Jump to content

Animeigo announces the ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ set on Blu-ray

mpm74

By mpm74
in Classic Martial Arts Cinema 1920-1985

Recommended Posts

  • Member
Takuma

Takuma

Posted
  • Member
Posted
They're worse:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/15406/picture:0

The Eureka image seems to come from a similar master, but messes with colour timing and contrast, unduly swallowing darker areas into shadows and overall altering the image in a way that is neither necessary nor beneficial.

wow, thanks for the link. I was also under the impression that Eureka might have superior transfers, but those caps look pretty poor indeed.

I wonder how the Toho dvds are. They came out around the same time as the Eureka ones, and Eureka is also supposed to be NTSC, so I always thought maybe the same source used for both... but I wonder if Toho was really responsible what you see in the caps...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 136
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Member
John

John

Posted
  • Member
Posted

Has Eureka ever been a particularly good label? I recall a thread on bullets and babes describing their Jailhouse 41 DVD as being the same crap as the R1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
daisho2004

daisho2004

Posted
  • Member
Posted
Has Eureka ever been a particularly good label? I recall a thread on bullets and babes describing their Jailhouse 41 DVD as being the same crap as the R1.

I think its really a matter of people preference. So people like Eureka while others didn't. I cannot say because I never ordered from them before, only from reviews that I read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
Takuma

Takuma

Posted
  • Member
Posted
Has Eureka ever been a particularly good label? I recall a thread on bullets and babes describing their Jailhouse 41 DVD as being the same crap as the R1.

Well, Master's of Cinema is their sub-label, so people tend to think their other releases might also be of high quality but often that's not the case. I do like the fact that they release a lot of NTSC discs rather than converting them to crap, though.

And yes, Jailhouse 41 appeared to be a port of the old R1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
John

John

Posted
  • Member
Posted

Oh that's right, they put out a Blu-ray of Hara-kiri! It's B locked, but better than the Criterion in a few respects (based on a newer Japanese transfer that isn't so severely cropped). I guess everything really is case-by-case. Maybe they've changed for the better since these DVDs...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
BlackLamaFaction

BlackLamaFaction

Posted
  • Member
Posted

Eureka did a pretty good job on their Masters of Cinema release of Masahiro Shinoda's Assassination.I ordered the R2 disc off Amazon awhile back, I always assumed they were a good company but then that was really my only experience with their product.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Moderator
Karlos

Karlos

Posted
  • Moderator
Posted

The Eureka box set is nice but looking at the AnimEigo scans, they are certainly better.

Did AnimEigo ever put out their own box set or are the releases seperate? And are they still in print?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Administrator
KUNG FU BOB

KUNG FU BOB

Posted
  • Administrator
Posted
The Eureka box set is nice but looking at the AnimEigo scans, they are certainly better.

Did AnimEigo ever put out their own box set or are the releases seperate? And are they still in print?

Yes, AnimEigo put out a boxed set of all 6 films on DVD and it's still available. In fact, they dropped the price this summer down to $49.99. Not bad considering the individual films were $24-$20 each. Here's a direct link brother: http://www.animeigo.com/products/samurai/lone-wolf-cub

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Moderator
Karlos

Karlos

Posted
  • Moderator
Posted
It's a dead horse, but just...wow. Glad I have the Animeigo DVDs.

Agreed.

After having just gotten my hands on the AnimEigo DVDs and compared them to the Eureka ones, they are the best version of them all.

Maybe a decent BD set of the films will appear one day but the DVDs are just fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
derwood

derwood

Posted
  • Member
Posted

I contacted animeigo re:BD region coding, unfortunately for me the only release is US locked :sad:

the reason behind the superior quality is (taken from the Shogun Assassin details page of their website)

When we set out to release Shogun Assassin, we knew that the currently available materials would not be up to AnimEigo's typical obsessive quality standards. But as everyone knows, Shogun Assassin was created by re-editing the first two Lone Wolf & Cub films, and when we released those films, we got fresh prints off the original master prints, and did new digital video transfers.

So, being almost as crazy as most of the characters in the movie, we came up with a devious plan. We ripped the film off a bootleg DVD and used it as a guide to reconstruct the movie using our pristine masters of the original two films. We literally laid the new video on top of the old, precisely recreating every edit. With the exception of about 2 seconds of stock footage of some castles...

Would have loved to get their remastered & recut Shogun Assassin also, but sadly the same story there

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
chanbara

chanbara

Posted
  • Member
Posted

I picked up the AnimEigo Blu-ray set and was more than satisfied with them. These films have never looked better than they do on blu.:smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Moderator
Karlos

Karlos

Posted
  • Moderator
Posted

Having finally seen the BD set I really do find it a mixed bag, to say the least.

PQ wise, the films go from waxy and soft-focused to very strong. Also, there is a lot of artefacting present (something that wasn't there on either the Eureka or AnimEigo DVDs).

Audio results are also mixed: parts 4 to 6 all start with a hollow, tinny effect on the sound - this is especially noticable during pt. 5. Thankfully, this abates after 10 or so minutes but again, this wasn't present on the previous emastered DVD releases, so why is it here?

I'm curious as to how the final product was deemed releasable by AnimEigo, to be honest and it's a shame because, during the parts when the films look good, they look really good and this only makes the whole enterprise seem more of a botched job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
John

John

Posted
  • Member
Posted
I'm curious as to how the final product was deemed releasable by AnimEigo, to be honest and it's a shame because, during the parts when the films look good, they look really good and this only makes the whole enterprise seem more of a botched job.

Generally speaking it's a lot to ask of someone to be critical, and when the subject is something that is highly valued the resistance is all the higher; critique is rather highfalutin for the ol' talking pictures, nevermind their presentation!

Or in four words: the lowest common denominator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Administrator
KUNG FU BOB

KUNG FU BOB

Posted
  • Administrator
Posted

I watched the whole Blu-ray set and I have to say- Karlos nailed it...

Having finally seen the BD set I really do find it a mixed bag, to say the least.

PQ wise, the films go from waxy and soft-focused to very strong. Also, there is a lot of artefacting present (something that wasn't there on either the Eureka or AnimEigo DVDs).

Audio results are also mixed: parts 4 to 6 all start with a hollow, tinny effect on the sound - this is especially noticable during pt. 5. Thankfully, this abates after 10 or so minutes but again, this wasn't present on the previous emastered DVD releases, so why is it here?

I'm curious as to how the final product was deemed releasable by AnimEigo, to be honest and it's a shame because, during the parts when the films look good, they look really good and this only makes the whole enterprise seem more of a botched job.

Sometimes it looked stunning. The level of detail was breath-taking. Then later, out of the blue, it looked very soft with a big drop off in detail. There was one scene that was shot through some tree branches with a character running behind them that had such crazy artifacting that it looked like something from a science fiction film!

So... hmmmm... hard to say if it's "worth getting" as every fan will have a different tolerance for the set's faults. Am I glad I have the set? Hell yeah! Do I wish it had been better? Again, hell yes.

On the bright side... every time I revisit the films I enjoy them thoroughly, and this time was no exception. They are freaking awesome. Love 'em!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Member
DeathFuMaster

DeathFuMaster

Posted
  • Member
Posted

Thankfully I was able to snag this from Amazon for 16.49 before they sold out! Even with this set's problems, I'm sure it's worth that! Now I'm debating on whether to sell off my DVDs and make my money back (plus more I'm sure). Not sure I want to get rid of them, but I probably will! haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Administrator
KUNG FU BOB

KUNG FU BOB

Posted
  • Administrator
Posted
Thanks for the link to the LW&C blu set, Pai Mei - am looking for an extra set for my nephew.

What can I say, Bob? In total agreement! 6 of the very best movies EVER! :bigsmile:

BTW, the Shogun Assassin 5 film set on Blu has also just dropped - to $22.99:

http://www.amazon.com/Shogun-Assassin-Collectors-Edition-Blu-ray/dp/B0074JODEY

SHIT! I spent my Amazon gift card already. :ooh:

Wonder how long this sale will last.

Thanks for the link bro! :bigsmile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use

  I accept
Please Sign In or Sign Up