Damn that's a blow if that's true. I guess we'll truly have to wait until someone here has a copy and can vouch for whether it has it(5.1 audio) or not. I'm pretty shocked, because weren't Part II and III I could have sworn had 5.1 audio on them(or maybe it was a different Region I was thinking of). At least we know that we are getting it in Anamorphic Widescreen, which is nice, but 5.1 audio(DTS would have been preferrred) not included is ludacrous, especially with HD-DVD coming to the market at the end of this year, which will mandate that all discs be encoded with DTS. I like that they included all 4 films(even if I don't count "Next" as part of the series) but if they really didn't include 5.1 on all 4 films, then someone truly dropped the ball with this release.

I just got my copies, and I can confirm, 2.0 on all four four films, anamorphic widescreen on all four, but the transfers are encoded at 4Mbps or less on average.

The discs are packaged in three ThinPaks in a cardboard slipcase.
3 and Next are on a flipper disc.

I think Columbia just disappointed a lot of people, though 1 looks to have decent features. I'll have a review later this week probably, but before Tuesday.

Thanks man! Oh well. I'm still all over this.

Can you at least post some pics of the individual disc? Please please please?

Like this?

Great pic! But I was actually hoping for pics of the individual cases. I'm curious to see what they look like.

Thanks again.

well as per usual...Columbia delivers single layered crap.

Well I guess this means we're going to have to wait for the HD version (when they release that) to get 5.1.

I don't believe the studios will stop the practice of reissuing DVDs when HD arrives. Greed is the motivating factor and you'll get one release after another of the same movies, only slightly better each time when HD is on the market.

BTW, it is rarely mentioned that we get multiple releases of many movies while other worthy films gather dust in some vault.

I mentioned it earlier in this thread- SHO and and Starz have been running HD transfers recently, that are 2.0. I assume since they've shown up at the same time as the DVD they are from the same master.

The PQ is adequate at best.

My point exactly! First we'll have HD Karate Kid as a single disc "Collector's Edition." Then Karate Kid with a 5.1 mix as a "Deluxe Edition." After that, Karate Kid DTS w/commentaries - Special Two Disc Set. Finally we get the full Karate Kid 5.1/DTS/commentaries/featurettes - "You people are so dumb you'll buy this movie a hundred times Edition."

Was thinking about grabbing this next week and after seeing more news on it being 2.0 and a pretty low bitrate... looks like i will be skipping it (unless it is on sale at a pretty low price)

I think I will skip also. Wait for a better version.

Do you think this is what DVDs will be like when HD (DVD or Blue-Ray) hits, DVDs will lesser quality, forcing people to go to HD to have even a greater leap in Video Quality.

Columbia typically does this. A lot of their releases are single layered with low bit-rates.

Interesting considering they will be Blu-ray correct?

I say we go and lynch the people at Columbia...anybody wanna join me?

I say we put them in a body bag! YEAH!!

Let's not be rash.
I'm sitting down with the discs, and though there are definitely some disappointing parts, it's looking like picking it up for 24.99 at best buy next week might not be so bad. I hope to have my review up by Saturday, but there's a lot of movie to get through.

I hope to have my set by tomorrow. Can't wait to listen to the Macchio/Morita commentary.

I wish they'd re-release the soundtrack for Karate Kid II on CD. I used to have the cassette and LOVED it. It would be the perfect time to do a cross-promotion.

Well for $25 you get all four movies. I'm disappointed with the lack of 5.1 but I'll still be picking the set up.

I just finished watching the first two and the 2.0 is not that bad. It still bothers me though that Dutch was punked as easily as he was in the tourney.

Mine arrived in the mail this weekend. I haven't watched them yet but I do like the packaging. I will have to compare them with my existing Australian Region 4 set, but hopefully the transfer will be an improvement, even if it's just a small one.

Watched the first movie...transfer is fairly decent considering the age and the fact the budget could not have been too high on this film. The featurettes on the first movie were excellent!!! Getting the first film with extras was well worth my $22.00. Looking forward to Part II and the sequel featurette.

Mine came on Saturday - can't wait to watch them!

$25 for 4 movies puts each movie at $6.25 a piece.
If you count just the discs, it's $8.33 a disc.
That's not a bad price.
At least the movies are OAR.

I watched the first movie and there's some scenes that the elements are grainy and the colors are washed out.

2.0 surround isn't the worst that can happen. On the New Twilight Zone series there's some episodes in mono.

I was happy to hear they were remastering The Karate Kid, but was upset with the sound. I had problems hearing the dialouge at the start of the movie when Daniel and his Mom are leaving for LA, it sounded like the score was to loud all I heard was muffled voices. I had to turn up my receiver to hear a word, after awhile the sound kicked up so it wasn't that much of a problem.