Found a copy today in a local B&M, rushed home and slapped it in. Uh, can this really be anamorphically enhanced? This looks awful. Scars, debris, specks, shimmering, artifacts. Why did Coplumbia Tristar bother re-issuing this title? What a major disappointment.The elements are obviously in terrible condition. Mono soundtrack!~ Don't waste your money this is a bad bad piece of work.

The reissue hasn't been released yet - I think you got the old one. Scheduled for Jan.9 release.

Second whats already been said. The Columbia edition hasnt come out yet. i'll also add, that the majority of HK films are done in mono, and some scratches, softness, and the like are what one must expect. Fans deal with it and look beyond these minor concerns to the actual movie as it is. Anyway, look forward to seeing the Columbia edition when it actually comes out.

i, for one, think Smog probably has the new Columbia version. the old Media Asia (HK) releases have poor DD 5.1 remixes with no mono tracks.

all the same, i too am looking forward to a more informed review of this disc.

Too late. I pre-ordered mine from buy.com and you know you can't cancel an order from them. Still, I want this movie in my collection. There won't be any revisions of this title any time soon. I'll have to see for myself about the presentation.

I have the Columbia Tristar edition. A local B&M is nototrious for putting out dvds up to two weeks early.In all aspects This is a poor quality disc. For all you who love this film, by all means purchase it, but be warned it is not what we all hoped it would be. It is like watching a film through a smokescreen.

First of all the disc is out, some stores have broken street date early. I picked this up on the weekend and posted a review over on asiandvdguide.com. The disc is very disappointing quality wise as Smog has noted. Have a peek over at the asiandvdguide forums if you want a more detailed review.

Scratchy or not, OUATIC is worth having in any martial arts fans collection!

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Regards...
Drinker of much Pepsi, trainer of Dingo's and Jack's Aussie Moonshine importer...
John 3:16

The real question is whether it is worse picture-wise than the Hong Kong edition. If it's equal or better, then Columbia's disc is the way to go. The HK disc is overpriced and has crap sound.

I just ordered this DVD not more than 15 minutes ago. It has to at least have as good a picture as the HK DVD and is about half the price. This is a must have if you are a Jet Li fan and is my favorite of his movies. The story is pretty good for a HK flick and the action is great.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by ipkevin:
The real question is whether it is worse picture-wise than the Hong Kong edition. If it's equal or better, then Columbia's disc is the way to go.<HR>

I agree. I'd expect at least a slightly better picture. HK studios are notorious for letting their masters degenerate, so I wasn't expecting all that great looking a print.

Anybody know of any side by side comparisons?

I hope they include the original language tracks still...

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Regards...
Drinker of much Pepsi, trainer of Dingo's and Jack's Aussie Moonshine importer...
John 3:16

Does anyone know if an original language track will be included?

[This message has been edited by Kim Deal (edited January 03, 2001).]

cantonese and mandarin. Original theatrical release and dubbed english version. All tracks in mono. a bit noisy and sometimes distorted in the canto/mandarin versions but it gets the job done. I haven't checked the dubbed version and probably never will.

ok if you guys want a GOOD release of OUATIC , then head over to UK!

Hong Kong Legends is releasing also a new special edition.

And they have NEVER a bad image!
If you guys would have seen their anamorphic (!) release of "The Big Boss" ( Bruce Lee) , you would believe me.

These guys are taking always VERY much patience in cleaning the material, restoring the image, comparing several transfer's and picking the best single images from each one etc...

Until now, all their DVDs are reference for HK-movies.
AND they are in PAL.
For those of you who have an TV which can dislay that, it's an advantage, for the others the opposit( thay can´t watch it after all).


It will be anamorphic, incl. a NEW dolby 5.1 mix( original language), dub, a commentary by Bey Logan and some other extras.

Only one thing is unknown. If it will be the long version too.

But AFAIK the long version contains only dialogue, so...

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Why am I doing this while I could play DOOM?

[This message has been edited by ronald (edited January 03, 2001).]

oh about the longer version!

I have just read the review at asiandvd...
and I´m pretty sure that HKL is going to release the long version.

I thought that that was CTHV called the int. Version was some special cut with 10 min. or so of additional footage.

but if you can, wait just two more weeks.

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Why am I doing this while I could play DOOM?

Maybe I just don't have as high a standard as some of you, but after watching so many terrible quality VHS tapes of HK movies, I LOVE my Media Asia DVD of OUATIC 1. Full widescreen, great looking picture, original language, well-translated English subs (underneath the picture, not burned in), LONG trailers from OUATIC 1,2 and 3, some fight scene clips from Wong Fei Hung KF movies from the 50's, 60's and 70's, and a cool booklet by Bey Logan (Hong Kong Action Cinema) on the historical Wong Fei Hung, and the various cinematic versions of him. This is one of my favorite DVD's in my collection.

Sounds to good to be true Ronald. What's the catch?

What region?

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Regards...
Drinker of much Pepsi, trainer of Dingo's and Jack's Aussie Moonshine importer...
John 3:16

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Fhrx:
Sounds to good to be true Ronald. What's the catch?

What region?

<HR>

It's a UK anamorphic PAL disc, meaning many R1 people are going to have a hard time playing it properly (that Apex doesn't downconvert PAL anamorphic properly, nor does the DXR2) on anything but a PC monitor. But you're in Australia, so it may be easier for you perhaps.

to be more exact:

some of might be lucky!
If you recently bought a new good (!) TV, it might be able to display PAL WITHOUT downconverting it( DXR can give you the real PAL Signal WITHOUT converting it, as long as you have the proper tools installed -remselec , for example which cuts off Region code and macrovision, too).

If you have an older set, you migt be lucky, just check the manual.

It's funny. Almost every TV here in Europe can display the worse NTSC , but obviously nobody in the US wastes a thought on the better PAL System...


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Why am I doing this while I could play DOOM?

quote:<HR>Originally posted by ronald:
It's funny. Almost every TV here in Europe can display the worse NTSC , but obviously nobody in the US wastes a thought on the better PAL System...

<HR>

I imagine the vast majority of people in America don't even know PAL exists.

Just to add a link to the review of the previously released DVD to help those still debating whether to get this DVD or not:

http://www.loveandbullets.com/ouatic.htm

I have the disc. I haven't seen the previous DVD. I've only seen this film on bootleg VHS. From the look of it, I'd say Columbia wasn't able to get pristine elements of the film and had to get several different elements from different sources. Much like what Anchor Bay had to do for the director's cut of Army of Darkness.

The reason I say this is because at times the transfer is relativly clean looking. Not pristine, but very good for an early 90's Hong Kong film. The film's quality dips on certain shots and scenes and raises up again in others. Mostly, the offending scenes and shots happen during the action scenes. Almost all expostitional scenes range from decent looking to nearly perfect. Overall, I'm pleased with the disc. It's not what I hoped since Columbia did a pretty good transfers for Miracles and Who Am I?, and Godzilla 2000.

The rest of the disc is pretty good too. The commentary by Ric Meyers is pretty good. I'd say it's similiar to the commentary on the Criterion Seven Samurai disc. It's by Ric Meyers who according to him is a film columnist and wrote several Hong Kong film books. It's filled with anecdotes, history on almost nearly every actor involved, various facts about production, etc. A very satifying listen. I hope he does more commentaries for Hong Kong films. The English language version isn't a language track you can toggle on and off during the film. It's in fact a whole new edit of the film. Presumably for television and video. It's amusing to see the differences, but most likely I'll never watch it again.

Ultimately I'm very happy with the disc. Not perfect by any means, but since I don't have a region free player, it's better then I expected.

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I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.

Thanks cereal killer - I'm starting to feel a little better about preordering this one. In any case,it must be better than the lousy vcd I have.

Its interesting to compare releases in different regions, and I'll be interested to see how the UK version turns out.

But - and I don't want to start an argument here, but I've noticed in other Region-related threads here and in other forums, these type of discussions don't seem to go by without someone getting in a needless dig at NTSC, or region 1.

It would be nice if we just kept things to the point. Stepping off the soapbox now.

Bleddyn