Semona

I have redone the captures for the Hard Boiled comparison in the R1 section. I now realize why, on this particular film, that it was hard matching the correct frame. Criterion has slightly cropped there image on the DVD (my guess is to remove the apparent frayed edges visible on the Fox/Lorber DVD).

ITRocks

New Comparison:

Zeitgeist Video Region 1- NTSC "Water Drops on Burning Rocks" vs. Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL

The Artificial Eye disc is a bit more detailed, check out the title screen, buildings in the distance have more detail. You can clearly see there's more detail in the Artificial Eye disc: watch the skin under her eyes in the 5th capture below. The Zeitgeist Video Disc is washed out, plus whites are clipping. The Artificial Eye disc has better skin tones. On the Zeitgeist Video Disc they are too green.

In favor of the Zeitgeist R1 the Artificial Eye disc is cropped a little compared to the OAR of 1.66:1.

The Artificial Eye disc shows combing in the fast movement. You can't see it now because of the resolution adjustment for the webpage, but in the original untouched capture you could clearly see it. The Artificial Eye disc is a bit too dark. Black level is excellent though, but there's not enough shadow detail. - Jeroen H. Komen

http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/

Cyborg

Columbia Tri-Star Region 1 "The Road Home" vs. Columbia Tri-Star - Region 2

Comments: Discs look identical to me, except that the R2 is a bit darker with better black level but less shadow detail. Both have too much edge enhancement. I've seen worse, but it's still too much to ignore.

Because Pal has 20% more resolution the R2 should look a lot more detailed. Unfortunately it doesn't, which is a shame. I own a lot of PAL discs, but I can count the ones that actually show the increased resolution on one hand

Saerom Entertainment/SRE - Korea - Region 0- NTSC "Love Letter" vs. KING - Japan R2 - NTSC

Comments:The Saerom R0 Disc has much too high black level. Even the brighter pictures appear washed out. This makes the picture look flat with very little contrast compared to the R2 Japan.

Both discs have blue-ish whites. This looks more severe on the R2 Japan but that's because the problem is obscured a bit on the R0 by the too high black level.

Edge enhancement is a problem on both discs. Especially the wider shots suffer, background detail is always lacking. R0 whites are clipping. Check out the snow on the rooftops (below) there's less detail there compared to the R2 Japan.

Again, I prefer the R2 Japan. One could argue that the R0 black level problem could be fixed by turning down brightness on your display but that's a no-go for me, because it messes up my calibrated grayscale. And the clipping whites just look bad.


Universal Studios 1 - NTSC "But I'm a Cheerleader" vs. Metrodome Region 2 - PAL

Comments:Both are much too dark. I've been told the VHS release is like that too, but in the theater it was much brighter. Both have excessive Edge Enhancement.

The R2 UK has massive overscan, especially on the left and right. I haven't measured but I'd say it's close to 15% l/r and 5% top/bottom. It's as if they performed some sort of zoom. It isn't a Pan and Scan job because both discs are roughly 1.85:1 . The R2 UK looks very blurry, with much less background detail than the R1. Check out the grass lawn in the picture of Natasha walking away from the camera. This isn't just an edge enhancement issue because like I said both discs seem to have the same hideous amount of Edge Enhancement applied.

A note about the colors, they are supposed to be this extreme. They look about the same on both discs.

I own both discs, because the R1 looks better and the R2 is the longer, uncut version

See the results for yourself at:
http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/

Semona

Worth noting about the Spinal Tap comparison, is that the Criterion version has the original burnt-in titles, the MGM S.E. versions have these removed and replaced with player generated ones......

In R1, MGM has apperently revised this policy, but in PAL countries burnt-in titles are still removed (e.g. The Silence Of The Lambs, The Usual Suspects).

And also:
- The Criterion version does not have DD 5.1 audio.
- Only the discographic information of the Criterion is mentioned. The R4/MGM has one DVD-5 (single layer disc) which contains the movie, and one DVD-9 (dual layer disc), which contains the extra's.

Desiree

hmmm whats the differance between a regular disk and a bristish disk?