FinkPish

Is your computer monitor set up exactly the same as your TV? If so, then I can see where you might be worried, but speaking for myself, my computer monitor is usually much darker than my calibrated TV.

Paul_SD

here are the mouseover comparisons with the D-VHS so people can see for themselves.

In none of the three instances do I prefer the look of the Blu-ray. The caps span both low key (the helmet/console shot) and high key (the pods) shots, so this appears to me to give a good indication of the extent of the 'damage' done by the changes Scott made. Even with the pods, the highlights are blown out. We are losing detail on both ends here.
I guess a lot of people won't see what the fuss is about because they have been weaned on this overmanipulated, processed look for most of their (young adult) life, but doggoneit it makes me more depressed the more I look at it. And unfortunately since it's now Scotts whim that it look like this, there is no chance whatsoever it will be remedied anytime soon.

This is a dark movie. totally crushing shadow detail, flattens it considerably. That helmet has no sense of volume anymore. It's just a sheen of shiny highlights.

applesandrice

Ugh. That chestburster shot is the worst. And what's up with the cropping on both sides of the BD image?

Artman

I don't know, the shirt and blood look a lot better to me. Maybe that's closer to how it looked originally.

Never saw the DVHS, but it'd be great to see some DVD comparisons.

Paul_SD

While I saw Alien several times at the theater when it was originally released, I can't of course say with any sense of accuracy one way or another which is more correct, but I highly doubt the Bd is the closer of the two.
Crushing the blacks and blowing out the highlights is an affectation that has come into vogue in the last 15 years or so with the cheap accessibility of digital tools. Films from the 70's and 80s generally looked more natural.
The Bd here looks extremely processed. it looks 'tarted up'.
The lack of apparent DNR and EE is wonderful, but the overall look is still compromised and unnatural to me because of the color and contrast changes.
This is the antithesis of the recent MGM Escape From New York disc. That may have been incorrect (though I think it was more closer than not), but it erred on the side of natural and all the information is still there.
It is also a predominantly dark movie, but there is scads of information left in the shadows.
Here it's gone forever. No amount of display adjustment will ever get it back.
The image 'pops' more due to the extreme contrast, but it's also an overall flatter one because there is no longer subtle gradation and shading to be seen. That helmet loses a subtle but perceptible sense of volume and mass on the Bd because nothing is left but extreme shadow and the highlights. Above and to the right of it the controls flatten out into nothing but shadow and highlight. there is some sense of depth to them in the D-VHS master- none on the Bd.

Don't even get me started on the chestburster shot and how much that loses in translation.

the only saving grace here is that the majority of people won't be able to a/b these directly so they won't know what they are actually missing or whats been compromised with the Bd.

arthur_kahn

I think the 3rd one is better than Aliens but no way is it better than Alien. Alien is perfect in every way. I'd have a hard time thinking of a movie that creates suspense better.

Nick Martin

Expect the isolated scores for all four films to be 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio!

HumanMedia

Agree. IMO the first 45 mins of the extended version of Alien3 is brilliant. After that the problems with the undeveloped script rushed by the studio (and loss of the DOP) bring it down.

HumanMedia

My memories of the multiple viewings of the theatrical cut of Camerons Aliens, is that it was much darker. When I first saw the extended (TV) version I thought it had a very different feel and was over lit and overly orange. Maybe the extra scenes weren't color graded as per the original theatrical cut scenes?

This new Aliens color grading looks much better IMO.

Solid Snake

Guess I need to pull it out and see it. It's been a while. *sigh* I fucking hate opening that Quadrilogy...thankfully 3 is close to the middle than Alien. Felt like forever just getting to Alien.

BuddyRevell

Worst book ever.

Jonno2006

For some reason i wasn't able to order the EGG packaging off the US sites and i pre-ordered it off HMV UK.

Will it be region free? Will it play here in Canada?

Should i cancel my pre-order...? :P

Dan

If it's the UK set, it has a chance of being Region B. ie: Not Canada friendly.

The Monkees

Is the Egg packaging going to be widely available or only through a specific site?

jack999

This is the only place I know to order it from: http://www.foxconnect.com/alien-anth...idescreen.html

Jonno2006

Crap, so no one will know until it's already out and it's too late for me to cancel my order? heh

I'm already paying about 30-40$ bucks more for the £/$ exchange rate and the shipping, i want to at least be able to watch the movies!

So no one knows yet but what's the track record for FOX UK releases? They always region B or it depends?

Stupid American site(the Foxconnect one)! why can't they ship to Canada! we're so close to you guys dangit!

Dan

You should definitely cancel your order with HMV UK. It doesn't even look like it's the egg packaging... but maybe I'm not looking at it right.

Mr. Cinema

I had this pre-ordered via a gold box deal for $93 on Amazon, but I cancelled. Part 4 is such a crapfest that I can't spend that much on it. I'm just going to try and wait until this hits $80. Hopefully it'll be part of some holiday sales.

nothingfails

This is getting me a little worried, I did preorder it from Amazon UK, but I'm hoping we can have some positive confirmation that it will be region-free before Amazon ships it.

Mr. Cinema

It's not great, but Amazon has lowered the set down to $94.99. Still too much for me, but it's going to be tough to wait for a lower price since I love the first 2. $10 less and they may have me.

bogrod

I thought that it's always been at a $94.99 price. Perhaps it was a few dollars higher. They still aren't going to get me till this set is somewhere in the area of $60-70. I can totally see this being a gold box deal for about that price sometime over the holiday shopping season.

Mr. Cinema

It was $97.99 for several weeks.

d2cheer

Considering that I still have not gotten through the whole 8 DVD collectors set that came out a couple of years ago, this will really have to drop for me to purchase it.

Josh-da-man

I doubt I'll bite on this either until I can get a better deal.

$100 is just too much for one excellent movie, one good movie, and two shitty movies. I'll wait until I can get it for under $50.

rexinnih

This is the path I'm following also. Had pre-ordered the egg from Fox in the initial excitement but cancelled. $150 for 4 movies was just a bit too much.