Chic, IL My Episode I DVD

No, this thread isn't for me to whine and say how much Lucas needs to release the films on DVD.

This thread is because I just got my all-region Dolby Digital DTS Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace DVD in the mail straight from Singapore.

I'm sure many of you have been curious about the quality/clairity (listen to me, I'm describing them like diamonds) of these "not so legal" DVDs. I will be posting my thoughts and comments in this thread after I have watched the DVD. I will let you know everything about it, sound quality, video quality, special features, cover art, etc. So that you may make an informed descision as to whether you will hop over to e-Bay and buy one for yourself.

Feel free to post your comments as I post mine. I will be watching it this week sometime.

 

Xmaveric we know you are talking theoretically about getting dvd's from singapore since you would never break the law and if you would would never do something against lucas film or any of his other companies especially since they are known to view this BB regularly.

But if you want to tell us what it would be like if you had seen such Illegal copies(which are completely wrong to be made or buy and no one here would ever consider doing such a horrible thing) you can as long as we all know you had not taken part of said illegal activities.

 

Riiiiiiight, that's what I meant

 

Xmaveric would never do a thing like that. What he mean to say is that he thought he bought a E1 DVD and that it was in fact a hoax. He actually bought a used soundtrack. Right Mav.

 

Exactly! You guys are brilliant. You read my mind. I really need to communicate better

 

So when you have your dream, in which you watch an Episode I DVD, you can post about that dream so we can analyze the dream.

 

YES! Magnificent! That's exactly the idea!

 

True DVD or VCD Mav?? And if it's a transferred VHS to DVD, then it's gonna suck sound and picture wise.

 

Hmmm..... We'll all get to find out whether Mav dreams in high resolution or fuzzy staticky jumbles. I wonder what resolution my dreams are?

 

I hope mav's dream didn't cost him alot since the rumor mill has it plan to bring out the DVD of TPM sometime this fall. Buy the way does it have any cut sceens?

JediLars

 

If I WERE to have a dream about a DVD, (not a VCD) it would probably happen this Friday. All of the guys of SB Force will be getting together and watching it. We will all post our opinions on the Forum.

Jeff, feel free to comment on this...

 

No comment - just wondering if it's a true DVD (as good ofquality a bootleg DVD can be), or if it was a VCD.

 

Well, in my dream, the DVD is a transfer from VCD, not VHS, so it should be a bit higher quality than VHS.

 

The following is my personal opinion about the imaginary Episode I DVD.

If I had an Episode I DVD (for the remainder of the review, it will be referred to as EI) in my possession, this is what I would say about it. Since Lucas has not yet released EI this is in my head and made up.

I review the EI on two separate systems. The descriptions are as follows.

My home system:
27? RCA TV using composite input since my S-Video does not work
Denon AVR-3801
Aiwa XD-DV290 DVD Player (using optical output)
NHT 2.5 (front)
NHT Audio Center-1 (center)
NHT SuperOne (surround side)
DCM 10? Powered Sub
I am lacking surround rear speakers.

All speaker wire is Kimber Kable, and all interconnects are by Monster Cable.

High-end home theater room at Audio Specialists:
Zeninith Pro 900 projector (component)
Farouda Line Doubler (I think I have it spelled right)
Denon AVR-4800
Denon POA-5200 (surround amp)
NHT 3.3 (front)
NHT Audio Center-2 (center)
NHT HDP2 (rear side)
NHT 2.5 (surround rear)
NHT Sub2

I am assuming that this is a VCD spliced together and then printed to a DVD. We already know that the VCD video is slightly better than the VHS and the audio is better also. The audio portion is where I really focused on.

I haven?t watched the whole movie yet but I have watched from where Darth Maul enters the hanger on Naboo till he meets his death 4 or 5 times already. I was focusing on this section due to the large amounts of action and sound effects. I did notice a few times some bleeding from frame to frame only a couple times. The picture quality was better on the 27? than the 10? screen at Audio.

Well enough about the video and on to the audio. I was really impressed with the audio portion of the DVD. The bass was not muddy and the highs were crisp. I did not hear any hiss or clicks anywhere in the portion that I viewed. Right at the beginning of the DVD, there is a short Dolby Digital ?movie? like the ones you see in the theaters. It is the one where the water drops fall all around you. I couldn?t believe how clear the picture was on this piece along with the audio. The hum of the lightsabers you could feel in you chest and I felt like ducking as blaster bolts whizzed by my head. It was great, I think I will watch it again when I get home from work?uhh?I mean I will write this review when I get home from work.

Over all I was impressed with the DVD even though it?s not an official release from Lucas. The only things I don?t like about it is that by default the English subtitles are turned on, after the Dolby Digital intro there is a cheesy clip of Qui-Gon and Darth Maul going at it (very poor audio and video), and the chapter selections were to far apart. There were 17 chapters all together.

I would like to give a ?shout out? to Xmaveric for letting me borrow this figment of his imagination for the weekend to review it.

This has been BaseDeltaZero reporting for the South Bend Fan Force?.

 

Impressive. Most impressive.

 

My imaginary DVD was struck from a laserdisc. The default subtitles are Japanese & I can turn on Chinese ones when I want. The menu has a cheesy keyboard playing the Star Wars theme. Its not as good as the other films in the trilogy, dvd-wise, but it only cost 2 dollars. Who says communism is all bad?

 

It's interesting to note that occasionally long-term rumors are, in fact, true... as shown in this thread, where mention was made back in March or April that TPM would be released on DVD "this fall". So it was.

BTW, Mav? How much did you pay for that import, anyway?