Solid Snake

I remember buying the action figure cuz he looked so cool, hadn't even seen the film. Not till it came on TV. I think I liked it, maybe I just liked The Shadow.

TheMovieman

Video Bitrate: 31.56mbps (Uni), 30.00mbps (Shout)

And having both, there are a few differences but this isn't a movie that ever will look great. However, it is a different transfer (beyond the bitrate). The Universal had a VC-1 codec while Shout's is MPEG-4 AVC. Also, the Shout version has opened up the matting to 1.78.

TheMovieman

Interesting comparison with just the title:
Universal:


Shout:

RocShemp

That's odd. Has the whole film been recolored or just the title? And is that the same exact frame? Because the title looks zoomed in the second shot.

Shannon Nutt

There's a couple of reviews online already that say the new transfer is world's better than the Universal one, which was reportedly over-sharpened. I have a screener, but won't have a chance to look at it until the weekend - my only issue is I don't have the Universal version, so I don't know how bad the old one looked (other than some online screenshots, which are hard to judge by).

TheMovieman

No, it appears to be just the title and the reason it's zoomed on the title is because that part already had a strange aspect ratio (there were bars on the top and sides). Outside of that, it is a fine transfer and definitely a huge improvement over the Universal release.

(And it's as close to the same frame as I could get)

Solid Snake

......ok. But what's up with the color there?

TheMovieman

Absolutely no clue. It's the only instance I found.

Shannon Nutt

Anyone remember if the theatrical version was that way? The color timing looks fine on the rest of the film...perhaps the green was added for the home video release but had the blue in the theatrical release? The logo as seen in the new featurette also uses the blue version.

Anyway, the new transfer is pretty nice...still some dirt on the print, and often soft - but it retains the look of film, hasn't been over-scrubbed (by DNR) or over-sharpened and detail is pretty good. Nitpickers will no doubt find flaws, but I imagine most fans of the movie are going to be pleased with this one.

Bonuses consist of a new 24-minute featurette (with interview footage with Baldwin, Mulcahy, Miller, and others); the original theatrical trailer, and a photo gallery of about 90 or so stills consisting of production photos, BTS photos, and poster art.

Audio options consist of both a 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio track and a 2.0 DTS-HD MA one.

TheMovieman

I'm wondering if that's the case, however, even though I think I saw it in theaters, it's now 20 years so I can't remember anymore what the logo looked like.

Shannon Nutt

Same here.

RocShemp

I too saw it in theaters but cannot remember if the color of the logo was later altered on home video.

Why So Blu?

Ha, I probably have an old ass VHS copy of The Shadow. Too bad I don't have a VCR to play it on. I'm sure that shit would show if it was green or blue. Fucking nerds.

RocShemp

Funny enough, I was thinking I may have my old VHS recording of a PPV broadcast of The Shadow and wondered if it showed the green logo or blue. Too bad I have no VHS player either.

avrilfan

my dvd copy has the green hue on the opening titles. If I remember correctly, the vhs was green as well.my digital copy of the shadow is the same as well.

Ringmaster

Dvdbeaver wasn't too thrilled with the transfer.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/shadow.htm

Shannon Nutt

DVD Beaver mistakenly thinks the new version has been over-smoothed/softened, when, in fact, the prior version was just really over-sharpened. The new version isn't perfect, but it's the closest/best resemblance to the theatrical version we've gotten.