$12.99 for Serenity is the price I paid a couple months ago. Great deal.

Curses on these sales. In for blind buys on Lonesome Dove and the grindhouse pair.

So Lonesome Dove BD which several people have been raving about is back to $8.99 for the moment. Having never heard of it or seen it before, I tried reading a bit and it's very confusing. First, there are a few Amazon comments that this is an edited, shorter version missing a bunch of scenes, but the "professional" reviews don't say a word about that. The run times vary anywhere between 372 and 384 where I've looked, again putting distrust on the reviews. Then it was taken from a full screen original format into widescreen which by definition must crop the top and/or bottom of every scene, and there's at least 1 Amazon comment saying with widescreen the cropped sides have finally been restored. Then there are numerous comments about this being a substandard grainy transfer mixed with others how it's the greatest transfer.

So is it worth $8.99? I don't know. I'm hoping somebody can allay my fears on this as a blind buy (before Amazon jacks the price back up any moment) that it isn't an edited (incomplete) version with lots of noticeable top/bottom cropping and graininess. Anyone here seen it and can give a real answer given how I don't trust the comments and reviews?

It's easily the worst looking Blu-ray in my collection. I didn't mind the cropping much but it is grainy as all hell. I've seen the show before and didn't feel like anything was missing, but it has been many years since I first seen it to watching it again on Blu-ray, so I can't give you a good answer about anything has been deleted. If picture and sound quality matter, I'd avoid it. If you're looking to see a good show at a cheap price, I'd pick it up.

I have no problem recommending this as a blind buy for any fan of westerns. $9 is a steal for this great show. It's probably the best we are going to get for a long, long time. IMHO, the cropping and transfer issues, while disappointing, are minor and do not detract significantly from the overall presentation.

If your into westerns Lonesome Dove is worth it. The runtime on the blu-ray is 373 minutes. I've learned to NEVER believe any amazon listings.

As far as source material, this was made for TV, so you will have to deal with the imperfections, it wasnt made on a 300 million dollar budget, nor do they have xxx to dump into remastering it, its a catalog title.

The feature itself is full of respectable actors, and incredible acting. You can't go wrong for $9, its alot better than those crappy made for tv sci-fi blu-ray's on amazon.

b

First, this is a made-for-tv mini-series and I might add, one of the best ever made. The first dvd copy of the series, made years ago, was absolute shit. Honestly, it was as bad as VHS, maybe worse. The blu-ray is such an improvement in PQ it is almost a miracle. Really.
I am usually a stickler for OAR but in this case the PQ is so superior I had to overlook that problem. That was easy to do as the framing is actually pretty damn good. I wouldn't be suprised if it was composed for wide-screen although I have no evidence to support that.
Nobody will mistake this for a new, pristine movie. There is considerable grain, especially in night scenes. But at the risk of being repetitious, it is light years ahead of the previous dvd release.

i jumped on Lonesome Dove for that price....couldn't resist, even for a blind buy

Day Of The Dead is bouncing around in price currently.

It was $8.99/9.99, went to $13.49 up until maybe half an hour ago where it is at $10.49.

SERENITY is down to $11.99

i emailed them to see if i could get that $1 back from ordering it on friday for $12.99. hopefully i'll get it since it hasn't officially shipped yet.

UPDATE:

never hurts to ask!

Badass, bro.

I don't do much reviews anymore (been busy losing weight and getting out of the house), but I did a review on this a while back which might answer some of your quetions:

http://www.digitaldingus.com/reviews...creencaps2.php

In some cases, you have additional areas added on the left and right. However, in other scenes, you have some areas cropped from the top.

Colors were more accurate and the detail is certainly many times better than my DVD version.

In my opinion, it's a STEAL at $8.99. Get it.

That works for me

That's a really nice reveiw of what they did to make the blu-ray, it is fairly obvious someone went thru carefully not to ruin the transfer.

Thanks to those who responded to my Lonesome Dove questions and to DVD Polizei for the link to your good review which I read. Fortunately I ordered it at Amazon before they jacked the price again to $17.49. I'll never understand the (il)logic how their system can bounce prices of titles like this between $8.99 and $17.49 and back and forth, but at least I knew they'd jack the price up again so I ordered early (felt safe it wouldn't ship immediately since it didn't show in stock). At least now I can feel good keeping the order knowing that it isn't poorly cropped... obviously it came from something like Super 35 and was filmed with the idea of making both full screen and letterbox versions from the same source (sort of like The Abyss).

I will never understand posters who don't understand why Amazon does this with their prices.

Oh, I understand why they do it. It's to create demand and get people to buy things that instant. But the problem is, a certain selection of people just get pissed off by the stock market prices and buy a lot less. I'm quickly heading in that direction.

I'm the opposite. I have a blast with the fluctuating prices - it's like a game. It has me returning to Amazon regularly, which is more than I can say for other sites.

It's the the thrill of the hunt...

True. But, I suspect that the certain selection of people is quite small compared to the number of people drawn to order who normally wouldn't -- myself included. I've found myself enjoying the "game" of the fluctuating prices, and have bought many, many more Blu-Rays in the past few months than I ever thought I would.

I'm generally happy with that, and think it's a fine enough business approach. Steam does the same sort of thing with digital distribution of games, and it's been quite a good thing for them.

Good decision. Obviously, you know that Amazon reviews can't be trusted.

I took a look out of curiosity and it was clear to me that Amazon had lumped all reviews of any/every version under the blu-ray. I didn't read them all but I saw a couple reviews that alleged segments were missing. Total crap. I don't know if these "reviewers" were drunk, drugged or crazy... or just got a really bad bootleg. I can say that my legitimately purchased copy contained the scenes they claim were absent.

Hope you enjoy it.

Guess I'm a sheep who abides, because I just buy the thing when I see it at a cheap price.

Baaaah, here as well.

Having Prime helps. I see something cheap that I want and boom!, one click purchase. I don't have to wait around trying to find something to flesh out my order to get over $25 for free shipping.

For most Blu's I buy for under $10 shipped if I don't like them I can typically flip on Half.com and get my money back.

Oh I can be a sheepy too at times . But sometimes the Amazon stock game can be frustrating if you plan your online purchases carefully.

Back on topic, La Femme Nikita has dropped further down to $9.49.