Universal's Lynch box set

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Gabriel
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Universal's Lynch box set

Post by Gabriel »

Just so everyone knows, the set has been corrected and discs for FWWM and LH have the marking V02 on them.

I'm looking at FWWM now. While it's still a 1080i50 encode, it looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous with 2.0 and 2.1 mixes. No extras on this disc, but loads on the others. Apparently WAH has 5.1. I'll report back as I work my way through the discs!
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rewak
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Re: Universal's Lynch box set

Post by rewak »

Yeah i posted about this in the TP section, FWWM and Lost Highway have had their skipping problems fixed and those plus WAH have been given their DTS MA 5.1 mixes back. FWWM and Lost Highway are still 1080i though and there's other issues

Blue Velvet - Missing 50+ minutes of deleted scenes found on region free US release
Dune - Sourced from weakest HD print available (German, which is a bad re-colour correct job from the French print), also missing deleted scenes
Eraserhead - Missing Stories documentary, may also be older HD Transfer? (Dugpa: The transfer for Eraserhead is the original transfer done in HD back in 2000. I can confirm that Lynch was not involved in the creation of this box set.)
Lost Highway - 1080i/50
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - 1080i/50, missing EPK

I've seen the set pop up for under £20 now the issues are widely known so yeah it's cheap but if you want the best (and why wouldn't you?) you're better looking elsewhere.
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Gabriel
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Re: Universal's Lynch box set

Post by Gabriel »

Thing is, I grew up watching movies in 4:3 on VHS. The original FWWM release was appalling with the sound so muffled that most of the mix was buried in tape hiss. The DVDs had their issues too, so you have to balance what's practical with a desire for utter perfection. The Blu-ray set might have its problems, but FWWM is a very good, clear HD encode for European broadcast with lovely colour, good grain structure and very nice sound. While 1080p24 would be preferable, obviously, at £14 (which is what I paid for it!) for six titles and a pile of extras, I'm really pleased with it in spite of the 1080i50 issue and lack of some extras.

Are there already better versions of some of the films out there and better versions likely to supercede these? Most likely, but for now it's a pretty darn good set.

Bear in mind also that Europe and America are often at variance on the extras front, so the American Blue Velvet might well have stuff the UK release doesn't but that's not unusual. Licencing and clearances are often at the root of these variations.

Not trying to sound like too much of an apologist for Universal, but they have done a fix on the most egregious errors and the set is a low enough price now that its worth it for the extras alone!
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rewak
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Re: Universal's Lynch box set

Post by rewak »

Like i said it's cheap yes and if you can live with the faults then it's the best option, but the reason they didn't bring over the Blue Velvet deleted scenes was they didn't want to pay MGM for the rights (they said this, not speculation) and you can pretty much apply that reasoning to the whole boxset, they did it as cheaply as they possibly could and cut way too many corners. Lynch movies deserve better treatment. The releases of all these movies on Blu elsewhere are superior, that's the issue really, Universal cheaped the UK out of these and now we're stuck with the most inferior Blu releases worldwide.
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Gabriel
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Re: Universal's Lynch box set

Post by Gabriel »

rewak wrote:Like i said it's cheap yes and if you can live with the faults then it's the best option, but the reason they didn't bring over the Blue Velvet deleted scenes was they didn't want to pay MGM for the rights (they said this, not speculation) and you can pretty much apply that reasoning to the whole boxset, they did it as cheaply as they possibly could and cut way too many corners.
Oh, I'm sure it was money. End of the day, Universal has to balance the costs of releasing the set with profitability. Like I said, licencing results in different releases and VAM in most territories. If MGM wanted an exclusive on the Blue Velvet deleted scenes, pricing them out of the market is a good way to do it. It means people will buy their set on import. This is where business and everyday reality transcends art.

Universal aren't a charity. If licencing the MGM Blue Velvet extras makes releasing the disks unprofitable because MGM are demanding too much money, it makes more sense to release the film without the scenes. On top of that, ownership of Lynch films has long proven problematic. There could well be other costs incurred beyond merely paying MGM.
Lynch movies deserve better treatment. The releases of all these movies on Blu elsewhere are superior, that's the issue really, Universal cheaped the UK out of these and now we're stuck with the most inferior Blu releases worldwide.
Yes, they do, but this set is nothing like the sin it's being made out to be. Unfortunately, where an artist like Lynch, who gets funded by people and organisations from all over the world, is involved, clearances and payments in different territories will always be a headache. It's likely these transfers are the best Universal could afford for the work of a someone who is seen as, at best, minor celebrity cult filmmaker.
cubist
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Re: Universal's Lynch box set

Post by cubist »

The Blue Velvet bluray with the 50+ mins of deleted scenes is not just a US release, it is also the edition available in mainland Europe so very easy & cheap to get hold of. Highly recommended, some of those deleted scenes are pure gold, classic Lynch.
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