by Benjamin Haines » Wed May 03, 2006 8:57 pm
My copy of Madman's R4 Destroy All Monsters DVD arrived last week, along with several other DVDs. I finally watched it today. On my TV, it looked absolutely fantastic, just like the R2. But once I put it in my computer and started analyzing it closely to write a DVD review for Tokyo Monsters, I noticed that there is actually a LOT of artifacting on the image. It's very subtle, and not noticeable on a TV. But if you're watching it on the computer, it's definitely there, for the entire course of the movie.
The other aspects of the video are all spot-on. No grain, no speckles, no edge enhancement, and the colors all look just as good as the Japanese R2 (not too weak, and not as strong as Sony's Showa R1s; just right, not complainable at all). The artifacting wasn't noticeable for me when I watched it on my TV, so it certainly wasn't distracting in the least. But just know that the video quality on this release is, unfortunately, not perfect. I assume this is the case for the other Godzilla DVDs Madman has released.
The DVD itself is still great, miles ahead of ADV's "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" R1 Destroy All Monsters releases, with good audio and special features options, and optional English dubbing and accurate English subtitles. Indeed, artifacting is the one and only flaw I can find with this DVD, and it didn't distract or bother me a bit on the TV. I definitely recommend it.
