Hard-Boiled: DVD Comparison!
- captainjoe
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Hard-Boiled: DVD Comparison!
Hard-Boiled
Part One: Scanning through the various transfers
Video Quality (Dragon Dynasty):
Hard-Boiled has never had a very good DVD in Region One. Even the now out-of-print Criterion Collection DVD was extremely poor. Well, we have now been granted
a new release from Dragon Dynasty and the results are quite good. It practically is the transfer from the Scanbox disc (see below) and looks pretty nice in this
16X9 enhanced transfer. I think it's the most consistent of all the transfers. Some look better in other scenes but then worse in others. Colours look generally
more accurate than the other editions and dirt and specks never were an issue. Edge enhancement is non-existent like the awful Criterion which looks a lot like the
Fox Lorbor disc. Only concern I have is the softness. I presume it could be due to some sort of softening to hide grain. I'm sure it could look a tad sharper, even in 480P.
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
Part One: Scanning through the various transfers
Video Quality (Dragon Dynasty):
Hard-Boiled has never had a very good DVD in Region One. Even the now out-of-print Criterion Collection DVD was extremely poor. Well, we have now been granted
a new release from Dragon Dynasty and the results are quite good. It practically is the transfer from the Scanbox disc (see below) and looks pretty nice in this
16X9 enhanced transfer. I think it's the most consistent of all the transfers. Some look better in other scenes but then worse in others. Colours look generally
more accurate than the other editions and dirt and specks never were an issue. Edge enhancement is non-existent like the awful Criterion which looks a lot like the
Fox Lorbor disc. Only concern I have is the softness. I presume it could be due to some sort of softening to hide grain. I'm sure it could look a tad sharper, even in 480P.
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
R0 Tartan:
R0 MeiAh Remastered:
R2 Scanbox Norway:
R1 Dragon Dynasty:
R2 e-m-s Germany:
R2 HK Vidéo France:
R1 Fox Lorbor:
Last edited by captainjoe on 14 Jan 2008, 22:26, edited 4 times in total.
- captainjoe
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Part Two: Audio and Extras
Audio Quality (Dragon Dynasty):
I cannot comment on any other DVDs audio wise so my main focus here will be the R1 Dragon Dynasty DVD. In short, I was very impressed! Remastered in both 5.1 Cantonese Dolby
Digital and DTS, Hard-Boiled sounds brand-new, literally. What was done here was impressive with wide use of all 5 channels and the sub. I've never really seen an older film jump
to 5.1 from a mono source with such perfect quality. The DTS track sounds more realistic, naturally due to the large bit-rate, but both tracks were spot on for a film this age. For the
purists, the original Cantonese Mono track is included. There's also a 5.1 Dolby digital English dub that I only sampled. I didn't really like the sound of it, best to stick with the Cantonese tracks.
Special Features (Dragon Dynasty):
Hard-boiled is presented in a two-disc package with the film in 1.85:1 widescreen on disc one with a new optional commentary track and the remaining special features on disc two
Disc One:
Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan:
I have yet to listen to this track but I hope to one day get around to it, lately I've been going crazy with commentaries so I'm sure I'll get to it one day. I did sample a segment
it did sound promising enough.
DVD trailers:
A whole bunch of trailers for Dragon Dynasty releases.
Disc Two:
Coming Soon
Audio Quality (Dragon Dynasty):
I cannot comment on any other DVDs audio wise so my main focus here will be the R1 Dragon Dynasty DVD. In short, I was very impressed! Remastered in both 5.1 Cantonese Dolby
Digital and DTS, Hard-Boiled sounds brand-new, literally. What was done here was impressive with wide use of all 5 channels and the sub. I've never really seen an older film jump
to 5.1 from a mono source with such perfect quality. The DTS track sounds more realistic, naturally due to the large bit-rate, but both tracks were spot on for a film this age. For the
purists, the original Cantonese Mono track is included. There's also a 5.1 Dolby digital English dub that I only sampled. I didn't really like the sound of it, best to stick with the Cantonese tracks.
Special Features (Dragon Dynasty):
Hard-boiled is presented in a two-disc package with the film in 1.85:1 widescreen on disc one with a new optional commentary track and the remaining special features on disc two
Disc One:
Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan:
I have yet to listen to this track but I hope to one day get around to it, lately I've been going crazy with commentaries so I'm sure I'll get to it one day. I did sample a segment
it did sound promising enough.
DVD trailers:
A whole bunch of trailers for Dragon Dynasty releases.
Disc Two:
Coming Soon
Last edited by captainjoe on 15 Jan 2008, 03:49, edited 1 time in total.
- Markgway
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I think the Tartan is the best compromise.
-DD is downright blurry.
-HKV is a tad too blue.
-EMS is oversaturated.
-Mei Ah is soft, interlaced and yellow.
-DD is downright blurry.
-HKV is a tad too blue.
-EMS is oversaturated.
-Mei Ah is soft, interlaced and yellow.
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
- captainjoe
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- captainjoe
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The stretching on the DD is, well, hard to spot compared to some of the HKL's releases. I think I read though that the DD is an English print rather than a Chinese one.
I think I'll stick with the Tartan since I have it - and that's the heavily windowboed title sequence
I have seen cases where the dub resembles the subtitles because they are from the same translation but if this is the original dub then they're dubtitles. Columbia is the worst at that practice and HKL used to indulge in it too
I think I'll stick with the Tartan since I have it - and that's the heavily windowboed title sequence
I have seen cases where the dub resembles the subtitles because they are from the same translation but if this is the original dub then they're dubtitles. Columbia is the worst at that practice and HKL used to indulge in it too
bradavon wrote:
but I guess you're more intelligence than me.
but I guess you're more intelligence than me.
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- bradavon
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Thanks.DangerousLeeHandsome wrote:Actually, they are word for word dubtitles. "Drop your f-ing guns!"
Of course they are. Dubtitles based on a new literal translated English dub will be identical to proper subtitles. It's rare for this to be the case though. I seem to remember there was talk of HKL's Bichunmo DVD having dubtitles but it turned out they were new proper subtitles and HKL based their dub on this.Markgway wrote:Neither is acceptable.
Understand?
Are there any plans for this? I've not heard of one.Markgway wrote:The windowboxed credits is the only noteable flaw on the Tartan disc. I hope they can fix that for an impending BD release.
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I understand what you're trying to say... but they wouldn't be dubtitles if they're translated from the original Cantonese. You would be talking about the same translation in both written and spoken forms. If the text is based on the Cantonese audio then it's subtitled.bradavon wrote:Of course they are. Dubtitles based on a new literal translated English dub will be identical to proper subtitles. Understand?
No plans that I know of. But one would assume at some point.Are there any plans for this? I've not heard of one.
- bradavon
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Agreed. It's worth clarifying though as I can see many getting confused and referring to them as dubtitles just because they happened to match the dub. I asked as HKL have done this before.Markgway wrote:I understand what you're trying to say... but they wouldn't be dubtitles if they're translated from the original Cantonese.