Paradise Alley

[Dickieduvet]

Just stumbled across this on Amazon.it

http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00G...rd_i=426865031

[Torrente]

I wonder how this BD looks like... (I love this movie)

Such a shame it's not easy to find accurate italian reviews with HD screenshots...

[Dickieduvet]

I read one Italian review that roughly stated that it looks as to be expected for it's age, without any digital clean-up. No screenshots though!

Might take a gamble when all the items in my basket at Amazon.it come back into stock

[dunlambert]

Well I bit and ordered it yesterday so will let you know what I think of it. Although it says eta 16 Apr to 2 May so might be a while.

Is Amazon IT usually so slow in dispatching a Blu I ordered from them on the 2nd April still has not shipped but has an ETA 8 Apr. Oh well will have to wait.

[Dickieduvet]

Full review with screens found here:

http://www.dvdweb.it/View_News/20140..._Paradiso.html

Mpeg-2 encode but with a healthy bitrate!

Doesn't look filtered so that's something.

I'll give it a try

[Sodslaw]

I remember this being on tv as a kid,another one to get for sure.
Pulp Video are a frickin great resource for classic movies.

[Dickieduvet]

Their releases are getting better it seems, hopeful now for the Stephen King flicks they're putting out.

[Ill_Be_Back]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

Full review with screens found here:

http://www.dvdweb.it/View_News/20140..._Paradiso.html

Mpeg-2 encode but with a healthy bitrate!

Doesn't look filtered so that's something.

I'll give it a try

The screenshots look pretty good but does it have lossless English audio?

[Dickieduvet]

Pretty sure it's just Dolby Digital.

[dunlambert]

My copy arrived today. I like the inside cover which is a reproduction of the one sheet Paradise Alley poster which covers both panels.

Only had a chance to jump through the chapters tonight on my TV as I usually project most films in my 11 seater cinema on a 9 ft wide screen but I have to say it's not that bad at all. Although the opening title sequence of the race across the roof tops is a bit to dark for my liking I can't remember what the DVD looked like.

From what I have seen it looks clean didn't spot any dirt damage. The opening titles are all in English. Picture was pretty sharp, grain seemed intact no waxy faces. I wouldn't be as technical as most here who review blu ray but I know what I will accept and so far this easily falls into that category.

Audio seemed good and in sync through the basic TV Speakers but I will wait to pass full judgement on that when I play it through my proper cinema sound system.

So for me although some scenes seemed a little dark it looks like a good buy as who knows if this film would get a release anywhere else any time soon. Looking forward to watching it properly.

[Dickieduvet]

Thanks for that, mine's on the way! Not seen it in years.

[DMRI2006]

I was severely disappointed with this one myself. MPEG-2 transfer really looked dirty and IMO very difficult to see much detail over the Universal U.S. DVD. Not saying it's an upscale, but not a real big difference and I was watching on a '60 set. I've likewise heard bad things about their MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE release too

[oldwwf]

This looks good big upgrade from the DVD

[Jeeva]

Can you tell me if it has removable subtitles when playing the English soundtrack?

Thanks in advance...

[Dickieduvet]

Yep! Fully removable.

[Jeeva]

Thanks for the heads up...

I just watched the version that came on the triple movie Stallone-disc with 'Nighthawks' and 'Death Race 2000'. While those two have pretty decent picture quality, 'Paradise Alley' is a soft murky affair...

Ordered the Italian version now as an upgrade. Those screen caps look much better than the German version does.

[DMRI2006]

It's definitely not an upgrade, more of a pick your poison situation. That Stallone "box" German release is AVC encoded and has DNR, and is as you said, soft and murky. The Italian release is MPEG-2 and does not have as much DNR. The issue is it's quite possibly an upscale, and at least to my eyes looks worse than the German release because it's so dirty. There's no more detail in the transfer anyway. Neither is a good transfer, but at least with the German disc you get a decent presentation of Nighthawks.