Something odd is happening. The word has gotten out that the American DVD for "Audition" by Takashi Miike is "Out Of Print" or "OOP" in Ebay speak... so look at ebay now : $150 is what this disc is currently fetching. That's just ridiculous. If you check DVDBeaver, you will see the recent "Collectors Edition" here in the UK is actually alot better in terms of the transfer and indeed everything else on offer.
So, please buy the UK disc. I know, I would normally (like so many) say avoid Tartan discs, but this one is superb. High bit-rate, beautifully rich colours and truly superb to look at and listen too. If you live in the USA and want it, your amazon.com account will be recognised at the amazon.co.uk site.
The thing about the U.K. disc is that it's most likely region 2 and PAL. It seems a lot of people will fork over lots of cash for a R1/NTSC disc they can play on their machine rather than invest in a new DVD player. Not as many people in the U.S. have region-free players.
As a fan of movies from all over the world, a region-free player is essential for me. However, most of the people I talk to who are casual movie fans wouldn't even know where to get one.
I'm going to hold off from buying the Tartan. I read somewhere that it may be re-issued with a new transfer. Unless you know something about the US rights that I don't... if Ventura lost them, then someone must have them. If that is the case, we may see a re-release by a different company. Here's hoping either case comes true...
Being in the US, I would still rather have an NTSC copy, regardless of Region, so there doesn't have to be a standards conversion. I have a universal player that does an ok PAL conversion, but I would rather avoid that if possible.
Here's hoping that they're just going to re-release or re-package it soon, as I haven't bought a copy yet!
does anyone have any info on whether or not the tartan CE is superior to the german rapid eye release? digging around on the internet, i've only been able to find a direct comparison to the old tartan version, and dvdbeaver doesn't even list the german release in their comparison...
good Q : look at the beaver grabs and bitrate and imagine anything better... thats the best judgement easily available...