Topic: The Ten Commandments: The Musical - R3

[techdude]

Hi Mr. Hankey, if my memory serves me right, you bought the R1 version of this musical.  How is the PQ?

I bought the R3 version (or as it is stated in the case, all region) released locally by Paragon Video.  The PQ is horrendous on my 32" TV.  The colors are atrocious (The actors' faces looks like they have running makeup because of the poor color). Jaggies are also everywhere.  The menu screen is very amateurish, similar in quality to those you would find on Viva's Php 375 titles.  And it's on DVD5.

It's widescreen but doesn't seem to be properly encoded.  On my Pioneer DVD player it's widescreen on the lowest progressive scan setting, but if I bump up my player to 720p or 1080i, the picture is compressed vertically to a 4:3 format.

The DVD backcover states Dolby Digital 5.1 but it's really 2.0, same as R1.

How's the R1 version?  Is it also DVD5?

[Mr. Hankey]

Hi Mr. Hankey, if my memory serves me right, you bought the R1 version of this musical.

Wow, good memory, dude.

How is the PQ? I bought the R3 version (or as it is stated in the case, all region) released locally by Paragon Video.  The PQ is horrendous on my 32" TV.  The colors are atrocious (The actors' faces looks like they have running makeup because of the poor color). Jaggies are also everywhere.

The American release is also all-region, but I had no color/jagged line issues. My issue is with the non-anamorphic transfer, forcing me to use the zoom feature on my LCD, compromising overall picture quality.

The menu screen is very amateurish, similar in quality to those you would find on Viva's Php 375 titles.

The menu is amateurish, but it's fully animated:

And it's on DVD5.

No, this is definitely a DVD-9. I just checked.

It's widescreen but doesn't seem to be properly encoded.

As I mentioned earlier, it's actually widescreen NON-anamorphic:



Could they have made an error when transcoding to DVD5, ending up with an odd aspect ratio?

The DVD backcover states Dolby Digital 5.1 but it's really 2.0, same as R1.

It's not the same as R1, then. The R1 had DD 2.0, DD 5.1, and a DTS track:



So I'm guessing we can place Paragon in a class actually lower than C-Interactive/Viva locally-pressed DVD5?

[av_phile1]

Interesting.  Paragon means model or standard of excellence, something or someone to be emulated or copied.

[techdude]

The menu for the Paragon released version is posted below.  It's actually worst than what my picture tend to show.  All the wordings are blocky or as in the scene select screen a bit pixelated.



The fact that the US version is non-anamorphic could explain some of the issues.  Since Paragon blows up the picture, it's become pixelated, then compressing it to DVD5 makes it worst. 

On a small screen TV, it probably would be more tolerable. But on any widescreen TV bigger than 20", the issues become apparent.

Amazon.com's description of the DVD doesn't mention 5.1 and DTS.  I based my post on that. As stated, the local one is 2.0 only.

Paragon chose to reauthor the discs instead of just shrinking the disc to fit DVD5.  Why?  To put in their own pixelated logo?  Is Paragon a new company?   Their Kubrador DVD has a cover that didn't fit the case properly.  Then this one.

Yes, it is worst than Viva foolscreen and C Interactive DVDs.   Viva Foolscreen have good PQ on my medium sized TV, but it's just foolscreen, stripped of most extras, and have an amateurish menu screen.  C Interactive DVD are very nice, full featured with only slightly (barely discernible on 26-32" TV) degradation in PQ.   Paragon's The Ten Commandments - The Musical stinks in both PQ and Menu composition.

Thanks Mr.  Hankey for the very detailed review of the US version.  Guess, I will have to spring for that version too.  I collect musicals - even ill-conceived musicals like this one.  The music is actually good in places...

[Mr. Hankey]

You're welcome.

Based on your menu, Paragon also apparently deleted the special features. There's a behind-the-scenes documentary and cast bios (I think - I'm not home right now).

Paragon - The Video to Pee. 

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By the way, if you collect musicals, two very interesting ones to add to your collection from Amazon-UK would be Jerry Springer: The Opera and Our House: The Madness Musical. Both won the Olivier Award for Best Musical, and both are frequently on sale at Amazon UK for under 5 pounds. Springer is pretty shocking and outright blasphemous if you're religious, though - but it's quite fascinating. I guarantee you've never seen/heard anything like it before.

[techdude]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll look it up later.  Yes, I am quite religious, but I do have an open mind, and could turn off my 'intellectual' mind for a couple of hours for a good entertainment - wholesome or otherwise.

[rafgar]

I saw this earlier in SM North EDSA.  I was contemplating on whether to buy one or not.  The distributor "Paragon" is new to me, so I wasn't really sure if the quality is okay and if it's in dual layer.  It was a good thing I decided not to get one.  Aside from the unknown distributor, another factor which made me decide not to buy is that I saw a "Dear Heart" DVD (starring Sharon and Gabby) next to it in the rack and found out that this is also being distributed by Paragon.  The "Dear Heart" cover really sucks --- worse than a pirated VCD cover!