8mm Forum: Close Encounters on DVD

This is topic Close Encounters on DVD in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on December 21, 2007, 07:39 PM:

Although this title has been out for a while I was surprised to come across this new 30th Anniversary Edition.

Included are three DVDs, and are well presented, the original at 129min, the special edition at 127min, and the directors cut at 132min, all remastered Audio and Video, the sound is either 5:1 Dolby Digital or DTS 5:1, very impressive, also a 64 page book, a movie poster which on the back includes a comparison poster on all three films, and if that is not enough heaps of extras on the DVDs, so far I have only watched the original, a word of caution though, if you use a sub-woofer the sound can really kick in, making things rattle a bit, [Eek!]

I dont usually mention DVDs but this one is well worth getting.

Graham. [Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 21, 2007, 08:27 PM:

This is certainly a stocking stuffer for me!

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on December 22, 2007, 02:38 PM:

Osi
Watching some of the special features, great stuff, they mention that this anniversary edition is also available in High Definition "Blue Ray".

Graham.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 22, 2007, 11:31 PM:

I'm assuming that the main documantary that was offered on the DVD edition from a few years earlier.

The problem with some blu-ray versions of special editions, is that it will have the movie, it WONT have some of the special features.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on December 23, 2007, 04:33 AM:

Hi Osi
On this DVD there is "The Making of Close Encounters" Part 1, 2,and 3, which are spread over the three discs, plus Steven Spielberg 30 years of Close Encounters on disc 3, and a featurette "Watch the Skies" plus trls for each film. "The Making Of" in itself was a fasinating insight to the movie, worth the price of the DVD alone, watched the directors cut today and was really impressed, I haven't seen the Blue Ray discs, but can only imagine the picture quality to be of a high standard.

Graham.

Posted by Robert Wales (Member # 502) on December 23, 2007, 10:05 AM:

Personally, I would ALWAYS choose a higher-quality stand-alone version of a film on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD over special features that might be available on standard DVD.

However, in the case of "Close Encounters', the Blu-Ray appears to have all of the bonus features as well as some Blu-Ray exclusive features for fans like Osi.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/closeencounters.html

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on December 23, 2007, 04:48 PM:

Hi Graham are the trailers on board please.
Thanks Mark.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on December 26, 2007, 03:31 AM:

Hi Mark
The trailers are.
On disc one... The Original Theatrical Preview, with a running time of 5min 40sec.

Disc two.... Summer Special Edition trailer running time 1min 50sec.

Disc three...30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition trailer 1min 24sec, stating at the end, landing November 13th on DVD and Blu-ray disc High Definition.

Graham. [Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 26, 2007, 09:51 AM:

I was reading on that link about this release and they were saying the picture looks stunning.

My question is ... will it be so cleaned up that we see the "special effects" blue screen lines? I have both versions (77-80) of this film on letterboxed laserdisc, and while the restored 1977 (criterion) version is seamless and all the special effects look good, the 1980's special edition, you can clearly see the seams. I don't know if it was a matter of the transfer or what, but the 1977 version actually looked better.

Posted by Robert Wales (Member # 502) on January 16, 2008, 09:35 PM:

Osi;

Amazon U.S. currently has the Blu-Ray on sale for less than half price - only $23.99 !
I've seen this disc and it's stunning, and ordered one for myself at this price. Don't wait too long though as this offer is already several days old.

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on January 20, 2008, 05:18 AM:

I bought a copy of the R2 release, superb quality, but each disc had a problem, no DTS track, just Dolby Digital, so I've had to send them back and I'm waiting for a replacement now, this must be a fault at the processing plant, as I know the R1 has fine DTS tracks.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on January 23, 2008, 03:14 PM:

Barry
Just checked our Region 4 "Pal" DVD, all three versions have "DTS", went to "audio set up" on each disc selected DTS 5:1 the Yamaha amp picked it up straight away, and indicated "DTS" also showing that all speakers were on line, just prior to the Columbia intro there is also "The Digital Experience" DTS logo.

Just finished reading about the Blu-ray "The Final Cut of Blade Runner" sounds fantastic cant wait to buy one of those Blu-ray things, [Wink]

although my wife has other ideas [Frown]

I was reading somewhere that "2001" is also available although this film is zzzzzzzz material it should look really good, some interesting titles are coming out "Thats Entertainment" as a 3 disc set, plus many more and with Fox, Disney, Warner Bros, etc pushing things along it should be interesting times ahead, not just for home entertainment but going to the cinema [Roll Eyes]

as well.

Graham. [Smile]

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on January 23, 2008, 03:20 PM:

Crikey bit late here but thanks Graham RE the trailers.
Best Mark.

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on January 24, 2008, 02:43 AM:

I just received back my replacement copy, and that has the same fault, no DTS track, now Play.com are doing a stock check on this title, I can't be the only one to have noticed the lack of DTS track, can I? This must be a bad batch, and there going to let me know in a couple of days what I'm supposed to do with this one again.

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on January 24, 2008, 04:37 AM:

I wouldn't be surprised Barry. When Die Hard With A Vengeance was first issued they missed out a complete reel.

I have a DVD of Speed from which they left off the subwoofer track. The box says 5.1 but they stuck the 5.0 track on it. No one else would have noticed so they got away with it.

Posted by David Park (Member # 123) on January 25, 2008, 10:31 AM:

Looked in Tesco today to see what they have, not got this edition we are talking about. But at £4 they have a special collectors release will this be the R2 with your lack of DTS?
Is picture transfer a good one?

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on January 28, 2008, 07:28 AM:

Well the replacement had the same fault, and it seems the whole batch at Play.com has no DTS tracks, I've had my money back, and now I've ordered the R4 version from Australia, it's only a £5 more and guaranteed DTS.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 24, 2008, 10:00 PM:

I finally received this today, (September 24), and it was worth the wait for it. The picture is a little sharper than the earlier special 2 disc DVD version from a few years back ...

but Crikey, they missed something!

On this ultimate 30th Anniversary edition, they don't have any of the deleted scenes, which the 2 disc version from a few years back ...had!

So, I still have to keep at least the second disc of this earlier version.

Posted by David Park (Member # 123) on October 25, 2008, 02:08 AM:

Deleted scenes interesting thing they are, actually I guess in the main I only watch the actual movie and not the extras, trailers yes. I think it because to me the 'making of ..' is more like TV and not cinema. I do view my DVDs on large screen and not a TV.
Back to deleted scenes what I do wish is they gave you the choice of having them back in the film in the correct place.

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