I traded in my amadeus for the directors cut and then traded back. I didn't like the directors cut - they never really matched the recording quality of the additional scenes, almost no music sound track for those scenes and I had a harder time with some of the characters as their nature changed greatly with the additional scenes. That is the only movie I ever "downgraded"

The THING. If you have the original keep it. It's one of those movies that have an isolated soundtrack. They don't make those anymore unless you get a music CD with the a DVD combo.

I can't believe this thread. My question is why?

Actually, I am selling my x-files seasons and getting the mythology collection(s). I guess that technically counts.

I can sorta understand that, if the reasoning is that you don't rewatch the entire seasons much if at all. IMO X Files was one of those shows much like ST: TNG that had a handful of great episodes mixed in a sea of dreck. Those new sets save you the trouble of wading through the boring crap and I bet things make more sense when relevent episodes are put together like that.

All of my downgrades - all whoping 3 of them - were based on qualitative issues. The Halloween: 25th AE had an inferior visual presentation, the added scenes in the Dances with Wolves: SE were terrible and actually managed to kill the pacing (it was the theatrical cut, afterall, that won all the awards), and, let's face it, The Next Karate Kid is a qualitative issue all by itself and I'd rather not have to own it.

So what would you do if it was revealed today that some fantastic 2-Disc Special Edition you own was actually misframed and the single-disc version was the only version available that had the correct a/v presentation? Would you downgrade then? Or just resolve to buy both?

Only DVD I ever downgraded was Reservoir Dogs. I went from the original single-disk UK release to the Mr Brown Special Edition then back again as the PQ was far better on the original release.

I'm seriously considering just hanging on to the old version of Tears of the Sun.... I should have paid more attention before buying it and noticed that the commentary (which was actually pretty good) wasn't included.

If that were the case, I would probably buy the cheap version and replace Disc 1 ofd the 2-disc SE while still saving the extras disc. That way I'd get the correctly framed movie AND the extras.

I have been reading in on this discussion, and I have noticed a growing, reasonable trend. Downgrading your dvds because the transfer is better on a much, lower grade edition. This, believe it or not, makes sense for some dvd collectors to do. Some more than others want the best picture quality or highest quality presentation available, and it makes more sense to do it for perhaps, video/audio reasons.

I didn't get rid of my copy of Reservoir Dogs, but I bought the first release of the film, as I like the transfer better than the newly restored region 1 version. I just think the color saturation is more appropriate for the mood of the film.

So, finally, there is a reason to downgrade! lol

Do either of you own a 16X9? Squirrel, does the UK release of Dogs have an anamorphic transfer?

Downgrading to a non-anamorphic transfer makes no sense to me... In the case of The Thing, I can understand keeping the original for the isolated soundtrack, but not picking up the new version with the superior transfer is a little baffling. In the case of Reservoir Dogs, personally, I think that whole issue isn't as bad as it's made out to be (Ditto the Halloween scenario) but I do realize that a lot of folks see it as a deal breaker. That said, the old non-anamorphic disc (in R1) is going to look like shit on a 16X9 so you're damned if you do... Personally, I'd rather have the increase in resolution over the contrast and saturation debate.

To answer the op's question, no. I have picked up a lesser edition of a few films, but I've never went out of my way to get one after I had already purchased the SE, CE, etc...

Good point, the overall picture quality of any dvd really all depends also on the home theater equipment you use. On a 16x9 tv, Reservoir Dogs (anamorphic) looks much better, but the non anamorphic version doesn't look that bad on a 16x9 tv.

never

I know a guy who downgraded a bunch of his movies to DVDR.

Yes to both questions.

The original R2 UK release of RD is anamorphic, but it's only Dolby Surround. It's also not missing any of the dialogue on the R1 SE.

I found the R1 SE image unwatchable. It was like watching the whole film through a pair of tights (that would be pantyhoes to you fellas ). Couple that with the missing/obscured dialogue and it was a no-brainer for me.

You can see the differences here (first image is R2 UK, fourth image is R1 SE in each case):

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCom...rvoir-dogs.htm

What you say about anamorphic vs non-anamorphic though... I upgraded my Beloved R1 to Beloved UK R2 because the latter has an anamorphic transfer. To be clear at what we're talking about here, because of NTSC vs PAL, I went from 346 Lines on the R1 to 553 Lines on the UK R2. That's a hell of an increase in resolution, and guess what? The UK R2 looks slightly worse! Sure, higher resolution but they've compressed it too much -- no doubt due to the length of the movie and the several 5.1 soundtracks they stuck on the disk.

You can't just pick anamorphic over non-anamorphic each time. It's more complex than that.

Well, I could understand the first two, since the single-disc versions have the same discs. But Se7en? I don't think they ever reissued it with just the same first disc, did they? The single-disc version, which was one of the first DVDs released in 1997, is an old, non-anamorphic transfer, lacks the great DTS-ES remix, and it's a flipper. The new disc just looks and sounds so much better. Even if you don't care about the extras, didn't you watch the demonstration when they compared the new transfer to the old one?

um, no

I love my DVD's and wouldn't downgrade them unless.... no never.

Then the argument could be made as to which is the best DVD release. The super 2 disc set with the messed up A/V or the original one disc with the better A/V.

That's true. Maybe it isn't a "downgrade," strictly speaking, if the less-packed edition actually has superior a/v or some other exclusive special feature that trumps what's featured on the super-duper edition. For my money, it's an upgrade in that case, but the original post seemed to be based on fully-loaded edition vs. basic edition as the standard for a downgrade.

Alright you got me there, I would just resolve to get both versions. But for arguments sake it would only be half a down grade due to still inferior extras but superior a/v quality.

When this thread first started I thought that was the stupidest notion ever...and here I am now, downgrading one of my DVDs! I double-dipped on the Day After Tomorrow, but after watching the additional features I thought they were almost worthless (worst 2-disk features ever!), and I prefer the cover art and holographic slipcase on the original 1-disk release. So I'm actually selling the SE and keeping my old one!