I just ordered it at DDD but after reading this review I'm afraid I might be disappointed.

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I haven't seen any reviews that said it was that bad. It looks like the reviewer tooks someone elses review for the old dvd or just reviewed the old dvd and added some stuff vague info about extras on the new set.

maybe they were talking about the original release. anything would be an improvement from that one.

On my 50 inch widescreen set I found several parts of the transfer to be sorely lacking in quality. I never saw the original dvd but from what I heard about it this one is far superior to that but still....there is very distracting looks like there is an earthquake happening shimmering/compression artifact fits present in many scenes. Ugh.

The new transfer is day and night compared to the 1998 release.

The DTS audio is lacking a bit in the LFE department.

Very true, although from when this movie came out, it's not surprising that it's not exactly 100% either. I have this release as I was lucky enough to purchase that nice box set. I have a flatscreen 32" at the foot of my bed on top of a dresser, and I didn't really have any complaints about the quality. The only complaint was about the layer change, and that's already discussed on another thread. But yes, day and night compared to the older DVD, and I'm more than happy with this definitive release

The transfer is cleaned up quiet a bit from the 1998 release, no doubt about it, but it's still lacking in a general sense. And yes I've heard both the DTS and DD 5.1 sound and it is very poor. Sounds very flat and sterile. Then again it's such a great movie, and I love the DVD packaging and cover art. The extras are pretty good, albiet the ridiculous "Def Jam" documentary. I'm a big fan of the movie, so I had to get this DVD.

The video does seem to vary from scene to scene but it always looks better than the old one. A majority of the scenes look fantastic. The audio on the other hand is downright terrible. The dialogue is very quiet compared to the music and there is little to no use of the surrounds. It's basically a poorly mixed mono track that DTS recievers can recognize.

the only time I noticed surround activity was when a car drove by.

Universal just can't seem to do anything with an aim towards perfection.
The 5.1 mix on this is weaker than a christian rock concert. It is as if they left the bass on zero during the remaster.
Officially the old release is now better in two respects.
The Killer insert (replaced by an AD)
The 2.0 soundtrack

fortunately the new disc and set are well worth the money otherwise just be prepared to play with your EQ.

you forgot one more thing...

the original movie trailer.

I dunno if this has anything to do with it but I saw Scarface during the theatrical re-release. Saw it in probably the best theater in the country, the arc light cinemas in Hollywood. The picture was pretty great, as far as I could tell. Nice detail, crisp, etc, but the sound was pretty poor. I had trouble understanding some of the dialouge heavy scenes, especially the ones in the club where loud music occured.

Sounded real flat.