My full review of the disc is available now on this page:

http://www.mindspring.com/~dunestuff/av.html

I'm not impressed. At all.

I agree with the dust/dirt/etc. on the print... is still looks MUCH MUCH better than the old R1 release on my HD projector, however.

the FR set looks to be the best for video, but the PAL-speedup always turns me off.

I certainly wouldn't call this release a disapointment, the only thing that is lacking, IMO, was the cleanup of the film elements (dust/dirt). The featurettes were more than I would have ever expected, and I certainly would have never expected anyone to go through the expense and effort to reconstruct the MCA TV cut back into 2.35 : 1!

Josh,

At a minimum, you should be impressed you got the disc to play without error.

To everyone else, has anyone found a copy that was not made in Mexico?

Watched my copy last night. On side A, the movie freezes and pixellates at the 1:40:00 point. I couldn't access the bonus features - the menu either froze or defaulted to the film itself every single time. The extended cut froze at the 2:00 mark. This all occurred on my cheapo Samsung 611. In my Panasonic s77, it played perfectly. So I'm torn as to whether to exchange it or not - for a better copy or more of the same (or worse!)?
As to the quality of the film itself, I was surprised, like others at the dirty image as well, but otherwise was satisfied with the disc. After watching the featurettes and all the work that went into this film, it's unfortunate that there wasn't a better result. David Lynch seemed to be genuinely enjoying directing this film -at least the production stills gave that impression; I wish he would have participated in it's restoration and perhaps patch a hole in his legacy.
As for the DVD-18 issue: this is the last Universal DVD I'll ever purchase until this problem is fixed. Orson Welles could rise from his grave with a pristine copy of his original cut of "The Magnificent Ambersons" in his hand, and I still wouldn't buy it on a Universal dvd. You rotten sons of bitches!

From your review:
When Dune is released on HD-DVD, why wouldn't they use the transfer that is on HDMovies? That transfer is truly amazing. Is there some weird licensing thing that I don't know about?

Good for you, man. Seriously. As for me, it is certainly the last DVD-18 disc I buy from Universal until they admit there's a problem and correct it.

Both versions played flawlessly for me as well as all the extras. Just lucky I guess.

Phil

Universal faked me out when I got a good DVD-18 of The Frighteners and The Blues Brothers, so I thought Dune EE would be OK too. I didn't think after 2 good DVD-18s we'd go back to the Abbott & Costello quality I experienced.

I have the exact same dilemma you do... my Dune plays OK on the S77 but not on older players, and my Nero error scans look bad.

Could someone tell me what a "HDMovienet broadcast" is?

I'd like to know how some people got a HD quality version of Dune.

Or they can put a disclaimer on their DVDs stating: "WARNING: This DVD may not be compatible with your DVD player."

I'd like to echo this question, which still hasn't been responded to.

So, again, I ask, has anyone seen any of these DVDs without the telltale stamp on the back? If so, what stores (both a Circuit City and an FYE I've been to have Mexican stamps)?

Heck, they even FILMED it in Mexico.

It's part of my digital cable package. For HD Channels, I currently get DiscoveryHD, ESPN HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies.

I get all my local stations (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox) with an antenna because my *bleep*ing cable provider hasn't offered them yet. Grr....

http://www.hd.net/

For Satellite providers, they almost always include HDNet and HDNet movies in their HD package, but (can) offer a lot of other channels. I think VOOM offers something like 30 HD channels.

I'm assuming that HDNet must license these movies and transfer them to HD separately from what the studio does. That is pure speculation, though, based on what I've read from this thread about the Dune (upcoming) HD Transfer. All I know is that I didn't see any dirt or hairs or anything from when I wached the broadcast on HDNet Movies last week. It looked amazing. All the letting/credits were perfectly crisp. I put in my old DVD copy of Dune and switched back and forth and that the HD transfer must have been a different print, or they went to a lot of trouble to clean that one up.

Just in case my concern is about the DVD, not the movie (The Universal plant in Mexico is notorious for allowing bad quality DVD-18s out the door [see HTF forum discussion for more]).

I have no idea where HDNet gets their video masters, but when a studio like Universal releases a new DVD, they prepare a single high-definition master copy that can be downres'd to DVD quality or used for future HD formats. They wouldn't spend the money to do two video transfers when they can use one for both, and even if they did they'd still be using the same source materials (which in this case are very dim and dirty).

Where HDNet got their version, I don't know. Maybe they perform their own video transfers, or maybe they licensed it from someone other than Universal. I'm not familiar with the legalities of their business.

Sounds like our loveable and cheap Universal (hence why they won't pay the pennies difference between 2 DVD-9s and one DVD-18).

I love the case that has the cover imprinted on it. But, only if the cover is a good one. I am rambling. Forgive me. I am listening to the intro by Raffella de Laurentis. Will post on quality of disc after watching the afilm.

I saw the extended version over the weeeknd and i have to say it was very bad. Not just bad but extremely bad. What up with that narriation in the beginning. He was talking like he was drunk or something, and the cartoon effects made me cringe. I usually don't bash movies alot but i can't help it. I've seen TV movies better. Very very disapponted. This is just my own personal opinion that i wanted to share.

Thankfully, my copy played both the EE and the extras just fine. Will have to give the theatrical cut a run, but am happy so far that I didn't get the feared Universal curse on those parts.

The sound mix on the EE is much inferior to the theatrical cut, which I sampled. The score is very diluted and unimpressive, IMO.

Bottom line, my mouth was literally agape at the extras. I never dared to dream that we'd ever see such fine coverage on this film (which has been one of my favorites for years). And was that Dennis Hopper as the priest telling Paul to speak to the people in one of the deleted scenes? Sure sounds like him.

The extended version is a travesty, hence the reason the director had his name removed from it.

Watch the theatrical cut.

ok, can someone explain this picture to me!!!?!!!

someone uploaded it over amazon.com page of Dune Extended edition.SO IS THIS RELEASE A 2-DISC SET OR 1-DISC SET NOW?!

all of you guys say it's a 1-disc which is a flipper.but this pic says "disc 2"...iam confused.

Much like Wikipedia, anyone can upload anything at Amazon..

you mean this is fake?...no one will upload pic of that unless the second disc really exist..

That's right, everything that you see or read in the internet must be true.

The retail version of the DVD comes on one double-sided DVD. A 2-disc breakout was sent to the rental market so that Blockbuster/Netflix/etc. could rent each version of the movie separately (and hence charge twice as much). Apparently someone on Amazon got their hands on the rental version.

This is pretty common practice.