Star Wars: Episode III

Demiurge

Well, it's here. Assuming a lot of folks are going to pick this up on DVD today. Let us know what you think of the DVD. Picking up my copy in a few hours.

avelanchefan

Demiurge wrote:

Well, it's here. Assuming a lot of folks are going to pick this up on DVD today. Let us know what you think of the DVD. Picking up my copy in a few hours.

I have had my copy for over a week, It is one of the best transfers to date, literally flawless.

SQ was fantastic too!

ND13

Picking mine up on the way home this afternoon at Wal-Mart for $14.99.

I wonder how long it will take for them put all 6 movies together in a special edition box set with the first trilogy remastered and all??

Demiurge

ND13 wrote:

Picking mine up on the way home this afternoon at Wal-Mart for $14.99.

I wonder how long it will take for them put all 6 movies together in a special edition box set with the first trilogy remastered and all??

hehe, all we can be sure of is that it'll be done. If GL can milk any money, he'll do it!

stereo55

Gonna pick a copy up today also . But .... I cant believe this movie is not in DTS !!!
I know its DDEX , but still ...com'on already ....I smell the usual MULTI version(s) coming out just to tug on my wallet again and again . :rolleyes:
They should do the movie right the first time around .

Now Ive said my piece ... I guess its off to the store ( so I can finally see it for the first time ) ...

mldennison

lucas is a huge dolby guy, i dont think any of them have been released in DTS, have they?

polkatese

BB open the door with Vader and a few Storm Troopers, at 8 this morning. No, I wasn't there at 8, but I got my copy.

AsSiMiLaTeD

nope, not that I'm aware of...

Demiurge

mldennison wrote:

lucas is a huge dolby guy, i dont think any of them have been released in DTS, have they?

Not that I know of.

MSkeezer

Has anyone noticed an audio dropout on the DD track in Chapter 21? It's right after Grevious tells the Seperatists that they'll be safe on the Mustafar system. I checked out the Pro Logic track and the dropout isn't there. Anyone else have this problem?

PolkThug

mldennison wrote:

lucas is a huge dolby guy, i dont think any of them have been released in DTS, have they?

Lucas's THX demos are in DTS!

Willow

avelanchefan wrote:

I have had my copy for over a week, It is one of the best transfers to date, literally flawless.

SQ was fantastic too!

Same here, I have not watched it yet.

Emlyn

polkatese wrote:

BB open the door with Vader and a few Storm Troopers, at 8 this morning. No, I wasn't there at 8, but I got my copy.

I wonder if Vader and the Storm Troopers all had blue shirts on underneath their strap on gear, and were tasked with recharging the Best Buy plasma TV's later in the day.

Got to stop by Wal-Mart later.

MacLeod

My first stop on my route today was a Wal Mart so I bought my copy at 7:30!!

WalMart has a special version for $20 with a bonus disc of extra stuff. Probably nothing groundbreaking but for $5 extra I figured what the hell.

Gonna check the forum for the lates posts then Im off to the living room to fire up my humble HT!

speakergeek

Have mine in hand! I didn't see it at the theater, so it's going to be a real treat.

aaharvel

Picked up my copy. The extra disc that comes via Walmart is nothing to write home about: i'd say it's actually annoying. The Episode III disc is great, wonderful pic quality, good quality dolby ex soundtrack. Now that i've watched it with the commentary, it's a better movie than I originally thought. It's leaps and bounds better than I, II, and VI and rivals IV. imo. Good thread.

btw- there's some GREAT LFE action when Skywalker turns his lightsaber on in the jedi temple just before he slices n' dices the 'younglings'

landry_p2000

speakergeek wrote:

Have mine in hand! I didn't see it at the theater, so it's going to be a real treat.

First time for me as well. I want to save it for the weekend, but I may not make it.

MacLeod

Man, what a great effing movie! Definitely the best of them all!!

AA is right, the WalMart 2nd disc is worthless. All it is, is C3PO and R2D2 basically going over the storylines of the 6 movies which, if youve seen them, you already know.

Still, this is an awesome movie. Yeah the acting and directing isnt the best in the world but it is still the best story ever told. I dont read Playboy for the articles and I dont watch Star Wars for artistic dialogue or proper storyline arcs.

millerman 3732

aaharvel wrote:

Picked up my copy. The extra disc that comes via Walmart is nothing to write home about: i'd say it's actually annoying. The Episode III disc is great, wonderful pic quality, good quality dolby ex soundtrack. Now that i've watched it with the commentary, it's a better movie than I originally thought. It's leaps and bounds better than I, II, and VI and rivals IV. imo. Good thread.

btw- there's some GREAT LFE action when Skywalker turns his lightsaber on in the jedi temple just before he slices n' dices the 'younglings'

how high do you run your sub compared to the rest of your speakers? I checked out the part when anikin turned on his saber and the LFE wasn't that noticable but the opening battle over couresant almost shook me off the couch, just wondering

millerman 3732

AAharvel , just checked out the light saber again on the game rig and it was very noticable this time. I think its time to reajust the sub on the main set up
thanks for pointing that out

Whadyasay

Anyone else not picking up the DD EX flag for the rear speakers? This has been discussed before with other discs. I get the same thing on my Ep I - II discs, yet the original trilogy discs do show the rear center and DD EX flag.

aaharvel

The LFE in movies is always kept +10db louder than the rest of the soundtrack. That's how Dolby mixes it. On a receiver that allows the LFE level to be adjusted, this should translate to 0db.

Overall, it sounds superb with a 60hz crossover.

aaharvel

Whadyasay wrote:

Anyone else not picking up the DD EX flag for the rear speakers? This has been discussed before with other discs. I get the same thing on my Ep I - II discs, yet the original trilogy discs do show the rear center and DD EX flag.

same here. I wouldn't worry about it. It's still decoding it, although it says otherwise. I just set it to Dolby Digital with Prologic IIx piggybacking that and forget about it.

Whadyasay

Just read that it's the same (no EX flag) across the board here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?&postid=2824080

No biggie. I felt the sound mix was a bit too laid back, although the SW mixes are usually lower in reference level than other DD DVD's or DTS ones. Better fullness in the center channel than the previous Episodes, but I found myself wanting more punch.

Oh, and I didn't like this movie upon seeing it the second time (first was in a DLP theater). Not so much the Pix/Snd qlty., but the story itself was terribly convoluted and badly-paced. Simply a 2-1/2 hr. video game. I don't blame the actors for being so stiff since the whole thing was shot in large green rooms. Glad that the whole 'saga' is over.

aaharvel

I thought Ian Mc.Diarmond was and is the unsung hero of the entire saga. Considering it IS a Star Wars movie, what a performance.

Nelson57

I agree with you Whadyasay, the sound track was decent but was a bit laid back. The deep rumble of the spaceship in the opening scene built up expectations in me for a great sound experience that were not met throughout the rest the movie.

Having seen the movie in the theater, my anticipation for the DVD was for the better sound experience that home theater offers, and while it was better, it still left me a bit disappointed.

Meeks32

I may be all alone saying this, but Im a little disapointed with the audio in this. Maybe if I had never heard episode 1 & 2 then I would think its great. But I think they should have stayed with the same sound engineer as the other 2. Its hard to describe, but for me it was like I was watching stuff about to happen & think "Man this about to make some awesome sound" & it turned out to be pretty subtle. Maybe the bass is just too over done in ATOC, but the same things in Sith didnt have much bass, like when Obi-wan docks with his "warp drive" & most light sabre scenes. Dont get me wrong, the audio is still great, but for me I was expecting ATOC sound & then some. But this is still by far the best SW prequel yet by a long shot so thats all that matters.

ohskigod

different tastes I guess, I didnt like the mixing on the first 2, but 3 sounded friggin great on my theater. Maybe I like a little more laid back and balanced sound, just like my music. I thought the bass track was way too hot on episode 2, havent seen ep 1 in a while.

Whadyasay

To be fair, there are a lot of DVD mixes out there which are a bit over-the-top...great for the wow-factor, but at the same time a work-out for the volume control if you live in an apartment. But there were certain sequences that I felt could have used either more SFX or just some better punch. One of he things I always look forward to are vehicle sounds, and what of all movies created that anticipation? But there wasn't much in the way of cool new stuff in ROTS. For instance, when those amphibious 'Big Wheels' are approaching the Wookie beach, all we hear is some water spray with a faint motor behind it, yet we got eight straight minutes of a really annoying yelping lizard.

Heck, the Batmobile in Batman Begins sounded better than any vehicle in Ep III. Remember how gut-pounding and complex the pod race seq. in Ep I was? Well, Ep III had, what, a thousand times more vehicles whizzing around in it? I'm not just taling about low end, but some real punch and impact to the key sounds.

But Ep III did have a better dialogue mix than the other two films. The one in Ep I was pretty bad.

I'm not going to harp too much on Ben Burtt (he helped create sound design as we know it today), but I got the feeling that he was too divided between the editing (which was sub-par) and the sound design. I wasn't able to catch who the supervising final mixer was. Also, Gary Rydstrom has moved on from Skywalker Sound, but his successor, Randy Thom, did a great job with The Incredibles, which had quite a bit of the punch and impact that I'm talking about.

landry_p2000

aaharvel wrote:

Picked up my copy. The extra disc that comes via Walmart is nothing to write home about: i'd say it's actually annoying. The Episode III disc is great, wonderful pic quality, good quality dolby ex soundtrack. Now that i've watched it with the commentary, it's a better movie than I originally thought. It's leaps and bounds better than I, II, and VI and rivals IV. imo. Good thread.

btw- there's some GREAT LFE action when Skywalker turns his lightsaber on in the jedi temple just before he slices n' dices the 'younglings'

Yep. When he cut the saber on, it was a low bass note from the LFE channel for sure. My PSW505 even went down town on that one. I backed the movie up twice just to replay that sound.

mantis

I picked it up and watched it with my Son lastnight. Excellent DVD.

Dan