Dust in the Wind & A Time to Live, A Time to Die (Hou Hsiao-Hsien) box set - Blu-ray Forum

apollo828 · 11-07-2014, 06:19 PM

Hello. Has anyone else noticed the box set that came out in Taiwan recently? I received it yesterday and wanted to write up a quick report.

As some might know, "Dust in the Wind" got a standalone Blu release awhile back. It looked okay but suffered from a weird authoring issue that, IIRC, made the film come out as 1080i despite being a progressive master. (I don't recall the exact details.) Contrary to what some thought would happen, the new disc isn't a rehash. It appears to be a proper 1080p transfer, according to the tech specs and to my eyes. I think it's the same master, though. It even has a similar bitrate. (Both discs are BD25s.) Anyway, the disc also has a retrospective documentary that is English-subbed. The subs looked kinda rough but they should be good enough to understand the gist of what is being said.

ATTLATTD is new to Blu. It's also a proper 1080p transfer, although unlike DITW, it's set to 24 fps instead of 23.976 fps. It also has a short, English-subbed featurette. I think it focuses more on how the film was preserved more than any behind-the-scenes interviews and such. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, though.

The box comes with a relatively large book that has some photos from DITW, along with a bunch of blank pages. I guess it's meant to be used as a journal? Strange considering that the book is individually numbered to boot. Oh well.

I'm guessing that standalone releases are forthcoming. The individual Blu packages (box = book + 2 Blu cases) seem to indicate that the distributor wants consistent packaging across a series of titles. I guess this also means more HHH films are in the works, although I'm just guessing.

If you truly love the films, the box is probably worth your while. If not, you're probably better off just waiting for individual releases. In any event, these do represent huge upgrades over the DVD releases.

If you have any more questions, let me know. I'm pretty slow at responding but will answer eventually.

Also, if anyone wants to buy my old DITW Blu, get in touch.

Thanks.

Tiberius · 11-07-2014, 08:19 PM

So the main features themselves, the movies, also have English subtitles on this new set, right? Not just the special features? I know it wouldn't make sense to give special features English subs without including them for the movie, but I'd like to make absolutely sure before I buy this set.

Dan8700 · 11-07-2014, 10:05 PM

I am aware of the set, but was waiting for a decent price (now it's like 70€)... glad DitW got a progressive transfer (even though the standalone Blu was great already), but I'm annoyed by the 24fps encoding... at that price, I demand a flawless product.
Anyway, question: the book only features photos and no excerpts/texts?

apollo828 · 11-07-2014, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiberius

So the main features themselves, the movies, also have English subtitles on this new set, right? Not just the special features? I know it wouldn't make sense to give special features English subs without including them for the movie, but I'd like to make absolutely sure before I buy this set.

Correct. The movies have English subs too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan8700

Anyway, question: the book only features photos and no excerpts/texts?

I didn't see any. I'd see a few pages with pictures, then a bunch of blank pages. "Dust in the Wind" is printed on the spine, along with the set #. Very strange.

PGW · 11-07-2014, 11:54 PM

Some links, please? Who has the best price?

I have the old DITW blu-ray, and it does stutter a bit, but I found it watchable enough. Glad to hear "A Time to Live A Time To Die" has made it to blu-ray. The DVD version (in the HHH boxed set) is pretty mediocre.

p_cqvist · 11-08-2014, 01:58 AM

Thanks for the write-up! Nice to see that it is a 1080p encode this time. At the same time it's a minor shame that they didn't clean up the subtitles as they are, like you said, a bit rough.

They've put out trailers that, terrible YouTube compression aside, gives an idea of what to expect. Are you sure about the same master being used though? I do remember DITW looking a lot more blue, while the trailer looks similar to the old DVD. Although, it's possible that they just tweaked the colors.

Regarding places to buy from, I'm currently keeping an eye on YesAsia and JSDVD.
The prices are a bit too steep for me, so I might just wait for the individual releases if that works out cheaper.

Anyways, I certainly hope there's more HHH in the works.

11-07-2014, 06:19 PM	#1
apollo828 Power Member Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Blu-ray reviews:1	Dust in the Wind & A Time to Live, A Time to Die (Hou Hsiao-Hsien) box set Hello. Has anyone else noticed the box set that came out in Taiwan recently? I received it yesterday and wanted to write up a quick report. As some might know, "Dust in the Wind" got a standalone Blu release awhile back. It looked okay but suffered from a weird authoring issue that, IIRC, made the film come out as 1080i despite being a progressive master. (I don't recall the exact details.) Contrary to what some thought would happen, the new disc isn't a rehash. It appears to be a proper 1080p transfer, according to the tech specs and to my eyes. I think it's the same master, though. It even has a similar bitrate. (Both discs are BD25s.) Anyway, the disc also has a retrospective documentary that is English-subbed. The subs looked kinda rough but they should be good enough to understand the gist of what is being said. ATTLATTD is new to Blu. It's also a proper 1080p transfer, although unlike DITW, it's set to 24 fps instead of 23.976 fps. It also has a short, English-subbed featurette. I think it focuses more on how the film was preserved more than any behind-the-scenes interviews and such. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, though. The box comes with a relatively large book that has some photos from DITW, along with a bunch of blank pages. I guess it's meant to be used as a journal? Strange considering that the book is individually numbered to boot. Oh well. I'm guessing that standalone releases are forthcoming. The individual Blu packages (box = book + 2 Blu cases) seem to indicate that the distributor wants consistent packaging across a series of titles. I guess this also means more HHH films are in the works, although I'm just guessing. If you truly love the films, the box is probably worth your while. If not, you're probably better off just waiting for individual releases. In any event, these do represent huge upgrades over the DVD releases. If you have any more questions, let me know. I'm pretty slow at responding but will answer eventually. Also, if anyone wants to buy my old DITW Blu, get in touch. Thanks.

11-07-2014, 08:19 PM	#2
Tiberius Expert Member Top contributor Member since:May 2011 4K collection:4 Blu-ray collection:816 DVD collection:400 Trading Score:2	So the main features themselves, the movies, also have English subtitles on this new set, right? Not just the special features? I know it wouldn't make sense to give special features English subs without including them for the movie, but I'd like to make absolutely sure before I buy this set.

11-07-2014, 10:05 PM	#3
Dan8700 Special Member Top contributor Member since:May 2011 Location:Rome, Italy 4K collection:42 Blu-ray collection:1178	I am aware of the set, but was waiting for a decent price (now it's like 70€)... glad DitW got a progressive transfer (even though the standalone Blu was great already), but I'm annoyed by the 24fps encoding... at that price, I demand a flawless product. Anyway, question: the book only features photos and no excerpts/texts?

11-07-2014, 11:54 PM	#5
PGW Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Dec 2009 Location:United States Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:4	Some links, please? Who has the best price? I have the old DITW blu-ray, and it does stutter a bit, but I found it watchable enough. Glad to hear "A Time to Live A Time To Die" has made it to blu-ray. The DVD version (in the HHH boxed set) is pretty mediocre.

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