The StudioCanal Collection Discussion Thread

[Melodious Thunk]

Originally Posted by cool hand bluke

Interesting. Bearing in mind that screengrabs don't tell the whole story, regarding The Third Man, the only capture that matches dvdbeavers is the one in the sewer. Sure looks dnr'd to me Glad I got the Criterion and can play region A over here in B-land. When you think of all the titles Studio Canal have....It's depressing!

DVDBeaver now has a direct comparison of both releases. Looks DNR'd to me too, and slightly horizontally stretched to boot.

Studio Canal are frustratingly inconsistent. Sometimes their releases are stellar, sometimes they spoil them like this.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Melodious Thunk

Studio Canal are frustratingly inconsistent. Sometimes their releases are stellar, sometimes they spoil them like this.

While the prints on their releases do vary somewhat, I do find it intriguing that, by and large, SC BDs are excellent on all fronts until they come up against a Criterion release. I happen to think that Studio Canal are doing an excellent job, given that in Europe especially, they could be thought of as a comparable distributor to the American majors, who routinely err in even major releases. Criterion, on the other hand, has mastered (pun intended) the art of digital restoration for home viewing through various mediums over twenty-five years. I'm glad to see many of these SC BDs, and I don't think it's fair to expect Criterion-quality from anyone other than Criterion.

[BigNickUK]

Hi. Can anyone confirm whether there is any difference with the upcoming Studio Canal digibook of The Pianist over the earlier Optimum release this year? (Other than packaging obviously)

[nametag]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Hi. Can anyone confirm whether there is any difference with the upcoming Studio Canal digibook of The Pianist over the earlier Optimum release this year? (Other than packaging obviously)

I seem to remember this might have been asked on their facebook group, and they said that all were getting 'new transfers' - but whether they hold to this remains to be seen!

[huntauk]

My copy of Le Cercle Rouge arrived this moring, should get round to watching it Sunday evening.

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by xradman

I decided to go with the UK versions of StudioCanal Collection rather than the US versions due to these being DigiBook cases and having original titles rather than English titles. I was surprised to see that there is no official thread on the StudioCanal Collection. As far as I can tell from Amazon.co.uk listings, there has been 3 set of releases to date.

September 28, 2009

Belle de Jour (1967)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Elephant Man (1980)
L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year in Marienbad) (1961)
The Lost Honour Of Katharina Blum (1975)
Le Mepris (Contempt) (1963)
Ran (1985)

February 15, 2010

The Ladykillers (1955)

September 13, 2010

Breathless (1959)
Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Delicatessen (1991)
The Graduate (1967)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
The Pianist (2002)
The Third Man (1949)

It's strange that The Ladykillers is the only one that was released on February 15, 2010.

At least 2 of the UK releases do not have their original titles- 'Breathless' (A Bout De Souffle) and 'The Lost Honor Of Katharina Blum' (Die Verlorene Ehre Der Katharina Blum).

[Dubliner1]

The UK blus of 'The Elephant Man' has chapters and the old U.S. DVD did not and the UK blu of Mulholland Drive does not have chapters whereas the original U.S. DVD did if memory serves me correctly...bit strange.
Also, some of the new slate of UK releases start off with the trailer for 'The StudioCanal Collection' in HD while others have it in SD (Mulholland Drive).

[xradman]

Originally Posted by Dubliner1

The UK blus of 'The Elephant Man' has chapters and the old U.S. DVD did not and the UK blu of Mulholland Drive does not have chapters whereas the original U.S. DVD did if memory serves me correctly...bit strange.
Also, some of the new slate of UK releases start off with the trailer for 'The StudioCanal Collection' in HD while others have it in SD (Mulholland Drive).

Contempt looks out of place once you place it like that. You need to replace that with the UK version pronto.

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by xradman

Contempt looks out of place once you place it like that. You need to replace that with the UK version pronto.

lol- you know I'm still trying to remember why I bought the US version when I could have bought the UK one locally. I think it may have been on sale- I'm sure the specs are the same. Yes now that I think about it it cost me about $20 shipped from US to Ireland and UK versions sell for 29 euros here-almost $38!!!

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by xradman

Contempt looks out of place once you place it like that. You need to replace that with the UK version pronto.

Just fyi, there are a few other titles in the StudioCanal Collection you did not mention available around Europe...here's one of them....

http://www.amazon.de/s?__mk_de_DE=%C...ndor&x=20&y=14

However, the US Paramount(?) version of 3 Days Of The Condor has almost double the bitrate so I assume it may actually look better than the StudioCanal version...

U.S....

Video: MPEG-4 AVC / 1080p24 / 2.35:1 / 38.63 Mbps
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48 kHz / 24-bit / 3085 kbps)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)

StudioCanal Collection....

Video: VC-1 / 1080p24 / 2.35:1 / 20.96 Mbps
Audio: English DTS-HD Master 5.1 (48 kHz / 16-bit / 2006 kbps)
English DTS-HD Master 2.0 (48 kHz / 16-bit / 1076 kbps)
French DTS-HD Master 2.0 (48 kHz / 16-bit / 904 kbps)
German DTS-HD Master 2.0 (48 kHz / 16-bit / 853 kbps)
Spanish DTS-HD Master 2.0 (48 kHz / 16-bit / 976 kbps)

[ImportFanatic]

Originally Posted by dubliner1

also, some of the new slate of uk releases start off with the trailer for 'the studiocanal collection' in hd while others have it in sd (mulholland drive).

wtf!

[Dubliner1]

The new batch of releases also come in same type of packaging with the tight hub that holds the disc too tightly...I'm extremely careful but my brand new blu of 'Breathless' has already cracked whilst removing from case earlier

[ImportFanatic]

Originally Posted by Hamish

My guess would be to save space; Mulholland Drive is a relatively long film compared to most of the others.

They shouldn't even put it on the disc then. It makes absolutely no sense to put an SD trailer to promote HD releases.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by ImportFanatic

They shouldn't even put it on the disc then. It makes absolutely no sense to put an SD trailer to promote HD releases.

Honest to god, you're complaining about a trailer that's in SD? The film seems to look fantastic, why complain about a promotional trailer at all?

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Honest to god, you're complaining about a trailer that's in SD? The film seems to look fantastic, why complain about a promotional trailer at all?

The reason I initially mentioned this is that there have been numerous quality issues with blurays in the UK from Optimum Releasing...when I first saw the trailer is SD, and not HD like all the other releases (although 1 of the new discs completely omits the trailer) I thought 'oh no' this disc could have some issues. Personally I don't care if theres a trailer or not, I am just extremely paranoid buying anything from Optimum...(also know in many circles as "Craptimum")...

[ImportFanatic]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Honest to god, you're complaining about a trailer that's in SD? The film seems to look fantastic, why complain about a promotional trailer at all?

Yes it is a big deal to me. Especially since it automatically plays before the main menu.

[nametag]

Originally Posted by ImportFanatic

Yes it is a big deal to me. Especially since it automatically plays before the main menu.

... but it's just a trailer?

[ImportFanatic]

Originally Posted by nametag

... but it's just a trailer?

And what reason does it have being standard definition on a Blu-ray release?

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by ImportFanatic

And what reason does it have being standard definition on a Blu-ray release?

Certainly a bit strange being in SD...'Breathless' completely omits the trailer altogether and when the movie starts some text appears on screen explaining something about the transfer and it has some spelling mistakes!
Unfortunely Optimum Releasing are extremely 'sloppy' with their bluray releases- Quality Control seems non-existant.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by Dubliner1

Certainly a bit strange being in SD...'Breathless' completely omits the trailer altogether and when the movie starts some text appears on screen explaining something about the transfer and it has some spelling mistakes!
Unfortunely Optimum Releasing are extremely 'sloppy' with their bluray releases- Quality Control seems non-existant.

Completely, and they have a total lack of customer service. My copy of The Elephant Man has a typo on the COVER! They've spelt Anne Bancroft's name wrong (Anne BRANCROFT apparently). Likewise with Pierrot Le Fou, my copy of which actually has Breathless on the disc. Again, no communique from Optimum, in spite of several emails, and two tweets promising me help. They're useless, absolutely useless, and it actually annoys me that I keep buying their releases of admittedly amazing films.