Regarding the transfers (Pioneer vs Dark Sky), I agree with Julie 100%. The Pioneer transfer looks pretty damn shitty. First of all, it's not even the correct transfer (with all of the touch ups) that appears on the LaserDisc. It's the workprint. It's too dark (especially the night scenes), lacks any fine detail, has occassional black lines popping up throughout, suffers from color bleed, not to mention it was encoded rather poorly. I've read quite a few posts from people worried that Dark Sky's transfer will eliminate original film elements such as grain. This is not true. In fact, the Superscan process, which was used on Elite's LD and Pioneer's DVD(s), minimizes film grain. Dark Sky's transfer will have all of the grain.

Compare these two photos.

Elite Entertainment 1996 LaserDisc:





Pioneer 1998/2003 DVD:



Read this thread over at HTF.

Here's some comparison shots of Pioneer's 1998/2003 DVD and Dark Sky's new transfer:

Pioneer:










Dark Sky:

I knew my waiting to get this would pay off, looking forward to getting this for sure.

Man, SexGoreMutants got a pretty early copy of this. The meat and potatoes of the review:

While Pioneer's version of this macabre masterpiece was admirable, this two-disc special addition of the most influential post-Psycho horror film to ever make chainsaw vivisections look line a fine art is simply PACKED with goodies. Presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer, this is the best Hooper's filmic debut has ever looked! An HD transfer from the original; 16mm negative, the picture shows no signs of speckling, dirt, or grain, the picture is evenly distributed, and the colors are lush. While the picture still looks low lit and grimy, this was the intent of the crew, capturing further the illusion of realism. The elements themselves have been cleaned considerably. Audio is likewise impressive, containing both Digital Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo, not to mention the original mono track. Both provide enjoyable listening, free from distraction of muffling echoes, bringing the pain into your living room. Subtitles in English and Spanish are also provided.

Full review here:

http://www.sexgoremutants.co.uk/tcmdarksky.html

I hope that "no grain" part is, er, a typo or something.

He did say "grimy", so I'm figuring it shouldn't have messed with the grain too much.

I can live without the grain.

the film with no grain is a travesty.

buying for extras only.

man, why clean the film up?

perfectly happy with my previous versions.

Grain schmain. You can listen to it in Spanish.


Can they take out the grain? It's not like it's a scratch.

Alot of the less knowledgeably dvd/home theater reviewers always mistake grain for 'dirt' and other things which may make the print look 'dirty'.

Since grain is a part of film,it is impossible to take out grain entiriely. They can severely filter out 'heavy' grain though where you may see some specs onscreen or something.

But I won't let that review sway me in anyway,since the reviewer could be misguided in what exactly is 'grain'.

Grain can also be annoying when you're watching a movie If you're going to clean up a movie then go all out and remove anything you can. It's not like we still believe this is a documentary and are watching the true events take place like some may have when it was released in the 70s. Grain on a High Def tv can get very distracting so I say filter it out if you can.

Look at the pics above, it looks mighty cleaned up to enhance the image to what it should look like, and there's still grain. Why question it still?

Yep-still looks grainy. I don't see how they can take out the grain since that's what makes up the image in the first place.

It's attitudes like this which make me hate technology sometimes

Someone want to set this guy straight on what happens when you filter out film grain?

Limited SteelBook Packaging: http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...-massacre.html

Sweet!!

Fantastic! I love steelbooks... this looks great.

Probably pointless to even attempt. My thoughts are in-line with what others have stated above: the restoration has been done correctly, and the reviewer just thoughtlessly included the "no grain" as though it were boilerplate.

It's sad that this misunderstanding endures, but it's understandable. After all, it's not exactly intuitive to understand the difference between the inherent grain structure of the medium (or as pushed by the director via lighting choices, etc.), and the unwanted grain that's added when film positives are duplicated (and dupes made from that duplicate, etc.). Some DVD manufacturers remain way too heavyhanded with the digital processing, but from the look of those stills posted upthread, it appears to me that Dark Sky has done a bang-up job (and just look at the grain structure in the blue sky of the first shot!).

Excellent.

Not being familiar with the steelbooks... I assume this is going to be like the metal case that King Kong came in? Or is it more like the metal slipcase from Terminator 2?

love that steelbook design!

Neither, actually. It's keepcase sized, but slightly thinner. Check out the packaging for the recent Dune release (with both the theatrical and expanded editions) or the Anchor Bay The Quiet Earth for examples.

Those are the only R1 steelbooks I own... I'm sure there are a few others.

http://www.darkskyfilms.com/Display.asp?ID=38

IFC (Independent Film Channel, Channel 550 on DirecTV Satellite) is airing the original 1974 "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" tonight at midnight (Eastern) and again at 3:00 AM Eastern. The 1974 original very rarely gets shown on television anymore, as opposed to the 2003 remake which is always on. The interesting thing is, which transfer will they use? Could it possibly be the transfer on Dark Sky's upcoming DVD? Obviously, IFC's broadcast won't be HD (neither will the DVD, but the DVD will benefit from 16x9 enhancement), but it could be from the same source, presented in 4x3 letterbox.

I set the DVR for it, just to check it out. I'd be surprised if they had the new transfer but it's worth a shot.

No such luck. It's the crappy Pioneer transfer.

Oh well. Only 2 and a half more months and we'll have the DVD.

One of the most over rated films of all time.