Topic: Babel R3 - Pretty Bad

[techdude]

I saw at Video City a upcoming list of DVD and it included Babel.

It's priced at Php 375 and given Viva's track record with DVD released at that price point, it's usually the kind that I liked to call 'glorified VCD.'  Full screen, locally encoded, no subtitles, with rotataing Videogram warning, no extras, DVD5, etc.

Huwag naman sana...

[munky]

most definitely yun na yun.  Haaay....

[chinoh151]

That's why I bought the R1! 

[Mr. Hankey]

most definitely yun na yun.  Haaay....

Yup, I'll confirm.

I got this today. The front cover's list of awards look like a bad paste-up job.

It's a really poor video transfer for the actual film. It looks like it was mastered from a print used in cinemas, not a flawless master negative or something. Even the burned-in English subtitles look like what you used to see in those old Chinese movies that used to be shown on Sunday mornings on RPN-9. Fullscreen, of course.

Oddly, the special features are actually widescreen, non-anamorphic.

Would it be illegal for Viva to master these local releases from the DVDs of their US releases? That's what C-Interactive does, so the picture quality is much better for C-Interactive than for these Php 375 local Viva titles.

[av_phile1]

Would it be illegal for Viva to master these local releases from the DVDs of their US releases? That's what C-Interactive does, so the picture quality is much better for C-Interactive than for these Php 375 local Viva titles.

If they're the authorized local distributor, shouldn't they be allowed to copy/master/replicate a US DVD release?  Unless ofcourse they don't have any mastering or replicating facility here. 

[techdude]

Would it be illegal for Viva to master these local releases from the DVDs of their US releases? That's what C-Interactive does, so the picture quality is much better for C-Interactive than for these Php 375 local Viva titles.

That's what I couldn't understand, it would be easier for them to just DVDShrink'ed them to fit DVD5, if that's their purpose, if they are the local rights holders, siguro naman the copyright holders would not object...  After all, the resulting copy is a degraded copy and not a one-to-one  reproduction.  For all the complaints against C-Interactive, they were able to fit both widescreen and Fullscreen versions of some movies without much degradation in PQ.   Babel PQ is really bad.  In some scenes it looks like the colors had been reduced to 256.  It's not that bad but you get the point...

[av_phile1]

I saw at Video City a upcoming list of DVD and it included Babel.

It's priced at Php 375 and given Viva's track record with DVD released at that price point, it's usually the kind that I liked to call 'glorified VCD.'  Full screen, locally encoded, no subtitles, with rotataing Videogram warning, no extras, DVD5, etc.

Yup, I'll confirm.

I got this today. The front cover's list of awards look like a bad paste-up job.

It's a really poor video transfer for the actual film. It looks like it was mastered from a print used in cinemas, not a flawless master negative or something. Even the burned-in English subtitles look like what you used to see in those old Chinese movies that used to be shown on Sunday mornings on RPN-9. Fullscreen, of course.

Oddly, the special features are actually widescreen, non-anamorphic.

Would it be illegal for Viva to master these local releases from the DVDs of their US releases? That's what C-Interactive does, so the picture quality is much better for C-Interactive than for these Php 375 local Viva titles.

In that case, the unauthorized DVD5 I have seems a better value - 16:9 anamorphic averaging 3.8 mbps and goes as high as 7mbps. (Aspect ratio is supposed to be wider at 2.35:1, accdg to Amazon)  No extras, it occupies 4.35Gb just for the movie. No problem with the english subtitling which is necessary in most parts of the movie.   I was hoping the local legit release would be better.  Shame on viva.

Was looking at the amazon features for the R1 release and it doesn't have any extras at all.

[riverfan]

does anyone have a scan of the actual dvd cover, i havent been to any local shops lately.

that is quite a shame though, viva can sometimes be inconsistent in their releases.

[av_phile1]

This is the Babel cover art I got from Amazon.

Let me just post the pics of my unauthorized Babel DVD.  The cover art looks like the one from Amazon:

4

If you noticed the BABEL print is embossed laminated against a matte background on a thick cardboard.  A lot of misprints but I've come to expect that on these unauthorized releases.  And don't get misimpressed by the apparent faded colors, it's just the lighting as the window is just adjacent. 



My apologies to moderators, this is in no way an endorsement of the unauthorized DVDs.  But I would just want to make it known especially to legit distributors out there like Viva selling obviously inferior packaging and discs at P350, that they better come out with something better for that price. 

PS.  The Nokia BH501 headphone is not part of the package.  Just used it to hold the cardboard flip.   

[Mr. Hankey]

I'm letting just this one slide, av_phile1, but another moderator may overrule me and delete your above post. Please stop already, though. This is the second time you've discussed a pirated item in full detail this month, the other being 300. Regardless of your intention, such discussions are simply not allowed here, and once we make exceptions, we'll get complaints about "selective moderating": if av_phile1 can post about a pirated title, why can't I? It's just too complicated to micro-moderate.

does anyone have a scan of the actual dvd cover, i havent been to any local shops lately.

I never replaced my scanner when I upgraded my PC, but here's a digital picture of it:



Ugly, huh? 

[av_phile1]

Noted with thanks, Mr.Hankey.

I have no excuses except to say that in my misplaced eagerness to inform fellow DVD enthusiasts, I had thought that showing what's available in alternative sources can  confirm how really low the legit distributors have gone.  It's a credit to these distributors that legit DVD prices have gone down to a large extent.  But in some instances, so do the quality of their merchandise that have made them look just at par or even inferior to many illegal copies.  And in the case of the 300, it was more a reality  check that despite every measure governments here and abroad are taking to combat unauthorized releases of copyrighted materials, it has not changed one bit. Piracy is as resourceful, imaginative and healthy as ever, more than 3 years after this forum has closed that thread on DVD piracy. (We were talking of a rumoured DVD release of the 300 and here they are, already available.)    Then again, perhaps they already know and my posts were just rubbing salt to injury.  And yes, regardless of my intentions, I shouldn't.  Again my apologies for that and will certainly abide. 

[Gideon]

I guess, R1 nalang ang dapat bilhin.

[av_phile1]

Yup, I guess that's about the only option left for a legit alternative to own the title.  But correct me if wrong, the R1 version at Amazon costing $19.99 is bare-boned, no special features.

Oh, and you can download the movie on your PC for a cheaper $14.99 for those using their PC hard drives for storing movie files.

[Mr. Hankey]

Yup, I guess that's about the only option left for a legit alternative to own the title.  But correct me if wrong, the R1 version at Amazon costing $19.99 is bare-boned, no special features.

Yes, that's right.

But that's not the only option. You can wait until May 21 and get a 2-Disc version from Amazon-UK if you can play PAL/R2 discs:

[jas]

The R3 Korean release is also 2 discs, while the R3 Korean LE is 2 discs + OST. According to YesAsia, release date was April 20.

[boredfilmmaker]

there's also a Region 3 release over at CD Wow.. It's 2-disc with DTS and an 88-min making-of documentary..