palebluedot

Rules of this thread:

This thread is here as a review thread for the different versions of bootleg Indiana Jones Trilogy DVDs.

Please DO NOT post any links to sellers of these DVDs or name any sellers of these DVDs. Also please do not email me asking where I got these DVDs (I have already gotten a few). I did not order these online so I have no idea where to get them online...but use your imagination

Also let's keep the discussion civil and don't take it personally if the opinion is different than yours.

My review

My review of two different complete sets of the trilogy is basically the video quality is about on par with the widescreen VHS releases and in no way comes close to the LD versions of the trilogy.

My review of these DVDs were done by viewing them on a calibrated HDTV doing a side by side picture in picture comparison with the bootleg and the laserdisc trilogy I own and the widescreen VHS trilogy that I own.

The two sets I had were...

Set 1: Snakeskin style art in a carboard slip-case with tri fold case insert.

Set 2: Original artwork in keep-cases.

Unfortunately those pics posted in the last thread were deleted along with the thread. I didn't order these online so I don't have access to the pics. If someone has those pics please post them.

Both sets had the same exact transfer obviously from the LD, however they were very poorly done. Video was very bad and only slightly edged out the VHS in comparison. Audio did not even come close to their laserdisc counterparts.

The aspects of the video were poor detail and washed out colors. No amount of adjusting the TV had any improvment of the video quality.

Bottom line...IMO they are a waste of money if you have the VHS or LDs. I would wait for a better bootleg or the real thing.

digitalfreaknyc

Wow...

ok...here we go again. It's hard to Re-state everything we've already gone through with the other thread.

Supposedly there are 3 different versions:

1) Snake skin artwork with separate sleeves

2) Regular movie artwork that is a fold out with 4 panels

3) keep cases

If I am correct, all 3 have been reviewed now and it is unanimous that these discs are not worth the money that people are spending.

As for my review...I'll try and post everything again.

My package was the 4 paneled version. It came sealed in a box with a great deal of Chinese writing symbols all over it. In fact, I think it just said "raiders" and not even "of the lost ark" on it.

Each DVD was in a plastic clear case inside on each panel. The plastic cases were even starting to come off when i opened it.

The DVD's have menus with blurry images from the movie on one part of the screen and a "still" on the other. They also have music to go along with them.

You can choose to view the film, choose a soundtrack, or bonus materials.

THe bonus materials consist of a photo gallery that is nothing more than STILL FRAMES from the movies themselves. They look just like the films which we will get into later. There are also biographies of Ford and Spielberg that are totally in Chinese.

The Chapter stops are full motion. You're better off watching those for quality.

The movies themselves are all in widescreen and were apparently mastered from the laserdiscs. THey all look horrible. There is very little detail and they are pretty washed out. Very devoid of color and look quite old. Almost like you're watching it on a bad TV set.

The audio is not much better. They have fake 5.1 soundtracks as well as 2.0. The 5.1 is just ludicrous and sounds horrible. The sounds are pretty much all over the place depending on the movie. Raiders and Temple were pretty left-heavy. The 2.0 soundtracks are all front heavy. They are not indicative of the great soundtracks that are available on the laserdisc counterparts.

Final thoughts: I have the laserdiscs. They are VERY good. They sound and look excellent. I'm not telling anyone to go out and buy a laserdisc player. If you already have one, go out and get this trilogy. You won't be sorry you did. If not...either wait for better bootlegs to surface or think about purchasing even a used one. I'm all for bootlegs of these movies as well as the Star Wars ones if they refuse to be released. But at least let them be of the quality that the newest Star Wars 5 Star releases. Nothing less will be tolerated.

Paleblue...i'd like to keep this thread running as long as we can. Perhaps we should take a note from the similar Star Wars thread and post some rules and regulations...and give it an OFFICIAL thread title. We don't want to remember that other one ever happened.

monkey

Thanks for the reviews. I think you've steered me clear of this set.

moocher

Wow. The whole thread deleted??!! I did not catch the tail end of the last one but it began to get bloody when I went to bed last night. Actually I am glad it was deleted. I got very confused about what was actually out there (how many different sets) and the actual quality of the set(s). I came very close to purchasing one based on what (I guess) turned out to be bad info. Thanks to digitalfreaknyc for setting me straight. At least the info in this thread is consistent so far .

Anyway, I would like to suggest that one of the rules be that no discussion of PRICING be allowed. I made the mistake of mentioning the price I paid for the Star Wars set and then people began posting for me to e-mail them (since my e-mail address is not in my profile - for a reason!). Other people such as astro44 are getting the same requests. Go look at how much discussion there is about pricing in the Star Wars thread. Pricing is purchase information that should not be allowed in a bootleg review thread.

One question. It appears that all of the actual disks in the various sets are the same transfers only the packaging is different. Is this an accurate assessment?

digitalfreaknyc

Very accurate

focker

I didn't see the end of the other thread and I guess it's gone now, so I may have missed something, but I thought that some people in other thread found these discs to be acceptable or even pretty good. Is there some reason we should discount these claims now?

moocher

There were very few actual reviews in the previous thread and of those fewer still from anybody who actually had anything to compare them to. Late in the thread some such as digitalfreaknyc who actually had the laserdisks and bought a set based on the originator's review chimed in with very negative reviews.

What made this worse is that the originator slowly softened his stance about how "good" they were and ended up basically saying they were just better than VHS. That is when I went to bed. Apparently it got very ugly after that and now the thread is gone.

digitalfreaknyc, care to fill us in on what we missed?? or is that better left in the past. As curious as I am, I have a feeling we had better not revisit it.

Blade

No, it had better not be.

Neither party needs to address this again, and if it is mentioned again, I'm going to have to close this thread and any more like it because it is not worth the effort required to maintain civility in this thread vs. the value of this thread to our members.

If anyone wants to say anything more about this, EMAIL me.

Thank you.

rdodolak

Don't now how much good this may do you but I found this online

digitalfreaknyc

And has it been established that there is actually a quality difference between the two?

digitalfreaknyc

How bout this one? My copy looks like neither of these copies. Besides the corners having different information on them...mine does not say "of the lost ark." Just "Raiders"

kajs

Got mine the other day, latest bootleg, I assume same as the 4 flap foldout, as pictured in the auction, but I received a 3 paneled one. I think the disc artwork was different, there was a lot more english on the box than the old one.

Quality: Crap. But not that crappy, as someone who's never owned the widescreen VHS's or laserdiscs, I was happy with my purchase. I'd do it again. Colors were washed out, but I prefer it to my fullscreen McDonalds copies from 10 years ago. The sound was ok on all of them, but the first 40 minutes of Temple of Doom have the voices coming out of the left speaker in the 2.0 version, 5.1 just makes everything echo.

No big deal, I'm glad I got them, better than $40 om Amazon going to Lucas for the VHS set.

Dane

A new set of the trilogy are expected to arrive by the end of this month. DVD9 and 3 folded.

moocher

Care to enlighten us with a little more detail (if you have any)?

Given the relative quality of previous sets (or rather lack thereof) we may not be able to get anyone to take a chance on the new set for a review.

What would help is knowing whether or not the new set will be mastered by the same folks responsible for the recent Star Wars sets which are of much higher quality. Since the Star Wars sets were not covered in oriental words/symbols, maybe the appearance of the packaging/disks will give us clues.

Dane

From what I have picked of info on the net, it´s a remastered version on DVD 9. Just like the Star Wars 5 star version.

Each title comes in snakeskin 3-fold keepcase.
Not the Korean kind or any other kind for that matter. I just found I that it supposed to be out already starting this weekend.

digitalfreaknyc

OK...great

sounds EXACTLY like one of the other releases...

what's the deal??? Can't they come up with SOME other type of packaging for these things?

Dane

What other releases? Do you have picture of them?

mdX

I'm working on a nice set of keepcase covers for the Indy discs, since most people seem unhappy with the packaging so far. I've finished the Last Crusade, which can be seen here. any comments/suggestions are appreciated

digitalfreaknyc

Please forgive but what good are beautiful covers when the disc themselves are horrible???

And Dane...please read the above posts about these discs. What you're describing is exactly what has been out for months.

We're trying to narrow down the good from the bad and so far, there isn't any good.

mdX

for the people that have the discs already. If you're stuck with them, they might as well look nice on the shelf, since they can't on your set :P I personally haven't seen any of the Indy discs yet, as I'm quite content with my WS laserdiscs.

rdodolak

This is some awesome artwork mdX! I quickly printed the coverart on my inkjet printer just to see what the quality was like. Not only can you not tell that it has been printed from an inkjet printer but the words are also legable. Where sis you get the front cover from? I can't want to see what it will look like on premium paper printed from a color laser printer. Looks like my printer dropped about a 1/2" off of the front of the cover.

The only I see is that the box for the upc code is kind of small.

Dane

These are not the ones that have been out for months. From what I´m told in other forums the Glassmaster, from where you make the transfer, have just finished being made.
Trust me, these are whole new set.

digitalfreaknyc

Regardless...

Until we see the packaging, there is going to be no way of telling the difference. And *I* for one will not be buying new discs until someone of some authority can assure us that these will be worth it.

Care to reveal your source or is this all speculation?

Dane

I´ve send you an e-mail. Let me no what you think.

digitalfreaknyc

Well...it seems to be true guys.

There is a NEW version of these discs coming out soon...as soon as this weekend apparently.

These bootleggers sure work fast.

I've got a few websites that are supposedly going to be selling them so if I decide to bite and get the new set, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Hopefully they didn't muck it up like last time.