One more thing... do you think there's any chance that a different transfer will be used on the upcoming single disc R2 release?

[Add'l note: if you're trying to decide between the R2 and R3 discs, the R2 has the better video quality -- color timing, no image ghosting, etc. The DTS tracks are both full bitrate, but only the R3 has a DTS-ES track. That's fine by me, as I have a 5.0 speaker setup, but those of you with rear center speakers may prefer the R3 for this reason.]

But there are bits and pieces in English. Christopher Doyle speaks flawless english, as well as Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen and Tony Leung. If I remember correctly, the "making of" has narration in English. So, I definitely wouldn't say the second disk is a total waste by any stretch...

Just got my R1 Miramax copy of Hero today and just watched it. My opinion about the PQ is that while it's not reference material, it's sure as good as the non-SB version of Crouching Tiger. If anything, the amount of grain was the only concern. Although not bad, it was still noticeable. The color-timing looked a bit weird and washed out at times, but without another version to compare it to, I can't really complain too much.

Can anyone post hi-res screen caps to give an idea of exactly what the transfer is like?

IMHO the PQ is quite soft and very grainy .... it didnt look as crisp as i remember it from the theater

and i'm viewing with a Panny L-500U HD projector up scaling to 720P ...still looks soft to me. i have MANY other discs that look much better

T

Just rented it tonight and it does look very soft and very grainy in a handful of scenes... I dunno, it just doesnt look very good.

I didn't think the PQ was that good either, however not enough to take the enjoyment of the film away.

My main complaints are no trailers and would of been good to see the longer cut of the film.

I finally saw the Miramax disc last night, and I've got to back Holly up on this one. It looks fine. It has a sharp, detailed picture with no edge enhancement. Colors are fantastic. There's a little bit of film grain, but the picture isn't noisy or "digital" at all. I may not have rated it a 5 out of 5, but it merits at least a 4.

The Miramax disc looks much better than the Region 3 Edko or Region 0 Guan Dong face releases. Anyone who says differently is crazy.

Digital Bits started this asinine rumor that the disc looks like crap, not because it actually does but because Robert Harris made a comment that other Miramax DVDs have been poor lately and they feel the need to parrot him regardless of the facts of this case. Now we've got a bunch of other Chicken Littles all over the web running around screaming that the sky is falling. Nobody wants to admit that they think the disc looks good, because this rumor has been circulating that it looks bad and they don't want to seem technically incompetent for voicing a contrary opinion.

This whole situation just irritates me.

I didn't think it was particularly bad. Granted, i'm far from the biggest videophile, but i've seen worse transfers that were noticably bad. Nothing really stood out as glaringly bad as i've read.

seemed like it was realy grainy when I watched it last night, the picture quality could have been better

I thought the grain depended on filmstock used when the film was shot, maybe I am misinformed. By the way, loved the film, IMHO better than HoFD.

Cheers

DVD Smurf

Well you're right. It sure didn't look near as bad as the screen caps from this thread.

So because you thought it looked fine, everyone else must be wrong and/or lying?

I thought the film looked a little grainy when I saw it in the theater, so the DVD may be an accurate representation. Film grain is not inherrently evil. Digital noise introduced by a poor film-to-video transfer is another matter.

Aren't you being a tad bit presumptious with your comments? Couldn't someone else say the same thing about DVDTalk and how its' reviewers back each other to save face? I don't know if I like the idea of a dvd site ripping another site over the technical merits of a dvd. I mean, isn't the whole issue subjective anyway? Sure you can measure bit rate, but isn't the amount of film grain, EE, etc. in the eyes of each individual?

This has to be one of the worst looking DVD's ever. Worse than some of the very first discs ever made(ie. Blade Runner). This movie deserved much, much better, it was absolutely gorgous to watch in the theatre.

Oh come on dude. That is completely unfounded. BR is much worse looking, or even Highlander (the original 10 year anniversary release). I'll admit it isn't as good as I'd hoped, but it's not as bad as you make it out to be.

And I completely agree with you Josh. The sky is definitely not falling like everyone on the web thinks.

Wild hyperbole like this is absolutely worthless. If you're going to complain that the disc looks bad, I want you to provide specific, quantifiable examples. Saying "It looks like crap because it does, so there" helps no one.

Conspiracy theories aside, while this transfer is certainly not the disaster some reviews would want you to believe, it remains mediocre by today's standards. I've seen worse but it's watchable. As far as what score you want to give it, I personnally don't believe it deserves more than 3 or possibly 3 1/2 stars using my (the site I work for) analysis grid. I do however understand that the analysis grid used would vary from site to site and that some might be more lenient than others.

What a joke!!! Tell me your being over the top sarcastic. If not, perhaps the huge disparity of opinions is that there were two different masters used / pressings.

The dvd looks great on my ISF'd 57" HDTV however I do prefer my Japan LE Box set.

I tend to agree with Mike...

Got around to spinning the Miramax DVD this morning... IMHO, it's not as bad as some of the reviews made it out to be. Nor is it particularly stunning for that matter. Granted, I'm not watching it on a projector (yet, I'll spin it later this week on one of the projectors here at work) but it did look mostly solid on my 16X9. Don't think I noticed any EE, or it was minimal. Some grain I can live with, a digital mess on the other hand... Not the best transfer that I've ever seen, but hardly the worst.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/hero.htm
Now the comparison includes the R1.

I rented the Miramax disc this past weekend, and compared it against my copies of the Edko and GDFACE theatrical cut.

You can call me crazy. In fact, I must be downright insane.

Thanks for the link. From that comparison, the Miramax version is only a little bit worse then the Elite Group version, and better then the others in the comparison, in my opinion. And hardly the "disgrace" of a transfer that some people were clamoring about.

Thanks for the link DrGerbil. Having seen the screencaps from the other versions, the Miramax version is not as bad as it has been made out to be in my eyes anyway. Since I'm not able to obtain the Elite Group version of the movie, I will keep the Miramax version.
However, this does not excuse Miramax for treating this movie so bad. First, they delay the release of this movie for almost two years and after a successful theatrical run, they treat the DVD with an awful cover and average transfer.

They have to start doing better than this and start treating Asian films with more respect.