HD version of old Dobermann (1997) master?

[spoRv]

The Japanese has an higher video bitrate.

Did some few tests, regrading the BD using DVD DE as reference, and result is quite satisfing...

Now I am curious to find out if there is an English audio track available!

[deleted user]

Hm. Using your ColorMatch? Can you show a sample or two? How much work would it be for you to release such a regraded version?

English audio track I searched about an hour and couldn't find anything. Apparently back when it was released it was too "controversial" etc., so it didn't get a release in the States. Even the UK DVD doesn't have English audio, sadly. But maybe you can find something in some obscure source, who knows.

Edit: Weirdly enough, the imdb page says it has English language. I guess one can't trust that site absolutely though. I was shown on some English "Silicon Alley Festival" in 2000 in the US, but they could have used subtitles too, I guess.

[spoRv]

Here you are a "quick'n'dirt" comparison - top BD FR, middle DVD DE, bottom BD colourmatch'ed to DVD:













far from perfect, but retain the "spirit" of the DVD DE; dunno if it's the "right" color grading, as seen in the theaters, still I like it more than the too blue BD.

About English track: I read it on IMDB, and also somewhere else, that there *should* exist an English track; not found it (yet); even if from VHS or TV, I would like to find it. There are various dubbings, French (of course) DTS 5.1, German DTS 7.1, Italian AC3 5.1, Spanish 2.0.

About clipped whites: BD has some of them in the first scene in the church, it is sure, but I suspect that for the rest of the movie, they are right, where DVD FR has problems, like in the following shot (top BD FR, bottom DVD FR):

[deleted user]

That looks fantastic, man! Yes, it seems that the church really is an exception. I guess one could live with it. Though, if an HDTV were to appear where they are not clipped, one could take those shots from there. In the rest of the movie it almost appears like the DVDs clip a tiny bit more, so the regrade works fantastically.

It's probably not the "right" grading. The Blu Ray claims that the new transfer was supervised by the director and the French DVD also looks a bit bluish. But personally, I simply like the DVD DE more. I would kill to see the movie like that in its entirety.

And I totally agree about the English track. Even if it was from VHS or so, it still would be worth having. It's really curious how all the other languages have dubs, but no English.

Another thing: I read on rutracker (but haven't verified) that some of the Blu Ray audio tracks may have issues with clipping. From what I gathered, the French Blu Ray has about double the audio bitrate of the German Blu Ray, despite both being 16 bit 48 kHz. If it was severely compressed/made louder, that would be an explanation (higher overall volume combined with dithering creates more data to compress). At least worth looking into I think. Someone on that forum mentioned that one of the DVDs has the best audio, but obviously it won't be lossless. Maybe the best lossless and the best overall track could be included. Plus an English track if it turns up. Plus, the German lossless appears to be very good (even 7.1) and I've read people say it's even better than the French one. Though I'm personally a fan of original language, it can't hurt to have that one too I guess.

Edit: Your regrade also fixes the main issue the DVD had - the mediocre black levels. Despite being darker on the Blu Ray regrade (which is a good thing imo!), they actually have more detail, like with that guy standing in the van.

Edit 2: You mentioned the JPN Blu Ray having better bitrate. Do you have that one? Can that one be used as a base for regrading too? And another idea: Since the German Blu Ray and the French Blu Ray have identical masters with only minute differences in color, what would you think about overlaying the two Blu Rays (or even the three, with JPN) and creating an average or even Median for better source quality for the regrade and re-encode?

[spoRv]

According to blu-ray.com, on the German Uncut BD, both German and French DTS-HD MA are 7.1 - the strange thing is that both German normal and Uncut BDs are 99m, while French BD is 103m, that should be the right lenght.

English audio: I searched a lot on the net, and it seems it doesn't exist, even if I think it's very strange, as there are also German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese audio tracks... if it will surface, it would be great!

According to blu-ray.com and amazon.co.jp, the Japanese BD is 1.78:1, hence it should be open matte; I'd love to see it, and eventually use it as a source.

[deleted user]

The length discrepancy is weird. Maybe some glitch? I dunno. A 24fps->25fps speed up would give you exactly those times, but that's not really a typical practice for Blu Rays, eh?

Yeah I kinda don't believe in the English audio. Maybe exists in some executive's office or in some collector's basement.

Open Matte would be amazing, fully agree. Can you get your hands on the Japanese BD? Though, I have to warn ya, blu-ray.com is sometimes wrong. For example someone on Blutopia tried to order the Equlibrium Open Matte from somewhere and it ended up being the wrong codec. Either way, imdb says "Cinematographic Process Super 35" and "Printed Film Format 35 mm (anamorphic)". Does that tell us anything or is it irrelevant since the original negative was 35mm?

The 7.1 French DTS-HD is probably a glitch. Here's why. The German site "bluray-disc.de" shows the collector's edition as French DTS-HD MA 5.1. But it shows the normal edition as French DTS-HD MA 7.1. Exactly the reverse. And Amazon lists both as French DTS-HD MA 5.1. The German definitely is 7.1, but I doubt the French is.

[MrBrown]

French and German BD have the same running time, as the BD info scan on caps-a-holic.com shows:
http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=3153&d2=904&c=949

German BD also has just 5.1 French audio.

The 99 minute seem to be the running time for the DVD in the limited Mediabook.

[spoRv]

Thanks to everyone for the info!

So far, discovers are the following

color gradings:

• BD FR
  
  
• DVD IT (the same as DVD FR, LD FR, SDTV) which differs only a bit from BD FR but the white balance is better
  
  
• DVD ES, which has a better contrast, but also has a pinkish blanket
  
  
• DVD DE, which seems to have the most natural colors
  
  

audio tracks:

• English: seems not to exist
  
• French: DTS-HD MA 5.1 16bit - from BD
  
• French: 2.0 PCM - from PAL LD
  
• French: 2x commentaries - from BD
  
• German: DTS-HD MA 7.1 (24bit?) - from BD
  
• Italian: AC3 5.1 448kbps - from DVD
  
• Spanish: AC3 2.0 - from DVD
  
• Japanese: AC3 2.0 - from DVD
  
• Mandarin Chinese: AC3 5.1 - from DVD
  
• Czeck: 2.0
  
• Polish: "lektor"
  
• Russian: "lektor"
  

aspect ratio:

• 2.35:1 - BD FR & DE, DVD
  
• 1.78:1 - BD JP (to be confirmed)
  
• 1.33:1 - ATV (confirmed)
  

If this project would be made, I'd use BD FR as source (or, better, BD JP if it's confirmed that it's 1.78:1 open matte and not cropped), regraded to DVD DE as color reference; audio tracks would be French, German, Italian, Spanish for sure, Czeck as bonus track, Chinese and Japanese if someone would provide them - no "lektor" tracks, sorry! - plus the commentaries; subs would be English, French, German, Italian (still not found), Spanish.

[CSchmidlapp]

I have the Original U.K 'Tartan Video' DVD release which was the same master used for there VHS release.
Its 4:3 letterbox like the VHS and quality is not the best but looks as if it is sourced from a film print.

From memory the colour grade is closest to the IT release in the screen shots above and there is no English dub.

[spoRv]

From memory the colour grade is closest to the IT release in the screen shots above

Would be nice to know if it's the same, or if it's like another, or even a new one!