techiedragon

I've been looking around for an in-depth review of the new Anne of Green Gables / Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel) / Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story dvds. I have the original flipper verson of Anne of Green Gables, which was pretty bad. The new versions are dual layer and have yellow banners on the dvd covers stating that they're remastered.

Does anyone have any of the dvds? If so, I'd love to get some information on quality. If you have / had the VHS tapes, I'm especially interested in whether the DVDs look better than VHS, as the first DVD did not. I'm a little worried about what sort of compression they needed to use in order to shove 240 minutes onto a single dual-layer dvd.

Thanks very much - I'm thinking about buying the somewhat expensive boxset at www.sullivanboutique.com, and possibly the first season of Road to Avonlea as well (any information on that also appreciated, even though not really relevent ).

Josh Z

The "remastered" discs do look a little bit better than the original (horrific) release of the first miniseries, but they are still pretty terrible in all respects.

The second miniseries ("The Sequel") is the very worst DVD I have ever seen. The original Highlander disc looks a thousand times better in comparison.

The third miniseries ("The Continuing Story") looks halfway watchable, along the lines of a bottom-end MGM title. Compression artifacts are numerous, but you can still tell what you're supposed to be looking at most of the time. It is the best of the three discs. I would say that this one is better than VHS, but just barely.

The remastered version of the first miniseries falls about halfway in between these two.

Sullivan Entertainment simply has no idea how to make a DVD. They should licence the titles out to another studio if they knew what was best for them. I can't imagine them trying to do a full-season box set. They'd probably try to cram the 20+ episodes onto one disc.

Lurker1999

I'm a bit confused. I have the flipper version of Anne: the sequel and a one sided version of the first movie with only a yellow tag at the bottom that lists "digitally restored".

That differs from the new covers shown on the Sullivan website. Can I assume that the new cover comes with a new transfer which per Josh Z's assessment isn't much better?

I too will be waiting word of the Avonlea set's picture quality, especially before committing $100 of my money to it.

Josh Z

All three of the ones I have include the yellow "Digitally Restored Collector's Edition" label. I can confirm that the first miniseries is the remaster because I used to own the original release as well. My copy of "The Sequel" has a different picture on the cover than the one seen on the Sullivan web site. It has Anne, with her arms crossed, leaning on a table. Is that the one you have?

As far as I know, only the first miniseries was remastered. I believe there is only one version of each of the sequels. Sullivan probably just changed the artwork on the middle one. The list of contents is exactly the same (the remastered first miniseries included extra supplements).

The first miniseries is presented on one single-layered side of one disc. It's 199 minutes long!

The second miniseries (230 min.) is a flipper. Two single-layered sides.

The third miniseries is the same format as the second. IMDb doesn't list a running time for this one.

mmguen

Josh Z- Does your "The Sequel" disc have French and Spanish Language track? I guess I'm hoping this is really a different disc, transfer, etc. as the website suggests. http://www.sullivanboutique.com/sic/...D=179&CATID=17

Josh Z

I just checked, and no it doesn't have French or Spanish tracks. Just the English track and a director's commentary.

If you decide to buy it, let us know if the quality is indeed any better. It can hardly get much worse, but I am still skeptical of Sullivan and fear that taking the existing transfer and cramming even more audio options onto it will not turn out terribly well.

mmguen

Over the holidays I bought the Anne of Green Gables Trilogy DVD Boxset from $ullivan Boutique and have the following insights to offer;

All keepcase covers and special features matched the ones listed at sullivanboutique.com Link to Trilogy Boxset

All 3 movies in this set are flippers with two single-layered sides, imprinted with "2002 Sullivan Entertainment" on the inner ring of the discs. Anne of Green Gables and The Sequel keepcases are labeled "Digitally Restored" while The Continuing Story is labeled "Digitally Mastered."

My Observations:
The 3rd disc video quality is quite good. The video quality of the first two is...well, it's not as bad as some people say. The colors are vibrant but the sharpness is still not what you would hope. The fact that they are not prize-winning digital transfers didn't detract from my enjoyment of the films on my small-ish 27" Wega.

The Special Features are strong (my favorite is the Megan Follows audition on the first disc) and there are hours and hours of director's commentary. I personally would have traded some director's commentary for Scene Access menus and english subtitles.

The Boxset itself was an attractive blue cardstock thing, but somehow not as sturdy as I had imagined it would be.

Would I buy it again at just under $100? Sure, I really like the movies. Do I wish there was something better and cheaper out there? I'll be all over it when there is.

Josh Z

You must really like those movies! You could have bought the three of them separately from a site like North American DVD for $19.99 each. You spend an extra $33 for the cardboard box.

mmguen

I initially bought them all from Playcentric for $20 each then sold them for $33 each and bought the boxset.

You're right, though... it is crazy. This entire set should cost $33.

Josh Z

How'd you find a sucker that would buy them from you for $33 each?

mmguen

I have half *cough* a mind to not tell you what .com *cough* I sold them on since they were bought by 3 very nice ladies, not suckers. Sold the first two for $34 and the third for $33. Of course I wasn't subtracting commission from the total.

Josh Z

Ha! Very nice.

KKnight

For those that are interested in buying the Road to Avonlea season 1 DVDs, please go to http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=270520

darmok

i'm sorry, can you clarify again whether the second disc (anne sequel) has different content? i have the first "digitally restored" cover version where anne is sitting with her arms crossed (in class, i think) i had assumed that the newer cover that sullivan has up now was simply a redressing of that same disc, but i guess now it has more subtitle options? can anyone confirm if the added subs detracted from video quality?

mmguen

Disc 2 Anne of Green Gables- The Sequel

I'm not sure what content was on the previous release, but here are the added features for the 2002 release from Sullivan;

Deleted Scenes
-The Letter (1.16)
-A Walk Through the Country Side (.22)
-The Boys Get Punished (1.00)

Cast & Crew Bios

Languages
-English
-Francais
-Espanol

-Director's Commentary ON / OFF

The cover is identical to the picture shown on the Sullivan website. There are no subtitles on the discs, they are alternative language tracks (Anne speaks French! and Spanish!).