SLEEPAWAY CAMP has encoding problems. See:

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...D=1654#auswahl

particularly any scenes where water is prominant, which in this film, is quite a few scenes.

PSYCHO 3 has terrible compression artifacts during, for example the scrolling of the end credits and elsewhere.

DAY OF THE DEAD has artifacts in the dark scenes at the end of the movie.
THEY LIVE has been scrubbed with DNR and then insultingly, artificially had digitial edge enhancement applied to "compensate."

NOSFERATU: VAMPYRE has been completely scubbed to death. It looks like lousy DV

I am viewing these films on an 80" properly calibrated display. Granted, some of the encoding problems may not be prominant on smaller and/or improperly calibrated displays. But, they are there in my eyes, on too many of Shout's releases.

I guess these and their other titles are "good enough." But, why not go the extra mile and get better encoding software and / or a superior encoder. Other companies use far lower bitrates and achieve success in this area. For example, I was blown away by SORCERER, and its average bitrate is only 18 mbps.

They Live looks fine.

Shout Factory/Scream Factory has been pretty hit-or-miss in the past couple of years, particularly once they started really cranking out the niche titles.

I think they tend to do more good than bad though. Plus they give a lot more attention to smaller films that a lot of studios probably wouldn't give a shit about even releasing, yet alone making special editions of.

Many of their releases have been very good. I'm grateful, just frustrated with some encoding issues they seem to have. Many films we wouldn't have in any format if it wasn't for them. I'm looking forward to DEADLY EYES. Surely it will look better than my ancient VHS copy. Just hope they give it a great encode.

That last part is where the problem tends to lie. I'm a fan of Shout, but their compression issues is a big issue that they've yet to fix.

It's something like that that makes my respect for Arrow grow that much more. While I miss the slipboxes and posters and the like that they used to do, they REALLY turned things around in the AV department, and have put out fantastic releases since then.

I hope next month's release of Ravenous has no issues.

http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/ravenous

Yes x1000. That is what Shout needs to do to gain my respect and admiration as a company. I hope that I'm not alone on this. Arrow turned things around, and so can Shout. It means publically admitting that there are encoding problems, which they can't seem to muster the courage to do.

Step up and do it, Shout. You'll get fat off my wallet if you do!

Hmm. Any issues that would be observable to a casual viewer? I was going to get SOUTHERN COMFORT on BD for my father. He's never seen it but it's a film I know he'd dig.

Are SF's problems bad enough to be noticeable to an unscrutinizing viewer who likes rural thrillers from the late 70's & early 80's? We're not talking Echo Bridge levels of poor transfer, are we?

the audio issues BODY BAGS has are quite noticeable.

This is the first I've heard about problems with Body Bags.

major sibilance issues. the youtube video of the film has better audio.

Two-disc set for Phantom of the Paradise.

Arrow had a pretty great set for Phantom, so we'll see how this one turns out.

Yep. I have the French and Arrow release. I will be adding this one, too.

I was able to acquire the limited edition / store Exclusive Sleepaway Camp Dark Delicacies Autographed Set ( http://www.darkdel.com)

Around 300 copies were signed (from the number of BluRays placed there)

Has anyone picked up Ravenous? Is the transfer as lack-luster as I've reading in reviews?

I haven't picked it up yet, but B&N has it on sale for $14.99. They also have Saturn 3 for $16.99, and Death Hunt for $11.99.

I watched it tonight. The reviews are spot on. It basically reminds me of the TT Titus release. This doesn't bode well for Lake Placid.

Thanks for the heads up! I'm bummed because it's one of my favorite films. I guess I'll stick with my DVD release.

It's not a horrible release. The sound is pretty good and it has the extras. It's just that the PQ is really mediocre. There's lots of visible damage. I'm guessing the PQ is why they didn't make this a Collector's Edition. If Lake Placid is anywhere near this bad, I'll be pissed.

Scream just announced the Vincent Price Collection Vol. 2.

Awesome news on Vincent Price Vol. ll! The 1st one was a blind buy for me and I loved it, so I can't wait.

I'm sort of surprised at the titles. I thought Theater of Blood would be part of it but I guess they are saving it for volume 3. Actually, I could see them easily do 4 volumes.

Price Vol. II! Stoked on that announcement. The first set was fantastic.