B5Erik

How is the transfer for the Blu Ray release of Total Recall?

The price is certainly right, but is the picture quality a noticeable step up from the DVD?

This is one of my favorite movies, and one that I'd like to upgrade the disc if the picture quality really is a significant upgrade.

PhantomStranger

A marginal upgrade in terms of PQ. I'd probably wait for the inevitable Lionsgate double dip.

Daytripper

I got it new for $11.99. The PQ is mediocre. I'd give it a 6/10.

B5Erik

Is that the general consensus? Good, but not spectacular? (And not as good as it should have been?)

BuckNaked2k

None of Arnold's flims have yet been given a proper transfer onto BD.

gorgo99

It's not great, but not sure that it will ever look better. It was a grainy film to start with. The 6.1 audio is kinda nice, tho. And it's DEFINITELY better than the DVD.

Ralph Jenkins

The 6th Day looks quite nice, although the movie itself isn't very good.

The Total Recall HD DVD (UK import) looks significantly better than the BD, but it has a slight issue with the pitch of the audio.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day also looks better on HD DVD (and the special edition is included to boot).

What does this mean? Expect double dips on these in the future, since they obviously can look better on BD than the current releases do.

fumanstan

Thanks, I was wondering about this too since Total Recall is one of my favorite Arnold flicks. I guess i'll keep my Mars tin a little while longer if the image quality isn't that much better.

tylergfoster

I thought the Terminator 2 disc looked quite good, even though it was missing the DC. Color was excellent and there was a lot of added detail visible. Was there some image flaw with it that I was missing or is the complaint merely about the lack of extras/alternate cuts?

TGM

from my review at dvdspot.com

Total Recall - 2.5/5 (movie: 4/5, although this BR release is a 1/5)

I must admit, that the low cumulative score I give this title is primarily due to the picture and sound quality present on this Blu-ray release. This WILL NOT be a movie that you will or should reach for to show off your new high definition setup. The PQ is grainy, dull, drab, and dark, while the surround sound experience is minimalistic at most. All in all, quite disappointing. As for the movie, 'Total Recall' is a pretty fun ride, and a bit more intelligent than your standard late 80's, early 90's Schwarzenegger affair. Set in 2084, and based on the story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick, we follow Arnold as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who goes to a memory implantation service in order to spice up his life. What happens next is open to debate. Does the film depict Quaid's reality, or is it that Quaid's mind could not adjust to the implanted memory and therefore the entire journey is fake, and he is truly just lying on an operating room table preparing for his lobotomy to address his "schizoid embolism"? The director Paul Verhoeven has suggested that the film is indeed a dream, and that the white light at the end of the film in fact represents the cutting into the brain as the lobotomy is performed. In fact, Verhoeven admits to deliberately filming each scene to represent the two realities. At any rate, the story is good, a young Sharon Stone is phenomenally hot, and there is plenty of action, violence, blood, and overall Arnold goofiness. If you like sci-fi, you'll enjoy this movie. If you like high-definition, you'll hate this Blu-ray release.

Paul_SD

Yes, the icky icky bad, nasty, spiteful, low storage capacity low bitrate format did show up the US Bd releases of both Recall and T2. Not only did Recall look soft and dupey to me, but it had noticeable macroblocking in several scenes- and that is something I consider to be one of the most blatant unassailable hallmarks of a 'poor HD release'.

No 3D pop? Visible grain structure? Muted colors? All those kinds of things MIGHT be attributable to the actual filming style of the content and COULD be hardwired into the source (the film elements- though this isn't always the case as the HD DVD releases of these two title prove). Things like EE, DNR, and macroblocking, however, are most definitely issues that are introduced in the digital path to making the discs, and those are the qualites that I wish more people were fixated on when they want to trash discs as being 'bad HD'. (ok, rant off)

I just read both T2 and TR are being released in the UK in new special editions along with some classic John Carpenter movies.

People like me in the US won't be able to play them though as they, and all future Optimum releases from here on out, will be coded for Region B.

Ralph Jenkins

The T2 BD is not bad, but I think the HD DVD image has more pop to it (I've owned both). I think there will probably be a better T2 BD before long, if not in the U.S, then overseas.

[email protected]

I watched Total Recall last week on BR, and thought it just terrible. Barely better than a SD disc; I was glad I only paid $7.99 for it, and I still feel ripped off. IMO, stay away.

DVD Polizei

Damn, I read the title like Blu-ray was being Totally Recalled.

Truffaut Fan

Studio Canal is bringing it out on BD in September. Hopefully they'll fix the audio pitch problem. If they do, I'll be getting it. That Lions Gate disc is garbage.

HumanMedia

My intentions exactly. Ill go for the Studio Canal release of "Terminator 2" as well.

B5Erik

But won't there be a region code problem with the Studio Canal release?