Well, here's a review of the Blu-Ray disc:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/252/...rsdracula.html

All the extras should be the same as the standard def dvd, so a new Coppola commentary, 28 minutes of deleted scenes, a 72 minute documentary, the original trailer AND the teaser sounds pretty darn cool to me.

yeah that review crushed my expectations of the BR's video/audio quality...

I know...I'm expecting to jump on the hi-def bandwagon soon, and this could've been a nice addition, but with that review, I'll just be sticking with the standard-def dvd. I'm guessing same quality as the Superbit.

actually the Superbit I thought was a very good transfer - the bass for the new BR edition also seems lacking considering the Criterion laserdisc was very boomy.

Aside from the fact that they cut out the DTS track and left off a TON of features which would have been cool (such as the original Annie Lennox "Love Song for a Vampire" music video, the original "Making of Dracula" featurette, the cast interviews, and all the other stuff from the Criterion laserdisc) as well as some new stuff that would have been cool (a music only track, a new commentary by Coppola and Oldman, gag reel, and maybe some of Eiko's original sketches), I'll be first in line to get Dracula.

And I'll be keeping the Superbit for audio demonstrations.

Two quick observations....

The cover shot of Old Man Dracula shielding his face originally came, I believe from a movie tie-in book about Eiko Ishioka's spectacular costumes for the movie. The book was called Coppola and Eiko on Bram Stoker's Dracula and is out of print. The same image was also used inside the gatefold of the Criterion laserdisc. The wolf armor image may have come from the same book. Why they chose these images for the DVD, I don't know. They're certainly not the Giant Heads concept that studios usually prefer.

Also, though I longed for this to be an extended cut of the movie, I can't imagine that it is. All the websites give its run time variously as 127 or 128 minutes. The run time of the theatrical cut is 127 minutes and several seconds. So I believe this will be the theatrical cut that we've had for 15 years, and that the only new footage we'll see will be in the deleted scenes. I was hoping for a slightly longer version of the scene where the vampire hunters confront Bat Dracula just after Mina's baptism in blood. They shot and filmed a longer version with more (and more poignant) dialog from Dracula; a take of this is in the Editing section of the supplements on the Criterion laser. At this point, the best I can hope for is for it to turn up in the deleted scene section; however, I'm not even optimistic about that, as a website that posted 20-or-so clips from the new DVD had just the standard version of the scene, so unless that was taken from the movie proper and not the deleted scenes section, I'm SOL. And I was so looking forward to unloading that laserdisc--it and the Criterion BladeRunner are about the last two must-replace-before-getting-rid-of-the-player-too laserdisc titles I have.

Is anyone having any deals on this? The posted ads I've seen so far don't include it. You'd think with October starting with this Sunday's ad that they'd be pumping the Horror movies more.

I suspect that there will be some sales later in October as we move closer to Halloween. At least I hope -- even Amazon's price is bad. As badly as I want this, I'll wait until it gets less expensive.

I agree, even though I'm relunctant to buy the BluRay edition it's actually five dollars cheaper than discounted standard dvd edition.

as for the deleted scenes I'm really curious to see if
1) the one kama sutra illustration that got the MPAA to almost give the film it's NC-17 rating is included.

2) the nipple bite scene that supposedly is uncut on the British DVD edition of the film is included here.

The nipple bite thing is a myth. That shot has always been present in the US cut, and is found on every DVD edition.

it might be myth but supposedly what was cut was not the bite but the blood spurt.

Well, I think the blood spurt is on the Superbit. I know it was on the Criterion laser. I'd probably have noticed if it were absent from the Superbit.

Kind of hard to imagine that would have garnered an NC-17; that strikes me as an urban legend. Still, the censors can be touchy about some things, so who knows?

nope. the blood spurt is on the superbit and the BD, though since the new transfer is darker, harder to see now. It's there, hit pause and frame advance.

The blood spurt has always been there on every DVD edition of the film. I don't understand how this rumor has persisted for so long, considering how easy it is to debunk by just watching the movie.

With the lackluster reviews so far, I'll not be double dipping since the Superbit was adequate enough.

I saw this at my local Wal-Mart on Thursday. I didn't scan it to see the price. I was surprised they had it early. You may want to check your local Wal-Mart.

I saw it yesterday at one of the Wal-Marts near me. It was on a special rack with other Sony horror titles. I was pretty put off by the packaging. It looked incredibly flimsy.

I read a good review here at dvdtalk, sounds pretty sweet to me.

Er, OK; now you're getting me worried. What do you mean by flimsy packaging? Because I ordered this from DVD Planet along with some other stuff (a box set and a pretty thick Criterion DVD package); I hope it doesn't come crushed/cracked.

so "DVD Talk Collector Series" means lackluster nowadays? hmmm....

It is a very thin digipak. I could not tell if the case would even stay closed once it is unwrapped and opened.

Either of you guys check the price at Wal-Mart?

Here's the actual packaging guys:
<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A0neRpAlRqg"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A0neRpAlRqg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

I've purchased this title this past wednesday at a local FYE for a price of $24.99 + tax.
I really like the packaging and the disc art.
This is the only dvd release of the movie I own so I had nothing to compare it to, but here's some stuff I didn't like:
Subtitles. Where did the stylish movie subtitles go? The one with the fancy font and stuff... Regular captions used when characters aren't speaking English.
In some places I could pretty clearly see the picture going from really pixelated to normal. I don't know maybe I have a damaged disc, but the transitions last a couple of frames. I've noticed it only twice during a movie, went back and checked the frames and it looked like it was encoded this way.
I had only watched the documentaries and a movie with commentary on and didn't get a chance to give it an in depth check.

I'm getting conflicting information here about this new DVD set. Is this still the theatrical version or a brand new Director's (or extended) cut?

Theatrical as far as I can tell... No new cut is mentioned on the commentary track or anywhere on the disc.