As Good As It Gets (1997) [21706] (Pioneer USA pressing)

My copy has minor rot in a few scenes, in form of a few speckles.

The video is how I remember this film from the movies, slightly dull in color but in no way flat. It's just the colors doesn't pop like in some other reference quality LDs I've seen. The contrast set is very natural, not many inky blacks or pitch whites. Overall I think it's very natural looking transfer, nothing out of the ordinary which fits with the film. I didn't see any edge enhancements. I can't tell if there was any noise reduction applied but the film is a bit noisier than reference grade LDs. A little noise reduction on luma and a little more chroma made the film very clean and reference grade. There wasn't any aliasing and telecine was done correctly. I am guessing here, I think it was digitally mastered for LD but the common banding artifacts isn't found in any scenes. I didn't have any comb filter torturer scenes. This film has a lot of close up shots and clearity is top notch. I had darbee set to %20 on pop setting which made the film a decade newer. Side ends were at clever spots.

The audio is available in AC-3 in the US release whereas the Japanese release is PCM only. I believe this film can be easily watched in PCM stereo. In fact it would probably sound better with the added fidelity. The film is entirely dialog, AC-3 track is a bit of a luxury.

I probably will rebuy this LD to score a rot free copy. It's such a good film and the LD presentation is near great. The BD release came out from Twilight Time in 3000 copy limited edition, already sold out and oop, fetches big money now. You can probably find the DVD for a few bucks but LD is more fun, right?

Equipment:
Pioneer Elite Kuro Pro-141FD - 60" Plasma Monitor
McIntosh Mx-121 AV Preamp/Processor
McIntosh Mc207 7ch Power Amp
Pass Labs XVR1 Active Crossover
Meridian 519 RF Demodulator
Martin Logan Theos L/R Speakers
Martin Logan Stage X Center
Martin Logan Descent I - two subwoofers
Martin Logan Motion 4 Side and Rears
Lumagen Radiance 2144 Video Processor
Pioneer HLD-X0 Reference Laserdisc Player