I'm starting this thread because getting heavily into HK action can be a nightmare for simply finding good transfers.
The John Woo HK classics are always a nightmare, I don't think there is a single good unproblematic transfer on any format for Hard Boiled or The Killer.
Primarily I'm interested in obtaining the best available materials for Hard Boiled, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, A Better Tomorrow I and II, Once a Thief, City on Fire, Police Story etc. as I've always been tinkering with custom version ideas.
Feel free to share experiences with the various video iterations out there, DVD/LD/VHS anything. I even considered going the import LD route for PCM audio or subtitle accuracy, are there any out there that are worthwhile?
Here's what I just wrote up for the Criterion Woo LDs:
Quote:
Hard Boiled: Special Edition #245 (1992) [CC1397L]Killer, The #284 (1989) [CC1436L]The twin masterpieces of John Woo.
These have always had bad and problematic transfers, even with the Criterions. These LDs are the same as the later OOP DVDs. Hard Boiled isn't very impressive imagewise but does get the color and lighting correct. They used a newly stuck IP. The audio is a treat in PCM despite being a typical limited mono track common to HK action films of the time. It's quite surprising to see how much they crammed onto one track. The subtitles are digitally inserted and rather pixelated, also the usual dubtitles are used.
For some reason they couldn't get the credits in good enough condition so instead substituted these temp credits which look horrible. Also, the English language opening and closing titles are used, with the original ones being included in the extras. FAIL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GDkJqAPlsAThe Killer fares better despite using a composite print source. The color is very warm yet subtle, the audio is dynamic and clear (despite having a high frequency hum of some type that runs for much of the film), the subtitles are the same as the DVD but are encoded along the bottom black edge and in a very clean and readable font that is aesthetically pleasing. I'm still going to get the CAV disc, but I loooooove this CLV/DVD cover!
I have almost as many copies of
Hard Boiled and
The Killer as I do 007 and Star Wars.
Thanks list
