DavidH

That's an interesting point.

If you have enough experience viewing DVDs on a decent, (especially if over 45") properly calibrated display with a good DVD player, a bad transfer is recognizable by excessive compression artifacts (vs. film grain), EE, and the "digital look" (vs. a filmlike look).

The original Scarface DVD was a textbook example of this.

Another movie with a poorly done transfer is Career Opportunity. I have never seen a more digital looking film on DVD.

marty888

One of the first DVDs I ever bought (in early 2000) is still the worst I have ever encountered: TWO WOMEN as released by Madacy. Totally illegible subtitles, blurry image, etc. etc. I'm not sure that I ever had a commercially released VHS tape that was this bad!

And based on the many comments over the years here in these forums, MADACY is consistently useless as a DVD source.

Iron_Giant

Yes, it was the "Non-Criterion" version. I picked it up on the fly about 3 years ago and watching it was like watching TV in the mid 70's.

WingKongExpress

The beginning of Adventures in Babysitting is pretty bad but the worst I have seen is the Criterion version of Rebecca.

obscurelabel

Criterion Rebecca ... I saw this one, it looked great to me. What was so bad about it?

WingKongExpress

It wasn't near as sharp or smooth as the B&W shades in Notorious. Since it won best picture I expected similar production values. Since they were not there I am blaming the transfer. Should I blame the original? Also, the sound was not crisp either. I am a big Hitchcock fan and watcheing this DVD left me underwhelmed.

Hammer99

The Gauntlet is another bad one. Whole lotta grain there.

billy9215

For me, The Deer Hunter, a shame 'cos is one of my favorites. The sound is also bad. Nobody buy this DVD....

spazz276

I will agree with Meet the Feebles

Easy

I agree it was very bad. The Quiet Man and Exodus are also horrible.

tdilia

Warlock (Julian Sands) looks terrible.
The first release of Pulp Fiction I thought was ugly.
My Own Private Idaho (Region 2 or 3, I forget)

THE ALCHEMIST

look no further than "The Hitcher" from HBO.....i can't describe how depressed i was after viewing it - one of my favorites!!! I had to get rid of it - my vhs copy looked better...........

Wild Yams

A friend of mine recently went to buy Highlander and got that original CE version cause he didn't think he needed the new one. When he told me all excited that he'd finally bought Highlander, I asked him which version, and when he told me I didn't have the heart to tell him that movie is reputably the worst video quality you can find on DVD.

obscurelabel

Well, I don't have the most discriminating eye, but I thought that the blacks looked nice and deep and that the shadow detail was quite good. In the early scenes in Monte Carle there are a lot of intricate shadow patterns used, which I was pretty impressed by, as far as being rendered in very good detail. Also, the picture looked very clean, with virtually no scratches or print damage. The Criterion web site indicates that the transfer was made from original nitrate film elements, including the original camera negative and a fine grain master. I haven't seen the Criterion Notorious, so I can't compare it to that. As for the sound, likewise, I don't have an audiophile's ear, but I didn't notice any problems with it ... I'm pretty sure it's just the original mono without any remixing.

If you felt disappointed by the sound and appearance of the film, you are entitled to that opinion. The only point that I would make is that it looks to me as if the transfer was done with a great deal of care from very good film elements. It may very well be that what you are disappointed in is inherent in the film elements. Some of the DVDs discussed in this thread look bad because the studio/distributor didn't care about doing a good transfer, which I don't think is the case with this DVD. I'm sure one could come up with hundreds (thousands?) of DVDs with more serious transfer problems than Criterion's Rebecca.

Anyway, I enjoyed this DVD a lot, so I felt like defending it a bit.

ScottReynolds

I would vote for Chow Yun Fat's 'God of Killers'.

Its like someone video taped it being projected... the subtitles don't even fit on the screen.

I keep it just as an example of how bad a movie can look.

ESUguy

My Grosse Pointe Blank dvd looks pretty shitty, but I love the movie so I just tolerate it.

cupon

Oliver Stone's Nixon and A Bronx Tale were atrocious. Nixon was so awful I had to stop watching it out of frustration and anger. Even though some of the grain may have been the director's "intent" it's still bad.

Easy

Well the subject asked about transfer/picture quality(PQ). You make a good point... few of us know anything about transfers (myself included) but we can all subjectively rate PQ. Personally, I don't cut any slack for the age or condition of source material. Why should I? Wonders can be done with digital cleanup if the studio has the capability and/or chooses to spend the money. LDI does nice work (Snow white, Citizen Kane, Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy etc.) and it only gets better. When I see a phrase like "Looks great considering the age and condition..." I consider that a warning and stay away.

sataniko

The Sicilian from Walmart's bargain bin, the film looks worse than VHS.

Neeb

First release of Kubrick's 'The Shining.'

MGM release of Hang 'Em High.

'Fistful of Dollars' and 'For a Few Dollars More.' Both in desperate need of new transfers.

RevKarl

As bad as Goodtimes' McLintock! is, the worst looking DVD I've ever seen is UAW's The Stranger. It looks like a bad TV taping when the cable is on the fritz (complete with wavy diagonal lines.) Fortunately, Troma did a decent job by The Stranger on their double-feature Film Noir 1 DVD, but, as posted in other threads, many of us are still waiting for a good transfer of McLintock!

Hiro11

The original release of "Diva"
The original release of "Ran"
"The Last Emperor" (this one really pissed me off, it looks terrible even on a 15" screen)


..basically anything from the old days of Fox Lorber blows.

RichDB10

Yes..i was about to mention the same....the Masterworks edition is a vast improvement over the original Fox Lorber one..yet having said that is still sub-standard IMO.