Topic: Bram Stoker's Dracula (Collector's Edition)

[pioneer]

Title: Bram Stoker's Dracula (IMDb)
Starring: Gary Oldman
Released: 2nd October 2007
SRP: $24.96

Further Details:
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced a new special edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula which stars Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves. The two-disc special edition will include a newly remastered anamorphic widescreen presentation, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Extras will include a video introduction by Francis Ford Coppola, an audio commentary by Coppola, a documentary, deleted scenes, the trailer, and more. A Blu-ray edition will also be available for around $28.95. We've attached the official package artwork below:

[av_phile1]

I knew something like this will come.  This title hasn't seen a new version in years and the first was the single disc bare bone and the last was its Superbit version that I have.  It is quite rare for a Hollywood title not to have a new version in less than year or so.  If not mistaken, I think this one has more than six years in between.   

I don't think the main feature of the new release is any better then the superbit version which is also a remastered issue. With just the ff for the second disc i might pass this one until a 10th year commemorative comes along. 

Number of Discs: 2
Special Features:
· Video introduction by Francis Ford Coppola
· Audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
· Documentary
· Deleted scenes
· Trailer

[pioneer]

I don't think the main feature of the new release is any better then the superbit version which is also a remastered issue. With just the ff for the second disc i might pass this one until a 10th year commemorative comes along. 

Number of Discs: 2
Special Features:
· Video introduction by Francis Ford Coppola
· Audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
· Documentary
· Deleted scenes
· Trailer

You're right..............and it's not DTS pa. 

[AICRAG]

Pass ako rito.  Will stick with my Superbit version. (mainly due to the DTS)

[barrister]

I started researching about this latest version before buying, expecting the best.



I just found out that the new video transfer is controversial.  Fans are doubting whether the new remaster is true to the original prints or not.

The new HD master (used for both Blu-ray and the SD Collector's Ed) was supervised by a representative of American Zoetrope, who relayed Francis Ford Coppola's wishes on how the film should look. 

We don't know how closely this print followed Coppola's instructions.  The only thing we can be sure of is that the process was not supervised by Coppola personally. 

What bothers me is that the colors on the new master are so vastly different from the old DVD. 



From hometheaterforum.com:




Blu-ray




Superbit DVD




From a page of the book "Bram Stoker's Dracula: The Film and the Legend"




I'd rather wait for another remaster.  Maybe the colors will be truer to the original.  Baka extended version pa ang ilabas.

[barrister]

On the Collector's Edition DVD, there are also reports of pixelation at the beginning of some chapters.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.php?p=8204240&postcount=214
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.php?p=8205853&postcount=224

[darkwing]

Renowned film preservationist Robert Harris says this Dracula BD is a "perfect restoration" of the film and is Extremely Highly Recommended

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=262992

Among the films he has restored are Lawrence of Arabia, Spartucus, My Fair Lady and Vertigo. He is the real deal.

"The new transfer of Dracula is a magnificent work, which along with the audio with it's heavy lows, delicate highs and aural details -- the sound of mice walking quickly across a beam -- is miraculous to behold on home video.

Dracula is a dark film. It has always been a dark film.

It is also a film created not by digital pyrotechnics, but rather by analogue effects and cinematic slight of hand. This is an old fashioned horror film. Print it too bright and the magic is revealed; the horror disappears; the story vanishes, and one sees through the magic.

The color in this release finally matches that of the original prints -- controlled, colorful when necessary -- but dark. The blacks on this release work well, and shadow detail, when needed is at hand.

Resolution is beautiful. Flesh tones, for both the living as well as the dead, replicate the original tones of the first 35mm prints. Dupe generations are less finely resolved, but work as they did originally."

[barrister]

I researched thoroughly before posting reply #4 above, so I was able to read the Robert A. Harris opinion beforehand, since it's pretty easy to find using google.  I decided not to mention his opinion because I seriously doubt its impartiality.

In his hometheaterforum post, Harris gushes: 

"one of the most perfect to come from the Sony vaults"; 
"Everything here is correct, handled with precision...";
"a magnificent work"; and
"miraculous to behold"

His glowing praise about the Dracula remaster is so over-the-top that it strains credibility.

When I learned that Robert A. Harris is supervising the restoration of The Godfather Trilogy, also by Francis Ford Coppola, the more doubtful I became about the impartiality of Harris' praises.

An honest opinion from Harris about how bad the newly released Dracula versions really are would not sit well with Coppola, especially at a time when Harris is remastering Coppola's Godfather trilogy. 

[darkwing]

i actually have the Superbit version and the BD one, talagang mas ominous yung dating sa BD, parang bright or sunny yung color sa superbit, if that is what the film is truly supposed to look like that's fine with me ^_^ anyways, lets just enjoy the film ^_^

[barrister]

It's good to know na OK naman pala ang darkness sa BD.  Color accuracy lang naman talaga ang duda ko; sobrang layo kasi sa Superbit and the book.

You're right.  Let's just enjoy the movie itself in the meantime. 

It's the Dracula movie that is closest to the Bram Stoker novel.  And I love the cello music on the soundtrack --- gothic and creepy. 

[darkwing]

yup grabe, on the BD the soundtrack really sings! its best to watch this movie with the lights out, it fits the new colors very well, parang hmm parang daytime showing ang Superbit version , depende yata sa mood mo, basta i love the movie talaga coz you are right, closest to the novel

[barrister]

WARNING!


I got a 2-disc Collector's Edition (U.S. Region 1). 

Beatiful packaging.  Remastered picture and sound are also very good. 

If the colors on this transfer are not faithful to the original theatrical print, I have no complaints because this color scheme looks much better.  It looks like they reduced the the original version's orange hues.

The bad news is in the encoding:

1.  A few chapters start with pixellation for about 1 second.
2.  Chapter 17 --- on standalone players, play freezes and skips on different portions; unplayable on PowerDVD.

My disc is immaculately clean.  No dirt or scratches whatsoever. 

This is a known problem.  Posts from DVDTalk Forum:

I had a problem with my SD disc last night, as well. Everything was going great until I got to chapter 17, and then my player (I was using CinePlayer on my Dell PC) locked up, and the screen became pixelated. I could hear the drive churning away, and every 30-60 seconds or so, the film would advance a couple of frames, then freeze again. http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.php?p=8189101&postcount=178

My copy pixelates and freezes in my X-box at the point of the film when Harker escapes Count Dracula. When I play the same copy in my 2001 Magnavox dvd player, with a dvd tray that is breaking down, it works perfectly. I guess it depends on the DVD player but in 2007, a poorly made DVD like this one should not be made. http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.php?p=8191403&postcount=192

Checked mine after reading the topic here. It has the pixelation issue, too. http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.php?p=8205853&postcount=224

It's probably a new version of Sony's ARccOS.