Amazon Review

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by doolahrock

Will let you know the diagnosis when the BU one arrives. It's coming from the US so could well be a couple of weeks.

Yeah please do would really appreciate that. Thanks

[Roughale]

I think the review is way over the top, I did not see the problems as described, maybe I am turning blind, or 37 inches are not enough (the girls think it is ) - I may be too indifferent to care, as I just love the Arrow Releases and the whole gang firing against it are either a group of nerds with magnifying glasses, or from a competing label

[Bringer Of Funerals]

Originally Posted by Roughale

I think the review is way over the top, I did not see the problems as described, maybe I am turning blind, or 37 inches are not enough (the girls think it is ) - I may be too indifferent to care, as I just love the Arrow Releases and the whole gang firing against it are either a group of nerds with magnifying glasses, or from a competing label

He was giving it full on rant mode lol

[Nagaman]

Although I do see what the guy is getting at, I agree, he's definately gone way over the top, just like he (assuming it's the same person - which I'm positive it is) did when he was a member on these very forums for a short time recently...

[keirarts]

The Arrow version is still worth picking up for the extras, theres an awful lot of good stuff on the disc(s) but for picture quality alone the Blu-underground one wins hands down. Personally i'm keeping both and hoping in future Arrow source their stuff from someone else. In the early days both Arrow and Blue underground had difficulties but Blue underground seem to have it sorted, if Arrow can start getting better looking transfers without the weird noise then they will be the better company as in every other respect more love goes into their product. It's also worth noting this is only an issue with their italian releases. All the US films they put out like MANIAC COP and FRANKENHOOKER ect look brilliant.

[zane]

Originally Posted by keirarts

All the US films they put out like MANIAC COP and FRANKENHOOKER ect look brilliant.

A little bit strange too that the American movies like for example Maniac Cop or Obsession don't show any compression problems (at least I don't see any). Do Arrow use a different company for encoding etc. on these releases?
(I don't refer to the video noise that is inherent to the master)

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by zane

A little bit strange too that the American movies like for example Maniac Cop or Obsession don't show any compression problems (at least I don't see any). Do Arrow use a different company for encoding etc. on these releases?
(I don't refer to the video noise that is inherent to the master)

If i'm right, it's the same people that did the authoring of all the problem discs, and someone else did the Demons transfers. I hope to god they use the latter for Zombie Flesh Eaters/Zombie/Zombi 2.

[Bringer Of Funerals]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

If i'm right, it's the same people that did the authoring of all the problem discs, and someone else did the Demons transfers. I hope to god they use the latter for Zombie Flesh Eaters/Zombie/Zombi 2.

Thinking of getting The Blue Underground edition

[doolahrock]

Originally Posted by nordicdusk

Yeah please do would really appreciate that. Thanks

Well, I got the BU disc a few weeks back but have not had the chance to check it out until last night. Until I get my projector set up back on the go after moving house, I'm watching the discs on a 37" Panasonic 720P plasma.

I would have to say that without doubt, the BU is the better of the two. Firstly, it's sharper than the Arrow version and that's noticeable on a 720P image. It's not dramatic by any means but I think the problem lies with the higher contrast on the Arrow version. If you boost the contrast you are generally going to lose some detail.

I think the boosted contrast may also be partly responsible for the compression nasties on the Arrow disc. I encode a lot of video and generally try to avoid boosting contrast and brightness as artifacts tend to rear their ugly heads.

As has been mentioned, the daylight scenes show this up the most with the night scenes looking quite a lot better. The Arrow disc is by no means bad and during the night scenes there is little to nothing to choose between the two versions. Actually, the daylight scenes in the Arrow transfer seem to be better in places than others. The compression artifacts are most noticeable in the background of shots with no camera movement which makes me think the grain structure has freaked out the encoding set up. The fact remains that the feature is around 10gb bigger on the BU version and it shows.

Obviously, the packaging on the Arrow disc is far superior and this with the set of extra material makes it worth picking up for me. Especially as I got it for around 8 quid. If they could have just rocked the encoding and held back on the contrast, this would be the definitive version I'm sure.

[Rik]

I haven't bought either yet, but I intend on getting both, purely to complete my BU/Arrow Fulci collections.