Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Where's the difference

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 19 Dec 2004, 04:53

Hey,

I was about to upgrade my current German DVD of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as its picture quality is pretty shitty. I am wondering now, as on CD-Wow, they sell the Columbia Tristar versions (R2 and R1), is there any difference betwen those versions and the Columbia Tristar "SUPERBIT" versions? I don't care about extras, I just want a great picture quality. They totally confused me. Are the Superbits simply re-releases or are there differences in picture quality?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 19 Dec 2004, 08:26

There is a very small difference in picture quality between the regular versions and the superbits.

The superbits are SLIGHTLY more detailed (I can barely see the difference on my 99" screen).

The R2 has "british" subs and the R1 has "dumbed-down american subs".
However, the original R3 release is supposed to have better subs.

IMO, from best to worse:
R3 NON-superbit (great subs).
R2 Superbit (for good subs and DTS Mandarin).
R1 Superbit (for DTS Mandarin).
R1 and R2 non-superbit (yuck ! ).

EDIT: I forgot: the superbits do not remove any of the grain or print damage. The transfer is EXACTLY the same.

[Edited on 19-12-2004 by Tom2681]

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Dec 2004, 12:44

Hopefully Colin will post Jenz's fantastic CTHD comparison review which will answer all your questions but until then:

[quote]I was about to upgrade my current German DVD of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as its picture quality is pretty shitty.[/quote]
I can't see the UK R2 being any different.

[quote][i]Originally posted by Tom2681[/i]
The R2 has "british" subs and the R1 has "dumbed-down american subs".
However, the original R3 release is supposed to have better subs.[/quote]
Where did you hear that about the R2 and R1 subs? Why couldn't CT leave the subs alone, the original R3 subs are so much better than the UK R2 subs.

I'd love to also own a SB version but to my knowledge they all have CT bastardised subs so I'm not interested.

[quote]EDIT: I forgot: the superbits do not remove any of the grain or print damage. The transfer is EXACTLY the same.[/quote]
This has really annoyed me since day one. What a joke SB is (for the most part).

Personally I'd get the original R3 and be happy but if you want the best picture/sound get one of the SB DVDs.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Dec 2004, 12:54

I think you're right Brad, on all DVDs (bar the R3) the subs are different from the original theatrical ones (slightly dumbed down). IIRC though, the dumbed down subs are almost the same as the original script??? (I have the script book somewhere).
And yes the transfer is pretty flawed/poor for a Hollywood DVD.
Can you still buy the original R3 with the better subs? I dont know if I'll upgrade (or if I can be bothered) I havent watched CTHD for ages.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Dec 2004, 13:06

Good point the R3 is now very hard to find. I believe it's still at HK Flix.

Personally I don't care what the original script says I just know they're far more poetic and romantic on the R3. It's not subtle at all

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Dec 2004, 14:04

I know what you mean, Miramax almost ruined Hero for example by dumbing down the translation for that.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 19 Dec 2004, 15:57

[quote]
And yes the transfer is pretty flawed/poor for a Hollywood DVD.
[/quote]

its not really a Hollywood film so thats maybe why the dvd isnt as good as you expect!

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 19 Dec 2004, 17:33

Are HK flix reliable? Would love to own original R3.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 19 Dec 2004, 18:22

[quote]
Are HK flix reliable
[/quote]

Never had any probs with them.

[quote]
--The R2 has "british" subs and the R1 has "dumbed-down american subs".--

Where did you hear that about the R2 and R1 subs?
[/quote]

I don't need to hear it. I have both dvds. [img]http://www.freegaia.com/smileys/mortderire/mdr10.gif[/img]

The "british" subs just sound better to me...

I first bought the original french release.
Then I bought the original R2 UK disc because I thought there'd be an improvement in pic quality (I was wrong). [img]http://www.freegaia.com/smileys/tristes/triste2.gif[/img]
Then I bought the original R3 because I wanted better subs.
Eventually I got the R1 SB because I wanted to hear the DTS track.

[img]http://www.freegaia.com/smileys/fous/fou2.gif[/img] [img]http://www.freegaia.com/smileys/fous/fou1.gif[/img]

The perfect CTHD edition would be:
R2 SB for picture + R1 SB for sound + R3 Original for subs.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Dec 2004, 22:09

You're right Romero CTHD wasnt a Hollywood film but it was a very new/recent film at the time, so I would expect a very good transfer on DVD TBH, not forgetting Columbia are an American company.
This wasnt, IMO, a very good transfer - disappointing to poor, considering what they COULD have done. Look at Hero - similar type of movie and an HK/Mainland production (no US money), the Edko transfer is superb IMO.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 20 Dec 2004, 00:32

Thank you very much everybody. I was actually looking for the best picture quality, but now that I hear that the subs are supposed to be shitty on the R2 SB, I am kinda hezitating... :-/

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 20 Dec 2004, 00:42

Ah, what the heck... just ordered the R2 Superbit.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 20 Dec 2004, 09:45

Good. When you see it, can you do me a little favor ?

I'd like to know whether the R2 SB subs are the american subs or the british subs.

Just before the "wall-running ninja scene" a guard is chasing the thief. He says:

UK: "Where did that thief go ? Governor Yu's house ! "
US: "Where did they go ? Chief Yu's house ! "

(That's why I prefer the "british" subs)

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Dec 2004, 10:58

Thanks Tom, I didnt know there were differences between the American and British "dumbed down" subs

I think my copy (UK R2 normal) has the UK subs.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Dec 2004, 20:00

You're right Tom the American subs are even more dumbed down!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 23 Dec 2004, 18:09

Check out the best CTHD Comparison review on the web:

http://web.archive.org/web/200303301741 ... cle&sid=91

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 24 Dec 2004, 03:11

Ah, I missed this one so much. How did they manage to get this back? It seems somebody had it saved on his hard drive.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Dec 2004, 11:06

Web.Archive is a website devoted to backing up websites from all over the world. I quote:

"Browse through 30 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago. To start surfing the Wayback, type in the web address of a site or page where you would like to start, and press enter. Then select from the archived dates available. The resulting pages point to other archived pages at as close a date as possible. Keyword searching is not currently supported, but there are some researcher tools that perform similar functions (see the researcher tool section)."

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

I never knew it existed until recently.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Dec 2004, 11:09

The same comparison can also be found here on a faster server, thanks to me

:

https://www.bulletsnbabesdvds.net/conten ... ontentid=5