see the trailer for "bird people in china" at www.artsmagicdvd.com now...

yup, the "dead or alive" trilogy recently came out in sweden, but the discs are all bare bones. video and sound is nothing special (about the same as the kino releases).

some online stores list "dead or alive: final" as anamorphic, but i highly doubt that it is.

Has anyone compared the new Tartan CE of "Audition" to the German Rapid Eye version that came out recently and received a real good review at DVD Times?

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3615

Hi Richard,

DVD Compare recommends the new Tartan CE over the German Rapid Eye. I believe I've read this elsewhere as well, but can't recall exactly where.

Another consideration is that the Rapid Eye DVD is pretty impossible to find (unless you already have it, in which case never mind).

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1604

that audtion review dates back to 2002. the tartan, which i have (the CE) is the best. search the comparison out (visual) at www.dvdbeaver.com

unless i'm missing something, the only comparison i could find on dvdbeaver for audition didn't include the german rapid eye version (which is the one that i own), so now i'm really curious about whether or not the tartan ce has superior picture quality. is the tartan ce release relatively new? is it a different transfer than the rapid eye version?

also, in relation to fudoh, does anyone (logboy?) know whether or not the r2 artsmagic uk version has incorrect framing? is the u.s. release really the only version of fudoh that has accurate framing? i'm skeptical about that release because it's non-anamorphic and has burned-in subs...

and as long as we're on the subject, maybe someone can help me out by letting me know which version of dead or alive is the best one to get. the kino r1 release vs. the tartan r0? or is there some other better version i don't know about? again, picture quality is my main concern. thanks in advance!

the tartan is new yes... last couple of months...

as far as fudoh goes i dont know about the UK disc. the recent japanese one though wasnt and isnt as good as the USA one : the framing was wrong on the japanese disc. i have the USA disc and its fine in my opinion.

also : this might interest you, although AFN site states "no subtitles" for the german disc of "blues harp" it does infact have english subtitles!

well, here's what i know about the uk fudoh disc: it has an anamorphic print, 5.1 sound, and no burned-in subs, so i give it high marks, although i am still curious to know how it stacks up directly against the r1 version...

and logboy: thanks for the tip about blues harp. i haven't seen it yet, but it's on my list. is it worth a blind purchase? i recently held off on getting one missed call w/o having seen it in part b/c of your review (i'll search out a rental copy though).

but yeah, i've appreciated the wealth of info you've provided on this site and also over on twitch. i know that you've seen a large number of miike films, so my question to you is...how would you rank them? i know that's kind of a tricky question, but if you were going to perhaps categorize them as must-own, worth-checking-out, and crappy, i'd be curious to hear your opinion...

The UK Fudoh is cut by 22 seconds.

dammit, you're right! i just checked the BBFC site, and it says the uk version of fudoh has 21 seconds cut, w/ the following description:

"Cuts to remove elements of sadistic violence and humiliation in scene where woman is brutally beaten by man."

i hate finding out that i own cut versions of films on dvd--now this knowledge is going to gnaw away at me. i mean, i guess 21 seconds isn't that big of a deal, but it's more the principle of the matter...

I have a sealed copy of Tartan Dead or Alive 2 if you are interested.

Review of Kino:

http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/dra...adoralive.html

Review of Tartan:

http://www.bulletsnbabesdvds.com/mod...rticle&sid=816

Essentially, not that great in both cases.

Does anybody know if the new IVL HK disc of One Missed Call is R0 or R3? I know DDDHouse says it's R3 but that doesn't mean anything.

http://www.dddhouse.com/dddhouse/en/...productID=3983

one missed call... erm, i have it. think its region 3.... i put a review here :

http://www.twitchfilm.com/archives/2...ed_call_1.html

Thanks for the review logboy, looks like the quality is very good for an HK release.

Two ways to tell whether an HK disc is all-region:

1) put it in a non-region-free DVD player and see if it plays
2) play it on a PC and see which region the player says the disc is

I'm just curious since a lot of HK discs are labeled R3 but are really R0, though this seems to be occurring less often nowadays.

Is this the Unrated Uncut version of 1? Or the R version? Thanks.

unrated.

I'd be interested in knowing if there is a good anamorphic version with English subs? The German version seems similar to the R1 and with no Eng. subs. Is it either cut/anamorphic or uncut/letterbox/burnt subs?
Could be worse I guess.

i think the usa is the best : the only i know of with good framing. ive not heard of a better disc : the recent japanese was badly cropped and pale. seen grabs, cant remember where or when, but those that bought it expecting an upgrade on usa disc left disappointed and poorer for it also....

Media Blasters is releasing a R1 special edition of "Fudoh" on Jan. 11, 2005.

where did you here that from : the MB site is terrible and never works or seems to be updated, yet every so often some gem appears...

Anyone know a site that has these in stock? I keep getting backordered and eventually cancelled. thanks.

One Missed Call: http://www3.cd-wow.us/detail_results...uct_code=14163

I would get the R1 of Visitor Q. There is nothing wrong with the transfer. The look is inherent with the low budget of the film, so it will never look amazing.

I thought the German disc was supposed to be a lot better? Have you compared it?

Not only have I seen it...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=3612 R2
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=4977 R1

Coming up German DVDs:

- Gozu
- Zebraman

Japanese and German audio, just German subtitles.

-> I-On Catalogue