The "2046 2-Disc French edition thread"

Unrealnils · Post by **Unrealnils** » 16 Mar 2005, 14:21

Its not that good anyway

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Jun 2005, 00:12

I've read a very detailed and very precise review of the french edition:

Picture:
The picture is definately sharper than the R3 Mei Ah disc.
The blacks are deeper, the colours are more vibrant and the bitrate is very high.
I've also read that the R2 FR DVD had been supervised by two technicians who had worked on the movie itself ( 8) ).

Sound:
TF1 (Océan) asked one of the guys who did the original mix for the theatrical version of the movie to remix it especially for the french dvd (I need a new smiley......... :woot: Yep, that's a good one !

).
Apparently the DTS remix is more subtle than the R3 Mei Ah. It also has a better spatialization, although the subwoofer effects have been reduced).

So:
-If you can understand Cantonese + Japanese + Mandarin, the french edition appears to be the best (AV-wise).
-If you can read french (or dutch, because the dutch disc appears to be a port from the french disc) this R2FR edition is also the best.

TBH I seriously doubt that any other edition will come close. 8)

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jun 2005, 00:23

The R2 Mei Ah doesn't have DTS in case you thought it did. I wonder how this compares with the UK Tartan? (which isn't an NTSC to PAL transfer).

I was going to buy the UK Tartan but for DTS alone which I hear isn't much different at all to the DD5.1 I decided against it. The HK DVD has longer extras, not a patch on the French DVD of course.

It's madness this didn't have English subs or Tartan didn't pay for the rights to release this. I'm surprised they didn't, like they did before. I can see an SE coming.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 14 Jun 2005, 12:19

Tom, if you get the French release yourself or can find some caps I'll get some R2J ones.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Jun 2005, 13:38

I'll buy it soon (2 weeks max).

I must admit that I was waiting for a screencap comparison before buying it, but it seems that I'll be the one doing the comparison.

EDIT: Ordered it.

I'll post some caps in a few days.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 Jun 2005, 02:05

Is the Tartan release of 'In The Mood For Love' more or less identical to the French release?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 16 Jun 2005, 02:34

DVDBeaver says it's the same transfer as the french release. 8)

Don't know squat about the extras, though.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jun 2005, 18:48

EvaUnit02 wrote:Is the Tartan release of 'In The Mood For Love' more or less identical to the French release?

It is identical bar the cover art. The French DVD has the option English menus and full English subs so there is no need to remaster anything.

I own the French LE (in lovely digipack instead of amaray) but I'd get the Criterion now. It has better PQ (check out DVD Beaver) and has meatier extras. Looking on paper the French DVD wins but the Criterion looks better for quality.

Either way both are excellent.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 16 Jun 2005, 20:05

French transfer is more detailed and more authentic (seen it in the cinema to confirm this), not cropped either. If you want the Criterion then it's best to grab the Korean release as it's a copy. And yes, the Tartan R2Uk is a copy of the French disc as are a few others.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jun 2005, 20:09

It's only minutely cropped and I'd say it's worth it for the extra quality but that's just me. Check out the DVD Beaver comparison and don't forget those better extras!

I'm more than happy with my French LE it also has decent extras though.

p.s - How do you know the Korean is a copy?

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 17 Jun 2005, 03:44

The Criterion doesn't have a better transfer, like I said it's not authentic as they've 'enhanced' it. I used to be happy with that knowing full well that they'd boosted the contrast too much until I got the French release and caught in the theatre. Image is definitely better.

I own the French release, Korean tin, Criterion and the newer Mei Ah. So that's how I know that the Korean release is a port, just remembered that there are some missing subs from the extras of the Korean release so probably an official port too. Comes in a nice little tin (OOP, now an amaray if it's still in print) but I'll ditch it at some point.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 17 Jun 2005, 12:35

Here's a comparison between the Océan french disc and the Mei Ah SE disc.
(Lourdes, if you could post some matching R2J caps that'd be great) 8)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Read my previous posts for informations about picture and sound mixing.
------------------------------------------------------------------

All caps have been resized to 720x405 (16/9)
Mei Ah on top --- Océan at bottom.

Screencap 1:
(First shot of the movie - last frame)

OK, now this is amazing ! The sharpness and contrast of the french disc is to die for !
French disc only:
http://img85.echo.cx/img85/6171/fr17nw.jpg

Screencap 2:
(second shot of Takuya - last frame)

In french: *Glarglh ! *

remember I said that technicians who had worked on the film have supervised the french transfer ? Well there you go !
Take your pick.
French disc only:
http://img85.echo.cx/img85/6414/fr29kf.jpg

Screencap 3:
(Last scene between Gong Li and Tony Leung - first frame)

French disc only:
http://img85.echo.cx/img85/614/fr30yz.jpg

The colour scheme on the french disc matches "Days of being wild" and "In the mood for love", which leads me to the following conclusion:

The french disc shows 2046 as it was meant to be seen IMO. The Mei Ah transfer is like a "beta" version.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 17 Jun 2005, 13:11

I'll get onto it mate, I'll have to ask nicely. And thanks for the shot information. Unless someone else already has the Tartan disc I'll rent that and take some caps too. That also has the minor green tint.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 17 Jun 2005, 16:50

Here's a couple of low-res shots to show the difference in the color scheme:

1:

2:

3: