House of Flying Daggers (2004)

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Tech-UK

Isn't the HK disc based off the same master, but with a higher bitrate encode?

Its still the best release available, but the film needs a re-master/new 4K scan.

This is a title that needed a 'Mastered in 4K' release from Sony.

That is correct.

[Metallix87]

Where could one buy the HK release?

[Sinthetic]

Originally Posted by Metallix87

Where could one buy the HK release?

Here.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Sinthetic

Here.

It's $10 cheaper here: http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_d...roductID=11841

[zakzak]

Originally Posted by Tech-UK

Isn't the HK disc based off the same master, but with a higher bitrate encode?

Its still the best release available, but the film needs a re-master/new 4K scan.

This is a title that needed a 'Mastered in 4K' release from Sony.

Start a petition, and a campaign. I have the Japanese BluRay and no matter what people say, that thing is not hide, not deserving to be transferred onto BluRay disc. If all the Korean releases have the same transfer, no amount of cute coffee table design would convince me to part with my money.

[TreeStandMan151]

Could this be why Vudu only as SD available on their site? I was going through my blurays to do D2D conversion with Vudu and noticed that they only have SD quality available. Is the consensus that the lack of a higher-quality master is the reason why HDX isn't available there?

[DaveyJoe]

I've had a real hankering to watch this movie but I've heard that the current release is garbage. Would love to see this film get a 4k remaster similar to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Such stunning visuals deserve a better transfer.

[Zen_Amako]

House of Flying Daggers was among the first Blu-ray discs to become available when the format launched. Would love to see a remastered edition, especially in 4K. It is annoying that the current Blu-ray is missing all of the extras that were on the DVD, like the commentary.

I own the limited edition HK DVD box set that came with the making of book. The book has lots of beautiful stills from the film. I want a Blu-ray that looks like those stills.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

looking at caps a holic the US one looks a touch softer than the others
the others look fairly similar, maybe HK a trace, trace better
however, the odd thing is the KR and HK look shorter vertically than the FR and US versions

does anyone know which is correct? are the KR/HK squished vertically or are the FR/US stretched vertically?

[eSocrates]

This being $5 on iTunes right now I’m wondering if it’s possible that it looks decent digitally or if it’s the same terrible master as all the blu-rays. Has anyone tried any of the digital retailers for this movie?

For a bit of background I did purchase Munich a couple weeks ago from iTunes and interestingly it looked quite bad on there. Like a low bit rate HD version of a bad DVD master. But it’s a movies anywhere title so I had options. I checked Vudu and it looked slightly better. Like the same master with better colors. But on the Movies Anywhere app itself it looked like a whole different master that maybe had a bit too much sharpening and noise reduction but otherwise looked really nice and much more comparable to a good blu ray through my 100” projector.

I ended up watching the whole thing in Movies anywhere but I decided to get a refund from iTunes because the quality of what they are selling is subpar. I could try doing the same thing with Flying Daggers but I’d rather not do too many returns through iTunes if I can avoid it so I figured maybe someone here has some insight into how it looks streaming since all of the blu rays look terrible.

[GenPion]

The Hong Kong Blu-ray has the best transfer/encode and best audio if you want the best currently available presentation of the film.

I would love a 4K UHD by Sony, though. Even if in a box-set collection.

[DukeTogo84]

The current Blu-ray from Sony is only slightly better than a DVD. It's an improvement, but not much which is a shame as it's such a beautiful film.

[DaveyJoe]

I need it on UHD.

[eSocrates]

Originally Posted by eSocrates

This being $5 on iTunes right now I’m wondering if it’s possible that it looks decent digitally or if it’s the same terrible master as all the blu-rays. Has anyone tried any of the digital retailers for this movie?

Actually apple has a “trailer” which in this case is just a clip from the movie and it looks the same as all the screenshots I’ve seen from the discs. Looks decent at first but there’s almost no fine detail. Pretty much like an upscaled dvd.

It’s amazing this has never gotten a proper release. I understand that in 2006 this stuff happened even if it shouldn’t have but I thought this was a decent hit that they would have tried double dipping on in the years since. I recently watched Curse of the Golden Flower on blu ray and it could use a remaster too. That could make a nice double release in 4k.

[SpartanJGE]

A 4K scan of this has the potential to be a reference quality disc to show off nice equipment... this and Hero with Jet Li would be visually incredible in 4K
if done well IMO.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by SpartanJGE

A 4K scan of this has the potential to be a reference quality disc to show off nice equipment... this and Hero with Jet Li would be visually incredible in 4K
if done well IMO.

I love Hero. Fantastic film and an easy 4k upgrade for me. House of Flying Daggers not so much. I enjoy the film and would happily upgrade to a new edition, but in this case, given what we were previously given, I'd be happy with even just a new Blu Ray edition from a new scan.

[SpartanJGE]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

I love Hero. Fantastic film and an easy 4k upgrade for me. House of Flying Daggers not so much. I enjoy the film and would happily upgrade to a new edition, but in this case, given what we were previously given, I'd be happy with even just a new Blu Ray edition from a new scan.

Might point was just that both utilize a similar visual style that emphasizes vibrant colors, and almost dream like cinematography at times with the use of slow motion and camera angles and environments that I think would look amazing in 4K.

[PondaBaba]

Originally Posted by Sinthetic

Here.

i've had alerts on ebay set up for the HK edition intending to pick it up for ages but never thought of checking a site like this, just trying to buy now but it won't let me check one of the two shipping options, both of the clickable button things look almost greyed out, has anyone else had this problem before?

eta i've tried on chrome and ff neither working both same issue and nothing else implying that for e.g. the item isn't available or isn't possible to ship to the uk

eta first time using the site so wasn't obvious but turned out you have to click 'edit' (which i assumed was only to edit delivery address') where on clicking it gives you to 'edit' (i.e. select) one of the two shipping options which become un-greyed-out

[oubukibun]

I get the 'why' in the choice made, but that Sony Pictures Collection box set celebrating their 30th year anniversary was the perfect time to release this.

They went with Crouching Tiger... of course, but I'm also afraid that part of the reason was that this exquisite film, one of the most evocative visual poems ever committed to celluloid, is in such a state that a restoration would've been too costly.

I don't want to even think it, so I'm going with Crouching Tiger... being the more 'commercial' option.

I'm not sure I've gasped as many times with individual shots than I have with this specific film. Just astonishing composition and the pure love of what cinema can do for us.

A real shame.