pro-bassoonist

A new Studio Canal disc is set to arrive in the UK on February 12. In France the studio was responsble for the lavish 3DVD set (and brown book).

Ciao,
Pro-B

animatedude

i have the 3-disc from canada but if we are talking UK DVDs then there's a 2-disc set that has been for years...it's HMV exclusive.

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayP...;-1&sku=842810

samper

I love this movie. I bought the 3 DVD from canada - but the transfer was not that great in my opinion. Not sure whether the set was legit or a glorified bootleg.

Canadian Version

I'll see what the new DVD will bring.

Josh Z

It's legit, just an overcompressed transfer. The studio tried to cram a 2 1/2 hour movie, ridiculously long and elaborate animated menus, 2 DD 5.1 tracks, and a full bit-rate DTS track all on one disc without putting much effort into the digital compression.

Vendetta-AKK

Anyone managed to find any specs of this release yet?

pro-bassoonist

The little unconfirmed info that I have been able to gather indicates that this will not be a port of the lavish French SE disc. It will be a budget single release dropping the DTS track. Not impressive!

Ciao,
Pro-B

E Unit

Damn, that full bit DTS track I listen to on the Canadian release rocks something fierce. Even the menus are jarring, the only thing I wasn't big on. Had I known, I would have had the volume a lot lower...but I would love to grab a good SE with a great picture, but not at the loss of the DTS track.

Vendetta-AKK

This makes no sense considering that there is already a UK Region 2 DVD available at half the listed price of this release. How can it be a budget single for twice the price of the current release in the same country?

Reservoir

Not a big fan of the film but if I were this would be nice

Studio-Canal have a massive HD-DVD release schedule this year and if they get it right I might even think about buying a HD-DVD player.

...or maybe not

pro-bassoonist

It makes perfect sense if the rights are now owned by a different company. Similar is the case with the upcoming Belle De Jour, L'Appartement, etc...so nothing surprising here!

Here's a question for you: Why do you think Image relesed their own disc of Fellini's I VITELONI in the US (bare bones) when Criterion are still selling their release? They both came out only months apart from each other!

Reservoir:



Ciao,
Pro-B

Vendetta-AKK

OK, sorry Pro-B. I didn't notice that it was a different company.

Still this makes zero sense as far as marketing is concerned. "Hey want to pay twice as much for an identical product."

Surely they plan to add something in content to justify to the consumer the price difference between this and the already available Region 2 DVD.

pro-bassoonist

O, no problem, I actually understand your logic but...I do not work for any of these distribs so I do not know precisely what takes place in their offices. The reality is that indeed quite a few titles (big budget or classic) are now overlapping!

To sum it all up of course I agree that it would make sense if Optimum-Studio Canal released any of the SE (brown book or blue coffret) France-Benelux enjoy for English speakers to benefit but...there you go, what's coming up is quite average.

Unless they surprise everyone and upgrade their announced single disc release I do not see why anyone would want to jump on this disc ASAP.

Ok.
Ciao,
Pro-B

Reservoir

buckee1

Any idea whether this will be subtitled or not?

Reservoir

I don't know, sorry.

bjackson

The specs indicate the following:
Transfert 1080p 16/9 format 1.78
Français DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0
Allemand DTS Hi-Resolution 2.0
Sous-titres allemand, néerlandais, danois, norvégien, suédois, finnois

So, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish subtitles.

Josh Z

I hope the "16/9 format 1.78" just means that it's anamorphic, not that it's been cropped to 16:9.

pro-bassoonist

I do not know where Bjackson's info comes from but the disc will be in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Ciao,
Pro-B

Reservoir

Le Pacte des loups

I've spoken to a friend who works at FNAC and he's said the spec sheet for the March HD-DVD shows "HD-DVD 30/16-9 natif 2.35:1//DTSHD-MA et Français 5.1/sous titres Anglais".

Now, my French translation is a bit rusty but I think that roughly means "GET YOUR MONEY OUT OFF YOUR POCKET LE ROAST BEEF".

It shows no other info and of course it could all be wrong. Unlikely as StudioCanal seem pretty sharp with their technical info. We'll have to wait and see.

buckee1

I think I just drooled.

Josh Z

Now just need confirmation on whether it's the director's cut or not.

Tutut

The french SD edition is 1.78 and cropped, the spanish and swedish SD editions are 1.85 OAR, now Pro-B announce a 2.35 format, I don't know what to think about all of this.

Tutut

Resetmag mention english audio : Anglais DTS HD Hi Resolution 5.1

http://www.resetmag.com/HTML/fiche.asp?FicheID=2281

16-9 natif means 16/9 only, not 4/3 compatible.

Reservoir

Whilst we're talking about Vincent Cassel and L'Armee des hombres I see Vincent's father is in that film.

Tutut

They both play in "The crimson rivers" and Jean-Pierre play the father of Cecile de France in the good comedy "Mauvaise Foi".
Vincent's brother is in a french rap band "Assassin" and the young sister is an actress too, Cecile Cassel, she appeared in Sex & the city and "Head in the clouds".