WHAT A SWEET TREAT!

[Mike Royer]

Not exactly a "new" topic, but I paid the full price at Warner Archives for the final three CHANs as soon as it was announced here and they finally came today. I was delighted because, despite what the web site said, the two discs are glass mastered REPLICATED discs...NOT DVD-R made to order. What a pleasant surprise. Not totally unexpected though. I have observed, that with some Archive titles, although they are listed as MOD, when ordering them directly from the Archives rather than Amazon and other sites that may offer the same item at a reduced price, they are replicated. As an example, sets 1 and 3 of THE BOWERY BOYS came from the Archives and were replicated. Sets 2 and 4 were gifts from someone who purchased them from another web site at a reduced price, and those sets were indeed MOD DVD-Rs. Hmmm. So, when I want something from Warner Archives and I'm pretty sure it will be a popular item I will always pay the full price on their web site. I have been surprised many times and gotten replicated discs. Although they are listed as MOD, all the FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD sets I've gotten from the Archives were replicated. Hmmm again. Oh well...just a couple thots I'd like to share with my fellow CHAN fans. It's taken a long time, but I've finally got all 40 that survive as replicated discs. Tossed the last three grey market discs away a couple minutes ago.

[Don Mc]

Mine came today also. I am currently watching The Red Dragon. The picture looks great. The only copy I had previously was a very noisy, grainy VHS copy. Like you I now have all surviving Chan movies on commercial DVDs.

[Steve O]

Great to see your post, Mike!  Hope all is well with you.

Yes, I also received the pressed DVDs direct from Warner Archive.   Both Sky Dragon and Feathered Serpent look excellent with almost no print damage to either.  I would guess these were either from the original negative or a first generation 35mm print.

Red Dragon is a definite upgrade but still patchy in spots where 16mm elements had to be used.  The 35mm print looked to be sourced from a Pathe reissue print that needed some TLC.

I really missed the English Subtitles on these films due to two of the films having annoying fake Spanish accents that was often hard to understand and Winters not being the easiest to understand at times either.  Fortunately the soundtracks were all clean with no pops, etc.

[Brian L.]

How do you tell the difference between a pressed DVD and a DVD-R  ?    I bought mine from Amazon . I don't see anywhere on the DVDs or case where it says these are DVD-R.  My DVD player detects what's loaded in the tray, and granted it's not right all the time, but it says theses discs are  DVD+R, which surprised me.

[GaryLeeOz]

How do you tell the difference between a pressed DVD and a DVD-R  ?    I bought mine from Amazon . I don't see anywhere on the DVDs or case where it says these are DVD-R.  My DVD player detects what's loaded in the tray, and granted it's not right all the time, but it says theses discs are  DVD+R, which surprised me.

Usually the recording surface of a DVD-R or DVD+R is purple whereas the recording surface of a pressed disc is silver.

I don't think it's an official policy for WB to supply WBArchives with pressed discs while other retailers only receive MOD discs. As I mentioned in another Topic, perhaps a sufficiently large number of Preorders justifies making a small batch of pressed discs as well as some MOD discs ... who knows.       

[Brian L.]

My copy from Amazon has the purple tint when compared to one of my regular pressed DVDs.

For sure these copies are the best I've ever seen of the 3 films, however...

Has anyone noticed a very slight jumpiness in the first third part of the Feathered Serpent ?

[Mike Royer]

Purple. Means yours are made to order DVD-R. Noticed no jitter. Will check again.