kdavis

For anyone interested, Prince's Sign "O" the Times film is FINALLY out on legit region 1 DVD! Ordered mine from Amazon.ca back in December, received a shipping confirmation on 12/29 and the disc arrived in today's mail. 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, DD 5.1 & 2.0 sound, no extras, from Alliance Atlantis. Amazon.ca still lists the disc as to be released on 1/25, but here it is live in my living room!

I've only sampled the disc so far - haven't had a chance to sit down and digest the whole thing yet - but it looks great! My Japanese LD copy is finally obsolete. If you like Prince, I can't recommend this highly enough!

The Infidel

Slightly different info on amazon.com:

Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)

Format: Import

Audio Encoding: Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1

Rated: NR
Studio: Studio Gabia
DVD Release Date: 1987
Run Time: 85

ASIN: B0006ZHRPK
Amazon.com Sales Rank in DVD: #19,559

No mention of anamorphic, although I hope it is. The "import" part scares me. Hopefully this will be in stores. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm leary of buying something online if I can't see a pic of it.

SPiRAL

" Nothin' can come from talkers, but sound. " Tevin Campbell's in that right ?

kdavis

The Amazon.com listing is NOT the legit version. The one on Amazon.ca (Canada) is the new, official, Alliance Atlantis version. This is the first legit region 1 release of this film. The one listed on Amazon.com is, if I remember correctly, the bootleg (or grey market) Brazilian "import" edition - avoid this one at all costs! It used to be sold on Amazon and at Best Buy stores, but disappeared pretty quickly.
Alliance Atlantis holds the Canadian rights to this film and, as far as I know, Universal has the U.S. rights.

The Infidel

Aaaaaaah, I see. That must have been the version I saw in Best Buy. I remember it looking pretty low-quality.

Got a scan of the cover?

The Infidel

No, that's Graffiti Bridge.

Rogue588

I read that Alliance was also responsible for a not-so-great Dutch release that had dts. That version looked like a bad VHS port and the dts track's volume level dipped in spots.

Think i'll wait until the Prince community gets their hands on this before wasting $$$ on it.

The Infidel

Good point. I may be with ya on the wait.

How about that scan of the cover, kdavis? Seeing the front AND back of this new release would definitely be a good passing-along of information.

kdavis

"Prince Community"? You mean Prince and his companies or the Prince fans? If the latter, that's me :-) If the former, that's not likely to happen. Alliance Atlantis has always had the Canadian rights to this film (the film was originally released theatrically by Cineplex Odeon, which is now part of Alliance Atlantis).

I don't know anything specific about the Dutch release you're talking about, but I do know that the really cruddy Brazilian "import" that was widely sold by Amazon.com and Best Buy last year, was a poor port of the Alliance video tape release (it even included the Alliance logo at the beginning). I spoke with an Alliance rep at the time and they confirmed that they had the rights and that they in no way had authorized that DVD edition. I think we've all become a little gun shy from all of the shady editions of this that have been released but, this seems to be abslutely legit.

Front Cover:


Back Cover:


Disc:

Rogue588

hmm..

can you get any screencaps, kdavis...?

Rogue588

the crappy Brazilian...



the Dutch version...

The Infidel

I'm wondering why they didn't duplicate the original font for this new Canadian release. Looks kind of generic. At least they got it correct for the Dutch release. I'm still leary.

kdavis

Some quick and dirty screen caps...

kdavis

I agree with you on the design - I've always loved the SOTT typography.

wm lopez

So bottom line buy this or not on the release date?

kdavis

Despite what the site says (i.e., not yet released), Amazon.ca shipped mine last week and I got it today. It's legit and it's great. If you want it, get it!

tommyp007

I'm with the Infidel on this one. This is one of my most wanted dvds, esp now that most of Prince's other stuff is out. But I'm so wary of bootleg stuff. I'll wait til it shows up someplace local.

The Infidel

I had to search for awhile for this thread, because I knew I remembered posting in it, and I finally found it!

I finally picked up a copy of the Canadian release from Alliance through someone on eBay, and I have to say I'm very impressed! I'm still not crazy about the generic-looking font on the case, but the contents are what matters here. What a great-looking movie! Sharp, colorful, great sound...Alliance did one heluva job with this release! I'm with the OP in recommending this not only to Prince fans, but to anyone who wants to see a great live performance on DVD.

Anyone else ever pick this up?

Mr. Salty

Thank you for resurrecting this thread. I had forgotten this came out in Canada and hadn't read any reviews, so I never got around to ordering. Thanks to your positive remarks, I just placed my order.

Is this in widescreen, and if so, is it anamorphic?

Man, I remember seeing this on the big screen when it was released theatrically.

The Infidel

It definitely is anamorphic. In my opinion, this got a much better treatment than Purple Rain did. It looks like it was made for DVD, completely ignoring that a VHS version ever existed.

rich-y

Thanks for bringing this up! I don't know how I missed it when it was originally posted. I've had the Brazilian DVD for years now and it has all the quality of a VHS tape (washed out color, muffled sound). But, for a Prince fan it always served its purpose.

Now I can finally have this in a presentation that does it justice!

The Infidel

Here's some screen caps, since the thread is so old that kdavis' pics aren't there anymore. I tried to make ones that would show off both the picture and the aspect ratio:















I apologize if the pictures aren't the best, but I'm at the mercy of my computer's DVD drive and VLC player. The DVD looks awesome on the HDTV.

Mr. Salty

Thanks, Infidel. I'm salivating here. My copy doesn't ship from Amazon.ca until Monday, then god knows how long it'll take to get here. (It's been a while since I've ordered from there. Man, has their shipping to the U.S. gone up!)

The Infidel

You're welcome! Be sure and post again with your opinion of it when you watch it.

Your disc should arrive fairly quickly. My girlfriend in Vancouver sent me a package last week, and it took only four days to here in Indy.

billz

I ordered this a couple of months ago from Amazon.ca and it didn't take very long at all to arrive. I never thought I'd see a decent DVD release in my lifetime, but this is it.