Dawn of the Dead (1978) - OUT OF PRINT

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I have the anchor bay dvd... Is the anchor bay blu ray worth 40 bucks in that case? Is the picture quality that much better?

No, I'll say wait for a definitive release.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I have the anchor bay dvd... Is the anchor bay blu ray worth 40 bucks in that case? Is the picture quality that much better?

It's more or less the same master as the '04 DVD.

[buck135]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I have the anchor bay dvd... Is the anchor bay blu ray worth 40 bucks in that case? Is the picture quality that much better?

You're better off with the DVD.

[Dailyan]

It's a damn shame that each release seems to be more problematic than the last.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

It's more or less the same master as the '04 DVD.

Originally Posted by buck135

You're better off with the DVD.

Yeah, I'll probably do that. Paying 40 bucks for one movie (even if DOTD is one of my favs) when its probably only a slight update of the DVD probably isn't wise.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

Yeah, I'll probably do that. Paying 40 bucks for one movie (even if DOTD is one of my favs) when its probably only a slight update of the DVD probably isn't wise.

Yeah. I managed to find my copy for 10 bucks a long while ago. Definitely not worth 40.

[thegrizzlymig]

I'm a first-time user, just got this set and I must say... I don't know what the hell you people are complaining about. The picture quality looked incredible to me. I had this ordered from Amazon Italy, and in the meantime had seen the comments here about "pulsating" noise, soft textures, zoomed-in footage, etc. so I was ready to be disappointed. Then I popped in the European Cut disc (the regular one, I don't have a 4K player nor a 4K TV) and Jesus Christ, I guess I must either be blind or you guys must be overly into these things... Picture quality looked fine, grain was minimal, there was no "pulsating" noise (what the hell is even that?) and no soft textures aside some scenes where the camera was slightly out of focus. The color also looked fine besides that weird staircase fluorescent light. Other than that, I was so relieved. Sound was also good, nothing spectacular but you could hear the dialogue well and Goblin's soundtrack was top notch. The same applies to the full aperture version

Haven't seen the theatrical cut nor the Extended Version, but I'm guessing it's the same.

I honestly don't know what you guys are "seeing" that I'm not.

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by thegrizzlymig

I'm a first-time user, just got this set and I must say... I don't know what the hell you people are complaining about. The picture quality looked incredible to me. I had this ordered from Amazon Italy, and in the meantime had seen the comments here about "pulsating" noise, soft textures, zoomed-in footage, etc. so I was ready to be disappointed. Then I popped in the European Cut disc (the regular one, I don't have a 4K player nor a 4K TV) and Jesus Christ, I guess I must either be blind or you guys must be overly into these things... Picture quality looked fine, grain was minimal, there was no "pulsating" noise (what the hell is even that?) and no soft textures aside some scenes where the camera was slightly out of focus. The color also looked fine besides that weird staircase fluorescent light. Other than that, I was so relieved. Sound was also good, nothing spectacular but you could hear the dialogue well and Goblin's soundtrack was top notch. The same applies to the full aperture version

Haven't seen the theatrical cut nor the Extended Version, but I'm guessing it's the same.

I honestly don't know what you guys are "seeing" that I'm not.

I find that your statement " grain was minimal" a little telling. I did think the restoration was rather good.......up to actual viewing, still thought it was good but could be done much much better in the right hands.

[Jrallen191]

Originally Posted by thegrizzlymig

I'm a first-time user, just got this set and I must say... I don't know what the hell you people are complaining about. The picture quality looked incredible to me. I had this ordered from Amazon Italy, and in the meantime had seen the comments here about "pulsating" noise, soft textures, zoomed-in footage, etc. so I was ready to be disappointed. Then I popped in the European Cut disc (the regular one, I don't have a 4K player nor a 4K TV) and Jesus Christ, I guess I must either be blind or you guys must be overly into these things... Picture quality looked fine, grain was minimal, there was no "pulsating" noise (what the hell is even that?) and no soft textures aside some scenes where the camera was slightly out of focus. The color also looked fine besides that weird staircase fluorescent light. Other than that, I was so relieved. Sound was also good, nothing spectacular but you could hear the dialogue well and Goblin's soundtrack was top notch. The same applies to the full aperture version

Haven't seen the theatrical cut nor the Extended Version, but I'm guessing it's the same.

I honestly don't know what you guys are "seeing" that I'm not.

Watched 2 of the cuts. Looks fine and great price

But to answer your question - people just like to complain and you have various people who think they're experts - and there's numerous sheep who were downing the release before even receiving, and maybe never ordered in first place

[bigdaddyhorse]

I think the AB disc looks fine. Sure it could be better, but I've never noticed the ghosting and other stuff I see in screenshots, when in motion. Still not worth $40, unless it's my copy you want to buy.

I don't think any release of any movie from anywhere has got nothing but praise and positives on this site. Some members have eagle eyes for anything, and find something wrong with everything. If I listened to every diss of any disc, my collection would be much smaller and I'd be more miserable, cuz I wouldn't have a library of movies to watch.

[buck135]

Originally Posted by thegrizzlymig

I'm a first-time user, just got this set and I must say... I don't know what the hell you people are complaining about. The picture quality looked incredible to me. I had this ordered from Amazon Italy, and in the meantime had seen the comments here about "pulsating" noise, soft textures, zoomed-in footage, etc. so I was ready to be disappointed. Then I popped in the European Cut disc (the regular one, I don't have a 4K player nor a 4K TV) and Jesus Christ, I guess I must either be blind or you guys must be overly into these things... Picture quality looked fine, grain was minimal, there was no "pulsating" noise (what the hell is even that?) and no soft textures aside some scenes where the camera was slightly out of focus. The color also looked fine besides that weird staircase fluorescent light. Other than that, I was so relieved. Sound was also good, nothing spectacular but you could hear the dialogue well and Goblin's soundtrack was top notch. The same applies to the full aperture version

Haven't seen the theatrical cut nor the Extended Version, but I'm guessing it's the same.

I honestly don't know what you guys are "seeing" that I'm not.

Everything you are describing is accurate when describing the 4K disc. It's a mess.

[thegrizzlymig]

Originally Posted by buck135

Everything you are describing is accurate when describing the 4K disc. It's a mess.

But I didn't complain about almost anything. If I hadn't seen these comments before buying the set I wouldn't even have been on the lookout for compression issues or other image malfunction. If the quality of the standard Blu-rays are any indicative of the quality of the 4K, then it surely is good. So why is it a mess? :/

[thegrizzlymig]

Originally Posted by tele1962

I find that your statement " grain was minimal" a little telling. I did think the restoration was rather good.......up to actual viewing, still thought it was good but could be done much much better in the right hands.

When I say that grain was minimal I mean that grain felt "natural". I'm not really into this sort of technical talk so there's no other way to describe it.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by thegrizzlymig

When I say that grain was minimal I mean that grain felt "natural". I'm not really into this sort of technical talk so there's no other way to describe it.

There are lots of technical terms to describe these things, but if you don't know what those terms mean, then you won't really know what you should be looking for. If you're happy with how it looks, then that's all that really should matter.

[Norbie]

Went back to see what the blu-ray was like ...

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dawn-...ay/518/#Review

... does this release really contain a 4 1/2 stars transfer?

[NegaScott128]

Originally Posted by Norbie

Went back to see what the blu-ray was like ...

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dawn-...ay/518/#Review

... does this release really contain a 4 1/2 stars transfer?

4.5 stars in 2007 =/= 4.5 stars in 2016. The standards for what Blu-Ray can do and how good a catalog title could look weren't established yet.

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by thegrizzlymig

I'm a first-time user, just got this set and I must say... I don't know what the hell you people are complaining about...

Sure, some people are using hyperbole describing the transfer, but I think you're misunderstanding what people are really complaining about.

The transfer (when I write "transfer" I'll be referring to the European Cut) isn't an abomination, and obviously being a HD transfer it is better than the one on the Anchor Bay 4 disc DVD set. So if you are watching the film for the first time on BD then yes, the new transfer would look fantastic.

The real issue I believe is that after all the hype talked by the producers of the Italian release we expected much more than what we got. I expected the new transfer to kick arse over the one I have with the Umbrella release from Australia, but it didn't and that's why I'm and others are disappointed with the Italian set. Although, I'm not as disappointed as others as I really like the aperture edit despite looking really "raw", and having all cuts in HD. What I really hate about the set is the crappy case and the crappy quality of the art cards. It really cheapens the set.

The Anchor Bay 4-Disc set is a thing of beauty (despite it only being an SD transfer, everything else is fantastic and it will take a lot for people to finally put it away and off their "definitive list"), so if you have that set along with an earlier blu-ray release then the Italian release is not really worth the upgrade.

I can't really say anything about the 4K disc as I don't have a system to play those discs yet.

But in the end what really should matter to you is your opinion. If you love the Italian release and see nothing wrong with it then that's great, you didn't waste your money and now you have one of your favourite films with a really good HD transfer. Enjoy it on a cold and windy night. I've learned that over analysing a blu-ray release can ruin my enjoyment of watching the movie. So unless the disc is riddled with issues that takes me away from a movie I don't let them control my enjoyment of the film I'm watching. I'm a much happier person for it. Then there are those that are perfectly happy to go through a transfer with a fine tooth comb on their awesome audio/video systems. That's cool too. I'd like to thank them for Patton and Spartacus, although I think you're far to heavy on Children of Paradise.

Anyway....

Remember that the complaints are due mainly to expectations and not that there is something horribly wrong with the new transfer. Both new and previous blu-ray releases have issues, just the old one has a few more.

If you are a Dawn of the Dead fanatic you still get more out of the Italian release over any of the English friendly ones. You get all cuts in HD (US/UK/Australia sets had only the Theatrical in HD) without the high price of the Japanese release, and despite the raw presentation of the full aperture edit the film looks like it was shot yesterday once you fast-forward the opening credits. Just remember, full aperture means full aperture, its not the same as open matte like I though. What you see on the full aperture edit is almost everything that was caught on film along with things such as splices when the film was put together.

But damn ... the Italian set could have been so much more.

The sad and frustrating thing is that won't get what this film deserves until Mr. Rubinstein realises no one wants his 3D version for the price he is asking (it's been reported he spent millions on it). He surely must realise that he won't sell the rights for all the "billion of dollars" that he wants for them.

But with all English friendly BD releases being out of print, maybe the time will be sooner then later before we get what the film deserves.

[Member-167298]

At this point, can Rubinstein be blackmailed or something? This guy is committing a crime against humanity by selfishly holding onto a classic film like this.

Seriously, open season on this jerk.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

At this point, can Rubinstein be blackmailed or something? This guy is committing a crime against humanity by selfishly holding onto a classic film like this.

While we're at it, blackmail him into putting Martin out on blu-ray too.

[barrett75]

i've already posted this on the italian section of this forum, but it's worth repeating: for those who bought the Italian MF Blu Ray of Dawn of the Dead, Koch Media has started a replacement program for the encoding issue and it appears they will ship internationally. just write an email at: zombi@kochmedia.com