I'll call FOX and complain. I was going to skip this altogether but I got a copy for $10 - then the moviecash makes it work out to about $2.50. Haven't watched it yet but scanned a few scenes and the DNR is out of control - mostly noticable on shots of Carl Weathers somehow - he totally looks like a wax statue that is slowly melting. Arnold looks like A Scanner Darkly a lot but Weathers face got butchered. Sure the movie looks clean and new, but pretty unnatural. I have a friend who HATES grain and bought the original release and hated it - now that I've watched the new features, I'll see if he wants to swap

I am so bummed about the Ultimate Hunter Edition. I was really hoping for a definitive release, and instead I got Predator Meets Toy Story in terms of how it looks.

What is up with all the DNR? There is a happy medium that can easily be reached...

(Yes, I know - the look and sound of, "Perfect." Joe Sixpack hates film grain, blah, blah, blah...)

You're supporting this DNR....

I don't give a shit how much you pay for it..teh moment you pay for this thing...you're telling them they did a good job. They didn't. They did a horrible job. And shouldn't get anyone's money if you're informed and know wtf all this hooplah is about.

Fox don't care. And when this is in the Top 20 in a few days, we can all sit back, point at the people who bought this release, say 'thanks', and enjoy waxy films coming to our Blu-ray players in mere months.

This. I'm glad some of us have had the sense to NOT get this travesty.

Let's be honest - if everyone on this forum and AVS skipped this release, J6P was going to put it in the top 20 regardless. Those of us who frequent forums, know what DNR even IS make up a pretty small minority in the overall market. Did I contribute to the problem? Sure, but for $2.50 out of pocket I wanted to see if it was as bad as it was made out to be - screencaps do not equal what something looks like moving IMO and I prefer to make up my own mind rather than just take someone else's opinion as fact... if that makes me senseless, then so be it.

I'll be getting it at some point to pair it with my existing Blu-Ray like others have suggested, but I'll be waiting for it to turn up at a pawnshop to do that.

Those screenshots are fact, not opinion. Opinion would be you think this release looks good. The fact is, it's been tinkered with to where it's not true to what the film should look like. The debates are endless on this title, but rest assured, we can thank everyone who bought it when we get more DNRed titles in the future. True fans of the format will simply not buy them anymore, and you guys can enjoy your waxy mess.

Shit, while were at it, let's go back to pan and scanning everything! Or making 2.35:1 titles 1.78:1 to fill up screens! Who cares, right?

I just don't know wtf to say anymore. I'm not big on going nuts about bitching about something but...C'MON...this shit is bad! Like...sometimes it's not noticeable and you get duped...fine, i guess. BUT THIS SHIT is IN YOUR FACE.

FilmFreak, who aren't particularly videofiles, rip on this transfer too:

Most people who buy this disc won't have a chance to be dissatisfied until they actually watch it. And some people might want to actually see firsthand what they are calling Fox to complain about before doing so. You're not "telling them they did a good job" at the point of sale. In fact, someone who actually bought it is probably going to carry more weight being a dissatisfied customer than someone who saw some screenshots in an internet forum and has never even seen the actual product.

So, everyone who goes to see a movie at a theater is telling the studio they did a "good job" as soon as they buy a ticket? Really?

A film in the theater and a film on a home media is different. For the most part you don't ever see what's in the theater, just reviews and people talking about. Thing about home media is that we got screencaps AND reviews of the product.

But, you can't expect the average consumer to be frequenting these groups. They just aren't. At the point where buying a Blu-Ray or DVD is that much work, the formats are dead anyway. Even if they did, they would like what they see with regard to this release. There is no way I will be able to convince any non-hardcore-cinephile that heavy grain is better than this DNR'd release.

I'm not promoting what Fox did - I'm just saying I can see why they did it and I think the results in this case are so drastic they almost fall into the realm of looking like HD video, which I think many consumers would like. They do not care what it looked like in the 80s. In fact, you probably won't find a ton of people buying 80s catalog releases on Blu-Ray if they look like how Predator should look. Sad, but probably true. I almost respect what they did here over what Universal does - they don't really commit one way or another. They just throw enough DNR on their catalog releases to make it look bad to the more hardcore enthusiasts, but not enough where it would even please J6P. You've got to give it to Fox in this case - they really went all in.

All that being said, I can't entirely discount the vocal minority if they express their outrage at Fox. I do think having bought the disc and demanding a refund directly from Fox may carry more weight than saying "I saw some screenshots..." If they sold 100,000 copies and got 10,000 complaints, I think they can do the math. But, somehow, we avoided a world of pan and scan and full frame transfers. I don't know how that happened, but I'm glad it did. Because just like I think J6P would prefer this new release of Predator, I also think J6P would prefer every movie fill their screen and they still have yet to win that battle... so, there's always hope.

I have to seek approval from forum members before I buy a movie? FUCK....THAT.

I bought Silence of the Lambs because it's one of my all-time favorite movies. It has some DNR smoothness in its transfer. So that means I sent Fox a direct message saying "please make everything smooth"? If you think that's what I did with the purchase, you are a fucking moron.

The only people to blame for poor transfers are the studios, not the consumer. They're the ones making the damn discs. It's none of my business how anyone spends THEIR money. I only worry about my own.

Otherwise, I'd be pissed at people spending money on Twilight movies, because that means we'll get more and more shitty teenybopper vampire movies.

Shot in the dark, and not sure if anyone has started one - but is there a petition perhaps addressed to Fox about this? This would appear to be a prime subject to voice an overall dissatisfaction on what was shoveled to us.

I doubt the average consumer cares that much if a title is grainy. 300 sold very well in spite of the (fake) grain. Iron Man and the Transformers movies are somewhat grainy (for modern films) and they don't seem to have suffered sales-wise. Likewise with Saving Private Ryan.

I just don't think there's any evidence that using DNR is going to lead to more sales, when so many titles without it have done just fine. I believe the average consumer will buy it, grain and all, if it's a title he wants and it's on BD.

Honestly man i still dont get why you still buy blurays, all you ever do is complain about 90 percent of the releases from all the studios.

And if you dont think complaining to fox will make a bigger difference than complaining to the same several dozen people who frequent all the online forums then i dont know what to tell you.
sometimes companies will surprise you when you voice a legitmate complaint about something. If your not willing to put as much effort in contacting the actual studio about the bad job they did, then why should we sit here and listen to you. I bought the set, and when i saw how Predator turned out, i called up the toll free number on the back of the packaging and voiced my dis satisfaction as much as you like to believe contacting them doesnt make a difference, it in fact actually can. They do take note of complaints and compliments, but somehow i think you just will never believe that.

But you still bought the BD...

I bought day 1, before i had the chance to hear about the excessive DNR issue. As soon as i watched it and saw the problem, I took and called and complained about it. Luckily for me since i bought the collection for 19.99 it only ended up costing me 10 for each movie.

I have like 400+ Blu-rays, so I doubt I complained on 360 of them Forgive me if I don't drink the Blu koolaid like some people, or take issue when studios either a. fuck up. b. re-release a film no one asked for again c. DNR/EEs a title d. removes extras e. reuse a decade old transfer etc. If you want people to agree with you, go join Blu-ray.com, they'll be glad to have you (as other members have who left here *cough* *cough*). Otherwise stick around here where you get to discuss with others when there are real issues without fear of being suspended or banned because you don't. You may not agree with them, but atleast you won't get suspended by Adam or Supermallet because you think Fox screwed up.

I complain directly to my reps who send out titles for review. In some cases, it helps (getting firmware updates ready for when the titles hit the masses, other issues I really can't speak about) and other times it gets ignored. Fox asks for review links when they go up, so they will no doubt read all the negative reviews from sites that know what they are talking about (i.e. not IGN).

DNR/EE will continue because the majority of people don't care about how the films should look. They want them to look as good as Toy Story and not have any icky 'grain'. As Blu-ray continues to sell and sell...it'll only become worse. I've curbed blind-buying from several studios since they are known to cater to those idiots. When people like Bill Hunt stand up and speak against Blu-ray (as anyone here from the format war remembers), that means big shit. Studios are screwing over the enthusiasts who made Blu-ray what it is to appeal to the idiots who Zoom in on a 2.35:1 film.

And hey, it's great you did complain, but you could have done so without buying the title. You can question the screencaps all you want, but we now have numerous reputable reviewers (and "insiders") chiming in that DNR is an issue, and a simple call voicing how you will NOT be buying this title or any other future Fox/MGM title would have been sufficcent enough. They already got your money.

as i said I bought it day one before i saw or heard anything about the DNR Issues of this release.
My main thing is that the same half dozen people saying the same exact thing on all the same bluray forums is not going to be as effective as if the same consumers actually called up and voiced their concerns over the phone (fox even puts a toll free number on the back of the pacakging) to the company.

As for what i said about you complaining about 90 percent of the bluray releases, i wasnt meaning only about the ones you own, i meant every other day it seems like you have some new post complaining about some element of a bluray from content to pricing etc.. all one has to do is a look at your history of posts to see that.

Reviews and screencaps were all over the place weeks before it came out. It's kinda of tough to miss this thread given how it's been on the top of the forum for weeks and has hundreds of posts... (and this is why I posted in your BD Bargains thread - to alert others of how crappy the BD is. Get it now? If you missed this thread, I'm sure other potential buyers did as well)

Should I just post 'Woah, awesome!' instead to every announcement? There have been some serious issues with Blu-ray as of late, and as a consumer I have ever right to speak up. I mean gees, I'm so excited to see what Disney's 13th Blu-ray of the year might be!!!

I think we can all agree that Fox is the worst studio releasing Blu-rays today, especially catalog releases, and they're probably going to fuck up the Alien Saga like they've fucked up this release. Fuck Fox.

Oh god. Please don't let that happen. The thing that doesn't worry me TOO MUCH about the Alien set is that....well...it hasn't been released on BD yet. So..as of right now..there's need to bitch about a weaker quality visual like the old BD for PRedator.

In all fairness, Gizmo, you are kinda pessimistic. Not exactly a glass-half-full kinda guy. I would say your general reaction to the good discs as very "Well, that's a surprise. Wonder how we lucked out like that" is a bigger contributor, though.