13 replies to this topic

[mattbowyer]

Getting a DVD player has helped me to rediscover the Bond films. I recently tried to watch my Moonraker 'digitally remastered' tape and it was unwatchably bad, then got the DVD and it's remarkable. I'd advise any serious fan to invest the $200...and I haven't even mentioned the documentaries.

So who here is with the times or are you back in the stone age which I escaped from just six months ago.

[Rich Douglas]

Cool topic.. I've been slowly converting my collection from VHS to DVD over the last several years. Now I've got about half on DVD and half on VHS. The DVD's are definately a complete bond expereience, the extras are all quite good and the commentaries are insightful and fun to listen to.

Rich

[BONDFINESSE 007]

well i am on both as i started my collection with tapes, but i had to get the man with the golden gun on dvd, and then all the way through avtak i bought a copy on dvd since its my fav, so i have both versions and then i could not find a copy of tld on tape so that went to dvd, and ltk i have tape and dvd and all of brosnan i wanted on tape and dvd in case something should happen to the tape...i have a back up, so most of mine is tape

[rafterman]

I don't use tapes unless it's for stuff I record off TV, DVD is just so superior....and it's great to have every single Bond movie on DVD, including Die Another Day, hehe...

[Jeff007]

I got both the VHS and DVD's around the same time. At first I did not have a DVD player so I watched volume one Box set on VHS. When Box set 2 came out I had a DVD player and watched them on DVD only. Still, I have yet to even put the volume 2, and 3 VHS's into the VCR yet because the DVD's are doing fine.

[Simon]

Have bought a DVD player and some DVDs. Haven't converted the Bond tapes to DVD yet but will be at some point in the near future.

DVD is definitely the way to go. Have bought some "event" movies that can withstand repeated viewings, so while I would like a certain film, it will not necessarily be added to the DVD collection.

Also tend to go for DVDs that have had the "treatment". In that sense I am waiting for Heat to be released as a two disc set - no news on when/if it will but feel that the current package can be improved upon and that the film is worthy of a revisiting.

[RITZ]

I bought a VHS video box set in 1998 (DN - GE)

I'm now aiming to buy the DVD set and a decent DVD player

My box set is up for sale: click here

[Sanchez]

I bought the DVD's(Digital Versatile Disc) as they were released in England, although I now live on the east coast, USA. Although I do occasionally watch the VHS(Video Helical Scan) tapes as the trailers on them have different edits.

I own a multi region player that can also disable the "Macrovision" security tag too, so I can record direct from a DVD, not that I have of course

[Loomis]

Originally posted by Simon
I am waiting for Heat to be released as a two disc set - no news on when/if it will but feel that the current package can be improved upon and that the film is worthy of a revisiting.

Absolutely! HEAT is one of my favourite films of the last decade. I own the current R2 edition, but I'd definitely buy it again as a two-disc set with commentaries, etc.

DVD is far superior to VHS. In fact, I no longer give house room to videotapes. I got rid of them all, including my complete collection of Bond on VHS, when I converted to DVD. I no longer own a VCR.

DVD is the best thing ever to have happened for film buffs. Superb picture and sound that never wears down, widescreen as standard, commentaries, documentaries, etc., etc. DVD rocks! DVD rules!

It's a shame that some of the Bonds don't quite have picture quality that matches up to the best-ever releases (such as M:I-2, the STAR WARS prequels and T2), but I'm sure some if not all of them will be remastered and re-issued at some point over the next few years.

Anyway, there's no excuse to buy VHS any more. Get DVD! Now!

[PaulZ108]

VHS is hideous and antiquated and I refuse to use it. I've got the entire Bond collection on DVD (took me about a year to complete it) and I love it. I watched a VHS not too long ago and was apalled by the horrible picture and sound quality.

After seeing how much better the picture is and (since Christmas) hearing them in surround sound I don't think I'll ever watch a VHS again.

[SeanValen00V]

Rediscovering and watching all the Bond films at home for the first time in widescreen, and not the cropped pan and scan versions mostly on video was a delight, effectively seeing parts of the picture never seen before.

Plus restored picture, Thunderball looks amazing on dvd, for a image in the late 60s, amazing job.

Watching TLD and LTK in widescreen and 5.1 Sound, it enhances the whole experience, those who don't have dvd and home cinema set ups, are missing out, those who have it, it's very hard to go back once you experience this enhancement, great.


Someone menstioned Heat? Yes one of my favorites as well, I'm waiting for a special edition, they could clean up the image on the r2 dvd, and extras a bonus. It's been out for a while, but dvd methods now, could extract better quality for the dvd.

[SeanValen00V]

Originally posted by Loomis




It's a shame that some of the Bonds don't quite have picture quality that matches up to the best-ever releases (such as M:I-2, the STAR WARS prequels and T2), but I'm sure some if not all of them will be remastered and re-issued at some point over the next few years.

Anyway, there's no excuse to buy VHS any more. Get DVD! Now!

Because of the Bond films going back to the 60s, dvds are mastered from negatives, sometimes those negatives are kept clean and away from damage, sometimes with older films, like some of the early Roger, or early Connery, your going to get say less great picture, given the equipment, color, and sound mono used at the time, thus remixing mono into 5.1 is hard, as the quality to work from is not great from the first place. Where as recent Bond films like TND, TWINE are made recorded with dolby digital sound, thus your restoring or copying from existing quality in the dvd era etc, while the older films need more work, and it's hard to make perfect, but the picture you get on dvd, is the best representation your likely to see of the film, so I hope you understand why there are differences, but DVD still offers the best it can be.


Thus modern films will look the best on dvd, the newer the film, the better equipment being used, some films recorded digitally like star wars episode 2, thus perfection, but this varies, and when you got older films, like some of the older Bond films, there's been alot of effort to clean up the image, but older films cannot compete with new films in the quality picture and sound stakes, thus the dvds you have now, are the best your likely to see, and thus you shouldn't be comparing to MI2 or T2, those are more recent films, T2 was in 1991,Thunderball was in the 60s, the dvd makers are never dealing with the same quality negatives of these films, because of age and different equipment, so appreciate the quality you got now, as it's as good as its likely to get.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Since coming to Indonesia in 1996 I have not used video tape at al!. It was all LD here then, virtually no video tape at all.

Now it's all VCDs (mainly for those that can only afford that format) and DVDs.

As a matter of interest, on the audio side of things cassette tape does big, big business here because it is affordable to the masses (about US$2), but CDs (about US$8) are very readily available as well. With well over 200 million people in Indonesia split fairly evenly into the rich, the average, and the poor, both audio mediums are very popular.

[Loomis]

Originally posted by SeanValen00V



Because of the Bond films going back to the 60s, dvds are mastered from negatives, sometimes those negatives are kept clean and away from damage, sometimes with older films, like some of the early Roger, or early Connery, your going to get say less great picture, given the equipment, color, and sound mono used at the time, thus remixing mono into 5.1 is hard, as the quality to work from is not great from the first place. Where as recent Bond films like TND, TWINE are made recorded with dolby digital sound, thus your restoring or copying from existing quality in the dvd era etc, while the older films need more work, and it's hard to make perfect, but the picture you get on dvd, is the best representation your likely to see of the film, so I hope you understand why there are differences, but DVD still offers the best it can be.


Thus modern films will look the best on dvd, the newer the film, the better equipment being used, some films recorded digitally like star wars episode 2, thus perfection, but this varies, and when you got older films, like some of the older Bond films, there's been alot of effort to clean up the image, but older films cannot compete with new films in the quality picture and sound stakes, thus the dvds you have now, are the best your likely to see, and thus you shouldn't be comparing to MI2 or T2, those are more recent films, T2 was in 1991,Thunderball was in the 60s, the dvd makers are never dealing with the same quality negatives of these films, because of age and different equipment, so appreciate the quality you got now, as it's as good as its likely to get.

Funnily enough, I find that older Bond films like THUNDERBALL and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE have far better picture quality than 80s fare like FOR YOUR EYES ONLY and OCTOPUSSY. Watching OP the other day I was struck by how muddy and un-sharp the picture was.

Blofeld's Cat's mention of VCDs leads me to a tip for anyone desperate to get their hands on DIE ANOTHER DAY before its DVD release. Shopping for VCDs in London's Chinatown, I was told that DAD should be out in a couple of months and will be cheaper than the DVD, selling for about