[Matt_Stevens]

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.

 

[Roger Mathus]

Sorry to hear that Criterion screwed up so badly. I have that DVD but have not opened it yet to watch. Edge enhancment to me is the most disturbing aspect of digital effects. I would prefer a little softer picture to the "apparent" sharpness that is attempted on some transfers.

 

[jsaliga]

Yuuucck!


Man, it hurt my eyes just to look at those screen grabs Matt. I can't imagine what it was like to sit through it.


--Jerome

 

[kal]

What's going on Criterion? The last disc of theirs I bought (Royal Tenenbaum's) was full of EE as well... !


You used to be able to buy their discs sight-unseen because you KNEW that they would have done as much as possible to get the picture as clean-looking as possible.


Or does Criterion simply do the restoration and lets some other studio do the transfer to MPEG for the DVD?


Kal

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Royal was crippled by EE as well. I don't know what they are thinking, or even IF they are thinking!

 

[Ollie W. Holmes]

The laserdisc was not especially great either, but at least it did not have EE. I've watched the complete movie twice, once in a theater and the other time on laserdisc. The third, fourth, and subsequent watchings are all confined to the scene where Carole Bouquet shows off her top, and that surprise "thing" below the waist. Won't mention what it is, because that would be a spoiler.


She is so much more beautiful than the other actress that it is a shame. When I look at my wife, I say that is a shame, too.

 

[mhafner]

Quote:

Originally posted by Matt_Stevens 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.

Criterion's DVDs are all over the place regarding image

quality, going from poor to very good. Some of their

titles suffer also from sloppy noise reduction.

MH

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Carole is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Or was, anyway. Aging is aging and she dosn't look that way any more. But from 75 to 85 she was as drop dead stunning as a woman could get.