Die Hard Quadrilogy boxset impressions.

[House]

Got my Japanese set two days ago, only watched #3 so far in full, but overall I'm pleased with them.







Die Hard; I have the D-Theater to compare it to, and the BD is much sharper. I was really afraid Fox were just going to slap the old master on disc, but it looks like they've cleaned it up a bit. Grain intact, specs/dirt seem reduced... sure there are still some soft shots, but by and by it's a good improvement. The colour timing is maybe slightly different too, but that might be my imagination (will confirm when I can take some proper screenshots...).

Die Hard 2; I've got a cap of this, and it's actually pretty similar. It can on occasion look ok, but for the most part it's a soft affair. Again, grain is intact, I didn't really notice that much debris or anything. I think I prefer the PQ of DH1 over this. I've never really liked this one in the series that much, so I didn't spend too much time on it.

Die Hard with a Vengeance; again comparing to a cap, this is way better, probably the most improvement out of the three so far. I know some people in another thread said the DVD had terrible EE. There's definatly been some sharpening here (some slightly exaggerated grain), but there's no really offensive signs of EE (maybe ever so slightly on some street signs), and some of the facial closeups just look great. Some of the wide shots of the streets/city look nice and detailed too. One or two bits do have some noticeable noise though. Nice to finally have a good looking copy of this movie.

Live Free or Die Hard; some people have already commented on this, it looks excellent and obviously the best looking of the series. There is some black crush and funky contrast, but that's just part of the style of the movie. It is super sharp, nice and detailed. I tend to focus more on PQ rather than AQ (as you can tell ), but even I can tell you this sounds great.

Since this is the Japanese set I don't think the packaging (individual cases) is going to be the same as the US set (at least Amazon has a chunky case picture ala Planet Earth). But if you were wary about picking these up, I think it's worth the investment (in hindsight I would have ditched 2 and just got 1, 3, and 4, but oh well!). Also I don't know if this Japanese edition of Die Hard 4 is the uncut (I've only seen the theatrical), if you have timestamps of what's different I can check, but I think people have already said it won't be uncut.

[rboster]

thanks for taking time to post your thoughts. I'm still torn between buying 1 and 4 vs the whole boxset.

[jimmy86]

I picked up the boxset for $54 shipped.Get a Barnes/Noble account,pay with Mastercard and enter the code.Sorry I don't have code handy,good until 11/11/07.do a search an should come up.found code

online enter: P7N6J9K. works one time,but must be member and pay w/mastercard

[Nick Graham]

I was the most curious about 3, since the SD transfer was a standard bearer in regards to EE overkill. I'm REALLY leaning toward getting the first three with the Deep Discount 20% off sale.

[shamus]

Thanks!
So is it safe to assume the U.S. version is NOT a digipack??????

[jkcheng122]

Originally Posted by shamus

Thanks!
So is it safe to assume the U.S. version is NOT a digipack??????

no

[jkcheng122]

Originally Posted by rboster

thanks for taking time to post your thoughts. I'm still torn between buying 1 and 4 vs the whole boxset.

very torn on this as well, not sure if i should buy 1 and 3 or not buy at all. the fact that 4 is censored is a deal breaker for me on whole set.

[robertc88]

Torn as well but it is going to be based upon the price I can get for the set. I can turn around and buy 4 again if they reissue but posts like this will help to determine what I'll eventually do.

Thanks for the info but can you please give some feedback on the audio? TIA!!

[House]

Audio wise;

1 - dialogue is a bit muffled, not really that clear. I think this has been the case with every version I've ever seen so it could just be what they have to work with. Some nice booming bass though with the C4 explosion down the elevator shaft
2 - dialogue seems better, don't really know about surrounds/bass etc since I basically skipped over this one really quickly
3 - levels are inconsistent... the beginning of the movie I didn't have to touch anything for dialogue or action, but as it progressed I had to fiddle quite a bit since it would peak or quieten very suddenly. Dialogue is nice and clear, surrounds are nice, bass seemed ok.
4 - sounds great, no complaints

[DigitalfreakNYC]

what's the deal with the extras??

[BPHusker]

The uncut version is the one for DH4 right? Does he actually say the whole "Yippie-Kai-Yay" line or is it the theatrical cut where the gun shot takes the place of the last 2 words...

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by BPHusker

The uncut version is the one for DH4 right? Does he actually say the whole "Yippie-Kai-Yay" line or is it the theatrical cut where the gun shot takes the place of the last 2 words...

4 is not Uncut on Blu-Ray. Only SD-DVD

[lgans316]

The Japanese release of DH 4.0 is the same as the theatrical version.

[BStecke]

I asked this in another Die Hard thread with no reply. I have a question regarding the scene at the beginning of the first Die Hard when McClane is getting off the airplane. When he goes to stand up to get his bag out of the overhead compartment, there was a LOT of blurring/ghosting on the DVD. Is this at all present in the Blu-ray? It's always bugged the hell out of me.

[Tom Monahan]

Originally Posted by House

Got my Japanese set two days ago, only watched #3 so far in full, but overall I'm pleased with them.







Die Hard; I have the D-Theater to compare it to, and the BD is much sharper. I was really afraid Fox were just going to slap the old master on disc, but it looks like they've cleaned it up a bit. Grain intact, specs/dirt seem reduced... sure there are still some soft shots, but by and by it's a good improvement. The colour timing is maybe slightly different too, but that might be my imagination (will confirm when I can take some proper screenshots...).

Die Hard 2; I've got a cap of this, and it's actually pretty similar. It can on occasion look ok, but for the most part it's a soft affair. Again, grain is intact, I didn't really notice that much debris or anything. I think I prefer the PQ of DH1 over this. I've never really liked this one in the series that much, so I didn't spend too much time on it.

Die Hard with a Vengeance; again comparing to a cap, this is way better, probably the most improvement out of the three so far. I know some people in another thread said the DVD had terrible EE. There's definatly been some sharpening here (some slightly exaggerated grain), but there's no really offensive signs of EE (maybe ever so slightly on some street signs), and some of the facial closeups just look great. Some of the wide shots of the streets/city look nice and detailed too. One or two bits do have some noticeable noise though. Nice to finally have a good looking copy of this movie.

Live Free or Die Hard; some people have already commented on this, it looks excellent and obviously the best looking of the series. There is some black crush and funky contrast, but that's just part of the style of the movie. It is super sharp, nice and detailed. I tend to focus more on PQ rather than AQ (as you can tell ), but even I can tell you this sounds great.

Since this is the Japanese set I don't think the packaging (individual cases) is going to be the same as the US set (at least Amazon has a chunky case picture ala Planet Earth). But if you were wary about picking these up, I think it's worth the investment (in hindsight I would have ditched 2 and just got 1, 3, and 4, but oh well!). Also I don't know if this Japanese edition of Die Hard 4 is the uncut (I've only seen the theatrical), if you have timestamps of what's different I can check, but I think people have already said it won't be uncut.

What size screen are you using?

Thanks,
Tom

[House]

Originally Posted by BStecke

I asked this in another Die Hard thread with no reply. I have a question regarding the scene at the beginning of the first Die Hard when McClane is getting off the airplane. When he goes to stand up to get his bag out of the overhead compartment, there was a LOT of blurring/ghosting on the DVD. Is this at all present in the Blu-ray? It's always bugged the hell out of me.

Right before when he's talking to the guy about curling up his toes, Bruce's side profile has some bad ghosting (lasts maybe 3-4 seconds at most). When he actually stands up and gets his stuff, that's fine.

Originally Posted by Tom Monahan

What size screen are you using?

Thanks,
Tom

Flicked through them on the computer (24" LCD), watched DH3 on a JVC HD1 @ ~103"

[Dan Hitchman]

So, no other region got the R rated cut of DH4 on Blu-ray? Damn! I was going to buy 1-3 here and import 4.

Dan

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman

So, no other region got the R rated cut of DH4 on Blu-ray? Damn! I was going to buy 1-3 here and import 4.

Dan

Fox has said repeatedly that they didn't have enough time to do the transfer of the Unrated cut for the BD. The BD transfer simply does not exist yet to be applied anywhere.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by BStecke

Fox has said repeatedly that they didn't have enough time to do the transfer of the Unrated cut for the BD. The BD transfer simply does not exist yet to be applied anywhere.

I'd LOVE to know what the master is for the Unrated cut.

Sorry but I think that the excuse is complete BS.

[Megalith]

Amazing how Fox has the time to compress the unrated master all the way down to 480 and downmix the soundtrack to 448 for SD, but has no time for HD.

[Captainjoe]

I always wondered why that ghosting occurs. I thought it might've been bad DNR on the DVD but maybe not.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by Megalith

Amazing how Fox has the time to compress the unrated master all the way down to 480 and downmix the soundtrack to 448 for SD, but has no time for HD.

Fox re-entered the Blu-ray fray well after work had most likely begun on the DVD. If they released an unrated Blu anywhere in the world, I'd call BS. But it's the same cut everywhere, so I doubt it's a deliberate marketing ploy, although it will probably work out for them in that respect anyway.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by BStecke

Fox re-entered the Blu-ray fray well after work had most likely begun on the DVD. If they released an unrated Blu anywhere in the world, I'd call BS. But it's the same cut everywhere, so I doubt it's a deliberate marketing ploy, although it will probably work out for them in that respect anyway.

So you're saying that you think the original master for the unrated cut is a 480i DVD?

I'm sorry but I don't think even Fox is that stupid.

[rover2002]

Double Dip

[Neo_Reloaded]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

So you're saying that you think the original master for the unrated cut is a 480i DVD?

I'm sorry but I don't think even Fox is that stupid.

It's not an issue of the master being incomplete. It's spending the time to do a high-quality transfer of it from the 2K or whatever master, and then fitting into the busy holiday season production schedule and getting the Blu-ray Discs pressed.

SD-DVD transfers take less work (people are a lot more familiar with the tools, not as high a level of quality is expected, etc.), and DVD pressing lines are definitely easier to get time on than the limited Blu-ray lines at the moment.

Not that I 100% buy Fox's excuse, but I just wanted to clear up that no one is trying to say the master is a 480p (not i) DVD transfer.

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by jimmy86

I picked up the boxset for $54 shipped.Get a Barnes/Noble account,pay with Mastercard and enter the code.Sorry I don't have code handy,good until 11/11/07.do a search an should come up.found code

online enter: P7N6J9K. works one time,but must be member and pay w/mastercard

I ordered the boxset online from Barnes & Noble also. It was an absolute no brainer for me since I already had a membership.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=20969

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

So you're saying that you think the original master for the unrated cut is a 480i DVD?

Because that's even close to what I was saying . . .

Originally Posted by Neo_Reloaded

It's not an issue of the master being incomplete. It's spending the time to do a high-quality transfer of it from the 2K or whatever master, and then fitting into the busy holiday season production schedule and getting the Blu-ray Discs pressed.

SD-DVD transfers take less work (people are a lot more familiar with the tools, not as high a level of quality is expected, etc.), and DVD pressing lines are definitely easier to get time on than the limited Blu-ray lines at the moment.

Not that I 100% buy Fox's excuse, but I just wanted to clear up that no one is trying to say the master is a 480p (not i) DVD transfer.

Thank you. I really don't think this would be too much of a stretch to believe.

[Damnationdoormat]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

what's the deal with the extras??

I don't have any of them yet, but the Spanish BD of Part 1 mirrors the new U.S. DVD, so I'm assuming the U.S. BD isn't extra-packed...

ZonaDVD: Die Hard Blu-ray

New U.S. DVD:



New 2 & 3 DVDs:



Double-dip 5 Star Collection Blu-rays in the future!

[Captainjoe]

House posted some BD captures in the General HD forum and I matched them here with the R1 SE DVD:

Top: SD-DVD
Bottom: Blu-ray Disc


Die Hard

[Captainjoe]

Die Hard with a Vengeance