"New" Outland release - same 10 year old disc!
 

Folks...

Picked this up today (11/27) hoping that there was a new transfer. I put it in, and the same terrible letterboxed disc from 10 years ago reared its ugly head. Unless you want movie money for I Am Legend, skip this re-release. I'm glad I only paid $10 for it, but still...

Very disappointing news. I keep hoping for a better version of 2010 as well.

Yep. :(

Warner seriously needs to get on the ball and HD-DVD this MF...

i am disappointed as well.

I would suggest voicing your displeasure directly to Warner. At this point in time there's just no need of this treatment. I might join you as I've been looking forward to a proper release of this title.

Thanks for the head's up however.

visitor Q...

No prob on the heads-up - I wish someone else had gotten to this today before I did! I am going to call them about this. I will write as well. Count Zero, I would LOVE to have this Blu-Ray or HD DVD. This is atrocious!

Just e-mailed them, and this is what I sent:

Dear WB...

Today I was looking forward to the re-release of Outland on DVD. It is one of my favorite movies and almost ten years ago I picked up the DVD for my first DVD player. I know the original had a sub-par transfer, and was hoping that initial oversight would be corrected with the new release. I paid $9.99 plus tax today (11/27/07 - UPC 085391178422) to purchase the new re-release from Fry's. I rushed home, put it in my computer's DVD player and...

IT IS THE SAME AS THE DISC I BOUGHT TEN YEARS AGO.

I understand that you're trying to market the title along with the theatrical release of I Am Legend, but I am sorely disappointed that absolutely nothing was done to make this disc better. It is NOT enhanced for wide screen TVs despite what the packaging says, and this has to be the WORST film transfer I have ever seen. The first time you notice it is in the opening credits as the tree is drawn line by line - it flickers terribly, not to mention the dirt and debris on the film.

I would hope that you would eventually release this film properly, hopefully in one of the new hi-def DVD formats. I am sad to say that I wasted $10 on this inferior product, and I have let others know my displeasure as well.

Wow, thanks for saving me money. This was going to be my only DVD purchase this week.

Boy, they sure dropped the ball on this one !!!!

Was looking forward in picking this one up, but apparently they lose out in the end !

A great movie that deserves a great remastering. Bah, Humbug Warner!!

Thanks for taking one for the team, Rocky.

I asked Warner about this title in the 2006 HTF chat. They said they knew it needed to be redone, but almost 2 years later they go to the trouble of repackaging it, and don't improve the actual content at all. Very disappointing.

I share the sentiments of those asking for it in HD. Let's just cut out the middle man from now on. If something is worth remastering, put it on the highest quality format too.

Not that it applies here apparently...

Outrageous! This "repackaging" trend has become quite ridiculous.

The studios must think that we educated DVD consumers, those who line their pockets with green, are getting stupid in our old age! I guess enough of us are NOT speaking with our wallets. Hence, the mindless "repackagings" continue, and continue....

A wonderful film, so deserving of a good release, and now it probably will never get one...

What the hell is with Warners lately? They used to be by far THE BEST major studio for DVD releases (especially once they abandoned snappers). But then all of a sudden this year they did a 180 and turned into Sony. Between the stripped-down "special editions" like Deliverance and Poltergeist and the Stanley Kubrick Collection debacle...and now acquiescing to the stupid trend of repackagings. What's going on over there? Did they bring in some stuffed suit efficiency asshole to revamp everything or something? Did they fire half their home video department and hire all the retards from Paramount and Sony? WTF!?! So help me God, if they do something to ruin the Blade Runner set...

Get your shit together, WB!

Other than the Shining dvd art in the boxset, what was the debacle?
I got the HD DVD versions, and I am happy with them. Maybe I didn't pay close enough attention to the dvd release to notice anything wrong with them.

The director of Outland wanted the film to have a grainy look too it so thats about as best as its going too look.

There's grainy and then there's grainy. And the disc isn't even anamorphic.

I very much doubt that this is the best they can do with Outland.

bboisvert...

Correct on your point. The picture quality of this disc is sub-par. To see dust and hairs and other junk on the screen tells you that they didn't use the best source to create this disc. Add on to that the original packaging (and the newer one!) misstates that the image was enhanced for widescreen TVs - it is letterboxed. The major point is that Warner had ten years to fix this and they didn't, and they just repackaged the same old disc.

Not true. HDNet very recently ran this one and it looked great. Yes, it was grainy (as it should be) but brilliant. Plus, there's a Region 2 (PAL) DVD that's been available for some time now that is, reportedly, quite nice.

The issue here is that the disc is a more than 10-year-old laserdisc port (and non-anamorphic to boot) whose picture quality was considered pathetic even by 1997 standards. At one time or another it displays just about every type of video transfer problem you can think of.

Worst of all, though, is that the picture jumps and twitches throughout the ENTIRE movie! Not only does it look terrible to begin with -- it won't even stay still on the screen!

Count Zero, you're my hero! Exactly my point - it's just THAT bad!

i see that R2 version that's anamorphic...is it a higher quality transfer as well? if so, i'll order that one right now.

I would get the PAL release, but 4% speedup kills it for me... I've been trying for YEARS to convert PAL to NTSC properly, and eliminate the speedup problems inherant in the 25 fps source...

Totally agree with Count Zero. There is a poor transfer and mastering job (which this version of OUTLAND is), and then there are transfers which can actually showcase a grainy source...