Quality of 'The Phantom Menace' DVD re-release March 22nd

I do not own a DVD copy of The Phantom Menace but I may be looking to purchase one in March. I've heard from several reviews, however, that the quality of the original DVD release was rather poor with an almost 'fuzzy' look, especailly during the Jedi Council scenes.

Does anyone know for sure if the re-release will be the same transfer as the previous DVD or a 'direct from digital' transfer like we saw with Attack of the Clones? If its the former, I might wait for a box set later on. If its the later, I think I'll pick this one up when I buy the Clone Wars DVD.

 

Considering that 99% of The Phantom Menace was not shot on digital video, I don't think "direct from digital" is going to be an option. Unless I have misread your meaning.



Rick McCallum loves you!

 

I actaully didn't know that. This means that Episode I was not shot in the same manner as Episodes II and III, which explains the different 'look'. Is there any way the footage could be 'fixed' to reflect the clearity of the other two episodes? I personally never saw a great problem with the film, but after hearing reviews I began to notice subtle differences, and we all know Lucas' hobby of 'tweaking' his films.

I may as well buy a copy regardless. I always did enjoy the fairy-tale-esque story Episode I seemed to offer.

 

As far as I'm aware it's just a re-release of the Region 1 version to coincide with ROTS.

Therefore the edge enhancement "problems" will still be there. It's probably just the same version of the disc with some sort of ROTS sticker on the front. The same with AOTC.

The Region 1 version was the only one that was deleted. In Region 2 land episodes 1 and 2 were available alongside the new OT box sets last September.

I've been meaning to replace my R4s with R1s anyway so I may do so when these come out.

 

I own the original DVD and don't see a problem with the picture. The Attack of the Clones picture is more vibrant but this may be because of the way it was filmed.

-Seldon

 

Rumors have it that this will be a newer tranfer, possibly with an all digital Yoda replacement.

They made the classic trilogy look about as good as Episode II, so I don't think they will have a prblem with Episode I.

 

I have TPM on VHS. I've never noticed any othe fuzzieness you mentioned.

 

If this keeps up, I may have to buy the re-release.

 

"I have TPM on VHS. I've never noticed any othe fuzzieness you mentioned."

 

Will there be any new scenes in the re-release films of Attack of the Clones and the Phantom Menace??????????

 

will this DVD have the extended duel between obi ginn and maul? cause i have seen clips that rnt in the duel, such as on Disc 2, under featurettes, under Fighting or something, at the end it has a clip that ive never seen in the duel, and i wanna c the whole duel

 

The DVD being released is not supposed to have any changes at all. It is just a release of a DVD that went out of print for a while.

And Adam... if they digitized the entire film for effects... wouldn't they then be able to transfer that digital final directly to DVD?

 

And isn't that what they did with the OT?



DVDs are heavenly
/LM

 

They did a digital restoration of the original negatives. I assume that restoration then gets output directly to digital.

 

I sure hope it's a digital Yoda!

 

Strilo:

The TPM was done on film: There is only so far that they can go with the medium. It will never be able to match AOTC nor ROTS in terms of clarity. In the case of the OT, it was the best RESTORE they ever did for the film

 

I would have thought that Lucas exported it to digital though. The advantage of digital in AOTC and ROTS is that they can watch what they filmed right away and then dont have to convert the film into digital for ILM.

 

Is the TPM DVD only being re-released in America? Cause I can't find the DVD anywhere in Sydney and the only version of TPM I have is the one I taped off TV with bloody ad breaks every 20 minutes

 

Ok... While Ep I was shot on film, just about every scene has a digital effect somewhere. For the current DVD, it was mastered from a film copy of the digital version. Had one mastered directly from the digital files, there would have been an increase in quality, as it would have been one step closer to the original. Whether it is noticable is debatable. During mastering, edge enhancement was applied. This is also debatable. I find a few scenes a bit overly sharp, when Amidala's ship first lands on Tatooine comes to mind. Moderate amounts of EE can improve picture quality.

We can hope for a remaster on the saga box set 2007.

 

When HD-DVD hits and the dust settles, you can bet there will be a full set of HD SW DVDs. They already stated they remastered the OT in HD and SD, I would assume the PT is a hop skip and jump away.

 

I really want to see a boxset of the series.

 

While technically TPM was shot on film, I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that there IS infact a high definition transfer of the movie.

Wasn't TPM shown in some digital theaters and didn't people who saw it comment on how much better it looked?

It may not be until a "special edition" of TPM is released. But you can count on a new transfer directly from the high def source.

Hell if my "Alien" director's cut can look as good as it does, then I know that Lucas can make TPM look on par with AOTC and ROTS in terms of film clarity.

 

The TPM was done on film: There is only so far that they can go with the medium. It will never be able to match AOTC nor ROTS in terms of clarity. In the case of the OT, it was the best RESTORE they ever did for the film

There's nothing that suggests film to be inferior to digital regarding quality. The strongest point of shooting digital is convenience. Now, if the option is between shooting digital, transferring to film for a presentation in a regular theater, or showing it in digital, then the latter option would be better.

 

I refuse to buy another version of the TPM DVD unless we get a new Yoda to replace the sickly, awful looking that's there now!

 

I dont see any problems with my TPM dvd. It looks better than all the other non-SW dvds I have. I wont buy another version of this film unless the one I have now goes missing or is destroyed.