Any expanding or blowing up will distort the image. It should display normal on a 4:3 set.

It seems that the resolution lost during windowboxing cannot be much more than the picture lost without windowboxing. I don't see the big deal either way. I can understand where everyone is coming from. HD is the future and this will suffer, but I think it will at least be another three years before people really start replacing their sets.

I will probably buy this version.

Motherfuckers!

Maybe thay do this as an added incentive for people to buy them again when they get released on HD-DVD or blu-ray.

ok, they shouldnt be doing it for the reasons already mentioned. But seriously, it doesnt amount to much of a loss.

How many people's widescreen tv actually show any of the border bars? I can only see them when I play the dvds on my computer.

Sorry. I missed your point. Yup, after reading these comments, I think I'd go for R2 UK release.

Windowboxing / pixture-boxing is equivalant to zooming "out" the image by some 15% or more to accomadate overscanning on conventional 4:3 sets. Effectively 75 or more horizontal pixels out of the 704 available are lost forever, replaced by black (ie, the 'windowbox' itself).

I think the average person (to speak nothing of the high-end target market of Criterion) would feel better knowing that the information "lost" due to overscan on a 4:3 analogue set is still there in the raw digitally encoded frames on the DVD! And, when they finally upgrade to HD, overscanning will not be an issue anymore and that "lost" information will magically appear on the sides of the image!! The frame should always be as "tight" as possible with respect to the D1 resolution...

O, no problem...yep, these two should be identical!

UK 2DVD

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...8L._SS500_.jpg

France 2DVD

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...VL._SS500_.jpg

Ciao,
Pro-B

The UK R2 boasts a superb transfer, not picture boxed, and far superior to the first Criterion.

any screenshots of this r2 version?

yea does anyone have any screenshots of this r2 UK version?

Wowsers... Well, no rush here, I'll hang on to the old release.

my new "The Third Man" comes Thursday...yayyyy!

picture-box or not, can't wait to have the definitive edition!

I guess the screenshots of R2 release in this review are the same source as French and UK release (also Australian release), right?

It's coming through Universal Benelux via Studio Canal, so I guess so (screenshots, though helpful, are by no means a definitive guide are they?) - I have both the new Criterion and the UK Optimum releases and I'm a little astonished that I reckon the R2 is the better transfer.

I, as someone who loves film and beautiful cinematography, cringe everytime I watch an old academy ratio film on my crt. I'm sorry I'm not as "high end" as you folk. I just don't have a sexy digital widescreen plasma or LCD. When I stick on Warner's amazing release of Robin Hood and see that not only was the width of the picture already cut a bit to fit 1.33 but then the overscan crops it a good deal more I get annoyed.

Sure, most consumers don't care about that, but Criterion recognizes that the types of consumers they cater to want the best possible picture, and they want as much of it as possible. They also know that, unlike what many here on the forums would have you believe, not all their customers can afford to get a brand-spankin-new TV. Personally, I'd rather spend the $2000 for a new TV on new DVDs.

Sure, the resolution on a film like Seven Samurai is a bit lower, but really only a tiny bit, and the film still looks incredible in the new reissue. And I know that no matter what TV I watch it on I am getting as much of the original intended picture as possible.

The 1999 disc was excellent for the time, but the change in software/hardware in eight years is quickly obvious. The windowboxing is barely visible and just enough to keep most of the image from being overscanned. I've seen DVDs with way too much of a border, but this isn't much. Even 16x9 TVs will overscan a bit on the top and bottom unless overscan is disabled. The image is sharper and black levels are more inky.

One problem I noticed on the '99 disc is compression artifacting around very fine lines and bright spaces. In darker shots, it's hard to see eye detail, but it's actually possible to see the irises in eyes (especially the famous introduction of Harry Lime). The ferris wheel scene has this issue on long shots (the metal bars of the wheel). The final shot has a really blocky sky. The SE lacks these problems. They're just limits of what could be done.

Sigh... I have the original Criterion but I guess I'm going to have to get this one. I hate double-dipping but this is my one of my favorites of all-time. Essential film-noir!