ashegam

I just watched the frist 20 minutes and I must say, I'm speachless. Wait a minute didn't I just say something though? I'm confused

Anyways, I watched just enough to get me really excited. I'll watch the rest sometime in the next few days.

Just some random thoughts:

The colors are just magnicificant. Very rich and colorful. I thought for a second my TV's color levels are set too high, but they were normal.

The clarity and detail of each scene comes to life and again it's just plaine amazing.

The 5.1 sound is just unheard of, specialy the Disney mix version of it.

I watched the PE version. The entire movie ends up being around 1 hour 28 minutes which I think is a couple of minutes shorter then the original. Watching the PE version was like looking at the movie at a completely new camera angle. The scenes are quite different and even the actors lines are some what changed. The morning report at the start of the movie is now a song, one major change right off the bat.

It took about 1 minute 22 seconds just to get to the main menu options once you play the dvd. Then Zazu walks you through the menu options and tells you what each one does. Bunch of simple games to play, mostly for kids.

Anyways this thing is a huge eye candy and just a lot of fun, specialy when I got it for free

Off to bed. If I get a chance I'll watch some more tomorrow. Any questions feel free to ask

LBPound

Is the theatrical cut REALLY the theatrical cut as they're saying? In other words, are there truly two full versions of the film - one with the touch-ups and one with the 1994 cut.

One scene to check would be Mufasa's appearance in the clouds. They changed it for the re-release.

Drexl

Can I have a copy now (I'd even pay for it) or do I have to wait like everyone else?

Also, what takes 1 minute and 22 seconds to get through to reach the menu?

Rypro 525

I think this won't be the 100% 1994 cut. (the whole "sfx" in the clouds was erased.) So some things may or may not have been cut for the extended version.

Grizzly

dts or no dts?

eau

Disney's legendary forced ads?

Rypro 525

you have disney's version of dts which is "enhanced home theater"

unbeeleebable

By the sounds of the first post though it seems as though will be impressive..not sure I can wait for this release! Think I might be as excited as my son.

Hokeyboy

Many studios provide "forced ads", not just Disney. And at least you can skip the Disney ads by pressing the MENU key only once.

As opposed to UNIVERSAL, which disables both the MENU and CHAPTER UP during their truly FORCED ads.

Drexl

Yeah, also, if the ads were forced, they would probably last longer than a minute and a half.

Rypro 525

actually on "undercover brother" and "the pianist" I was able to skip the little ad that came on right before the movie.

Class316

Could you confirm if the “sex” has been removed?

LBPound

Not so for the High School Reunion Collection, though.

ashegam

I haven't had time to watch anymore of it so I can't confirm any details right now.

There are about 8 ads at first, freaking long. for movies like george of the jungle 2, marry pupins, lion king 1 1/2, disneyworld.com, and some other ones but like someone else said you just have to press menu and it will skip them.

The 1min 22sec thing that I refered to was after the ads you see zazu flying through the jungle and you hear misc sound. it was very neat sort of like an IMAX presentation, as for the camera work goes. then you get to the regular menu. if you press menu twice you'll go to the menu selections so you won't have to watch this thing every single time.

I'm not sure how to check if it's the original 94 version or not. This is a quote from one of the inserts though....

" Special edition - includes the all-new song "morning report" with never-before-seen animation, seamlessly integrated into the film by the original filmmakers."

and...

"Original Theatrical release - the movie originally released in 1994 that audiences around the world know and love, featuring Academy Award - , Grammy- and Golden Globe - winning music."

hope this helps a bit for those wondering about the version situation.

As for dts, no there is no dts. Just the Disney speacial sound mix etc... my dts processor did not come on when this was selected.

I'll probably get a chance to watch it monday night and maybe post more info on it. If someone wants to host some pics I might be able to get some screen shots. Just tell me which parts you want screen shots of and I'll see if I can get them. ( never done this before other then using alt + prt scr) so if you have a better way tell me

Class316

Power DVD has a button that takes a shot.

LBPound

No it doesn't help, because Disney said B & B was the original theatrical cut. It wasn't.

Just compare the scene with the dust in the clouds, the opening studio logos, the scene where Mufasa appears in the clouds. If they look the same in both versions, we know it's not the real '94 theatrical cut.

Like PowerDVD, WinDVD uses a button to take captures, which it saves as Bitmaps in the program folder.

Xander

What's the deal with Mufasa appearing in the clouds? Never heard anything about that being changed...

X

Hokeyboy

Check out their latest releases, including the aforementioned "High School Reunion" discs and the newest "Animal House" release. Pretty abominable on Universal's part. At least you can skip directly over Fox and Disney's advertisements. With Universal, the only way to not view their "forced trailers" is to hit that FAST FORWARD button as many times as you can until they're all done.

LBPound

They redid the scene, in the vein of Lucas making Greedo shoot first.

milo bloom

How so? I'd never heard about this one.

jasonnaper

Looking forward to this... YESSSSSSSSSSSS

LBPound

It's tough to describe, and I only saw the new version once, so I'm not the best one to attempt. Essentially, they just redid the special effect.

Sparrow

Greedo?

I'm looking forward to this set. It's the only VHS that I never got rid of.

Must be nice to get products early, especially when it's a movie that you've anticipated for some time.

KBDVD

Hi all,

No DTS on R1 discs I'm afraid!

(Extract from article on DVD times site)

With an addictive tropical fruit cocktail in hand the event began for this reporter with a demonstration of the DVDs main talking point, the all-new Disney Enhanced Home Theatre Mix. This new audio track is present on the disc alongside the original 5.1 Theatrical mix; both were created by Terry Porter. To showcase this alternate 5.1 mix a special Home Theatre room had been set-up that housed the kind of equipment that makes home enthusiasts quiver in their boots. A gorgeous 50" Plasma screen was accompanied by a top end audio system upon which a specially created demonstration DVD was being run. This disc allowed the Disney DVD representative to play two specially selected sequences from the film, first in the Original 5.1 Theatrical Mix and then in the new Disney Enhanced Home Theatre Mix (DEHT).

The first sequence was the Wildebeest Stampede, a pivotal moment in the film that also has great 5.1 potential as we see a massive herd of Wildebeest careering down a valley with the viewer placed right in the middle of the action as Mufasa rescues his trapped son from impending doom. The Original 5.1 Theatrical Mix was played first and failed to truly impress as it showed its age and was not as aggressive as you might hope. Switching to the DEHT Mix revealed a track with a far greater sense of immersion as the thunderous sound of the stampede literally shook the room with incredible use of the sub-woofer, while also engulfing you in the action through a more dynamic use of the surrounds.

The second sequence used for demonstration purposes was the Can You Feel The Love Tonight? musical number. Introduced to us as the sequence which Terry Porter felt best showed off his work, we first heard the Original 5.1 Theatrical Mix that sounded perfectly fine, if a little light on surround usage. Then we heard the DEHT Mix that once again managed to bring a greater sense of immersion to the viewer as the musical numbers audio chorus and instrumental accompaniment are projected around the surrounds leaving the viewer with a sense of being in the middle of a choir. Enhancing the mix further are some well placed percussive segments at the start of the sequence and the fine decision to only project the chorus and music to the surround speakers, keeping character vocals to the front which helps to maintain the original tracks integrity.

Having been impressed with the Disney Enhanced Home Theatre Mix (which for the record, IS presented in DTS on the R2 release) I then managed to grab it's creator, Terry Porter, to discuss his work. After expressing my thoughts on the new mix we spoke about the evolution of The Lion King's audio tracks, as Terry created the Original 5.1 Theatrical Mix back when the film was first released, and has since created a new mix for the IMAX release and of course now has a DEHT Mix under his belt for the DVD. Terry explained how after creating the IMAX mix he had bought a new 5.1 setup for his home and realised that much like the IMAX environment, a Home Theatre setup is far more controlled with very little variation, whereas Cinema’s have multiple configurations meaning a broader mix has to be created. With this idea in his head Terry worked on a demo, pitched it to the execs at Disney and was given approval to create a new audio mix specially designed to take advantage of the Home Theatre environment. With absolutely no restrictions Terry was able to create a new audio track that allows the consumer to show off their setup with the main emphasis being on immersing the viewer, though he was also very quick to stress that his DEHT Mix should not be referred to as ‘better’, simply as an optimised mix for the home. Alongside the fact that absolutely no new elements were recorded for this new mix Terry demonstrated his insistence on maintaining the original soundtracks integrity.

As the conversation progressed I asked why the UK Disney DVDs generally receive the DTS treatment, an answer Terry could not give as he is only involved in the creation of the 5.1 mix, and from there it goes on to be encoded in the chosen format (be it Dolby for the R1 or DTS for the R2). Adapting the question I then asked which sound format he preferred his mixes to be heard in upon Theatrical release, to which he immediately said pure digital, though sadly agreed this is something rarely experienced in the US let alone here in the UK. Elaborating on his response Terry went on to say that all of the formats have their drawbacks, Dolby uses more compression which tends to result in a 'less colourful' track that loses some of the finer details, DTS offers a higher encoding rate though it also has Bass Management which sees bass that was intended for the surrounds sucked out and sent to the subwoofer. Last but not least is the Sony format, SDDS, which Terry spoke very highly of but then explained how it is actually included on the edge of the print so in practice the sound can be affected by the handling of the reel, and is not widely used as a result.