Shout Nosferatu blu ray in action? All the reviews I've seen, excluding dvdbeaver, have given it good reviews on the PQ. I'm not one for screen caps, since the same was said about Shout's They Live and I thought it was great.

EDIT: I guess I didn't read enough reviews but most mention the DNR issues. I have been thinking about going region free so maybe now is the time. But I still would like to know if anyone has seen the Shout disc in motion.

GatorDeb

Cancelled my Amazon order for $162.14 and ordered it through the Shout! website at $139.99 shipped. Missed out on Halloween, going to wait until it goes on sale again to see if they beat Amazon.

GatorDeb

Wow that's a great deal. What are the chances they will have another code by the end of June?

And how good is Shout at cancelling items?

Greg MacGuffin

I e-mailed Shout to cancel my order and they confirmed within a day or so.

GatorDeb

Great to know thanks

Now we need a memorial day code! I'm gonna hold off cancelling until 7/1 since it ships July 15th

Still at $100 that's $40 less and over $60 cheaper than Amazon.

$100 is a great deal for this!

Why So Blu?

Saw Fata Morgana tonight (w/ Herzog in person) and whatever digital file was projected it looked great! Gives me great hope that the set will at least include a few stellar prints and what not. You'd think Fata Morgana was filmed yesterday but wasn't scrubbed to shit, no DNR, no tinkering, no fluctuations, etc. It looked amazing. Anyways, I've covered my bases and have BOTH sets ordered.

GatorDeb

I was about to order it right now because they have a 10% off coupon. That's the DVD set not the BD set, they don't have the BD set up, check out http://www.blowitoutahere.com/search?q=herzog&mod=TV right below where it says Add to cart.

Jaymole

There is no DVD only set, that is the Blu-ray set. blowitoutahere lists a few of the shout factory releases as DVD but the upc is the blu-ray.

GatorDeb

Ah, thanks They charge preorders right away right? Do you thihnk if I email them if they come out with a 15% code and tell them to cancel the order because I will reorder with the extra % off, do they just adjust the order? I just ordered the Twin Peaks and Herzog through them and saved almost half of what Amazon wanted!

Paul_SD

Ok, something screwy is going on here.
Caps-a-holic now has a comparison with the BFI (along with the Shout and the S-C) release and, if these caps are accurately labeled, The Shouts German version looks superior in most caps to me.
Lack of visible grain is only one metric...and I'm just as wary of faux grain (scanner noise; the addition of a noise filter) as I am of something unnaturally scrubbed.
Am I the only one here that sees fine detail more discernible and clearly rendered in the Shout version? Not just that cap. The very first one shows another huge difference. The Shout looks smoother, but there's also more precision to detail and edges.
The third cap and the close up of Kinski are the only ones where I might give the edge to the BFI- but even then it isn't blindingly obvious.
I would also say the the color timing on the Shout is more preferable, with the BFI frequently looking too warm.

I don't necessarily regret jumping the gun and dropping the money on a region free player because of this, as it did open the world up to me- but until I see the Shout for my own eyes, I'm no longer convinced the BFI is truly the superior release- at least as far as the German version goes.

Why So Blu?

I won't be doing comparisons until I get the sets later on this year. For now, that BFI edition is the one to get based off of what I've seen.

Paul_SD

That probably still applies when we are talking about the English language version of the film- but I'm not so sure about the German version. I honestly wasn't overly impressed with what I was seeing when I first got it, just flipping through scenes.
On the BFI, the English version looked better to me (as I originally noted a few posts up).

However the caps posted on the Beaver site, were completely damning of the Shout's English version.

The way this is looking to me is (unless caps-aholic misidentified the caps)-
for the German Language version, the Shout is better.
For the English Language version, the BFI is superior.

Why So Blu?

Not in my case since I haven't watched the English version on the disc and still think that the German version looks great. That's just me talking having come off of watching a 35mm print of the original German language version.

E Unit

Yeah...rub that shit in.. Let's see who sits alone during lunchtime now.

Paul_SD

I'm just not seeing the uptick in detail on the BFI. Part of it seems to be the warmer color timing on the BFI which looks to be blowing out detail. Look through the window and the detail on the door or in the flowers.

I've never seen this film theatrically, so the BFI timing may be more accurate- but, just going by the caps, I'm more inclined to want to watch the Shout.

Supermallet

I agree with Paul, to my eyes the US version looks to have more muted colors and more detail.

I've seen the German version on 35mm and the US version looks more accurate to my memory of it, but I'm not claiming that to be authoritative.

If the German version does look better on the Shout version, that makes me happy, because that's my preferred version.

Paul_SD

The Shout is $14.99 at B&N right now. I may have to pick this up to satisfy my OCD/curiosity.