I'm surprised there aren't any reviews for this anywhere since it's been out a few days now. I'm waiting for my replacement in the mail, but wondered if anyone had bought it in the stores? I didn't think the first one was that bad looking, but am really interested to see how much better this one looks. I hope they actually sent replacements close to the release date like they said on the phone.

hidefdigest has a review and gave the remaster a 4.5 out of 5 for both PQ & AQ. His review of the original disc was back when he didn't give out stars, so it's hard to compare, but he wasn't terribly impressed with that one.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/fift...emastered.html

I'm still waiting for my replacement to come.

I'm expecting mine to be delivered today. Assuming it comes as scheduled, I should have a review this weekend.

I've had my copy of the remastered version for about a week now. I don't like "star" ratings, but if I did give ratings like that, 4.5 out of 5 sounds about right. maybe a bit better than that when one considers this is not a new film element.

Having seen just about every video version of this film released in the past 10 years, this new Blu-ray master is something beyond anything I have ever seen. I'm not even sure this film looked this good in theatrical release in any but those few pristine reference prints a studio releases.

As great as the video is, the Dolby TrueHD track is an equal or greater revelation. There are subtle tonal textures and details in this soundtrack that have simply never been there on previous versions.

It looks and sounds very good, one of the better Blu ray releases, IMO

Yup...one of the sharpest releases I have seen. I was pretty shocked at the level of detail.

Is this the first high-def double-dip? Figures it'd be from Sony

That depends on whether you consider the formerly-Combo titles that Universal re-released as HD DVD only to be "double dips".

If Fox hadn't stopped releasing on Blu-ray altogether, my money would have been on them to do it first.

It may be a double dip but they are replacing the old copy for free if you bought it before so you can't kill them for that.

Next DVD that needs to be remastered: Robocop

I don't consider it a double dip at all. The existence of the exchange program takes care of that.

I can forgive them on this one since I got the original BD free with my BDP-S1. I sold it a few months ago for a few bucks less than I spent on the remaster.

I never watched the first BD all the way through so I can't say to what degree this release is better, but I will say it looks about as good as I would expect a ten year old sci-fi film to look.

It's not the absolutely best Blu-Ray I've ever seen, but it's definitely better than most in terms of PQ/AQ, and well worth the ~$20.

Watched mine last night and to my eyes, it's one of the best looking titles out there on either format.
I was happy to give Sony and Bd plenty of shit about their first release of this last year- as the issues with it were easily apparent. Not so with this one. No problems whatsoever leaped out at me- including any objectionable EE. Very film like transfer for the vast majority of the run time.
Color on this release looks excellant to me- by design it's a very colorful film, yet the colors themselves buck the recent trend of looking pumped up and over saturated- even when viewed on a Pearl, which itself is supposed to exhibt over saturated primaries. The colors, especially flesh tones, looked 100% natural.
Excellant detail, especially shadow detail, and one of the more dimensional looking films I've seen on either format.
About the only flaw I noticed was film, not disc, related. When the Shuttle takes off for Fhloston Paradise, you can see the garbage matte around it in one shot (similar to the mattes around the TIE fighters in the original SW).

I had a complete blast watching it again last night (one of the few movies in the last 10 years thatgets better every time I watch it) and would Highly Recommend the new disc.
At the very least, it regains its status as a superior demo disc.

Sounds great. Hopefully I won't have to wait weeks for it. And doubledip? I praise Sony for giving free replacements to everyone. I've never heard of that for any non-defective product.

I need to be patient since Sony has been having a Buy 1 Get 1 free sales every couple weeks for most of their catalog titles at Fry's and Best Buy. I'm glad I held off on Hellboy and Cruel Intentions, so I'm trying to hold off on Fifth Element and Wild Things for now.

It is fantastic! I love the new transfer! I have been waiting to get this since the old release and it was absolutely worth the wait. Honestly I think I would probably give it a 4.5...there are some issues in dark areas, and a little grain here and there...but nothing that stands out and hinders the overall image. The sound as well will knock your socks off. Even one of the first scenes when she falls from the building running away is stunning! Can't wait to watch it again.

Matt

Still waiting on mine. I hope Sony decides to do the exchange for a few more early titles, especially House of Flying Daggers. I'm glad I got it free at Fry's but it looks crummy.

But this was a defective product. So I guess that applies.

No it wasn't. There were no playback issues. The movie played just fine. A subpar transfer does not equal defective.

I just watched it & thoroughly enjoyed it on my 133" screen, HUGE improvement over the 1st BD release, major props to Sony. Now if only Universal would likewise issue replacements for the extremely crappy Traffic & 40-Year-Old-Virgin HD DVDs that I have, I would be happy.

There is some minor EE present on this release (as others have reported), but nothing that is too annoying. The TrueHD track is outstanding, best TrueHD yet. I know I'm not comparing similar movies/apples to apples, but this just reinforces my belief that something isn't quite up to snuff with HD DVD/Toshiba's TrueHD... once again, I REALLY wish a superior brand (other than Toshiba) would put out a stand-alone HD DVD player, as I STILL find the audio lacking overall compared to my BD titles. I hope that Onkyo (?) is coming out soon.

The Sony insider on AVS says that they have no plans to remaster House of Flying Daggers.

You can't compare the soundtracks of completely different movies and draw conclusions about the audio codecs used on the discs.

Sony remixes all of their movies for near-field home theater, while most other studios like Warner provide the original theatrical soundtracks, which were mixed with larger auditoriums in mind. That in itself will have a much greater impact on the sound quality through your home speakers than what audio codec the disc uses.

I had Amazon deliver mine to work as I was out all last week. I'll have to check it out when I get back.

So is it safe to buy any BD of Fifth Element you see if the price is right or are both versions still out

I do not want to end up with the older version

No, it's not safe to buy any. The remastered shows TrueHD on the back cover. I saw a crapload of the old versions at Fry's today.