This link has a closeup of the case "spindle" (courtesy of Quentin @ dvdboard.de): http://www.ottahal.de/dune6.jpg - read his description here (in German): http://www.dvdboard.de/forum/showthr...threadid=55076 (no mention of the discs' content yet).

According to his posting, yes, the lower discs sits flat on the metal & the upper one sits right on top of the lower one. Apparently he got a floater as the "spindle" is shorter than the cases inside height, so discs apparently can slip off.

Wish you guys the best of luck with your shipments ...

Yes...that would be my concern if i got the set...i anticipate a lot of scratched discs and a shame that these manufacturers can't seem to grasp that for all it's cosmetic glory what's of prime importance is having a practical way of ensuring the discs remain in the best possible condition.

I used to own the Artificial Eye release of The Decalogue and whilst i wasn't keen on the fact the two disc sat upon each other in the case at least the manufacturers had the good sense to make the spindle oversized to accomadate this.

Or. as Babblefish would tell you:
Correctly bad ones to the fact is however that metal covers not with spindle concisely closes, so that the DVDs lively in the boxes rumfliegen and scratches strike - who invented that, belonged around the clock flogged!!!

Looking at those pictures, the tins seem to be of such dimensions that a floater should not be able to shift far enough to do any damage to the data on the discs.

Was also pleased to see that that reviewer was very happy with the quality of transfer on the TV version.

It has Lynch's theatrical cut, the "Alan Smithee" TV cut, a disc of supplements, and a soundtrack CD.

Anyone get a chance to watch this yet? Hows the PQ?

so are all the subs forced german?

According to reports i've read on other forums there are no forced german subtitles for either the theatrical or extended TV versions for the english soundtrack however all the extras are in german with no english subtitles with a great majority of them being text based.

As i've mentioned this is what i have come to gather...i cannot confirm whether this is the case or not.

Ok, I have managed to have a very brief look at these (arrived on Friday, taking just 3 days!!) and these are my initial impressions:

TV cut is pretty ordinary with regards to image quality. I don't know all of the technical terms, but there is a lot of rubbish on the print and a lot of image shifting (if you know what I mean ).

The movie itself is much better and I have not seen it looking better (not that I have seen all versions). It has DD2.0 and DD5.1 English tracks and a DD5.1 German track plus subtitles are removable on both the theatrical and TV versions.

The packaging itself is very ordinary from an aesthetic point of view, but at least the tins are small enough that the inevitable floaters cannot move enough to actually inflict any damage on the discs.

Haven't looked at the extras yet, so I cannot confirm or deny the comments above reagrding language.

Thanks Hardtack. Is it better than the current R1 dvd?

Josh Z

Have you had chance to review and compare the PQ/Audio of these discs in relation to all the other available releases?

Rich, the disc is en-route right now. I haven't received it yet.

OK thanks...will be interested to hear of your thoughts on the matter though, once you receive it

I normally would have bought this already but since I got burned on the Jap. 16:9 disc I'm waiting for reviews. Hopefully you'll get it soon!

Package arrived today. Sorry, I don't have time to watch it. Maybe tomorrow.

I got the big one with the fake leather book (on the left in the above pictures). The discs sitting on top of one another inside the metal tins is a really poor idea, and yes I had a 'floater'.

I'm rather underwhelmed with the packaging as a whole. It isn't as well thought out as it should have been. I prefer the "Paradise Edition" from last year, with its little worm statuette. That was cool (pictures on my site).

Strictly from a packaging perspective, this set isn't as cool as I was hoping. Honestly, I think I like the looks of the "Spice Pack" version above better. Maybe I'll have to get that one too.

My fingers are crossed about the quality of the video transfer. Will report back with more details later.

DUNE (1984) (TV EXTENDED Version) Airs Thursday, July 17, at 7PM ET/PT SciFi Channel

Filmmaker David Lynch's singular vision encompasses this adaptation of Frank Herbert's popular novel. The desert planet of Arrakis has been taken over by the Harkonnens, oppressive conquerors who desire the precious spice that lies beneath the sands. A young warrior-messiah attempts to lead the people in an uprising against the empire and its gigantic, flesh-eating worms. The cast includes Kyle MacLachlan (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks), Brad Dourif (the Child's Play films, Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) and Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Professor Xavier in the X-Men films), along with Linda Hunt, Virginia Madsen and Sting. This special four-hour TV version includes material not seen in the original theatrical release. The Dune novels were later adapted as the SCI FI Pictures miniseries events Frank Herbert's Dune and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

Airs Thursday, July 17, at 7PM ET/PT

i couldn't agree more. there's aspects to both new collections that i like, but feel an overall better job could have easily been done. i like the "idea" of the Perfect Collection in book-like form. i think perhaps better manufacturing should've been implemented into this product. the tins are nice to look at but that's about it. i had a floater in each as well. not much damage, i think only very slight surface scratches on one disc barely noticeable... but for almost $130 - I NOTICE EVERYTHING! the addition of the soundtrack was a cool idea as i've never heard it before (and probably never will again - now that i have), the film strip (too small), booklets additions could have included the original "dictionary" card that came with the video release years ago - that would have been great!

Josh - looking forward to your review

How is the Anamorphic Quality of those discs...I am thinking about ordering a set of them soon. Thanks!

Someone please watch the damn thing already!

I will, I promise. I've just been very busy lately, and tonight I won't be at home.

This weekend at the latest.

OK, I haven't watched the disc all the way through yet, so this isn't a definitive review, but I did put it in for about half an hour last night to skip through various scenes and get a sense of the transfer quality. One thing to note is that I was watching this in PAL on my projector, not converted to NTSC, if that makes any difference.

The Good: The picture looks terrific. It is anamorphic, very sharp, and has no edge enhancement that I could see. The print is pretty clean, though there is some minor dust and dirt from time to time, nothing worth getting upset about. Colors are outstanding, very vivid. The aspect ratio is just shy of 2.35:1, maybe around 2.2:1, losing a tiny sliver of picture off the sides in comparison to the R1 disc, but you would never notice this if you weren't comparing them directly. The discrepancy is certainly not out of the realm of normal differences when two different telecine transfer sessions are involved. No important picture information is lost.

The print appears to be uncensored (I checked all of the scenes that were cut on the "Paradise Edition" and they were all here). The German subtitles turn on by default, but they can be disabled; they are not forced.

This is it, folks, the best the movie has ever looked on home video. It is decidedly better than the R1 non-anamorphic disc, and light years beyond the dreadful transfers on the "Paradise Edition" or the Japanese anamorphic copy.

I won't say it's perfect, and given its age and photographic style the movie will never look as vivid as some recently blockbusters, but this is a splendid, lovely transfer.

The Bad: The English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is seriously f***ed up. The entire front soundstage is way out of phase and the dialogue track is mostly inaudible. This is unlistenable. Unlistenable.

However, the English 2.0 track sounds normal. This is the only way to watch the movie, unless you want to watch the awful German dub, which seems to be just as screwed up as the English 5.1 track anyway.

The 2.0 track is.... OK. It's certainly not the best I've heard the film by any stretch. It's only 2.0, is almost totally lacking bass, and PAL speedup is noticeable in the chipmunk voices. But, unlike the 5.1 track, it is listenable. You can make it through the movie with this.

Other Stuff: The disc menus are very annoying. They are loud and feature CGI animation of zooming spaceships like something out of Battlestar Galactica. They are not at all appropriate for this movie.

I haven't really looked into the extras, but from a cursory examination they seem to be mostly identical to those on the "Paradise Edition". Marketing clearly licensed them from Laser Paradise. I need to look closer, but I don't think they've created anything new for this set.

So, is this really the "Perfect Collection"? No. Ideally I would love to see some way to marry the English DTS track from the Australian release with the picture from this one. That would be truly "Perfect". This one is rather imperfect. But it is a highly noteworthy release and I think Dune fans should own it regardless.

LynchNet has their own review of the set that is harsher than mine. Funnily, they thought the 5.1 track sounded fine, but really hated the supplements.

Maybe my copy is defective, but the 5.1 track is far from fine.

Gracias Josh.

I would generally agree with what's been said about the transfer; the sound is definitely out of whack, though I didn't think it unlistenable. The extras are almost all total garbage; I couldn't believe the filming of the web site. Pathetic. And all the scanned photos just make this look completely amateurish. This set is a complete rip off at the price they're asking.

I went the different route and only ordered the newly released single versions of Dune (Theatrical and TV) from Amazon.de to save a few bucks. I have to also agree that the English 5.1 soundtrack is messed up, although the the 2.0 is fine. (Sounds even better when I convert it to Dolby Pro Logic II through my receiver.) The transfer is also quite nice.

If anyone is interested in getting the currently best video of this film and wants to avoid getting ripped off by the weak special edition, you might want to just buy the new single disc version.