Takashi Miikes "Ley Lines" (RC-1 Artsmagic vs. RC-2 Japan)

[diceman]

One of my favorite Miike-Movies (besides "Audition") must be "Ley Lines". Sadly there doesn't seem to a DVD available with decent image, so the problem may very well lie within the source-material, cheap equipment etc. After all this is a Low-Budget Movie. There's an issue with dark scenes being INCREDIBLY dark; at least here the Japanese DVD fares a little better than the RC-1. I think Artsmagic has applied some sort of contrast-boost, but I don't know. Judge for yourself, this is my first comparison and I'm not a tech-freak like you guys

Not worth upgrading, IMHO, not even because of that Ghosting-issue in the last pic (this is something I usually don't notice, anyway). Overall too little improvement for that price (at least I managed to grab a used copy of the Japanese DVD).

RC-1 Artsmagic: above
RC-2 Japan: below

[HungFist]

Thanks for the comparison. I have the R1 Black Society box set which was quite cheap. Haven't watched them yet.

[Shingster]

You should give 'em a whirl Hung, they're some of Miike's best films. I'd be particularly interested to see what you make of Shinjuku Triad Society.

As for the comparison, no surprises there I guess, little difference beyond the interlacing and darkness of the Artsmagic (I've long suspected their releases were overly dark).

Might as well pimp out my review of the Artsmagic set over at DVDTimes , you might have to forgive the naivete of the writing, they were some of the earliest reviews I ever wrote for the site:
Shinjuku Triad Society (The user comments features a brief discussion on the poor nature of the transfers for these early Miike productions).
Rainy Dog
Ley Lines