I bought the Anchor Bay DVD Edition many years ago and was totally pleased by the quality of the transfer. Somebody told me that the MGM Edition is far better. Need feedback here, since I really found the Anchor Bay Edition perfect.
shareThere are certain sites out there that will tell you that the Anchor Bay release is sharper, but both AB and MGM used the same transfer for their release.
-J. Theakston
The Silent Photoplayer
http://www.thephotoplayer.com/
Thanks for the feedback. I wonder why some people say they're different if they are the same ??
I have also read that the print that airs on TCM is the best of all. Is it true?
Any quality difference is due to compression factors, in which case MGM's may be better simply because it was done later, when better compression software was available (although this may not necessarily be true).
TCM's master is the same master used for the DVDs (Scott MacQueen's restoration).
-J. Theakston
The Silent Photoplayer
http://www.thephotoplayer.com/
Thanks for the reply. Now things are clear to me.
sharePlease see this comparison site: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare6/portraitofjennie.htm
It appears the Anchor Bay MIGHT be MARGINALLY a better transfer but the Anchor Bay is out of print and therefore a very desirable collector's item with high reasale value. It also has extras (a trailer and a photo gallery) the MGM edition doesn't have. MY experience is MGM transfers are usually impeccable and almost always an improvement on what came before, even without extras (see: THe Ghoul, The Spiral Staircase and Duel in the Sun).
Benoît A. Racine
Toronto (Ontario) CANADA
[email protected]
Thank you very much for your input Benoît. I'm very pleased in general with the Anchor Bay releases I bought in the early 2000s, especially with the aforementioned "Portrait of Jennie", "The Spiral Staircase", "Rebecca" and "The Paradine Case".
Regards
Fernando