Central Motion Picture Corporation

Discuss internationally-released DVDs and Blu-rays or other international DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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dekalog
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:28 am

Re: Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao Hsien, 1986) DVD & Blu-ray

#151 Post by dekalog » Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:17 am

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Ang Lee's remastered Trilogy now available:

Blu-ray:
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/dvd/d ... D020049813" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DVD:
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/dvd/d ... D020049814" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

First batch boxset includes original 1993 Berlin Festival postcards.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao Hsien, 1986) DVD & Blu-ray

#152 Post by Calvin » Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:19 am

Google Translate doesn't do a good job, but it looks like some of the recent Hou Hsiao-Hsien restorations will be released in Taiwan later this year judging by this Facebook post

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Shrew
The Untamed One
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Re: Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao Hsien, 1986) DVD & Blu-ray

#153 Post by Shrew » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:19 am

The top post says: "Digital Restoration Collector Series: Hou Hsiao-Hsien. We're starting the countdown. Are you looking forward to it? Here are some behind the scene shots. Read on..."

The two later replies say "Thanks for your support! Dust in the Wind and A Time to Die, A Time to Live will be released at the end of August in all-new digital restorations." and "We expect to release Sandwich Man at the end of the year. Sorry to make you fans wait."
Last edited by Shrew on Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Oedipax
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
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Re: Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao Hsien, 1986) DVD & Blu-ray

#154 Post by Oedipax » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:22 am

Hmm, another Dust in the Wind restoration? Maybe less blue this time?

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#155 Post by Calvin » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:07 am

I gather that a Blu-Ray two pack of Dust in the Wind and A Time to Live, A Time to Die should be released in Taiwan next week, but I have yet to find an online listing. Trailer for the restored A Time to Live, A Time to Die can be found here and a trailer for the restored Dust in the Wind can be found here

m25
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:07 am

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#156 Post by m25 » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:32 am

can confirm the crazy blue tint is gone in the new dust in the wind release, and it's in 1080p this time. pretty cool! it's so deflating when something like this gets released on bd and it has some tragic flaw.

also seems the picture has been brightened considerably in a number of scenes. not sure if that's an improvement or not.

on first glance, a time to live looks pretty good.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
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Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#157 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:44 am

The CMPC is finally releasing a Blu edition of their In Our Time and Sandwich Man restorations in a box with Chen Kun-hou's Growing Up (co-written and co-produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien):

Item page at JSDVD

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#158 Post by zedz » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:37 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:The CMPC is finally releasing a Blu edition of their In Our Time and Sandwich Man restorations in a box with Chen Kun-hou's Growing Up (co-written and co-produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien):

Item page at JSDVD
Just a reminder that In Our Time contains Edward Yang's first directorial effort, 'Expectation'. It's well done, if rather basic, but it does have some interesting resonances with A Brighter Summer Day as his only other period film.

EDIT: If anybody is going to order this from the JSDVD link, note that they seem to still have the four disc Hou Hsiao-Hsien set covering Goodbye South Goodbye through Millennium Mambo in stock. This has long been unavailable just about everywhere else.

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rockysds
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Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#159 Post by rockysds » Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:07 pm


Titus
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2005 4:40 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#160 Post by Titus » Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:26 am

I watched The Terrorizers last night and had trouble keeping up with some of the subtitles. Whenever there are multiple lines of dialogue, the first lines race by and aren't on screen long enough to read. Has anybody else had this issue? Is it a problem that afflicts any of these other releases?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#161 Post by zedz » Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:34 pm

I've just received the Taiwan New Wave Cinema box set and it has some of the most unusual packaging I've ever seen. It's a standard clamshell box (embossed and gilded), but inside there are three extremely thick, diecut card boards into which the discs are inserted, with basic film credits on the reverse. Very elegant and minimal:

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criterionsnob
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:23 am
Location: Canada

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#162 Post by criterionsnob » Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:34 pm

Thanks for posting. How are the transfers?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#163 Post by zedz » Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:49 pm

criterionsnob wrote:Thanks for posting. How are the transfers?
As yet unseen (still at work)!

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whaleallright
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:56 am

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#164 Post by whaleallright » Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:51 am

Ah, that's very nice. By comparison, the Dust in the Wind/Time to Live packaging is a case study of inefficiency. There's a hardcover book taking up nearly half the width of the (large) box, and it turns out to be filled with... entirely blank pages. So you can take notes on the films, I guess?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#165 Post by zedz » Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:09 pm

Well, I got good news, and I got bad news.

I looked at In Our Time first, since it was the only film I was familiar with.

The good news is, this is far better than any previous version I've seen. However, I have only seen one previous version, and it's the worst DVD I own, so anything would be an improvement.

The bad news is, it's not a good transfer. The basic material seems to be sound, and the film is perfectly watchable (and, as noted, far, far better than what was available before), but there are three big issues:
- the black levels are terrible. It looks like a low-contrast source has been transferred and then not corrected. There are no blacks, really, just pallid greys and browns. So the night scenes look particularly washed out. Maybe this is something that can be addressed by fiddling with contrast and darkness settings.
- it's extremely grainy. Let me say that again: it's EXTREMELY grainy. Especially in the night scenes. But we love grain, right? Unfortunately this doesn't look much like film grain to me, but more like digital noise. This impression may be down to other unnatural manipulations of the image, to wit -
- in places it looks like the image has been digitally sharpened, so the swarming 'grain' doesn't seem to apply to the edges of things. I might not have noticed this so much if I hadn't been dragged up to the screen to marvel at the alien grain.

These observations are all based on a quick sampling of a few random scenes. Maybe there are large stretches of the film unaffected (probably not). The issues did seem to be much less prominent in outdoor daylit scenes.

You want more good news and bad news?

More bad news: all three films suffer from the same washed-out black levels

Good news: The two other films seem to be (on even quicker inspection) largely spared the grain and sharpening issues, and look very nice apart from their paleness.

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swo17
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Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#166 Post by swo17 » Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:22 pm

Have you tried adjusting your player's color space, as described here?

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EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#167 Post by EddieLarkin » Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:40 pm

If there is a black level issue, then you can expect the digital noise problem to go away as well once the levels are corrected, as the film being so bright reveals a lot of anomalies that are supposed to be hidden.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#168 Post by zedz » Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:43 pm

swo17 wrote:Have you tried adjusting your player's color space, as described here?
No, as I said, I've only had time for a quick look and no fiddling.

I expect that the latter two films could come right with some tweaking, but the problems with In Our Time seem to be more extensive and pronounced. (i.e. way more obtrusive than any issues with Blind Women's Curse or Lady Snowblood, which I've seen.)

yoshimori
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:03 am
Location: LA CA

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#169 Post by yoshimori » Mon Feb 08, 2016 3:17 am

Just watched the In Our Time blu-ray and didn't notice the problems zedz mentioned above. To my eye, plenty of rich black and no noticeable "annoying" grain. Certainly not low-con, and the none of the many night scenes look "washed out". Can't find any professional reviews yet, but I 'd say that, especially given the date and provenance of the film, this looks like a pretty phenomenal disc. Don't think anyone who has the slightest interest in these films should hesitate. Really looking forward to re-watching Growing Up.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#170 Post by zedz » Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:44 am

It's weird that you're not seeing the same thing. I can't take screen caps, but here are some photos of the screen compared with another recent Blu with what I consider normal black levels and grain:

In Our Time:
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Compared to:
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And here's another couple of examples of In Our Time's graininess:
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yoshimori
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:03 am
Location: LA CA

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#171 Post by yoshimori » Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:52 am

Interesting. A couple of observations. First, the Yang segment is certainly the grainiest, partly because it was, like a lot of early Yang, poorly lit and underexposed; so I suspect a lot of the "noise" is inherent in the footage, which looks like it has been "push processed". Second, when I skimmed through the film again on my Mac blu-ray player just now in order to get some screenshots, I was surprised to find, indeed, more grain and (sometimes) less contrast than when I watched the show last night on my Oppo and sizable Sony "4K" TV. Checked another disc at random -- Fargo, which I also watched yesterday -- and surprisingly noticed exactly the same thing. Even in Fargo there was noticeably more "noise" in backgrounds (wallpaper, windows, etc) visible on my computer's player than on the Oppo/Sony set-up. Not sure what to make of this ... except never to watch a blu-ray on my computer if I can help it.

In any case, screenshots follow. Even with the additional "graininess" associated with having taken the snapshots through the Mac blu-ray player, the show, iyam, and even the Yang segment, is well presented.

From segment 1 (Tao's "Little Dragonhead", the most traditionally lit of the shows): nice blacks, good contrast.

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From segment 2 (Yang's "Expectations", relatively amateurish lighting): underexposed, "pushed" film stock, and so less contrast and more grain.

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From segment 3:

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From segment 4:

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Again, in motion on my Oppo/Sony set-up, I didn't see any of the noise here. Only a couple of obviously optically manipulated shots took me out of the presentation.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#172 Post by zedz » Tue Feb 09, 2016 6:37 am

I watched Growing Up tonight, and it looks fine. There are only a couple of night scenes where the weak blacks get in the way, but overall it looks really good. (And remember I haven't watched the other discs in full yet. It seems that In Our Time is inconsistent - which is a good thing, if it's inconsistently poor.)

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FerdinandGriffon
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 11:16 am

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#173 Post by FerdinandGriffon » Fri Mar 18, 2016 4:41 pm

Has anyone observed browning/discoloration on their Blus of The Terrorizers?

I took mine out to lend to a friend just now and noticed that it looked very similar to the defective Criterions of '14.

I play from an external plugged in to a Mac, which is always a little funky, so it's hard for me to test playback, but it did seem to be having some issues loading.

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#174 Post by Aunt Peg » Sat Mar 19, 2016 1:11 am

FerdinandGriffon wrote:Has anyone observed browning/discoloration on their Blus of The Terrorizers?

I took mine out to lend to a friend just now and noticed that it looked very similar to the defective Criterions of '14.

I play from an external plugged in to a Mac, which is always a little funky, so it's hard for me to test playback, but it did seem to be having some issues loading.
I checked my Blu Ray Disc of The Terrorizers which I purchased and watched when it first came out and it looks fine. I played the disc and flicked through it and everything seemed OK. No loading issues either.

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bradass
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:03 pm

Re: Central Pictures Corporation

#175 Post by bradass » Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:11 am

I discovered that this company has slowly been adding some catalogue titles to iTunes (in HD), at least in Canada and the United States.

So far:
Run Away (Wang Tung, 1985)
Banana Paradise (Wang Tung, 1989) - this is only available to buy and only in Canada, but to rent as of Friday, probably the US, too
Eight Hundred Heroes (Shan-shi Ting, 1976)
The Everlasting Glory (Shan-shi Ting, 1976)
Kuei-Mei a Woman (Yi Chang, 1985)

I watched Run Away; acceptable transfer free of print damage with some questionable noise and softness, as well as number of subtitle errors. More than watchable, certainly better-looking than the VCD rip and non-professional subtitles of Strawman I watched a few months ago. The film itself seems ripe for rediscovery, a deconstructed wu xia that anticipates The Assassin.

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