Sin City

[JoeBath1994]

Hey guys,

Found this today in Asda for £8 (also part of their 2 for £12). Haven't seen it anywhere and on the back says 2014 Lionsgate Home Entertainment, so most likely a release to tie into the sequel which is about to be released in cinemas. Contains two cuts of the film; Theatrical & Recut Extended Edition as well as quite a few bonus features. Also comes with a plain slipcover.

Here's some pictures. Sorry if this has already been posted but couldn't find it using the search bar.

[chip75]

Nice to know it has a slip. £14 on Amazon. I'll add it to the database if it hasn't already been added.

[CinemaScope]

Fopp are selling it for £6 (no slipcover). Last week I bought this & Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes for £5. £11 well spent I thought.

[JimDiGriz]

Tempted by this even though Ive already got the 2-disc amaray from ages ago.

[CouncilSpectre]

Already have the Canadian and German steelbooks. Triple dipping isn't really on the cards, but this one does look nice.

[rewak]

Shouldn't this be in the slipcover collectors section? That's all thats been added to the release.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by JimDiGriz

Tempted by this even though Ive already got the 2-disc amaray from ages ago.

Same, if it's in the 2 for 12 deal it's no huge expense if there's a great film to pick up next to it.

EDIT: CEX will take the film for £4 as well, so it equates to the normal cost if the film if you subtract the money back.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by rewak

Shouldn't this be in the slipcover collectors section? That's all thats been added to the release.

It was released a week or so ago, so no harm having it here, even if it's a re-issue.

[Maccadinho25]

Sorry to bring a thread back up - is anyone aware of the first film being released with a red amaray case?

I understand it is in the new collectors box set but has it been released on its own in a red case? Thanks

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Maccadinho25

Sorry to bring a thread back up - is anyone aware of the first film being released with a red amaray case?

I understand it is in the new collectors box set but has it been released on its own in a red case? Thanks

No, just the normal blue one (£5 in Tesco), unless you buy replacement cases, you'll have to be the set to get the red ones.

[DaveSimonH]

A few weeks back I found a cheap copy of the 'Flowers of War' Hong Kong blu-ray. But before ordering I noticed the EAN didn't match the item. But given the cost it was worth the risk;

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by DaveSimonH

Ordered:


Elf - £4.99
Flowers of War - £1.15
The Host - £1.14
It's a Wonderful Life - £6.50


Ordered some blu-rays along with a few DVDs via musicMagpie, CeX & DVD_Overstocks on ebay. I'm interested to see if 'Flowers of War' arrives, as the Magpie listing has it titled "The Flowers of War Blu-Ray (Hong Kong Im Blu-ray". But uses the EAN code for, according to playasia, a 'Sin City' video CD.

When it arrived it was actually the other item, a 'Sin City' VideoCD, couple of pictures here;

[Show spoiler]

I knew of Video CDs, but had never had one in hand, they are an interesting oddity. Due to the limitations of the format, the film is a heavily compressed MPEG video at 352x240, burnt-in subs and is spread across 2 CDs.
Here's the media info of the main dat file on the first disc;

[Show spoiler]

General
Complete name : G:\MPEGAV\AVSEQ05.DAT
Format : CDXA/MPEG-PS
File size : 670 MiB
Duration : 1h 6mn
Overall bit rate : 1 412 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 1
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=18
Duration : 1h 6mn
Bit rate : 1 150 Kbps
Width : 352 pixels
Height : 240 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.454
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00
Time code source : Group of pictures header
GOP, Open/Closed : Open
GOP, Open/Closed of first f : Closed
Stream size : 551 MiB (82%)

Audio
ID : 192 (0xC0)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 1h 6mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 106 MiB (16%)

Here's a couple of comparisons, the VCD vs the US blu-ray & DE DVD (captures from caps-a-holic). Also added them to the screenshotcomparison site, but have included the unedited screens below & imgur links of the blu & dvd counterparts (as the sceenshot site has dumped their database before).

VCD 01


Blu-ray 01

[Show spoiler]

DVD 01

[Show spoiler]

VCD 02


Blu-ray 02

[Show spoiler]

DVD 02

[Show spoiler]

[David M]

You ordered a BD and received a VCD? Of the wrong movie? Wow!

[lateralspin]

So funny. VCD format is no longer supported on blu ray players, hence I disposed of the lot.
The Chinese manufactured and sold a lot of VCD players.

[svenge]

VCD was also rather popular in SE Asia as well.

[David M]

I read once that the humidity in those regions sometimes caused issues with magentic tape mechanisms so optical media was preferred even when the quality was worse, but this could just be one of those "repeatable stories" without a basis in reality.

Encoding for VCD was wild though - you needed really good prefiltering to get watchable results out of MPEG1 at those rates.

[DaveSimonH]

Originally Posted by David M

You ordered a BD and received a VCD? Of the wrong movie? Wow!

Yeah a bit of an odd one, but got immediate refund.
When buying from musicMagpie on ebay, always check the EAN/barcode as that is what they are sending out. A few months back I ordered the German release of Halloween H20 from them, and it's listing on ebay was (and still is on Amazon) "InLine screw set with screwdriver".
They don't sell imports on their own store, but I've got a fair few via their Amazon & ebay stores.

[Ste7en]

Wow. I had no idea VCDs were ever compatible with BD players.

I remember the (short lived) giddy excitement when people realised you could play them in DVD players. We used to rush to various 'Chinatowns' and pick a heap of Cat III titles up for a few quid a pop. They all ended up in the bin