Under Siege / Under Siege 2

[McCrutchy]

It looks like Warner will finally release both Under Siege (1992) and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) on Blu-ray later this year. Curiously, I cannot find any import edition of either film which has German options, so it seems that these discs will be the first ever Blu-ray of either film with German support. At least initially, Warner will make the films available as BD/DVD Mediabooks, apparently distributed through a new label called Omega. Right now, the specs appear to be unconfirmed, but clearly, we must proceed from an assumption that the video will be the same VC-1 encode, and the audio Dolby Digital 5.1. Barring an announcement from Warner worldwide, I would not expect the transfer or HD master to be any different, but the encoding could be.

The first film will be released on 15 July 2016, while the sequel will follow on 5 August 2016. Currently, only the first film is listed on Amazon.de.

[wesslan]

First one needs 4K and atmos!

Very nice movies but that lossy audio and old codec makes me wait some more....

[McCrutchy]

FYI--It seems that both of these releases are best avoided.

Apparently, Warner must have allowed the local distributor (Studio Hamburg) to perform the disc authoring and encoding, and the result is English and German lossy Dolby Digital audio, improperly synced to 1080/50i encodes. This means that, like PAL DVD, the films were either improperly converted from 1080p video, or are from 1080/50i masters, which run 4% faster than they should (e.g.: 100 minutes is now 96 minutes), The latter of the two is now more common, and since that is likely the problem here, I expect that it may be due to using masters prepared for the uncut German DVD versions, and not performing due diligence.

Regardless, it appears from translating German forums that both discs are affected, and the first film, which I was most hoping would see a superior release here, may even have additional DNR added, to boot, but this is speculative at this time.

If anyone from WB reads this, please at least remaster and re-release Under Siege (1992) in time for its 25th anniversary in 2017.

[Jompa]

Look here: http://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=3488

[Markgway]

Apart from the 1080i/25ps debacle, the DE has added DNR.

A pointless release when Warner's better compressed BD is region free.

But wait... it's a MEDIABOOK, OOH!

[Sky_Captain]

Rot by name, lol

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Rot by name, lol

[SwissHD]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Apart from the 1080i/25ps debacle, the DE has added DNR.

DNR?
I don't see any of that.

The german disc just has overall worser compression.
But the warner is not perfect either in terms of compression.

[wesslan]

Those movies really need lossless audio and a new scan. We got most of van damme now so warner better fix this!

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by SwissHD

DNR?
I don't see any of that.

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=...4&l=0&i=6&go=1

[SwissHD]

Originally Posted by Markgway

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=...4&l=0&i=6&go=1

Thats no DNR.
This are compression issues.
In this shot both blu rays dont shine btw.
The AT is just worser all in all.

[McCrutchy]

New SteelBook editions are now 1080p AVC, but still BD-25 and still 448 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (WB uses 640 kbps):

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=9863&d2=8613&c=3488

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=9862&d2=8766&c=3529

[Geoff D]

And yet the old VC-1 encode of Under Siege still looks less filtered/poorly compressed. Heh.

[wesslan]

Why oh why is it so hard to make these in good quality....it's not like they were direct to video back in the days (atleast not the first) so should be some good elements tucked away somewhere. And seen much older and worse movies get nice hd audio upgrade...grrr :/

[zepol]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Why oh why is it so hard to make these in good quality....it's not like they were direct to video back in the days (atleast not the first) so should be some good elements tucked away somewhere. And seen much older and worse movies get nice hd audio upgrade...grrr :/

I think it's the guy working on it.

[zepol]

UNDER SIEGE on bluray sounded very good. I was hearing sounds and it felt like I was on the battleship. How can it get better on 4k I thought. UNDER SIEGE 2 was just good picture & sound.

[NDcowboy]

Would you double dip for Erika Eleniak in 4K?

[Markgway]

Just had another look at these titles on Caps and it seems that the Studio Hamburg discs have English 2.0 audio.

Anyone know if this is the original stereo AWOL since the laserdisc era?

Question only really applies to Siege 1 as Siege 2 was theatrical DD 5.1 anyways.

Neither the Warner nor Hamburg discs are great shakes in the video department but might be worth a double dip for the audio.

The AT. discs (wrong speed, ugly compression) should be consigned to the bin.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Just had another look at these titles on Caps and it seems that the Studio Hamburg discs have English 2.0 audio.

Anyone know if this is the original stereo AWOL since the laserdisc era?

Question only really applies to Siege 1 as Siege 2 was theatrical DD 5.1 anyways.

Neither the Warner nor Hamburg discs are great shakes in the video department but might be worth a double dip for the audio.

The AT. discs (wrong speed, ugly compression) should be consigned to the bin.

Under Siege was in 4-channel dolby surround theatrically.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Under Siege was in 4-channel dolby surround theatrically.

You very rarely see 4.0 stereo on discs though. 90% of the time they're matrixed to 2.0.

As long as the DE disc's 2.0 track is original I'm happy with that (it's what would have been on the laserdisc and VHS releases).