Ultraman TV and Movie Licensed to Mill Creek for North Ameri

[Jinzo Ningen]

[kiryugoji04]

I imagine the extras are how TPC are going to continue justifying the $600~ price tags for their domestic blu-ray, so probably not.

[Jinzo Ningen]

[O.Supreme]

Anyone here ever order from this site?

https://www.bullmoose.com/

I've seen some complaints, but most of them are related to obtaining obscure media, and having orders cancelled on short notice (nothing related to funds being stolen or non-refunded thankfully). I only ask because they seem to have the best deal currently for Ultraman & Ultra Q. taking a bit of a chance on this, but worst case scenario, I figure if my order gets cancelled, then at least these will be wide enough releases I can order from a more mainstream site.

[lhb412]

[kiryugoji04]

Yuji Kaida himself shared the Amazon link for the upcoming Ultraseven release on Facebook, remarking on its cheapness.

[Dr Kain]

[The Shadow]

[H-Man]

Some takeaways: UQ has gorgeous video but the audio is "tinkered with" to include "modern foley work." The Ultraman screenshots are extremely disappointing. Sorry, but that one at least is a hard pass for me. :/

[lhb412]

^ I contest the reviewer's opinion that this isn't an improvement on the previous DVD release. It's not the strongest HD transfer going by those screenshots (Ultra Q looks gorgeous, btw), but surely this release doesn't contain the weird anomalies of the previous Chaiyo -provided transfers (admittedly much more prevalent and distracting in their materials for Ultra Q and Ultraseven), much less the extreme compression issues in Mill Creek's earlier release, which turned splashing water and debris into a pixilated mess.

Maybe the reviewer only took a quick glance at the previous DVD release for comparison (and maybe has the BCI release)?

[H-Man]

[lhb412]

^ I'd also like to know about the Japanese Blu-ray.

[canofhumdingers]

I’d like to know how the reviewer knows that Ultra Q’s audio has been altered from the original sounds. Disappointing if true, but I’m not quite ready to take the word of some random review site I’ve never heard of.

The Ultraman screenshots do look disappointing. I’ll third the request for screenshot comparisons to the Japanese discs. I wasn’t able to find any with google.

[lhb412]

^ The previous, Chaiyo sourced Ultraman clearly had a ton of modern tinkering in the audio, would lots of modern sound effects that didn't drive with the vintage audio.

[kiryugoji04]

I have rips of the Japanese blus at home. The files are compressed but they might still shed some light on any potential differences. I also have DVD and Blu rips of Taro and I know the difference there is total night and day.

[kiryugoji04]

Almost 100% positive the sound issues are from TPC's own remixing though.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

[kiryugoji04]

[Garasharp K7]

I used to have a few Japanese dvd volumes, but I remember those extra effects. I'm sure Ultraseven had them as well. I've got the blu rays so I'll check 'em out and see if they pop up on there.

For what it's worth, I had a quick look at the Japanese Ultraman BDs to compare with the screenshots. The BD does look a little sharper than those images, (plenty of film grain - especially on the effects shots) but it's hard to tell from a few stills on my laptop versus my tv. Guess I'll know for sure when the Mill Creek blu rays turn up.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Eh looks fine to me. Plus the little preview for the MovieSpree streaming service looked leagues better than the DVD.

[H-Man]

[lhb412]

^ I think it highly unlikely that Mill Creek would do anything to the transfers. Using what the rights holders provide is their M.O.

Q was filmed in 35mm and Man in 16mm, right? So even in the best circumstances the earlier series will look a whole lot better. I wonder if these are identical transfers to the Japanese Blu-Rays or maybe something earlier like transfers done for HD TV? Just spitballing here.

[Dr Kain]

[kiryugoji04]

I compared my Japanese blu rips to the screenshots and the old Mill Creek DVDs last night. Definitely the same base masters for all three but also definitely not an upscale. The HEAVY compression and interlacing of the DVDs makes them a far less enjoyable experience. The HD versions may not be mind-blowing but they're still one of the best representations of television from this genre.