Poor Quality DVD Transfers

[admin_exported]

Are some film studios going out of their way to produce inferior quality DVD transfers in an effort to push BD to the top of their selling lists?

I recently spent £15 on Halloween and Halloween II and I am appalled at the quality of the picture transfers on these disks

Conversely I have a copy of RV on DVD and there really isn't much difference in picture quality between this and it's BD equivalent

As consumers what can we do to try and ensure that we're getting good quality DVD's?

For example my copy of Halloween II was produced by Sanctuary Visual Entertainment ...however you can buy a Region 1 version of this film by Universal Studios so should we as consumers be looking at certain producers of these DVD's because quite frankly there are an awful lot of badly transfered DVD's out there in the shops.

To make things worst, if you buy say from Amazon and their marketplace retailers it appears that unless you return the DVD in it's original sealed packaging you won't get a full refund which is quite useless because you need to use the DVD first to ensure you are happy with the picture quality

So..........what are our legal rights, if any, should we be discontent with the quality of a DVD or even BD for that matter?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Tallyho: Are some film studios going out of their way to produce inferior quality DVD transfers in an effort to push BD to the top of their selling lists? I recently spent £15 on Halloween and Halloween II and I am appalled at the quality of the picture transfers on these disksThis has been going on for years. Obviously, this is to pave the way for a remastered version later on to squeeze more cash from the pocket of the poor old film collector. DVD hasn't looked particularly hot for a long time now - I've not been happy with the medium for a long time due to heavy compression and edge enhancement which is fine for the average person, but not for those with projectors. Many people might cry our for cheap prices, but they need to realise that this is going to attract sloppy mastering techniques, resulting in what we're seeing now.

Conversely I have a copy of RV on DVD and there really isn't much difference in picture quality between this and it's BD equivalentI'm puzzled as to why some BD's doesn't look noticably better than it's DVD equivalent. If you look at the best examples, they're streets ahead, so it proves the format is far better. I just hope that the software prices aren't going to drop at the expense of quality.

As consumers what can we do to try and ensure that we're getting good quality DVD's?Pray.

So..........what are our legal rights, if any, should we be discontent with the quality of a DVD or even BD for that matter?It would be nice to be able to take a DVD/BD back if you're not happy with it, but this will be exploited by the general public and used as a free rental service.

I know a lot of people signed a petition (well, e-mailed) Optimum about the Escape From New York BD transfer, but all we got back was an e-mail stating they basically make the best of what they have. The problem is you'd never get enough people to complain compared to the number of the buying public to make any sort of impression on the big film companies.

 

[Alsone]

FrankHarveyHiFi:

I'm puzzled as to why some BD's doesn't look noticably better than it's DVD equivalent. If you look at the best examples, they're streets ahead, so it proves the format is far better. I just hope that the software prices aren't going to drop at the expense of quality.

Conversley, it could just be a poor BR transfer. Not all films transferred to BR are done well either.

On a seperate but related note, I recently bought my mother the re-released version of Jamaica Inn.

Absolutely appaluing picture quality also, especially for a re-release. I was expecting it to have been remastered, but the picture is so poor it is heavily speckled, its washed out and the sound is absolute rubbish also. I've seen pirate movies in the 1980's recorded on hand held video cameras in cinemas that in my opinion had better picture quality than this!

What a con. I might as well have bough the cheaper older release from 10 years ago!

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like everyone else apart from we 3 are happy with the general quality of DVD transfers. No point in having lovely hardware in the form of a good DVD player and TV Display if the relative software is rubbish

And even if you want to buy BD there are still thousands of titles that you can't get hold of so the only alternative is to go with DVD if you want to see a film, but then are we prepared to but poor quality transfers...I guess the answer is yes...fools we are

Thankfully I don't have that many DVD's in my collection and as I have no intention of paying £16.00 for BD no matter how good the transfer may be, I for one will not be buying anymore DVD's until such time the industry cleans up it's act

Even with Television unless you're prepared to pay around £60 a month for a decent HD subscription package such as SKY or a are reliant on FREESAT ITV and BBC HD all of us who are stuck with either HD or Full HD Displays get to see sub standard soft SD pictures on our big bold displays

Something tells me we have a very, very long way to go before we as consumers are even approaching 50% satisfaction with all of the current formats available to us

All I know is that nothing seems to work in the way we're all being sold it does....or rather it does if you are prepared to pay through the nose and I mean £000's

Wonder what would happen if millions of us just said NO, NO NO and not bother to buy any DVD's or BD's until such time we're happy with the quality of transfers......Bet the Studios would then have to pull their fingers out...hey?

 

[professorhat]

I can recommend Lovefilm - I use it to hire a Blu-Ray disc before I buy to ensure the quality is up to the standard I expect - has saved me some money in a few cases. You could always do the same and hire the DVD before you buy, therefore you'll ensure you're only buying DVDs with good transfers.

 

[Anonymous]

We shouldn't need to do this at all, but I take your point

There is enough technology out there and the film studios should take more care in delivering us the very best quality DVD transfers

 

[Clare Newsome]

professorhat:I can recommend Lovefilm - I use it to hire a Blu-Ray disc before I buy to ensure the quality is up to the standard I expect - has saved me some money in a few cases. You could always do the same and hire the DVD before you buy, therefore you'll ensure you're only buying DVDs with good transfers.

I second that....