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Criterion prides itself on being the high end of DVD. They are constantly praised for their work in releasing harder to find films and foreign classics to the U.S.
But in my opinion, sometimes they suck so bad they might as well be called Simitar.
Edge Enhancement is one reason. Some of their titles are destroyed by it. The other day I watched Criterion's WALKABOUT and never saw any EE. Even though it was a 1.66:1 non-anamorphic transfer, it looked great.
But last night the wife and sat down to watch THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE and found the picture was not only soft, but that it was obscured by some of the nastiest EE since the TOMBSTONE SE!
All the signs of the transfer being converted from a PAL source were apparent. It was soft. It seemed to be upconverted to anamorphic. There was strange stuttering and the image had imperfect frames. Aliasing was a problem. It was a real mess.
Making it even worse was the EE that killed nearly every scene, added, no doubt, to make the image sharper.
It was so bad that when the main character (Fernando Rey) carried a walking stick, it looked like a light saber! Here, look at this lovely example...
http://www.deceptions.net/captures/obscure_EE2.jpg
Nice, eh? Remember, I didn't add any EE to this. I simply took a capture and zoomed in. And here is Fernando Rey as Obi Wan Kenobi!
http://www.deceptions.net/captures/obscure_EE.jpg
Suffice to say, Criterion delivered a terrible product. This film deserves better.
Anyway, it was at least fantastic seeing Carole Bouquet nude. And Ãngela Molina as well (they both play the same character).
Strange film. Very well done. But a terrible and unsatisfying ending.
But in my opinion, sometimes they suck so bad they might as well be called Simitar.
Edge Enhancement is one reason. Some of their titles are destroyed by it. The other day I watched Criterion's WALKABOUT and never saw any EE. Even though it was a 1.66:1 non-anamorphic transfer, it looked great.
But last night the wife and sat down to watch THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE and found the picture was not only soft, but that it was obscured by some of the nastiest EE since the TOMBSTONE SE!
All the signs of the transfer being converted from a PAL source were apparent. It was soft. It seemed to be upconverted to anamorphic. There was strange stuttering and the image had imperfect frames. Aliasing was a problem. It was a real mess.
Making it even worse was the EE that killed nearly every scene, added, no doubt, to make the image sharper.
http://www.deceptions.net/captures/obscure_EE2.jpg
Nice, eh? Remember, I didn't add any EE to this. I simply took a capture and zoomed in. And here is Fernando Rey as Obi Wan Kenobi!
http://www.deceptions.net/captures/obscure_EE.jpg
Suffice to say, Criterion delivered a terrible product. This film deserves better.
Anyway, it was at least fantastic seeing Carole Bouquet nude. And Ãngela Molina as well (they both play the same character).
Strange film. Very well done. But a terrible and unsatisfying ending.