John Beresford
11-26-2003, 09:44 AM
Always a fan of this film, I incorporated Warner Bros' snap-cased DVD edition into my collection fairly early into buying a surround system. I remember not being particularly knocked out by the audio or video quality of the disc from the last time I viewed it, which was a good few years back. With a friend over last night (the same lad who brought over the excellent T3 for us to view) who had never seen "Demolition Man" and after picking his drunk ass up from the train station, I proceeded to re-visit this DVD through my system. My previous reservations about the disc were accurate...
This DVD, ESPECIALLY in comparison with something like Terminator 3 (well, why not compare em? Demolition Man came out in 1993; not really ancient in movie speak, would you say?), looks god awful. We watched the full screen version side of the disc, because of my 27" set, but it didn't matter; grain and washing out is heavily present on both widescreen and fullscreen versions. My sobering-up companion next to me was struggling just to keep his eyes open so his opinion wasn't noted; but I analyzed every part of this surround experience. The film was grainy and unnaceptable for DVD picture. The audio was weak, too, with a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix as the auto default and the only English option to watch the disc. The gunshots were hollow and the front soundstage was the only stage really present; sure, there were surround effects, but they sounded added-on and weak, and didnt really follow the action on the screen; for instance, glass shattering came from the rears, but the action seemed "confused" when the audio tried to keep up with it. The entire surround mix is weak, if I had to sum it up with a word. Hollow-sounding bullets and explosions, and no use of the LFE subwoofer channel.
Dont get me wrong---Im not saying this sounds like...well...Universal's FIRST original DVD release of Scarface, whose audio and video wanted to make you barf all over the receiver remote (remember how bad THAT DVD looked and sounded?)---I mean, there are nice panning effects from time to time, and there are spots in the picture that seem to clear up suddenly, but overall, it doesnt even sound like you're watching a "Dolby Digital" film presentation---it sounds and looks more like an analog VHS Pro Logic II tape.
Still a great action film though with a creepy, bad-ass Snipes....
This DVD, ESPECIALLY in comparison with something like Terminator 3 (well, why not compare em? Demolition Man came out in 1993; not really ancient in movie speak, would you say?), looks god awful. We watched the full screen version side of the disc, because of my 27" set, but it didn't matter; grain and washing out is heavily present on both widescreen and fullscreen versions. My sobering-up companion next to me was struggling just to keep his eyes open so his opinion wasn't noted; but I analyzed every part of this surround experience. The film was grainy and unnaceptable for DVD picture. The audio was weak, too, with a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix as the auto default and the only English option to watch the disc. The gunshots were hollow and the front soundstage was the only stage really present; sure, there were surround effects, but they sounded added-on and weak, and didnt really follow the action on the screen; for instance, glass shattering came from the rears, but the action seemed "confused" when the audio tried to keep up with it. The entire surround mix is weak, if I had to sum it up with a word. Hollow-sounding bullets and explosions, and no use of the LFE subwoofer channel.
Dont get me wrong---Im not saying this sounds like...well...Universal's FIRST original DVD release of Scarface, whose audio and video wanted to make you barf all over the receiver remote (remember how bad THAT DVD looked and sounded?)---I mean, there are nice panning effects from time to time, and there are spots in the picture that seem to clear up suddenly, but overall, it doesnt even sound like you're watching a "Dolby Digital" film presentation---it sounds and looks more like an analog VHS Pro Logic II tape.
Still a great action film though with a creepy, bad-ass Snipes....