The first Red October sd-dvd had poor video quality, at times very poor.

Then there were two more dvds released, one of them was slightly better and more cleaned up, but still to my eye poor quality for an sd-dvd.

I watched the new HD-DVD Red October tonight, I found the transfer to be pretty good, but not what I am used to seeing for hd-dvd quality.

It's more like what I would have expected for the regular dvd at times, at other times it is obviously better than a regular dvd.

They did nice clean up on the print. This film is from 1990 so its 17 years old give or take a few months at this point.

I would recommend the purchase easily for those who are wondering, and perhaps this was the best they could do with the 17 year old print.

I am curious what those of you who have watched the hd-dvd think of the quality?:cool:

In view of the age I also think the transfer is quite good.
Not top notch, but a definite improvement over the DVD.

I cant see anywhere where The Hunt for Red October is on HD-DVD.Where did you get it.

I cant see anywhere where The Hunt for Red October is on HD-DVD.Where did you get it.

i assume he bought the jack ryan collection that was pulled from shelves. I am looking to buy it as well but even ebay doesnt have it

ZZtop, I have the set too, and while it looks soft at times - I really think this is about the best this movie will look. I think the soft shots are intentional.

ZZtop, I have the set too, and while it looks soft at times - I really think this is about the best this movie will look. I think the soft shots are intentional.

You may be right, perhaps if we step back through the three different sd-dvds that were issued of the Hunt for Red October, that is why none of them were good dvd transfers. The last one issued, did have some cleanup according to the studio but was still not all that great an sd-dvd.

If the soft shots are intentional, when you add all the ocean graphic shots which are deliberately blurred for special effect, this may be as good as the HD-DVD gets unless they do an 8k scan someday of the print for whatever level of resolution that may come next down the road.

... and yes I got it at a Walmart store, it was sitting there right on the shelf. They had a sign out for some sort of dvd sale going on, so the young sales lady even marked it down for me 10% off their regular price. I bought the HD-DVD with a bunch of other things for Christmas things at the last minute. I bought a Jack Ryan set earlier this year also at Walmart as well but gave that one away as a gift.

My original Amazon order was cancelled when the set was pulled from the sales channel.

Harrison wasn't bad, Ben Afleck to my mind is a miscast, but I really only bought the set for the Red October HD-DVD.

I would have preferred to buy just that one, but you had to buy the Jack Ryan set to get The Hunt for Red October.

In view of the age I also think the transfer is quite good.
Not top notch, but a definite improvement over the DVD.

http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/agree.gif

I thought it looked great - I know everyone expects infinite perfect focus now, but these films weren't shot like that. Disc is great, glad I snared one...

MEC2

Red October is among my favorite films and I'm dying to get this! Nothing against Paramount but lets get 'er done! :D

Film shot in 90s doesn't mean that the quality is bound to suffer. It all depends upon whether the director or Studio tries to do a stringent restoration or coming up with a fresh encode like Warner did for 2001, Shining, Blade Runner etc. I am pretty sure that even the weakest shot can be made look beautiful by doing proper digital manipulations.

Try 1987 for Red October. :)

It looks well above average, definitely holds up well in all the dark scenes. Found the set at FYE about a month ago.

I'd say 7.7/10 PQ, it's worth it if you like the movie, as others said a definite noticeable improvement over DVD.

Try 1987 for Red October. :)


Red October was released in the Spring of 1990...

If I remember correctly it was released March, 2 1990.

Hmm, well that still means it was filmed in the 80s... :P I could've sworn I saw it, playing on TV when I was like 9 or something. Oh well, my mistake.

I tried to buy the collection tonight at Walmart, but the cashier couldnt ring it up. The system said something about sale not allowed. What does the Walmart person need to do to override the computer?

Try 1987 for Red October. :)

Try 1990. I saw this in high school, junior year. It looked friggin' amazing projected on a very large screen. A real "big screen" experience to say the least, there's no excuse for this not to look really, really good in HD.

Vincent

Hmm, well that still means it was filmed in the 80s...:P I could've sworn I saw it, playing on TV when I was like 9 or something. Oh well, my mistake.

Yeah, filmed in 1989. That's hardly "old" when it comes to movies, especially a big-budget movie like THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.

Incidentally, this was a very easy "mistake" to have avoided. Ever hear of the Internet Movie Database?

Vincent

Compared to the original DVD release you mentioned in the original post it, I think it looks great, night and day difference. But, as an HD DVD itself it still looks really good but not reference quality. I was none-the-less still impressed.

I tried to buy the collection tonight at Walmart, but the cashier couldnt ring it up. The system said something about sale not allowed. What does the Walmart person need to do to override the computer?

I thought this never got released? They can still sell it?

Why was the box set pulled from shelves? That seems kind of weird.

Why was the box set pulled from shelves? That seems kind of weird.

There was a mis-print on the cover. It said "special edition" with extra features, but the discs were bare-bone. Either Paramount is taking forever to re-print the covers and send 'em back out, or the special features are being added to the discs. Hopefully, they'll be re-released soon.

After picking this up 2 months ago, I finally gave HFRO a viewing today. PQ is quite respectable, a bit soft in places with minor contouring in some underwater shots, but there is no mistaking it for SD. I found the Dolby TrueHD sound track to be outstanding.

I thought it looked great - I know everyone expects infinite perfect focus now, but these films weren't shot like that.
Shot anamorphic 35, so close-ups are ocassionally going to miss if there is significant movement of the actor and/or camera. When you have one inch of depth of field, you're going to miss ocassionally...but it is a great point of pride to catch them all if you can. It is very tough to do. To beat it, the amount of light would have to be quadrupled to make a significant improvement. In a set like the sub interior, there are practicle lights that are part of set which you cannot increase in brightness; they are what they are. They trap you at a particular stop...which was probably a 4 or so. Star Trek: First Contact was driven by this kind of thing on the bridge, etc. We were trapped at a T3.2...which is dangerous territory on the C-Series Panavision anamorphics.

I am watching this as I write this reply. The PQ gets a B. It is decent HD PQ. Not with the best....but clearly several notches above anything SD.

The PQ is very good. I selected the TrueHD track and I must say...it is fantastic. The Russian singing at the start was breathtaking. Another nice touch is the LFE track. Not overdone and very appropriate. The first scene where the US sub makes an appearance and slowly glides on the screen sent a cascade of deep rumble to my buttkicker...it was timed perfectly and felt natural.

Overall I'm glad I picked up this from ebay when it was first released and then pulled.

I tried to buy the collection tonight at Walmart, but the cashier couldnt ring it up. The system said something about sale not allowed. What does the Walmart person need to do to override the computer?

by wal-mart policy they can't override a "sale not allowed" (it's meant to keep from selling recalled items for customer safety... in this case your discs don't have lead paint or contaminated wheat gluten... just a misprinted label) but they can key an item in manually by entering depertment number, item description, price (can you guess where i work?)

I saw ANOTHER of this boxed set again in a Walmart today here in Atlanta. I can't imagine why, but they still seem to be floating around.

This one appeared to have been rewrapped possibly, whether that makes it the new corrected stock, or old stock I have no idea.

Why was the box set pulled from shelves? That seems kind of weird.

Seriously, where have you been? This news is old.