Taiwan and Chinese 3D Conversions / Autoconversions

[hotandserious]

Original post:


There’s already a thread about the Taiwan release of Dr. No in 3D here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=215055

But the same company (Bit Wel) is now offering Hitchcock’s Rope & Kurosawa’s Rashômon as 3D Blu-rays?!

I don’t have a lot of hope that these are going to be any better than the notorious German conversions, but curiosity has gotten the best of me and I’m trying to get physical copies in.

Anyone have any additional info on these?

Yesasia has had Rope up for orders for a while now. I’ll post updates when the discs arrive.

[Jsmith82]

Originally Posted by hotandserious

There’s already a thread about the Taiwan release of Dr. No in 3D here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=215055

But the same company (Bit Wel) is now offering Hitchcock’s Rope & Kurosawa’s Rashômon as 3D Blu-rays?!

I don’t have a lot of hope that these are going to be any better than the notorious German conversions, but curiosity has gotten the best of me and I’m trying to get physical copies in.

Anyone have any additional info on these?

Yesasia has had Rope up for orders for a while now. I’ll post updates when the discs arrive.

Mikeatron85 found some example pics showing the 3d quality of Dr. NO, here are the links:

http://postimage.org/image/t5st5d39z/
http://postimage.org/image/dgk5ga7hh/
http://postimage.org/image/cymipaw9j/
http://postimage.org/image/4bge03gij/

Please do post back your thoughts on the 3d, the Dr. No had me curious but I wasn't convinced to leap.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by hotandserious

But the same company (Bit Wel) is now offering Hitchcock’s Rope & Kurosawa’s Rashômon as 3D Blu-rays?!

Wow! More Taiwanese fakes!

(And does anyone else have any explanation for Hitchcock's Rope besides "Yeah, we probably did Dial M, too!" Pretty much what those Rear Window fakers were hoping to get away with.)

Anyone have any additional info on these?

No.

[Mao]

Saw a listing for three 3D titles from Taiwan on a label called Bit Wel:

Dr. No
Rashomon
Rope

that are listed as Region A.

Pretty skeptical....does anyone own or has anyone seen any of these in 3D?

[hotandserious]

Okay - so I got all three of the Bit Wel classic 3D conversions in!
I ordered from JSDVD.com and it was a very good experience. They were quick to answer questions and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Here is a link to their shop: http://dvd.jsdvd.com/index.php?language=us

There is no region info listed, but I tested in my Region A and B player and they worked, so these are likely region free.

The packaging of these is very nice and slick - all three come in black blu-ray cases with slipcovers and will look good sitting on the shelf with the rest of my collection. Unfortunately that's where they are going to be spending most of their time - LOL. These conversions aren't going to be hitting IMAX theaters any time soon.

These appear to be auto conversions in the spirit of the horrid German releases that have been discussed ad nauseam on the board. I've found two kinds of German conversions out there - the more common seems to essentially take the movie and push it a few inches back into the screen (Titanic 2), while others seem to make poorly educated guesses that result in lots of weird errors (Loooser 3D / aka The Grand). These are more like the latter, though it's more conservative in its use. What you come away with is a distorted picture that on rare occasions, accidentally stumbles upon something that looks like proper 3D - but that illusion is quickly shattered as soon as the camera pans or a character moves across the frame.

I watched Dr. No in its entirety and sampled Rope and Rashomon. I can't imagine anyone coming away from a viewing at all satisfied with these, but I found it to be a kind of fun exercise. When a scene almost "makes it", I'd always find myself thinking "Okay - now if they had pushed this railing further out of the frame, and pushed that grate back, this shot would have worked" -LOL. I did come away thinking Dr. No could look really super in 3D if only there was a hand guiding it along.

The bit I sampled of Rope seemed to have less 3D applied than Dr. No - and Rashomon almost looks like it works here and there, but I haven't seen enough to have an opinion as to which is the least horrible. I feel safe in saying these are all in the same ballpark quality-wise.

One other thing - who is this on the cover of Bit Wel's Dial M For Murder release? That doesn't look anything like Grace Kelly to me, at first I thought it was Joan Collins - LOL. Anyone know the origin of this photo?


Anyway, you'll find the Blu-ray.com links for all of the Bit Well releases here:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movie...leasetimestamp

Also in the package from JSDVD was another classic 3D conversion and I've got good news to report on this one...


The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven 3D Blu-ray (China)
is Region ABC. Finally a worthy classic 3D conversion! The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven is based on the 16th century classical Chinese novel “Journey to the West” by Wu Ch’eng-en. The blu-ray presents the frame-for-frame restoration and 3D rendering of the original 1961 Wan Laiming film, China’s most celebrated work of animation. The restoration and 3D conversion was a big-budget collaboration between the Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Technicolor and is on par with the quality of Disney's animated Blu-ray restorations.

For a great write up on the film, read this user review from blu-ray.com member toddly6666:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-M...4/#UserReviews

The 3D conversion is incredibly well done (though quite conservative) and in keeping with what the film would have looked like in 3D if the cells had been filmed that way back in 1961. To compare it to something already released on Blu-ray, the use of 3D is similar to the 1953 Donald Duck short Working For Peanuts on the Disney 3D Showcase disc, rather than the recent conversions of The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast.

This is an incredible looking film - there is nothing else like this out there in 3D and the "metalpack" packaging is very nice - very highly recommended!

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-M...Blu-ray/53984/

[hotandserious]

Hi Mao - I started a thread about these a while back and just got all three of them in. The news isn't good - here is a quick review of what I found:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=216922

[Taygan315]

Originally Posted by hotandserious

Okay - so I got all three of the Bit Wel classic 3D conversions in!
I ordered from JSDVD.com and it was a very good experience. They were quick to answer questions and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Here is a link to their shop: http://dvd.jsdvd.com/index.php?language=us

The packaging of these is very nice and slick - all three come in black blu-ray cases with slipcovers and will look good sitting on the shelf with the rest of my collection. Unfortunately that's where they are going to be spending most of their time - LOL. These conversions aren't going to be hitting IMAX theaters any time soon.

These appear to be auto conversions in the spirit of the horrid German releases that have been discussed ad nauseam on the board. I've found two kinds of German conversions out there - the more common seems to essentially take the movie and push it a few inches back into the screen (Titanic 2), while others seem to make poorly educated guesses that result in lots of weird errors (Loooser 3D / aka The Grand). These are more like the latter, though it's more conservative in its use. What you come away with is a distorted picture that on rare occasions, accidentally stumbles upon something that looks like proper 3D - but that illusion is quickly shattered as soon as the camera pans or a character moves across the frame.

I watched Dr. No in its entirety and sampled Rope and Rashomon. I can't imagine anyone coming away from a viewing at all satisfied with these, but I found it to be a kind of fun exercise. When a scene almost "makes it", I'd always find myself thinking "Okay - now if they had pushed this railing further out of the frame, and pushed that grate back this shot would have worked" -LOL. I did come away thinking Dr. No could look really super in 3D if only there was a hand guiding it along.

The bit a I sampled of Rope seemed to have less 3D applied than Dr. No - and Rashomon almost looks like it works here and there, but I haven't seen enough to have an opinion as to which is the least horrible. I feel safe in saying these are all in the same ballpark quality-wise.

One other thing - who is this on the cover of Bit Wel's Dial M For Murder release? That doesn't look anything like Grace Kelly to me, at first I thought it was Joan Collins - LOL. Anyone know the origin of this photo?


Anyway, you'll find the Blu-ray.com links for all of the Bit Well releases here:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movie...leasetimestamp

Also in the package from JSDVD was another classic 3D conversion and I've got good news to report on this one...


The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven 3D Blu-ray (China)
is Region ABC. Finally a worthy classic 3D conversion! The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven is based on the 16th century classical Chinese novel “Journey to the West” by Wu Ch’eng-en. The blu-ray presents the frame-for-frame restoration and 3D rendering of the original 1961 Wan Laiming film, China’s most celebrated work of animation. The restoration and 3D conversion was a big-budget collaboration between the Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Technicolor and is on par with the quality of Disney's animated Blu-ray restorations.

For a great write up on the film, read this user review from blu-ray.com member toddly6666:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-M...4/#UserReviews

The 3D conversion is incredibly well done (though quite conservative) and in keeping with what the film would have looked like in 3D if the cells had been filmed that way back in 1961. To compare it to something already released on Blu-ray, the use of 3D is similar to the 1953 Donald Duck short Working For Peanuts on the Disney 3D Showcase disc, rather than the recent conversions of The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast.

This is an incredible looking film - there is nothing else like this out there in 3D and the "metalpack" packaging is very nice - very highly recommended!

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-M...Blu-ray/53984/

The woman on the cover of that Dial M For Murder pic looks like Charlize Theron....but I know that can't be right.

[punkskins]

It is Charlize Theron there was a magazine out in 2008 with modern actors recreating famous Hitckcock scenes.

[hotandserious]

Originally Posted by punkskins

It is Charlize Theron there was a magazine out in 2008 with modern actors recreating famous Hitckcock scenes.

Okay - thanks! - mystery solved! I found the entire photo on this blog:
http://tickertalksfilm.blogspot.co.a...or-murder.html

[punkskins]

Originally Posted by hotandserious

Okay - thanks! - mystery solved! I found the entire photo on this blog:
http://tickertalksfilm.blogspot.co.a...or-murder.html

Here it is with the rest of the pictures http://pinewooddesign.co.uk/2008/03/...cock-classics/

[BleedOrange11]

Thanks for the reviews. The Monkey King looks pretty interesting.

By looking more like Working for Peanuts, do you mean that there are less attempts at rounding the edges of objects/characters?

[hotandserious]

Originally Posted by BleedOrange11

Thanks for the reviews. The Monkey King looks pretty interesting.

By looking more like Working for Peanuts, do you mean that there are less attempts at rounding the edges of objects/characters?

Exactly - it looks like 3D animation of its time, before computers were introduced as a tool. Each animated layer exists on its own plane. If you saw any of the old 3D viewmaster reels of Saturday morning cartoon shows, the look is like that (Though the 3D is not as strong as those).

I should also add that, in my case, I didn't find myself at all invested in the characters - ala classic Disney films or old Warner Bros movies. The Monkey King is a jerk (& not a lovable one like Bugs Bunny) and the whole thing sort of plays as a curiosity to my Western eyes. But from a technical standpoint, it's a beautiful film and it's obvious a lot of work went into its creation and restoration.

I have seen none of them but the names sound pretty interesting. I must check them at least once.

[hotandserious]

Originally Posted by melissaarnold

I have seen none of them but the names sound pretty interesting. I must check them at least once.

All three are good films - but see them in 2D as they were filmed. The 3D conversions suck.

[HomeEntertainment]

Originally Posted by hotandserious

All three are good films - but see them in 2D as they were filmed. The 3D conversions suck.

Good to know ahead of time, I wasn't sure how they would fair, shame they didn't turn out better.

[toddly6666]

Some old films have already been released on 3D bluray - James Bond, Hitchcock, Kurusawa, etc. What's the verdict on them?


Im still waiting for an electronic store to play an old 3D film on their 3D displays rather than showing off Avatar.

[Jsmith82]

I'd say the verdict is today's 3D film makers need to take notes from their elders, haha.

Edit: by the way, James Bond 3d? Guess you're talking Dr. No? That is an awful "fake" conversion, be sure to research that the older 3d films you want to purchase were legitimately filmed in 3d.

[Weeksy]

I found the 3D on "Creature from the Black Lagoon" a little murky in places, but for the most part it was fine - "House of Wax" on the other hand was great from start to finish.

[keb33509]

To answer your question OP, get them! Only get the REAL, TRUE 3D classics, however. They may never look any better than they do today. As far as 3D goes, most of them have stronger effects than what's produced today. If you have any interest at all in Man in The Dark 3D, I would order that ASAP. There is no telling how long it will take them to sell out the 3000 available.

[paul5939]

Merciful God....I watched Amtyville 3d last night.....awful....strong 3d but it was blurred and out of focus....the problem is that this is the same way it was at the cinema ! I always remember the by product of the Arravision filming process is that you get lovely depth and pop but terrible focus issues....and God it showed Anyway House of Wax puts it to shame !