Quality of The Devil's Advocate LD (1997)

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

I just got this disc in the mail today, and I was blown away by the
quality. This is the first LD I have gotten that actually looks better
than a DVD.

Even on my 1989 LD-V2200 player it's better than most DVDs. Now I want to
buy a better player like a D704 just too see how good I can get this disc
to look! I can only imagine...

-Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Ah... I think I figured out why it look so good. On LDDB.COM it says this
release was manufactured by Kuraray! Sweet. I've been wondering how their
discs looked.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Roy wrote:
> also nice is that the LD is uncensored as was the first pressing run
of the
> DVD.
>
> Roy
>
>
> "half_eaten" <half_eaten@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:3db7f980ecf93d07a93508f9294c2aa9@localhost.talkaboutvideo.com...
> > Ah... I think I figured out why it look so good. On LDDB.COM it
says this
> > release was manufactured by Kuraray! Sweet. I've been wondering how
their
> > discs looked.
> >

Yeah, its a nice looking disc with a great quality transfer. And as Roy
wrote, its the only copy (other than the first DVD pressing) to have
the infamous 'wall' scene that was removed from all later releases due
to copyright issues or something.....

 

[roy]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

also nice is that the LD is uncensored as was the first pressing run of the
DVD.

Roy


"half_eaten" <half_eaten@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3db7f980ecf93d07a93508f9294c2aa9@localhost.talkaboutvideo.com...
> Ah... I think I figured out why it look so good. On LDDB.COM it says this
> release was manufactured by Kuraray! Sweet. I've been wondering how their
> discs looked.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Yeah, in fact there's even a sticker on the laserdisc cover that has a
disclaimer about it not being related to some real life sculpture in
Washington DC.

-Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

In article <9ddfd$42273e25$3ea65367$20884@news.versatel.nl>,
Roy <nospan@server.nl> wrote:
>
>
>"half_eaten" <half_eaten@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:3db7f980ecf93d07a93508f9294c2aa9@localhost.talkaboutvideo.com...
>> Ah... I think I figured out why it look so good. On LDDB.COM it says this
>> release was manufactured by Kuraray! Sweet. I've been wondering how their
>> discs looked.
>>
>
>also nice is that the LD is uncensored as was the first pressing run of the
>DVD.

Yes, and most of THOSE DVD's are now unplayable as they suffer from a
manufacturing defect seen in some first-generation dual-layer DVD's from
Warner. A true case of "DVD rot" ... if you do own one of these and
haven't looked at it in the last few years, it'd be a good idea to take it
off the shelf and try to play it. You will NOT be pleasantly surprised.

 

[roy]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

After your warning I placed this DVD in my player.....skipped through all
the chapters and let each chapter play for a few seconds....seems fine...
pleasant surprise

Picture quality is great, nice sharp picture.... better then a lot of
current dvd releases.

Roy


"Mike S." <retsuhcs@xinap.moc> wrote in message
news:d0hlua$dn9$1@reader1.panix.com...
>
> In article <9ddfd$42273e25$3ea65367$20884@news.versatel.nl>,
> Roy <nospan@server.nl> wrote:
>>
>>
>>"half_eaten" <half_eaten@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>news:3db7f980ecf93d07a93508f9294c2aa9@localhost.talkaboutvideo.com...
>>> Ah... I think I figured out why it look so good. On LDDB.COM it says
>>> this
>>> release was manufactured by Kuraray! Sweet. I've been wondering how
>>> their
>>> discs looked.
>>>
>>
>>also nice is that the LD is uncensored as was the first pressing run of
>>the
>>DVD.
>
> Yes, and most of THOSE DVD's are now unplayable as they suffer from a
> manufacturing defect seen in some first-generation dual-layer DVD's from
> Warner. A true case of "DVD rot" ... if you do own one of these and
> haven't looked at it in the last few years, it'd be a good idea to take it
> off the shelf and try to play it. You will NOT be pleasantly surprised.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

In article <b5fcf$422c96d4$3ea65367$1808@news.versatel.nl>,
Roy <nospan@server.nl> wrote:
>
>
>"Mike S." <retsuhcs@xinap.moc> wrote in message
>news:d0hlua$dn9$1@reader1.panix.com...
>>
>> In article <9ddfd$42273e25$3ea65367$20884@news.versatel.nl>,
>> Roy <nospan@server.nl> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>"half_eaten" <half_eaten@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>>news:3db7f980ecf93d07a93508f9294c2aa9@localhost.talkaboutvideo.com...
>>>> Ah... I think I figured out why it look so good. On LDDB.COM it says
>>>> this
>>>> release was manufactured by Kuraray! Sweet. I've been wondering how
>>>> their
>>>> discs looked.
>>>>
>>>
>>>also nice is that the LD is uncensored as was the first pressing run of
>>>the
>>>DVD.
>>
>> Yes, and most of THOSE DVD's are now unplayable as they suffer from a
>> manufacturing defect seen in some first-generation dual-layer DVD's from
>> Warner. A true case of "DVD rot" ... if you do own one of these and
>> haven't looked at it in the last few years, it'd be a good idea to take it
>> off the shelf and try to play it. You will NOT be pleasantly surprised.
>>
>>
>After your warning I placed this DVD in my player.....skipped through all
>the chapters and let each chapter play for a few seconds....seems fine...
>pleasant surprise
>
>Picture quality is great, nice sharp picture.... better then a lot of
>current dvd releases.

You're lucky! I can view the chapter menu and some video here and there,
but most of it is unplayable.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Real test comes in playing it all the way through. One of the things I
learned and disliked about DVD was that you couldn't always tell if it was
functional by chapter skipping. It's not like laserdisc. You could possibly
have skipped before or beyond a problem. Hope that doesn't turn out to be
the case.


"Mike S." <retsuhcs@xinap.moc> wrote in message
news:d0iif2$jj8$1@reader1.panix.com...


> >After your warning I placed this DVD in my player.....skipped through all
> >the chapters and let each chapter play for a few seconds....seems fine...
> >pleasant surprise
> >
> >Picture quality is great, nice sharp picture.... better then a lot of
> >current dvd releases.
>
> You're lucky! I can view the chapter menu and some video here and there,
> but most of it is unplayable.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Not always true. I have a Criterion LD of Silverado that skips (or
hesitates, or plays a section over and over) at the end of the first
side of the first disk on my two Panasonic LX-900's. It plays fine on
my Elite DVL-90. It would be easy to miss the errors in the disk by
just playing the beginning of the chapters.

Tracy

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 20:20:56 -0500, "J Rusnak" <film11@comcast.net>
wrote:

>Real test comes in playing it all the way through. One of the things I
>learned and disliked about DVD was that you couldn't always tell if it was
>functional by chapter skipping. It's not like laserdisc. You could possibly
>have skipped before or beyond a problem. Hope that doesn't turn out to be
>the case.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

The Panasonic LX900 is a fine player, but the ones I own and have owned,
are finicky trackers. They simply can't track as good as most Pioneer
units.
Kevin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"Count Fenring" <tracyj_brownNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ccms21dg9u5g336srugg4n3so0sei196cn@4ax.com...
> Not always true. I have a Criterion LD of Silverado that skips (or
> hesitates, or plays a section over and over) at the end of the first
> side of the first disk on my two Panasonic LX-900's. It plays fine on
> my Elite DVL-90. It would be easy to miss the errors in the disk by
> just playing the beginning of the chapters.

That's not a problem with the disc. It's a symptom that your Panasonic
player's laser is out of alignment and needs servicing. See posts in
this forum by Kurtis Bahr.

 

[Greg]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Contact Duncan from http/www.laserdiscservice.com/. He would be able
to give you a price quote.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

I started to think about that after I wrote it and you're probably
right about needing service to re-align them. They are, after all,
about 13 years old now. Still, that disk is the only on on which I'm
having that problem. For me, that's not serious enough to have them in
the shop for service.

Any idea what a realignment service call would cost on the 900?

Thanks,
Tracy

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 12:13:51 GMT, "Joshua Zyber"
<jzyber@SPAMMERS-BITE-ME.mindspring.com> wrote:

>"Count Fenring" <tracyj_brownNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:ccms21dg9u5g336srugg4n3so0sei196cn@4ax.com...
>> Not always true. I have a Criterion LD of Silverado that skips (or
>> hesitates, or plays a section over and over) at the end of the first
>> side of the first disk on my two Panasonic LX-900's. It plays fine on
>> my Elite DVL-90. It would be easy to miss the errors in the disk by
>> just playing the beginning of the chapters.
>
>That's not a problem with the disc. It's a symptom that your Panasonic
>player's laser is out of alignment and needs servicing. See posts in
>this forum by Kurtis Bahr.
>

 

[thad]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Rick wrote:
> [...]
> So, is it the version with the moving carvings in the background are
not
> fuzzed out? I've heard that only the initial LD release of this
movie
> contains this footage proper, instead of all other versions that have
it
> majorly modified so that you cannot identify the images (because of a
major
> legal wrangle by the owners of said images who complained that they
were
> used in an inappropriate manner, hence its modification in subsequent
video
> releases).

As I posted here prviously on Jul 26 1999, 12:00am:

IIRC, the "animated" wall sculpture behind the desk was deemed to be
blasphemous and also a copyright violation of some similar artwork on
some
church, hence the recall due to the [church sculpture's] artists's
wailing
and moaning and threats of a mental-anguish lawsuit (or somesuch).

The laserdisc version has the original sexually-suggestive [from the
movie,
not the church! ] sculpture and the extant DVD version has a
re-CGI'd
tamer version.

The church sculpture artist really must be a loser and/or have some
kind of
psychological problem; he could have capitalized on the fame given his
work
by the movie to get larger commissions for future work but, no, he
throws
an alleged temper tantrum with hand-wringing and crying jags per
reports I
read in the newspapers at the time.

Such is life.

 

[Rick]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"half_eaten" <half_eaten@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7af9f4351b4d9e954daa9d0537570d3d@localhost.talkaboutvideo.com...
>I just got this disc in the mail today, and I was blown away by the
> quality. This is the first LD I have gotten that actually looks better
> than a DVD.
>
> Even on my 1989 LD-V2200 player it's better than most DVDs. Now I want to
> buy a better player like a D704 just too see how good I can get this disc
> to look! I can only imagine...
>
> -Mike

So, is it the version with the moving carvings in the background are not
fuzzed out? I've heard that only the initial LD release of this movie
contains this footage proper, instead of all other versions that have it
majorly modified so that you cannot identify the images (because of a major
legal wrangle by the owners of said images who complained that they were
used in an inappropriate manner, hence its modification in subsequent video
releases).

 

[roy]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

<thad@thadlabs.com> wrote in message
news:1111582851.433458.276070@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Rick wrote:
>> [...]
>> So, is it the version with the moving carvings in the background are
> not
>> fuzzed out? I've heard that only the initial LD release of this
> movie
>> contains this footage proper, instead of all other versions that have
> it
>> majorly modified so that you cannot identify the images (because of a
> major
>> legal wrangle by the owners of said images who complained that they
> were
>> used in an inappropriate manner, hence its modification in subsequent
> video
>> releases).
>
> As I posted here prviously on Jul 26 1999, 12:00am:
>
> IIRC, the "animated" wall sculpture behind the desk was deemed to be
> blasphemous and also a copyright violation of some similar artwork on
> some
> church, hence the recall due to the [church sculpture's] artists's
> wailing
> and moaning and threats of a mental-anguish lawsuit (or somesuch).
>
> The laserdisc version has the original sexually-suggestive [from the
> movie,
> not the church! ] sculpture and the extant DVD version has a
> re-CGI'd
> tamer version.
>
> The church sculpture artist really must be a loser and/or have some
> kind of
> psychological problem; he could have capitalized on the fame given his
> work
> by the movie to get larger commissions for future work but, no, he
> throws
> an alleged temper tantrum with hand-wringing and crying jags per
> reports I
> read in the newspapers at the time.
>
> Such is life.

But don't forget that the first pressing run of the Region 1 DVD also has
the uncensored scene.

Roy

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

In article <b40eb$42419caf$3ea65367$21861@news.versatel.nl>,
Roy <nospan@server.nl> wrote:
>
><thad@thadlabs.com> wrote in message
>news:1111582851.433458.276070@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> Rick wrote:
>>> [...]
>>> So, is it the version with the moving carvings in the background are
>> not
>>> fuzzed out? I've heard that only the initial LD release of this
>> movie
>>> contains this footage proper, instead of all other versions that have
>> it
>>> majorly modified so that you cannot identify the images (because of a
>> major
>>> legal wrangle by the owners of said images who complained that they
>> were
>>> used in an inappropriate manner, hence its modification in subsequent
>> video
>>> releases).
>>
>> As I posted here prviously on Jul 26 1999, 12:00am:
>>
>> IIRC, the "animated" wall sculpture behind the desk was deemed to be
>> blasphemous and also a copyright violation of some similar artwork on
>> some
>> church, hence the recall due to the [church sculpture's] artists's
>> wailing
>> and moaning and threats of a mental-anguish lawsuit (or somesuch).
>>
>> The laserdisc version has the original sexually-suggestive [from the
>> movie,
>> not the church! ] sculpture and the extant DVD version has a
>> re-CGI'd
>> tamer version.
>>
>> The church sculpture artist really must be a loser and/or have some
>> kind of
>> psychological problem; he could have capitalized on the fame given his
>> work
>> by the movie to get larger commissions for future work but, no, he
>> throws
>> an alleged temper tantrum with hand-wringing and crying jags per
>> reports I
>> read in the newspapers at the time.
>>
>> Such is life.
>
>But don't forget that the first pressing run of the Region 1 DVD also has
>the uncensored scene.

And =that= is one of the first-run dual-layer Warner discs that has a
tendency to become unreadable over time.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Good to see you're still around, Thad.


<thad@thadlabs.com> wrote in message
news:1111582851.433458.276070@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> The church sculpture artist really must be a loser and/or have some
> kind of
> psychological problem; he could have capitalized on the fame given his
> work
> by the movie to get larger commissions for future work but, no, he
> throws
> an alleged temper tantrum with hand-wringing and crying jags per
> reports I
> read in the newspapers at the time.

He was probably the religious type and was offended that his work could
be used in a "blasphemous" movie.

 

[thad]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Joshua Zyber wrote:>
> Good to see you're still around, Thad.

Heh, thanks!

I've been with a startup since Jan. 2000 and we're still growing
(meaning not
a heck of a lot of "free" time). I still am catching-up with LD
viewing at
least several times a week; I own a bunch but have only viewed approx.
75% of
them to date; cloudy/raining skies helps because that means I'm not
outside with
my telescopes.