Before anyone asks, I have over 1,600 dvds, 65" HDTV, DVD-A & SACD, so I'm not new to dvds. Convoy was just re-released by Pacific Ent (street date tomorrow) & I just got mine. First the cover looks like it was photocopied badly from an old VHS. Then the horrible quality pictures on the back are 4x3 & obviously stretched to look widescreen. The sound is either 2-channel mono or stereo (I'd guess mono) and sounds just fine. Knowing this company has a pretty horrible reputation I wasn't expecting much from the picture (especially not anamorphic). IMDB says the ratio is 2:35:1, so I was expecting a thin stretched picture on my 16x9 set (non-anamorphic 2:35:1). However, it appeared to be anamorphic- the ratio was 2:35:1 & it didn't look stretched at all. Thinking I couldn't be this lucky, I tried it on my PC & the downstairs tv (which is 4x3 & set for 4x3 letterbox). Both showed the picture as 1:85:1, but it sure looks like the picture is compressed & the image quality is strange. Which means that it's actually 1:85:1 letterboxed (non-anamorphic), but the picture is really a 2:35:1 image compressed to fit 1:85:1 (people look thin & tall). I don't know if they were trying to make it anamorphic & didn't properly encode it or what, but it seems like anyone with a 4x3 tv would be unable to watch this dvd properly, since you can't stretch & zoom. The zoom on your dvd player would still leave the picture compressed. This is even stranger than the Kids In The Hall concert dvd that was non-anamorphic EXCEPT for the deleted scenes, which were anamorphic? If anyone else gets this please let me know what you make of it. Other than that the picture is decent- fairly soft & slightly unfocused, but better than what I had been expecting. Since this is a re-release by the same company, I doubt anyone else will redo it anytime soon.

n00b!



man...i've been keeping a loose eye out on this & the Final Countdown. i've read VARIOUS places that the company putting these DVDs out sucks...HARD. after reading your semi-review, if I can find 'em cheap I might give 'em a try..

now you got me worried about Night Of the Comet...

I have this & it is really screwed up. the image is strechted on my 35' 4X3 TV, you see the whole image, it's just strechted so the "black bars" aren't as intrusive.
I know nothing about Night Of The Comet's OAR, but The Monster Squad (which they are releasing 10-28) is a 2.35:1 film & I pray that they don't do the same too it. is The Final Countdown 2.35:1 or is Convoy the studio's first 2.35:1 film?

Damnit!

I love this film & was dieing to see in it's proper aspect ratio!

When will a REAL company get ahold of this & the other films?

It's obviously a poorly-converted bootleg. They must have used one of the R2 PAL DVDs as their source and didn't bother doing to necessary geometry correction. PAL has a higher resolution than NTSC, and so a straight conversion will result in the stretched-out image you see. If they were professionals, they would've bothered to correct this. And if they actually had the US rights to the film, they wouldn't have needed to copy a DVD from another region in the first place. Their copied VHS cover (much like their Final Countdown cover, copied from the R2 UK DVD) just further proves that this a bootlegging outfit.

DJ

I believe they used a PAL dvd as the source for their first Final Countdown dvd, so this wouldn't surprise me too much. They should consider hiring the bootleggers to produce their discs since they could probably do a better job.

I don't think the image looks stretched, it looks compressed. So when I watch it in full/stretch mode (as if it were anamorphic) on my 16x9 set, the image looks normal. So if you have a 16x9 tv, it will look normal- crappy, but normal. But on a 4x3 set the 2:35:1 image will be compressed to 1:85:1 & look weird. I think the R2 or R4 was anamorphic, so maybe they just copied that but didn't encode it as anamorphic, which leaves the image compressed for everyones tv?

Monster Squad will share the same fate. most likely... I have Fred Dekker's screen name. I have to tell him about this.

who's Fred Dekker...?

http://www.google.com/
http://www.imdb.com/

He wrote and directed The Monster Squad.

ah.

I was soooo close to getting this, but thought differently when I saw that it was released by Pacific Family.

I feel your pain...

Please explain how PFE can bootleg these and get away with it but a file trader that trades MP3s and does not make a red cent is sent up the river? I don't get it.

I am almost 100% sure this is a PAL conversion, the runtime listed for this movie is 1:51 & the DVD only runs 1:43 so either this DVD is cut by 8 mins, PFE made a typo (to go along with all there gramatical (sp?) errors) or it's a PAL conversion

cONVOYs aspect ratio is 2:35

I know the ratio is supposed to be 2:35:1. My question is what's up with the dvd? The 2:35:1 ratio was squeezed together to make it a compressed 1:85:1.

Thanks for the warning!

here was a scene accidentally cut from the region 2 release,the bit where the truckers show their backsides if that scene is not in the pacific disc they have probably used the region 2.

If the "nude scene" takes place in the shower scene then it would be kinda hard to tell because that scene is so dark I couldn't hardly see the people.

Actually a 2 minute sequence with the reporter driving along side the trucks interviewing a few people was cut from one of the R2 releases,but restored in another.

I think the cut version was 103mn PAL,while the uncut version was 105mn PAL.

the copy I have the reporter (or actually the governer's spokesman) interviews The Duck, then The Preacher & then goes back to talk to The Duck again. as I mentioned above the R! release runs 103mn

Just a note of caution. I want to make sure people aren't making accusations about a companies product without some hard info to back it up.

I received the following email from PFE:

We received copies of the DVDs and will be posting reviews in the near future.

So for anyone else who got this now, am I crazy, or is the image compressed on a 4x3 tv & looks normal on a 16x9 set in anamorphic mode even though it's not anamorphic?

Man, this release sounds so freaky...I am eagerly awaiting DVD Talk's reviews...

Go to dvdmaniacs.net in the General forum where someone posted his emails from PFE on this issue. It shows what a bunch of clueless morons they really are