Pink Panther Films

[alexpeden2000]

Just wondering if anyone has these of LD and would be ble to capture/share the audio please?

The Shout Blu-rays have a number of issues with their mono mixes (missing parts, noise reduction, wrong pitch). I've managed to pick-up the old MGM dvd's which (I think) are free from the problems with the Shout discs but thought I would see if anyone had the LD's before I start syncing the dvd's to the Blu-rays.


Thanks
Alex

[SpaceBlackKnight]

I believe the original R1 non-anamorphic DVDs of The Pink Panther and Pink Panther Strikes Again, and the original R1 DVDs of A Shot in the Dark and Revenge Of The Pink Panther with anamorphic and 4:3 versions all have proper sounding mono tracks. The Artisan DVD of Return of The Pink Panther is based on a LD master as it's non-anamorphic, and reportedly has a better sounding mono track than starting with the Universal DVDs. The DVDs for Trail, Curse, and Son of The Pink Panther are reportedly the least botched in terms of mono and 5.1 tracks.

I think some of the PAL and US SE MGM DVDs of all the Sellers Pink Panthers up to Trail have major pitch and hiss removal issues on the mono and/or 5.1 tracks, so i'd avoid those.

Keep in mind that syncing the DVD tracks to the Shout BDs may require some work at the beginnings due to different MGM and United Artists logos between them.

[alexpeden2000]

I believe the original R1 non-anamorphic DVDs of The Pink Panther and Pink Panther Strikes Again, and the original R1 DVDs of A Shot in the Dark and Revenge Of The Pink Panther with anamorphic and 4:3 versions all have proper sounding mono tracks. The Artisan DVD of Return of The Pink Panther is based on a LD master as it's non-anamorphic, and reportedly has a better sounding mono track than starting with the Universal DVDs. The DVDs for Trail, Curse, and Son of The Pink Panther are reportedly the least botched in terms of mono and 5.1 tracks.

I think some of the PAL and US SE MGM DVDs of all the Sellers Pink Panthers up to Trail have major pitch and hiss removal issues on the mono and/or 5.1 tracks, so i'd avoid those.

Keep in mind that syncing the DVD tracks to the Shout BDs may require some work at the beginnings due to different MGM and United Artists logos between them.

Yeah it's the non-anamorphic ones I picked up - Pink Panther, Revenge, Strikes Again & A Shot In The Dark. I'm sure I read somewhere theat the Blu-ray of Return was fine and the best of the (Sellers) bunch in the Shout set. No interest in the non-Sellers ones!

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Look forward to this, Alex! Don't know the home video history particularly well, but is the first Pink Panther Blu-Ray of any use?

[captainsolo]

Aha! Now I cen deust oeff myeu Penthar knewleuge.....

The Shout set is a big overpriced box of wtf. Some discs looks great, some look dodgy and some are ports of other discs.
TPP 1963-Reuses MGM BD and keeps the aspect ratio issue that affected new MGM masters of the time. The film is horizontally stretched slightly.
Found my old write ups:
They did go the extra mile with new extras, TV spots etc. I just wish each film was 100% there with sterling problem free transfers.

TPP:
The image problem is there and is blatantly obvious to the eyes in many places. The degree of stretching seems to fluctuate throughout the film in terms of visible distortion. If fixed it is a great scan with great color. It fixes the over-brightness of the DVD and is similar to the look of the Laserdisc. The overall element may even be the same for all three.
The 5.1 mix is dull and mushy. The 2.0 sounds better and is a stereo version of the remix. Still it loses information due to noise reduction. Best is the original mono but it has been noise reduced and boosted in volume. The DVD mono is better and the LD PCM mono is best.

Being a Technirama production there was potentially a stereo mix. Someone on HTF thought the old P/S analog LD had a stereo mix....trust me it doesn't. Just a phasey and super noisy version of the mono. (P/S image is otherwise not bad but super colorful in a old VHS with the knobs turned up sort of way. The Lbx LD is fantastic but a tad soft.)

ASOTD:
The best film in the series gets a decent transfer with good color and detail despite being an older looking scan. The brightness of the DVD is gone, and again there is deeper color and blacks but not as much as the Laserdisc had. (That was print sourced so it may be too dark.)
The DVD cleaned up the LD print and had less damage. The BD cleans up the DVD print source and has less damage. The element may be the same or it may be another one. Ironic that most of the overall damage is on the shot of Ms. Sommer's nude back....dirty old projectionists!

The mono seems to be the same as the DVD in that it is slightly shrill and loud in the effects. The LD mono isn't as loud but has print noise. The 2.0 hdma stereo is a fold of the 5.1 which is awful.

Return:
Generally looks to be a nice upgraded version of the remastered Focus DVD transfer. Everything is improved and the mono sounds good. Obviously a port of the previously available European disc.
I have the remastered LD which was ported for the first DVD and the remastered Focus DVD. The BD easily trounces both in terms of PQ but I do wish the photographic style wasn't so dated to 70's in feeling but that comes from being a lower budgeted production. Otherwise Geoffrey Unsworth was able to some fine work in the film.

Strikes Again:
Oh dear. What happened here?
I think they scanned an IP and then almost left it as is. Damage appears here and there but there seems to be something really wrong with consistent almost blown out brightness (The opening asylum grounds alone are quite bad) and then a color grading that ranges all over. Skin tones are rather pale as well.
The DVD was fine but contrast boosted, and the LD was darker and slightly cropped on top but looked great for the format. The overall element for all three seems the same.

Then there's the sound. Totally and completely off pitch mono that is BLATANTLY obvious in the music-particularly the opening title! The stereo and mono are just the defective mono duplicated. The 5.1 remix is correct in pitch. The DVD audio tracks are fine, and the LD mono sounds perfect.

This is my second favorite in the series and I was excited to see it in HD...until I was spinning the disc...geez this looks bad-and it shouldn't...but the sound is an absolute error and if never corrected unforgivable to do so.

This may come from me having a really good player, but for now...the LD wins out. Best sound available and a good transfer without the DVD boosted contrast.

Any idea why this transfer looks so off?

-Revenge and Trail both look better. Revenge is an older scan done by MGM in 2006-2008 or so as evidenced by the newer UA logo. It looks to be an HD updating of the DVD source and is without the issues of Strikes Again. The audio is the same as the DVD but I don't have the LD so I cannot say about the differences some have noted.

I bought Curse and Son because I'm nuts.
Running Curse last night revealed an improvement on the DVD on all fronts but there was consistent frame wobble throughout that I'm surprised no review mentioned. That should never have slipped QC. The interview with Ted Wass was a nice bonus it make this completion's sake purchase better.
Oddly though the trailers are all SD and other than the Curse trailer (seemingly the same as the DVD) are either horribly over compressed and look straight off of a YouTube upload, or are the MGM DVD trailers but over compressed and running at some weird half off speed like the screwed up legacy extras on the Kino GBU release. I don't know why they did these as it merely duplicates and is far worse than what the Shout set did just fine and some of those were upgraded to HD. All they needed was to include the Curse trailer.


I still need to get the Inspector Clouseau BD disc as well.

Geez..how did the pitch issue on Strikes Again not get noticed?? It's really obvious in the opening with Lom's voice alone sounding very different. The 5.1 is fine and obviously the same as the 2004 DVD. Both 2.0 stereo and mono on the BD are affected.

The DVD mono and LD mono are perfectly fine, with the LD mono sounding best. This is really frustrating as I just sat down to watch the film tonight after Return and am considering hitting eject and just finishing on LD.

[captainsolo]

In short:
WS LDs from MGM all are direct transfers and have occasional wear here and there but all have proper color, contrast and the best sounding monos.
Return has the remastered WS LD which is good and has great mono.

DVD:
The first discs were early mgm efforts and may be LD ports but I've never seen them. Bitrate will be low and they may be similar to JB SE DVDs. The 2004 boxset was an all new remastering process and largely improved a lot of things. However most are a tad too bright or contrasty and some of the monos became a bit shrill.
Return had an early DVD that was likely the LD port and not very good. Universal remastered it years later and this has now been rescanned for HD.

The Shout set is okay and problematic but Strikes Again is the one disc that is unwatchable.

[alexpeden2000]

In short:
WS LDs from MGM all are direct transfers and have occasional wear here and there but all have proper color, contrast and the best sounding monos.
Return has the remastered WS LD which is good and has great mono.

DVD:
The first discs were early mgm efforts and may be LD ports but I've never seen them. Bitrate will be low and they may be similar to JB SE DVDs. The 2004 boxset was an all new remastering process and largely improved a lot of things. However most are a tad too bright or contrasty and some of the monos became a bit shrill.
Return had an early DVD that was likely the LD port and not very good. Universal remastered it years later and this has now been rescanned for HD.

The Shout set is okay and problematic but Strikes Again is the one disc that is unwatchable.

Thanks Solo, agree about Strikes Again (I'm hoping a better transfer emerges in aother country at some point). I'm leaning towards picking up some of the LD's - are there any that the difference is more pronounced than others?

[wongfeihung]

TPP - I own the MGM (UK) Blu-ray. Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps (according to DVD Beaver).

ASITD - I have a BD rip but not sure about the audio. The video is from the Shout release. The audio is DTS-HD MA 48000hz Stereo S24. Is there any way to tell between the original mono and any downmix?

TROTPP - I own the Fabulous (UK) Blu-ray. English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. No idea how that compares to Shout's mono.

TPPSA - I have a custom rip with the mono re-edited and synced from the DVD. I seem to recall doing this one myself so it's probably not that great... LOL

[captainsolo]

I’ve got my LDs in the to capture audio pipeline. One some the dvd audio may wind up to be a better source. Since my last post I went ahead and got the Kino bd of Inspector Clouseau as well.
The very first mgm initial DVDs of Panther films are very uncommon and seem to be LD master ports. I have found one of them as well.

[captainsolo]

TPP - I own the MGM (UK) Blu-ray. Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps (according to DVD Beaver).

ASITD - I have a BD rip but not sure about the audio. The video is from the Shout release. The audio is DTS-HD MA 48000hz Stereo S24. Is there any way to tell between the original mono and any downmix?

TROTPP - I own the Fabulous (UK) Blu-ray. English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. No idea how that compares to Shout's mono.

TPPSA - I have a custom rip with the mono re-edited and synced from the DVD. I seem to recall doing this one myself so it's probably not that great... LOL

The remixes have phasing errors and move effects and dialogue all around. The stereo versions I think were mostly down mixes of the 5.1. The 5.1 was originally done by mgm for the dvd se boxset.
The mono on the original film should be the same as it’s still the mgm disc. Ditto for Return as the master was made for the dvd reissue and released on bd in Germany first before shout used it.
I suck at doing syncs myself so don’t worry. I would’ve tried something similar but I got so infuriated with the Shout Blu I turned it off and finished on LD. To me it’s a film where LD and dvd are the way to go. I still hope to one day see the long cut of Strikes Again with all the cut footage.