I had assumed this one would have the movie on one disc and the extras on the other, but they've actually split the movie in half (arrggh) and sprinkled the extras onto both discs.

The transfer is a real jawdropper, though. So I suppose it was worth the inconvenience. Gonna listen to the Scorsese commentary tonight.

that's rather stupid.....and of course another example indicating lack of vision with the Mouse.

If the transfer is good, I don't mind.

Kinda lame. No question.

well if the movie is super long it'll be nice to have a good transfer and a break in between to stretch

Somehow, I think I will find the strength to extract myself from the couch and make the long 4-foot trek to the DVD player to pop in disc 2. I'm debating whether I want to take my car on this journey or just walk.

Admittedly, having to get off my butt will be a considerable hardship, but I am determined to endure. A true profile in courage, if ever there was one. I suggest we all look within ourselves to find similar reserves of strength.

Not lame at all.

It is almost 3 hours (2 hrs 47 minutes). So, its straight forward that this title may be spread out of 2 DVD's.

The DVD producers may have wanted to maintain specific bit rates or image quality and thus spread out the flick.

I'll just wait for the director's cut DVD release. The studios butcheredc the theatrical cut and made it into a wannabe oscar winner. Hopefully Bernstein's score will also be included in this future version.

I doubt that "director's cut" will ever see release, Scorsese has gone and said several times he was satisfied with the final release if memory serves right.

The break on Once Upon a Time in America is really bad and I'm sure this one will be too. If you say you don't like movies spread across 2 discs everyone jumps on you for "being too lazy to switch the discs." Thats not why it bothers me. Its fine on the Godfather part 2. When it ruins the flow the of the scene like Once Upon a time in america, yeah it bothers me. I don't recall any natural break in Gangs of New york so I'm dreading this.

How come you got an advance copy..I thaught the release date was July 2nd??

If the film had been the original length that Scorsese wanted it, I'd have no problem. However the Harvey Scisssorhands version for 2 discs is worthless. LOTR theatrical version was on one disc and it looked great. Sounds like lazy mastering.

It will suck for those of us getting it from Netflix. I can see it now--I'll have both discs at the top of my queue, and they'll send one but be out of stock on the other.

tasha

I do not have the "reserve" to fulfill such a daunting task so I will just have to let this master-"piece" of a movie slide on by.

The break might not be very good, but it's probably the best of a bad situation, as it allows for higher video quality on Disc 1.

DJ

It's definitely lame. A dual-layered 3-hour movie can easily fit on one disc. Look at The Abyss, Special Edition. Or Heat. Those two movies are about the same lengths, give or take a few minutes. I'm certainly waiting for a better THOUGHT-OUT transfer to come along.

Unless it becomes a cheap enrollment via CH.

...exactly my thoughts when I said that this is a sad example of "lack of vision".
Furthermore it is not a matter of whether or not you have to move to switch discs.....the film could EASILY fit on one disc without creating any issues as far as quality. Anyone that knows a little bit about film compression and disc space could confrim my statement.

Bottom line....pretty lame decision!!!!!

Now I guess I understand why $100 DVD players are about all that are made anymore. Joe Sixpack has taken over DVD.

Exactly WHAT does the price of DVD players (and if you look at someplace other than K-Mart, you'll find dozens of high-end players) or Joe Sixpack have to do with this discussion of Gangs ?

(I'm really getting tired of people who think they are making an intelligent contribution to a discussion simply by shouting out joe sixpack.)

Titanic was one disc... 3 hous plus... but I guess with DTS and all that other fun stuff...takes up more room. Hey, maybe they should take a break right at the layer change... would be nice!

what the hell? this is stupid! spread it over 2 discs?

if its too long and you need a break...PAUSE THE DAMN MOVIE!

i dont want to have to switch dvds in the middle!!

this is like friggin 1960s crap where they have to change the movie real in 3rd grade science class half way through its discussion on how cells split.

^ Um, I dont think this has anything to do with if someone needs a break in the middle. Its almost a 3 hour movie...WITH A DTS TRACK. Try finding a DVD with a 3 hour movie on it and a DTS track...youll have better luck finding Bigfoot or something. Sometimes you guys expect way too much and go apes**t when a DVD studio cant pull a gold nugget out of their a$$.

You people need to understand space limitations and just how MPEG2 compression works and that film length is NOT the only indicator of space consumption! Just because one film is 3 hours long and fits on one disc does not mean a different 3 hour film will fit just as easily! MPEG2 bitrates are not constant and vary depending on what is visually on the screen at any give moment. A picture with very little movement and not a lot of colors varients will use far less space then a picture with a lot of movement and a multitude of various colors. If your DVD player has a bit meter just observe the variation is the bitrate throughout a DVD.

And the addition of a DTS as well as DD 5.1 audio track all but eliminates the possibilty of getting a one disc film without compressing the heck out of the DVD causing a horrible video quality! I will take a Dances With Wolves type 2 DVD DTS format any day over a overcompressed single DVD version that leave me less then fulfilled!

Count me in with those who support the movie spread across two discs. If the dvd comes out and it doesn't look great, then you can complain.

I've seen quite a few 3 hour feature films that are all on one disc and the picture looks fine.