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Archived News
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NEWS Index / NEWS Index / NEWS Index - |
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A DVD to be Proud Of
A Few years back there was a huge commotion when the ABC finished screening
BBC's absolutely brilliant TV adaption of Jane Austin's Pride and Predudice. So much
so that the whole series was re-aired again almost straight away.
It seems there's also been a few requests for a DVD release of P&P and in about 1
month's time P&P will be available on DVD in region 4 thru Roadshow Home
Entertainment.
Running a whopping 5 hours, P&P will come on 2 DVD9s and unlike previous DVD releases
abroad (like the region 1 IMAGE release) this PAL version will be Anamorphic
Widescreen and carry a 2 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack.
Adding further to this great miniseries is a 26 minute documentary, subtitles and chapter
and series selections (if i remember correcly P&P was screened in 5 parts)
The release date is likely to be early April, but that hasn't been fully confirmed at this
stage.
Poultry in Motion
Coming early April to Region 4 DVD is the very entertaining Chicken Run, from
the creators of the ever popular Wallace and Gromit clay-animation TV series. Click HERE for the menu shots from this
upcoming DVD..
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Ahhh, now it's starting to make sense
I'm sure i'll be running with this subject for a while folks :) sorry if it's
Not a point of interest for you.
Our Dolby Surround EX research has turned up some very interesting news
which could be the explanation we've been after, being :
Why have some 20 DVDs made it to DVD which played theatrically in Dolby EX and ALL on
DVD to date have failed to include the EX Flag and MOST have failed to mention they even
carry this EX track?
Turns out that in order for a DVD to be encoded with an official Dolby Surround EX track
(which means carrying the EX Flag to automatically switch a Dolby EX able amp) this must
be encoded by Dolby Themselves ..which at the end of the day means studios can't use their
preferred authoring house for the audio encoding side of things.
In the Early days of DTS, any Lasersics or DVD which carried a DTS track had to be done by
DTS themselves (for the audio stream only).
So in simple terms it's most likely a money reason that these Dolby Surround EX
DVDs aren't "the real thing" due to the extra cost in getting the Audio Stream
Done else where (plus the time it takes to get it done) Even so, with a Dolby Surround EX track by default having this surround back
channel simply matrixed into the other 2 surround tracks anyway means the additional
information can still be extracted by manually engaging a Dolby Surround EX Able
amp.(seeing as the sound mix is still a Dolby 5.1 audio track)
DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 tracks are also required to be encoded as such by DTS
(whereas a DTS-ES matrixed track, like the one found on the Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition,
is again only a 5.1 track with matrixed Surround back info, and this DVD also has no
"ES" flag for auto detection)
The DiVAs are due again!!
It's that time of the year again, nominations for the The Region 4
Digital Video Disc Awards are about to be annouced.
Mike D is taking charge for
this years DiVAs for which you can make you votes in the all six categories
of Best Video, Best Audio, Best Extras, Best Overall DVD, Best Music DVD and the Coaster
Award.
Voting for the awards will be ready in a few days time (link to the 2001 DiVAs is coming
shortly)
If you're curious as to who the winners (and loosers) of the past 2 years awards are, Click HERE
A DVD to make you go....MAD!
For some time now many DVD'ers have asked...when is MAX coming to DVD?.
Sure Warner have released Mad Max 2 and Beyond Thunderdome, but many seem more interested
in the original road Warrior Film.
Well some good news past our way today and it's looking like we may be getting a
region 4 PAL version of Mad Max from the Roadshow Clan around August of
this year. The only specs we could muster up at this time where that a brand
spanking new Anamorphic Widescreen transfer has been made, and to compliment it, a Dolby
Digital 5.1 AUSSIE LANGUAGE track.
(i am told the piccy looks wonderful to). can't wait to see it!!
There's also been a bit of a delay in the Supersuper
special edition of Se7en. it also looks like it's hitting region 4 DVD in
August as well (but i think it'll be worth the wait)
Gladiator Region 4 DVD NOT Censored
Oh this really is good news. For a while there no one knew what
was going on with this DVD. Columbia Australia thought it was cut, yet there was no
indication from the UK that there's was (seeing as Gladiator was a region 2/4 DVD), and
the BBFC
database said it was passed uncut. (which "could" have meant
the studio cut the film prior to submitting, so the BBFC would see it as uncut). But
NO, Gladiator has maintained it's virginal status and remained untouched by the studios
and the censors alike.
Click
HERE for the Official Columbia Press Release
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Our First Dolby Surround EX Review
I have to be honest after 3 years posting DVD reviews really isn't as
exciting and as much fun as it use to be, but I was very keen to post a DVD review of The Haunting seeing as it's our
first review to comment specifically on a Dolby Surround EX mix. I think it may even
be the first Dolby Surround EX review for an aussie DVD to :)We've also got Kevin Smith's Dogma
Reviewed. (What a cool moofy)
EZY DVD opens a "real" DVD Store
South Australians will be very please to hear this, EZY DVD are opening an
actual DVD Store in the Rundle Mall in a few days time.
Click
HERE for the EZY DVD press Release
All the best with the new venture Jim!
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Reviews from Cass
There's just no stopping this Gal! three more reviews from Cass, Police Academy, Maybe Baby and The Perfect Storm (though TPS
is not one of our new Dolby EX reviews. that's coming soon)
Unofficial Dolby 5.1 Surround EX Mixes
For some time now DVDs have been released in the US of A carrying unofficial
Dolby Surround EX mixes.
It's only been rather recently that this sound enhancement has been listed as an inclusion
on a DVD.
Terminator 2, Se7en and more recently The Perfect Storm have actually mentioned on either
then box cover artwork, or in the DVD audio menu that there's a Dolby Surround EX mix to
be had. Even though there are approximately 20 DVDs which have been released
Officially and Unofficially with a Dolby Surround EX track, NONE have carried the Flag in
the digital bitstream to automatically switch a Dolby Surround EX ready Amp into
"6.1" mode.
Not only has this been happening abroad, but the same thing has been happening in our own
backyard.
The recent release of The Perfect Storm is the only DVD where press material has stated
the Dolby Track as being 6.1 (which incidentally is not quite right as Dolby Surround EX
is not true a discrete 6.1 format, seeing as the surround back channel is matrixed into
the left and right surrounds), that trivial point aside, the DVD Audio Menu or the DVD
Slick fail to mention this inclusion for some reason!! Since a majority of these movies which carried a Dolby EX track
theatrically have been released to the region 4 DVD Market, DVDown Under has set out to
find out what's what.
We've made enquiries with All the studios who have released these DVDs to region 4 and
have to date only heard back from one, being Roadshow. and YES Austin Powers
2 has the surround back info matrixed into the Surround Mix. As this
information was not passed onto Roadshow from overseas at the time of authoring, the DVD
went out with what was thought to be a standard 5.1 sound mix, but it ain't!!. So
Austin 2 was Australia's first DVD to carry a Dolby Surround EX mix folks!!
While we're still waiting for an "official" response from the majors we've been
testing a few potential Dolby Surround EX region 4 DVDs and so far BOTH the
Dolby and DTS mixes on Gladiator have the surround back info matrixed into the
surrounds as well.
Only last Friday while doing some more research on this, I stumbled across an
article over at the Dolby site in which Gladiator's sound mixes discuss their
involvement. 1 part of this article mentions a sword throwing sequence where the
sound of the sword being thrown begins in the Surround back and pans through to the Front
centre channel. I knew exactly which sequence the article referred to as I
distinctly remember hearing the sword whoosh through the air when I first heard it in
"6.1".
Even without knowing about this article it was pretty clear that we have a Dolby EX mix,
and DTS -ES matrix mix for our version as this movie makes excellent use of the back
surround channel and while for the most part it is integrated quite seemlessly into the
surround mix, it has a few standout "EX" moments.
Having recently taken the plunge into 6.1 territory myself,
I've been hungry for material to test with and borrowed a copy of the totally kick arse
Region 1 DTS-ES discrete 6.1 DVD of The Haunting (as well as the DTS-ES Chicken Run :).
Comparing the DTS-ES Haunting to the recently released region 4 Dolby 5.1 version, there
is no doubt OUR DVD of the Haunting is also carrying a Dolby Surround EX mix.
Even with the DTS version being discrete for all three surround channels, the channel
separation in the Matrixed Surrounds of our Dolby version holds its own. (but
the DTS version still beats it at the end of the day :)
Given that This information is Matrixed into 2 other
channels it seems impractical and would no doubt effect the sound mix if left out, so why
it would be removed in the first place is hard to comprehend.
What I want to know is WHY we are not being told that these
sound mixes are in fact Dolby Surround EX and DTS-ES matrix sound mixes? I would
have thought advertising a DVD as having an official Dolby Surround EX track or better yet
a DTS-ES surround track as being a damn good selling point.
Anyhoo, in light of these findings, we've created a new
page to keep track of DVDs with the Extended Sound tracks for BOTH Dolby and DTS sound
formats, aptly called the 6point1
Surround Sound Page.
It will no doubt take some time to find out the how what when where and why of these DVDs,
but as we do we'll list this information and also review each title for it's level
"6.1" use as they become available to us.
While Dolby EX and DTS ES are new to the home theatre
market, they enhance the sound experience of a movie on DVD greatly and so this is not
another gimmick, but a worth while upgrade (but aren't they all :). [do you know how many
times I've played the "Elanoooooore" sequence from the Haunting over the past
week, I'm actually beginning to LIKE this movie..oh kill me now please! :) ]
George Lucas is absolutely right, sound makes up for 50% of
the movie viewing experience.
Click
HERE for our 6point1 Surround Sound Page
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Region 4's FIRST DTS 6.1 ES Discrete DVD
When Roadshow released the critically acclaimed box office smash hit Se7en to
DVD almost 3 years ago in region 4, many fans were disappointed as hell with the
lacklustre treatment this film received offering us only a Pan and Scan picture with 2
channel Dolby Digital and MPEG Sound. (granted this film was shot in Super 35 so we gained
more headroom and lost a little to the sides), but as this film was released theatrically
in 2.40:1 with a Multichannel digital sound track, we were basically screwed over. (This
was not the only DVD movie in the early days to receive similar treatment from a
Distributor who now pretty must insist on offering Anamorphic Widescreen Transfers,
multilchannel sound mixes and as many extras as they can muster up. )
The Region 1 Release of Se7en was also pretty poor. a Non Anamorphic transfer on a DVD10
FLIPPER!.
Late last year New Line released the definitive version of Se7en to DVD with a 2 disc box
set. The Fans were finally happy.
And now it's our turn!!
In the next few months Roadshow are set to release the Collector's Edition 2 disc set of
Se7en to DVD.
The Region 4 DVD version of Se7en not only receives a brand spanking new Anamorphic
Widescreen Transfer fully approved and overseen by Director David Fincher, but
also a newly remixed Sound track to take Full advantage of the new 6.1 sound
formats. So not only Does Se7en get a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX mix
it ALSO gets a DTS 6.1 ES Discrete audio track.
(The January Issue of USA's Widescreen Review has an in depth article on the
making of this DVD if you're interested)
While Gladiator may have the honour of being region 4's first MOVIE with a DTS
track, and quite frankly SHOULD have also been the first DVD with a DTS 6.1 ES Discrete
track released on OZ (which IS contained on the USA version), this accolade now goes to
Roadshow's Se7en DVD Release.
Universal/Columbia's Decision to NOT release Gladiator with a DTS 6.1 ES Discrete mix
may have to do with the fact only 1 manufacturer, being Denon, have the only 2 AV
amps which are able to decode the DTS 6.1 ES discrete mix, the awesome Denon AVC-A1SE
priced at a hefty $AUD7000, and it's baby brother, the AVR-3801, priced at a more
respectable $AUD3000. So there aren't too many people in OZ who can
take Full advantage of the sound mix at the moment. (onkyo's TX-DS989 is merely
months away from a software upgrade which will take it to DTS 6.1 ES Discrete, and it's
also rumoured this Free Onkyo upgrade also includes a Dolby Pro-Logic 2 upgrade..sweeeeet)
Given DTS 6.1 ES Discrete will be commercially available from quite a few manufacturer's
of Home Theatre amps and receivers over the next 6 months or so, it's incredibly
disappointing this audio format could have been included on our Gladiator DVD, and wasn't.
(The Same thing has happened to the upcoming Region 4 Release of Chicken Run. BOTH
the UK and USA versions contain a DTS 6.1 ES Discrete sound mix, and all we get
is a Dolby 5.1 track...grrrrrrrrr, I at least hope it's Dolby EX encoded)So Anyhoo here's all the dirt on what is sure to be Roadshow's best
looking, sounding and featured DVD to date with Se7en.
- Two-Disc Set
- 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer
- English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, and 2.0
- English DTS 6.1 ES Discrete
- Isolated 5.1 Music Score with Commentary
- English For the Hearing Impaired
- Audio commentary 1 (Director David Fincher & Actors Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman)
- Audio commentary 2(Director David Fincher, Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, Editor
Richard Francis-Bruce & New Line President of Production Michael De Luca)
- Audio commentary 3 (Director David Fincher, Richard Francis-Bruce, Director of
Photography Darius Khondji & Production Designer Arthur Max)
- Multi-angle exploration of opening credit sequence
- Deleted scenes
- Extended takes
- Alternate endings
- Still galleries of the se7en crime scenes, production photos, and behind-the-scenes
images
- Multi-angle "Mastering For Home Theater" presentations
- Cast filmographihes
- Theatrical trailers
* Due to the sheer size of this DVDs contents, the DVD-ROM Material was left off (a very
small sacrifice to offer Region 4 the best version possible me thinks)
Lesson 101 - DTS ES 6.1
Want to know more about DTS-ES 6.1? Click
HERE for our Article on this exciting new sound format extention
Extra Padding for THE CELL
First up, while I thought this movie sucked, it's gonna sell like hotcakes on
DVD. it's pure Eye and Ear Candy, and was my very first thought when I walked late
into the cinemas and there was Jennifer Lopez in a free flowing [slo-mo] dress in the
middle of the desert talking to some weirdo kid. This sequence had complete and utter
control over the lighting and yet maintained a high contract, highly saturated look that
was jaw droppingly gorgeous.
Okay, so now onto the dirt. Not many know this but
For it's Theatrical release The Cell was censored in order to get an MA rating.
Thankfully for DVD the 3 minutes of cuts have been re-instated and the film has been
re-rated with an R Rating. (and in case you were wondering the recent upgrading of
Hannibal to an R Rating had nothing to do with this, the film was rerated months ago with
the extra material)
The DVD on a whole looks pretty sweet also.
- Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer
- English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks
- Isolated Music Score (Roadshow's First, seeing as Se7en comes out after this)
- Deleted Scenes with or without commentary
- 2 Behind the scenes featurettes (called vignettes here). One a general one the
other is about the film's Special Effects and is multi-angle to boot
- 2 Trailers
- Cast & Crew Filmographies
- 2 interactive games - Empathy Test & Map of the Human Brain
- Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired
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More Moofies in DTS for Region 4
For some time now there's been humming and harring in the USA as to whether
the upcoming DVD release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind will feature just a Dolby
Digital 5.1 track, or be dual audio formatted with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS.
Well the good news is that for the May 2001 simultaneous worldwide release of CETK in
Regions 1, 2 & 4 and most likely 3, 5 and 6 will get Dolby and DTS mixes for the Two
Disc Special Edition of CETK!!With Gladiator being
Region 4s first official DVD Movie encoded with DTS, this will make 2 DTS encoded DVDs to
come through Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, and not to forget the very soon to be
released DUNE DVD from Infogrames, [which has the honour of being Region 4's first DTS DVD
to actually be authored in OZ]
We've also heard a rumour of a FOURTH DTS encoded DVD Movie for OZ in the next few months
(I reeeeally hope it's true).
This is a trend one can hope we see from more region 4 studios over the remainder of the
year!
Some More Reviews
Ooy! almost done with the backlog of reviews. (only a few to go
now :)
Gone with
the Wind, Black Beauty
and Bonfire of the Vanities
Columbia's MAY Release List
Columbia May Releases are set to be some hot titles with the likes of
Charlies Angels (moofy AND TV series) as well as Close Encounters. Goto the Columbia Tristar DVD Release Page
for all the dirt
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All PRAISE Raymond's First Review
Raymond's first review for DVDown Under is The Aussie AFI winning PRAISE, set in my home town of
brisvegas.
Cass has also reviewed Another great Aussie flick, Two
HandsThunderbirds are go
To coincide with the
upcoming Region 4 DVD release of the fabulous TV Series Thunderbirds, Ezy DVD have a very
groovy, and exclusive offer, 500 exclusive photo prints of 'Thunderbirds' to be given away
with the purchase of Volume 1&2 together, then another print for Volume 3&4
together, another for Volume 5&6 and finally for Volume 7&8.
These photo prints are of the utmost quality, the first of which features a fantastic shot
of the entire 'cast' of the hit TV show.
Each print is
individually numbered, and are only on a first come, first served basis.
Click
HERE for more details on the EZYDVD Thunderbirds DVD Offer
Hi-Fi
Gear for Sale
My old amp and dolby Processor up for auction over at sold. Click HERE for all the detailsNow on Austctio |
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Latest Reviews
Yes yes site updates and reviews have been few and far between for a better
part of the month (the whole snapper case Replacement offer has totally swamped all our
time), thankfully the initial rush is almost over so we can back to our weekly site
routines (phew)
Cass has still been churning out the reviews and has been updating her DVD site with reviews, and
so here's the few I've had time to convert. Whatever It Takes, Practical Magic, Savage Garden : Superstars & Cannonballs
& 28 Days.
I've only scribed a couple of reviews lately (with Plenty more to come..oy!) the very cool
Final Destination and
our Aussie own Looking for Alibrandi.BTW we have a new reviewer for DVDown Under. Please make
welcome Ray Bannerman (Rayban...to his friends... get it! :)
Ray's first review is the Aussie award winning Praise (review updated in next editorial).
Ray certainly looooves his DVD so we hope he'll critique quite a few DVDs to come.
Lies, All LIES!!
When released on Laserdisc, James Cameron's True Lies was
THE Demo Laserdisc, especially the "Blowing up Florida Keys Bridge"
sequence...oh baby.
With Laserdisc almost a forgotten format :) it's now time for the Region 4 DVD Release.
WOOHOO! Don't get too excited as it's still a few months off. The expected
Release Date for True Lies in Region 4 is June/July 2001, though Columbia Home Home
Entertainment.
As exciting an idea as it is that's we'll soon have a PAL version of True Lies, I'm
personally a little bit concerned about exactly what we'll get with this DVD. I'm
not talking about extras for True Lies, but rather if the film will be released fully
intact.
The Video and Laserdisc release of True Lies in the UK caused such a ruckus as it was
heavily censored in order to get a lower rating. The Laserdisc even carried a label
to say the film had been censored!
Though this DVD is to be distributed by Columbia, who ever so rarely cut their own DVDs
(M.I.B is I believe their only cut DVD, with those cuts only being audio replacements, and
Gladiator doesn't count as it's a Universal release) True Lies is another Universal
Release, so there's a definite chance we'll get whatever the UK get. (this is of
course NOT set in stone yet, as ANY details on this DVD release are incredibly limited).
It's a wait and see game.
New Range of QED Interconnects
QED has released a few new cables, most notably the QED SQART. This is
of course their version of a 21 pin SCART lead.
Though there are many flavours of the SQART lead,
we're offering the gold plated full 21 pin SQART leads and the RGB only SQART leads.
Scart leads allow for 21 connects, being audio in/out, RGB, composite in/out, switching
,and all sorts of things. The RGB only SQART
lead contains only the red, green, blue and sync connections, so has much higher quality
internal coax leads seeing as there's a heck of a lot more room down the cable. for 4
leads over 21 leads!!
AT DVDown Under you get a super-duper free gift when you
purchase a SQART lead for a while.. a Dolby digital Wall Plaque
FREE!!!. that's right FREE!! (we're out of stock at the moment, but more are coming)
We're also giving away some freebies on selected QED interconnects, ranging from free DVD
vouchers to free Dolby Demo DVDs. (these freebies are listed next to selected items)
Drop by the DVD Station's QED Page
for prices and additional info.
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>> february 2001 news >> |
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